2/12/17: Firefly is sold! Thanks for all the interest.

A veteran of the 2015 Race To Alaska, the 23' L-7 trimaran "Firefly" is for sale.

Built in 2005, Firefly was the prototype L-7. The L-7 was developed by Mike Leneman to be an inexpensive but fast small trailerable trimaran. With her unique offset sliding beam mechanism, Firefly collapses from her full 16' 6" beam down to a road-legal 8' 6". Compared to a F-boat of similar size, an L-7 (especially Firefly) is faster and cheaper to acquire and maintain.

Description of the L-7 project

Interview with Mike Leneman discussing the L-7 design

L-7s are simple boats. They have three sails: main, a roller-furling 105% working jib, and a masthead 'maxi-reacher' on a furler, rigged from the end of the bow pole. There are running backstays to support the masthead maxi-reacher. They feature a very high aspect ratio daggerboard which doubles as the 'gin pole' for easy mast raising. There is a single high-aspect kick-up rudder on the central hull. Firefly is 23' on deck (plus the folding bow pole), 16' 6" in beam when unfolded, and draws about 18" with the board up (about 5 or 6' with the board down). Before our dismasting, she had a 6"x3" section 33' rotating aluminum wingmast. She is now being re-rigged with a 7"x3.75" LeFiell OM1C oval section, 33' long. The float (ama) buoyancy ratio is around 180 - 200%. She has a cuddy cabin suitable for off-watch rest for at least one person (and possibly two, depending on how you arrange it).

Firefly was designed and built by Mike Leneman of Multi Marine in Marina del Rey in collaboration with Dave Licata. Her hull is cold-molded marine ply over bulkheads and longerons. Much of the deck is carbon fiber/nomex honeycomb laminate. The akas are off-the-shelf industrial fiberglass I-beams, and the amas for this particular boat are heavily modified Nacra 6.0 floats. She is very light - we've never weighed the boat, but the builder guesses 1100 lb lightship. I can arrange a weighing for buyers if requested.

We were dismasted in the race. No one was hurt, and the only real damage was the destruction of the spar itself. The hull and deck were only scratched, and the standing rigging and sails remained intact and were recovered. The dismasting was caused by a buckling failure of the spar itself, not by a rigging failure.

As of August 2016, Firefly is being re-rigged with a 33' long LeFiell OM1C section, which is a 7"x3.75" modified oval (i.e., the long sides are flat). This section is much more similar to the 7"x3" custom extrusion developed by Leneman for the following L-7s and for home-built F22s. The new mast is being rigged almost exactly as the old, except that the boltrope system is being replaced with a Tides Marine track.

Firefly was completely refit for the 2015 R2AK:

• All hull dings and dents repaired
• Boat painted with System 3 WR-LPU two part polyurethane over System 3 Silvertip primer (hull red, deck white)
• All-new 10' carbon fiber daggerboard. This was meticulously built based on the L-7 production plans, and includes a robust central CF beam, Divinycell core, and CF skin, all vacuum-bagged using West epoxy.
• All-new carbon fiber rudder, built in the same way as the above daggerboard.
• All deck hardware replaced, repaired, and rebedded
• New (2014) fully battened large roach Dacron mainsail from Elliot-Pattison in Los Angeles
• Refreshed working jib and maxi-reacher
• Interior painted with 1-part LPU (Ben Moore SuperSpec P22)
• All-new electrical system: 35 AH AGM battery, Victron MPPT solar charge controller, USB power ports, Standard Horizon AIS/GPS VHF radio, a Garmin echoMap 50s chartplotter, and MarineBeam LED nav lights
• All-new custom-made cabin cushions
• Renewed trampolines
• New fiberglass seahood
• Added 'soft stowage' fabric bags in cabin
• New foam-cored and vacuum bagged fiberglass sole and berth boards in cabin
• New Fortress bow anchor
• Rigged the boat for rowing: single oar each side, with massive oarlocks and oarlock mounts courtesy of Trotac Marine and the Smith Brothers Foundry in Victoria.
• All new Dyneema standing rigging
• New Garhauer running backstay tackles
• Renewed both Facnor SDG1000 furling units

Firefly comes with a very nice 2006 Pacific galvanized steel double-axle trailer. The trailer is fully wired with a 7-pin connector, has LED lights, and electric brakes. The bunk boards have been customized for the boat and security is assured by 4 25,000lb capacity cam straps.

There is currently no outboard motor, but the robust and simple outboard bracket is sized for a 5HP 4-stroke, which moves the boat briskly.

Firefly can be transferred with or without certain equipment, depending on your needs and desires. We are open to discussion. Depending on your location and the terms of the deal, delivery may be available.

Offered at 12,000 USD with new rig, or $10K without a rig.

Firefly is lying Santa Barbara, California. Contact Todd Bryan at todd@cicadamarine.com.