Discovery 20

Description

The Discovery 20 (also known as the C. White 20' TRI) is a lightweight, trailerable folding trimaran daysailer designed by Chris White of Chris White Designs (USA) in the early 1980s. It was offered as plans or kits for amateur home builders using wood/epoxy/glass composite construction (often 3 layers of western red cedar in constant camber panels for hulls, with plywood/epoxy accents), featuring vertical folding amas (outriggers) via deep webs that reduce beam from 16 ft rigged to 8.5 ft folded for trailering. No professional mass production occurred (regrettably, per designer notes), resulting in a very limited number built (dozens at most, primarily one-off or small-shop examples from the 1980s–2000s, e.g., by Multi Composite in Maine ~1994–1995); the design was updated/superseded by the Discovery 21 in ~2016 (lengthened to 21.25 ft, carbon wing mast option, kits/complete boats from Aquidneck Custom Composites). Key features include a spacious 7x7 ft cockpit with self-bailing footwell and wide seats (comfortable for 4 adults, even tested with a 75-year-old), daggerboard for upwind performance, rotating aluminum mast (25 lb, wood wing mast option), streamlined crossbeams, minimal heeling, and speeds of 12–16+ knots (bursts to 20 knots reported), making it a fast, safe, dry daysailer/camper-cruiser for bays/coastal use.