Why Tri Hull Boats Lost Their Popularity

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Last Updated on April 28, 2025 by Paul Clayton

Why Tri Hull Boats Lost Their Popularity

You might have heard about pontoon boats, bass boats, V-hull boats, and flat-bottomed deck boats, but have you heard about tri-hull boats? What about trimarans? Have you ever seen their names in a boat catalog?

There is a high probability that you might have missed out on these boats.

Key Takeaways:

• • Tri-hull boats (trimarans) feature three hulls, offering great stability, buoyancy, and deck space—perfect for calm lakes and rivers.

  • Drawbacks like bumpy rides in rough water, excessive water splashing, and limited seaworthiness made them less ideal for the ocean or choppy conditions.

  • Expensive construction and higher maintenance costs pushed buyers toward more versatile, affordable options like V-hull boats and pontoons.

  • Better alternatives emerged in the 1980s, offering smoother rides, higher speeds, and better fuel efficiency.

  • Some modern innovations aim to revive tri-hull designs through eco-friendly hybrid models, but traditional trimarans remain mostly in niche markets today.

Even though many brands still manufacture these boats, they have lost their popularity for several reasons. As a result, you might see other famous ships at the forefront of magazines, catalogs, websites, and window displays.

But the question remains: why did they lose popularity in the first place? Why have people moved on to other boats for their use? Are trimarans not safe on large bodies of water?

I’ve got you covered if you want to know about Tri-Hull boats, why they lost popularity, or other similar questions. The following article provides all the relevant information on these tri-hull boats.

Please keep reading to learn more about their design, uses, cons, and even the future of these rapidly declining boats.

What is a Tri-Hull Boat?

A tri-hull boat is precisely what it sounds like; it contains three hulls at the bottom of the ship. They were designed after the traditional double-outrigger hull boats from the Austronesian culture of Southeast Asia, particularly from East Indonesia and the Philippines.

Also called trimarans, many boats are manufactured as sailboats for recreational and tournament use. However, the tri-hull design is quite popular with ferries and warships, too—or at least it used to be.

Over time, smart innovations modified the original double-outrigger model to improve the speed, performance, and buoyancy of tri-hull boats.

Typically, tri-hull boats are counted under multi-hulls, catamarans, and pontoon boats. Trimarans bear a distinct resemblance to V-bottom boats, except that these have a more pronounced shape and form large tunnels with their hulls.

Hence, you may sometimes hear these boats referred to as tunnel boats as well.

Overall, their unique design offers less contact with water and more buoyancy, which reduces drag on the boat. As a result, these boats are also relatively fast compared to many other sailboats. Moreover, they offer the riders a more expansive deck space and incredible stability.

Tri-Hull Boat Design

Now that you know what a tri-hull boat is, you must learn more about its design to understand why it has recently lost popularity.

In the following section, I have highlighted its unique design and how it affects the boat’s performance.

Hull

The boat features three hulls at the bottom: a main hull in the middle and two amas, or side hulls, on either side of the main one.

Many tri-hulls have a subtle M-shaped bottom using slightly smaller side hulls than the middle hull. These boats have a shape similar to a V-hull boat, just without the sharp edges.

On top of this, a few trimaran models might even have foldable amas. Usually, this feature is found in smaller boats to narrow their sides. As a result, you can convert your tri-hull into a mono-hull boat for easier storage and faster speed in choppy waters.

However, the question remains: How does this hull affect the boat’s performance?

Stability

Since the boat has wide, flat hulls, you get incredible stability. While most narrow boats wobble on the water when people are boarding, tri-hulls will stay true to their design. Moreover, you can easily move around on the deck and not risk making the boat tipsy.

Notably, a trimaran channels its stability from the amas, not the middle hull.

Buoyancy

Buoyancy is another factor in which a tri-hull boat excels. The center hull offers almost 90% of the boat’s buoyancy, while the side hulls only stabilize the vessel.

As a result, the long and narrow middle hull keeps the boat floating on top of the water and even helps it to plane much faster than other boats. Meanwhile, the amas barely touch the water, reducing the boat’s drag.

Your boat will zoom across the water at high speeds and reach planes much faster.

On the downside, its fantastic buoyancy can also become its downfall. Although these boats are ideal for speeding on lakes and rivers, they cannot handle rough waves on open seas.

Space

With a three-hull design, it is not surprising that the tops of these boats have capacious decks. This is one of the significant reasons these boats were quite popular in the 1960s, along with large ferries and warships.

Compared to other larger boats, tri-hulls have smaller cross-decks between the hulls. Hence, their design also needs less supporting structure to offer stability on top of the deck. This also means they can hold more weight and weigh much less than traditional mono-hulls.

Engine

Since trimarans come in small sailboat sizes and large ferries, their engines depend primarily on their design. These boats often feature an outboard motor with a high horsepower rating to reach top speeds.

With less physical contact of the boat with the water surface, you even get less drag on your boat. Therefore, your boat accelerates faster to reach a high speed than other boats.

However, their speed is mainly limited to planning on the water surface and not cutting the waves like the popular V-hull boats.

My Take on Tri-Hull Boats: Why They Lost Popularity

Although tri-hull boats include many beneficial features in their design, most of their pros outweigh their cons in other conditions. For example, their incredible buoyancy is their most significant disadvantage in choppy waters.

Additionally, trimarans have been heavily modified over the years to become multifunctional. This has resulted in the loss of the original tri-hull design and the replacement of these boats with a more modern version.

So much so that most tri-hull boat brands stopped new production in the 1980s; the boats quickly became obsolete after their popularity in the 1960s and 1970s.

In the following section, let us examine some of the most common complaints and cons of tri-hull boats.

• Buoyancy

Even though trimarans offer superior buoyancy, their quality often lasts only on calm water surfaces, such as lakes and rivers. These boats lose their value when faced with rough sea waves.

With a long, narrow center hull, these boats float heavily on the water. While this feature does not affect the quality of your ride in stable water conditions, it becomes uncomfortable in rough waters quickly.

To explain, the boat bobs on the water with every large wave on the sea. Over the years, the resultant up-and-down motion has become highly undesirable, and people have moved on to other, more comfortable options.

Notably, this uncomfortable ride was more pronounced at higher speeds than at slower ones.

Wet Ride

Another downside to the tri-hull boats is their resultant wet ride in rough, choppy conditions. Since these boats do not cut through the waves like V-hulls, the strong waves slam against the sides and front, splashing water on top.

With their three-hull design, Tri-hull boats can potentially result in more water splash on riders than other boat designs, such as deep-V hulls. The flat-bottomed design of tri-hull boats may allow water to slap against the hulls, causing more spray and splash. This can be particularly noticeable when navigating through rough or choppy waters.

The placement and shape of the outer hulls in tri-hull boats can affect water deflection and spray patterns. Depending on the specific design and construction of the ship, some tri-hull models may have implemented features or modifications to minimize water spray and improve rider comfort.

However, it’s important to note that the amount of water splash experienced can also depend on factors such as boat speed, wave conditions, wind direction, and the design and shape of the individual boat model. Therefore, it’s recommended to test-drive a tri-hull boat or consult experts familiar with the specific model to assess its water splash characteristics before purchasing.

For this purpose, many manufacturers have modified the boats with foldable amas to deal with rougher sea conditions. They can easily convert the traditional tri-hull into a mono-hull or V-shaped hull.

However, these modifications resulted in the loss of the original design.

Limitation

Now that you know how trimarans are ideal for calm water surfaces, mainly, their limitation on choppy water surfaces is another primary reason for their loss in popularity.

Since water vehicles are not cheap, people do not want to invest in a boat limited to lakes and rivers. If they are spending money, they want the option to ride to tumultuous seas and oceans and cruise with their friends and family.

With their flat-bottomed design, Tri-hull boats may not perform as well in rough or choppy water conditions as other hull designs, such as deep-V hulls. The flat bottom can lead to a bumpier ride and potentially more pounding or slamming in waves, which can affect overall comfort and handling.

Tri-hull boats may have limitations regarding maneuverability, especially at higher speeds. The wider stance of the outer hulls can affect the boat’s ability to make sharp turns or navigate tight spaces compared to ships with narrower hull designs.

While tri-hull boats can be efficient at slower speeds and offer stability, they may have limitations in terms of top speed and fuel efficiency compared to other hull designs. The extra drag caused by the additional hulls can impact speed and fuel consumption performance.

Price

Price is another factor that diverted people’s attention from the trimarans to other options. Who wants to pay a large sum for a boat that does not even offer a comfortable ride?

And believe me, these tri-hull boats cost a lot. With large cross-decks and extra hulls, a trimaran’s construction requires extra stainless steel or Aluminum. Hence, the cost of your boat keeps piling up.

Besides, the boat requires larger motors if you plan to use it in choppy waters. Heavy machinery almost doubles the cost of your final projects.

If you decide to invest in a trimaran with foldable amas and a massive center hull, even that will raise the cost.

Why would people invest in an ancient tri-hull model when they can buy a much better boat with more luxury and a comfortable ride at the exact cost?

Better Alternatives

One significant reason tri-hulls lost their charm was the introduction of better industry alternatives. In the 1980s, V-hull and deck boats started gaining attention for their remarkable construction and optimum performance, even in choppy water conditions.

With pontoon boats gaining popularity, people moved on to this luxury ride for all their boating needs, whether for water sports or a party cruise. Similarly, V-hulls proved to be a better alternative for cutting through waves at high speeds.

Now, you can only find the tri-hull design in limited sailboat models.

The Future of Tri-Hull Boats

As I mentioned previously, tri-hull boats originated in Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines, where the community relies on watercraft for fishing, transporting people, and goods.

The ancient warship tri-hull design is used in traditional fishing and sailboats for all their needs. However, with the increase in global greenhouse gas emissions, using fossil fuels in trimarans has posed a massive problem.

For this purpose, a marine engineer has designed a hybrid model that uses wave momentum to power the trimaran. Although the ship has not yet finished construction, its success could open up many doors for innovations in tri-hull boats.

This video has been included to clarify the topic. Credit goes to Steven Bradshaw

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Final Thoughts

Tri-hull boats once dominated the waterways due to their stability and spaciousness, but performance issues in rough waters, high costs, and stiffer competition led to their decline.

Today, while still beloved in specific uses (such as small sailboats and ferries), tri-hull boats are largely overshadowed by more modern, high-performance designs.

The future could bring a comeback for tri-hulls through sustainable innovations, but for now, they remain a specialized choice for calm water adventures.

While all these reasons add up to its loss in popularity, the introduction of better alternative boats also played a significant hand in its demise. Now, people opt for V-hull boats, pontoons, and even deck boats for all their boating needs.

However, you need one invention to completely change the game.

What if a smart innovation in the next couple of years brings these ancient trimarans back into the industry? The future is always unpredictable.

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