Help me identify my trimaran

[AllEars]

Dear fellow cruisers

I am at present trying to restore what seems to be a Piver trimaran. In the process I looked high and low for any kind of information available. It looks like a Piver design and the information in the previous link states so too. However, I'm not sure. I tried to post the question in the "Piver" section but got no answers. Now I'll have to ask all of you

In the web based collection of materials from Mariners Museum I often find references to the "PI-series" for professional builders. The information about the PI-series seem to be missing or am I wrong? My particular boat was built by professionals at the Multimare yard in Italy. It is an all fibreglass/polyester boat with round hull sections and has an over all length of 23 ft. The boat type is called "PI 23".



The above picture shows my boat before I, and heavy winds, took her apart. I write for two reasons: First I'd like to know more about this design and if possible get in touch with other owners. The most important however is to warn other users of this type of craft.The cross beams, all covered in GRP are made from spruce-like wood. The wood rotted away unnoticed by us and one fine day, while moving along at some ten knots the leeward hull broke of. Fast reactions and pure luck saved us from turning turtle.

Water enters the constrution where the amas and main hull are joined. The cross beams are clad in GRP too. The GRP looks just fine, but the wood might be rotten.
The Mariners Museum do not have any information about this design. I do not even knew if it is an original Piver design or just inspired by his work. As she was built in Italy I've tried to contact an Italian multihull organization but they du not reply.

Any information is welcome.

I hope to finish the new cross beams and have them clad in epoxy in the winter. Quite a job as it has to be done in the confined insides of the amas.



Best wishes and happy sailing

[SkiprJohn]

The photo didn't come through on my computer. Sorry I can't help.

[SkiprJohn]

Is it this one?

Piver 23 - Multimare :: sailboat :: SailingTheWeb

[AllEars]

Hi John

Thanks. Is the photo visible by now? I see it clearly but if no one else does I'll upload new ones.
I found that page too. That is the link in my first post. This page suggests that the boat is a Piver design, but the Mariners Museum who has all the plans by the late Piver knows of no such design.
I'm looking for information for two main reasons. To warn other users of this type of boat against the potential hazzard, and the rebuild I'm planning would be easier and better if I had plans to guide me.

Jens

[AllEars]

The picture upload option seems strange to me. I'll try another option:

[Cavalier MK2]

That is a Piver but the smallest regular PI design was the 25 and had a chine on the main hull. Have you measured the length yourself? It might be a bit longer than 23'. The PI designs were for ply and fiberglass, some of it double diagonal. A friend's 36' Dart has sheet ply above the turn of the bilge. An old catalog reprint I read mentions other PI models made for straight fiberglass or foam/ glass sandwich construction. These plans would only have been released to professional builders so they will be really hard to come by. You might try finding one of the old shop workers or dealers to learn more.

For new beams you should think about ply sheer webs with wood cap strips and truss connected to internal bulkheads which you may have to add. A starting point would be to get the 24' Piver Nugget plans from the Mariners museum to use for a engineering starting point or a similar size AA. Make sure the bulkheads the beams attach to are strongly bonded/taped into the hulls.

The easiest solution might be to use your old beams for scantlings but make new ones with modern epoxy which will do a better job of keeping out the water. Your old ones did last for many years with just polyester resin. With a bit of peeling through the layers you should be able to get an idea of the glass lay up but there are better cloths available now. If in doubt contact a designer for help.

[SkiprJohn]

Have you contacted the Multimare yard in Italy? Are they still in business?

Your photo came through and it appears to be the Multimare Piver as you assumed.

Sorry I can't help any further.

[AllEars]

blah, blah

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by AllEars

blah, blah

So you really don't want any help?

[AllEars]

Hi Sailmonkey
It might not seem that way but I still need help.
To make a long story short I had a lot of tech-issues lately. First a lot of non sense text was included in my posts. That was resolved with the aid of a moderator. Thanks John!
As a result of this, all my entries were considered "spam". And I was excluded from posting, albeit the original problem was solved. I tried a great many times to respond to all the good people who posted answers,but to no avail. I wrote three e-mails to the webmasters over a 12 day period and got an answer today :-)
As a test I wrote the "Blah, blah" post and deleted it again. Or so I thought :-)
I'm still in need of any usable information regarding the boat.
I also owe proper answers to the friendly people on this forum, so I'll be back :-)
Just have a lot of work right now.

Thanks for your interest Sailmonkey

Greetings
Jens

[AllEars]

Have you contacted the Multimare yard in Italy? Are they still in business?

Your photo came through and it appears to be the Multimare Piver as you assumed.

The yard seems to be out of business. They made only a few boat models and I have found none newer than the 80's. The Italian business databases I've tried make no mention of them either.

The hulls have strong bulkheads. That is where the current cross beams are mounted. I'll make some pictures of inside of the amas. Last weekend I had a closer look at the cross beams. On the port side the ama broke of. On the starboad side the beams seem perfect with no sign of deterioration. I was stunned by the fact that the wood used is not the same. The broken beams are made from a spruce like material in three layers clad with a layer of fibreglass and polyester. The ones still perfect are made from some hardwood I do not know, all from the same trunk of wood. No layers or anything, and no polyester for that matter.
That means I'll keep the good crossbeams and only work on the sh***y side. Great as that will reduce the work load.
I'll upload pictures shortly :-)

[Cavalier MK2]

Sounds like your boat has already had a repair at one time. Which side do you think is stock? The type of wood used is important, look carefully at the options available in your area.