40 Boating New Zealand
LEFT Weighing in at a
modest 210kg, the Astus
and its trailer won’t tax
the family sedan.
BELOW An easy one-
man launch/retrieve
operation.
RIGHT The easy sail
plan lends itself to simple
adjustments to suit the
conditions.impeccable with no bold seams or weak points.
The beams are given the same treatment with
aluminum sleeves with plastic sheaths inside them to
make extending the beams a smooth operation. The
beams are locked with a pin system, which makes them
strong and easy to use in both sailing and trailing mode.LAYOUT
The Astus is a big little boat. Folded and on the trailer
there is not much to her. At 210kg she is light and
compact and the sort of thing you forget you are
towing. With this size of boat there is no need for the
complexity of folding beams. The beams are telescoped
in and held with a pin while the trampolines concertina
nicely with them. In folded mode she is 2.5m wide and
unfolded she blossoms to 3.8m, which equates to an
enormous 8m^2 of deck space.
The nicely-balanced road trailer holds a beach trolley
which is locked to the main trailer for road travel. It’s a
simple job to launch her off the road trailer and onto the