Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[Cavalier MK2]

We had a borrowed mule sized jib on the Nicol for the first year and it was a lot of fun when it breezed up. I was surprised at the power it developed without the side force. In windy conditions it was actually faster than our full size jib because of that. It met its end on a gusty day in big chop off Seattle, the old fabric going out with a bang.

While nowhere near as convenient as a furler it was useful in stronger winds with a lot more speed than a staysail could give you. If you don't sail in those conditions or have a furler it isn't going to get used much.

[rossad]

Good question the "Mule"
I have all the sails that where invented for the Searunner 37.
And the Mule seems to be interesting the most interesting
I have two forestays so hanking with using a combination of sails makes the mule a viable sail. Creating a bigger slot or a poled out solution downwind but with saying that i still hardly use it. Maybe on the reach in 30 knots it comes into its own. But in all practicality its gone. The furler has changed the thinking making the whole point of easier handling for short handed or doing a quick sail just out of the harbour.
The Mule was interesting but in today's world its gone... so i might turn it into a small spinnaker they are a fantastic concept for direct downwind sails up to 30 knots.

[md7a]

I get the low, powerful upwind scenario...

If using it downwind how would you keep it open? Fly the sheet
from the ama? Lower the main?

On the 37 does it fly from the fore stay or the inner?

Anyone tried a double jib downwind? I.e. Genoa to port, mule to starboard?

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[rossad]

The mule can hank on to either the inner or outer stay. It can be with the genoa or with the jankee. With the Genoa it goes on the windward side and with the yankee the leeward side. Down wind i can be sheeted in the spinnaker block and it can be poled by a tele pole.
Its a multifunctional sail but strangely hardly used.
I did hear a sail maker say that i would put pressure middle stay.
Also heard that Mark Hassel ...hope i his name right.... used it quite a bit.

[rossad]

Also upwind the mule has to much power over 25knots and creates pounding under the wing. I wont use it going up wind anymore not when you got the jankee and staysail.

[md7a]

Very cool. Thanks rossad, and thanks cavalier.

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[Roy M]

I have one and used it very little. It's a good sail for long slogs in heavy conditions with the right course and sea state. It's of very little use in Southern California waters. I'll probably keep it though for cruising.

[nickel plate]

Someone here asked in 2013 about my Jim Brown Searunner 31 foot double outrigger trimaran, TAMARA, #45, commercially documented launched in the Santa Cruz harbor 1976-willing to answer questions about the marvelous seven year build project-lots of ups and downs but as Jim Brown once told me, "Jerry, the project NEEDS TO ADVANCE EVERY DAY OR IT WILL DIE" not a day went by through four movements of the hulls that something on the plans didn't advance. Found this site purely by coincidence. Jerry Keithley.

[Cavalier MK2]

Good for you Jerry, is it a A-frame or wing deck? Like your moniker, I always tell people I took a wooden Nicol......

For Will I'd point out that since Pineapple Express is a A-frame you won't pound like the wing deck boats pushing with the mule. The Nicol is pretty different than a Searunner so I won't add much more. It moves differently and the wing is presented at a angle so no big pounding.

[md7a]

Cavalier,
Yes I was wondering about the pounding. The mule was pretty simple compared to a double head sail, and in the south sound we are pretty much always needing to go to windward.
I think I like it for the simplicity.
The stay sail and Yankee will be going ashore for a while, I think.

Next project will be a dodger, then tennis nets...


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[Cavalier MK2]

I use heavy net from fisheries supply. And watch out for that South Sound gateway, last summer we got half way to Alaska.

[Cavalier MK2]

I always keep a staysail onboard in case things get truly nasty. Interestingly ours gets used most often with a spinnaker. The leach is a great indicator of when the chute is about to collapse. For a spinnaker up here where it is either windward or down wind most often a symmetric chute is fine. They can be found inexpensively and you don't need a pole to fly one.

[nickel plate]

Originally Posted by Cavalier MK2

Good for you Jerry, is it a A-frame or wing deck? Like your moniker, I always tell people I took a wooden Nicol......

For Will I'd point out that since Pineapple Express is a A-frame you won't pound like the wing deck boats pushing with the mule. The Nicol is pretty different than a Searunner so I won't add much more. It moves differently and the wing is presented at a angle so no big pounding.

Tamara was not a "wing deck multihull". When I built her, two options were offered, either a FULL DECK or an "A" FRAME" which was an aluminum trussed four triangular structures separating the three hulls with full air through the main strength bulkheads. Not much later on, Jim designed a 34" "OPEN PLYWOOD WING" version of the 31' (with instead a set of single berths-opened up to a set of double berths ) that allowed air/sea to vent through the main strength bulkheads via glued and screwed plywood similar construction.
If any one wants to contact me regarding the building of TAMARA or any A-FRAME 31' under construction during that phase of my life, please don't do it here as I am now a past multihull builder/sailor but now a dirt lover. Contact me at plantakeoffs@hotmail.com and I will answer your correspondence. Bless the fleet........

[searunner31]

I also owned Tamara and sold her to a person taking her back to Alaska.

He made it out the gate and ended up on the beach, and tore the rutter of, toe the center board sacrificial shoe of.

He made it back to san leandro and while there the port ama cracked in half like a egg.

He hopes to haul out and repair her this summer

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[nickel plate]

Originally Posted by searunner31

I also owned Tamara and sold her to a person taking her back to Alaska.

He made it out the gate and ended up on the beach, and tore the rutter of, toe the center board sacrificial shoe of.

He made it back to san leandro and while there the port ama cracked in half like a egg.

He hopes to haul out and repair her this summer

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If this was truly the Tamara that I built, it never had a per plan center board worm shoe. I instead built the bottom with 3/4" ply, laminated on 3/8" ply at the center board slot and tapered off to 1/4" ply toward the stem and stern. Somebody must have added the center board sacrificial shoe??
Can you give me a reference to your post-date of the beaching-any newspaper report-etc.?
If you did own the Tamara that I built, can you tell me what was the mast carrier/support in the cabin top down to the center board trunk top was made out of? What were the two main strength bulkheads made out of? What was the sail number?
Not trying to trip you up-just want to make sure it was actually my boat.