Seaclipper 28
Description
The Seaclipper 28 (often credited to a collaboration between Jim Brown and John Marples) is a lightweight, folding plywood trimaran designed in the early 1980s as an affordable, trailerable pocket cruiser for coastal and short offshore voyages. Emphasizing simplicity for home builders, it features demountable/folding amas (outriggers) that reduce beam to under 8.5 ft for easy towing behind a standard vehicle. Custom builds are the norm, using stitch-and-glue plywood/epoxy construction with fiberglass sheathing, allowing personalization like Constant Camber amas for better light-air performance or inboard wells. Around 50–100 were built, many still cruising today—owners call it a "nimble, swift Model T multihull" that's fun for couples or day sails but requires rot checks in the centerboard trunk. It's capable for gunkholing or island-hopping but not a bluewater tank; upgrades like foam centerboards address common issues.
Construction Details
| Designer | John Marples |
|---|---|
| Length | 28.000 ft |
| LOA | 28.000 ft |
| Beam | 18.000 ft |
| Displacement | 1900 lb |
| Max Draft | 5.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 1.000 ft |
| Year Built | 1981 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 27.40 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 11.30 ft |
| p | 28 ft |
| e | 9.70 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27.40 ft | 11.30 ft | 28 ft | 9.70 ft | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Seaclipper 28 - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 28 ft - (8534 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 9.75 ft - (2972 mm) |
| Leech | * 29.29 ft - (8928 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 89.08 ° |
| Diagonal | 29.5 ft - (8992 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 4.5 in - (114 mm) |
| Area | * 141.05 ft² |
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Seaclipper 28 - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 26 ft - (7925 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 13 ft - (3962 mm) |
| Leech | 20.2 ft - (6157 mm) |
| Percentage LP | * 87.79 % |
| Length Perpendicular | * 9.92 ft - (3024 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 17.86 ° |
| Area | * 128.95 ft² |
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Seaclipper 28 - ASYMMETRICAL
| Luff | 29 ft - (8839 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
| Leech | 26.5 ft - (8077 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 165 % |
| Area | * 435 ft² |
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Seaclipper 28 - STAYSAIL
| Luff | 17.5 ft - (5334 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 9 ft - (2743 mm) |
| Leech | 13 ft - (3962 mm) |
| Area | * 56.78 ft² |
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Seaclipper 28 - STORMJIB
| Luff | 12 ft - (3658 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 7.2 ft - (2195 mm) |
| Leech | 8.33 ft - (2539 mm) |
| Perc LP | * 43.45 % |
| Length Perp | * 4.91 ft - (1497 mm) |
| Deck Angle | * 24.62 ° |
| Area | * 29.44 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator | |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.