Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[blewett_john]

Dan, I am at 2+ years on my rebuild. When you think you are done something else rears its ugly head. Then there is the weather when working outside. Today it is 7 degrees. Paint and epoxy don't like those temps.
Keep at it, eventually you see the end of the tunnel.


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[sassarassa]

My staysail sheets lead as per the pic. below. It had to feed inside the front hoop hence the reason for that front panel being easy to remove.



My sheet attachment has a row of holes the turning block can be attached to. Allowing fine adjustment of the sheeting angle.

Originally Posted by blewett_john

Jon, Thanks for all the information. This is good stuff.

I have one question, and this kind of takes us away from the awning discussion: How are your jib sheets led and does the awning pose a problem?

Here is my thinking on jib leads: On my boat I don't have tracks. My sail is set by the length of the tack lanyard, old school Searunner setup.

Staysail: My staysail lead comes back to a spot next to the forward winches.

Yankee: I have two attachments aft. I believe the Yankee should lead inboard of the shrouds to the inboard attachment.

Genoa: I believe the Genoa should lead outboard of the shrouds to the outboard attachment.

What is the general thoughts on jib leads on Searunners?

[Capt.Timbo]

Getting close to airboarding and priming. Eight months, full time, so far...

[Roy M]

Hang in there Timbo! You will have transformed your 40, feel really proud of it, and made a significant addition to its financial value. Most boats don't appreciate as they age, but Searunners, if cared for, definitely do. Good job!

[rossad]

Impressive photo's indeed. Resurrecting a forty footer. WOW thats serious goal in these times we live. Once your in you cannot turn back. There must come a time when enough is enough. The journey starts from within with the boat.

[Capt.Timbo]

Appreciate the kind words. I do have one question... how much higher should I move the waterline up? I've added 200 yards of glass, both stitch cloth and chop, about 50/50.
I've also added about 80 gallons of resin and glass fibers to fill in all the 90 degree joints and lines on all three hulls and underwings. I'm thinking about an inch, but would appreciate your thoughts.

Thank You,

Tim K.

[Boatguy30]

Huh, all in a 2008 built! Maybe get a survey next time?

[Capt.Timbo]

We had an extensive survey conducted by a certified group out of St. Pete, Fl.
The problem is that they did not detect a faulty application of the original coat of primer on the boat and after a few hairline cracks, a bit of condensation and a hard freeze, it expanded and blew the paint off of the outter amas, in large pieces.

We had no choice and Boat US would not cover it, so we took it all the way down and rebuilt her from the inside, out.

[Roy M]

Timbo, Since you have gone to all of this effort, and since the final appearance and performance are really the measure of your efforts, I have a suggestion. You will be launching at a facility that can accommodate you for a day or two, so make an arrangement with them to launch you with the bottom paint at the usual spot, level with a point five inches above the bottom of the hull at the transom. Don't apply a boot top, though. The splashing of the boat will show if you are in line with the standard buoyancy for the 40. Then, if you are comfortable, haul the boat back out and put on the boot top. My boat is epoxy/ply, with pretty much everything stripped put for the overhaul, except for the all-chain rode in the bilge forward of the centerboard. The stern is riding right at the level of the bottom plank, and the bow is lower by about two inches. Very little fuel, no water, very little interior cabinetwork or gear. When you are cruising, the actual water level will be approaching the five inch mark, with all gear, provisions and crew aboard. At five inches the boat will still perform well, though not as sprightly as when you are only carrying weekend weight aboard. I have been pretty good at keeping the weight down, which allows me to carry a 400 pound RIB (including motor, gear, and three 33# tanks for the propane outboard). Remember, not all of the glass or resin remains on the boat by the time you have done your finishing. You will probably be just fine. Good work!

[Capt.Timbo]

Roy - Thank you for taking the time to respond in such detail. I have one minor issue, we have no boat lift in the Carrabelle, Fl area that can handle the beam.

We pulled "Wingin' it" out of the water on a 37 foot boat trailer. It was about a two hour ordeal and required the right tide and conditions, to make it up the short boat ramp.

Once we got her over the trailer, we strapped her down with the under-wing hoops and crossed our fingers.

The splash will be no less dramatic, but even more. Once she is in, she's in, so I have one shot at trying to get it right.

I can get exact, if I calculate all my supply orders, but there is approximately 80 gallons of cabosil and 200 yards of Stitch cloth and chop cloth, evenly distributed to the hulls and under-wings. If you look at some of the pictures I've posted, you will see that all 90 degree angles have been filled in and rounded out. My best guess is that I've increased the weight by 1200 to 1500 lbs.

In my layman's mind, I thought raising the waterline about one inch. Some "observers" say she will actually ride higher, because of the new displacement and volume...

[blewett_john]

Capt. Timbo,

Your best bet is to contact John Marples and find out what the Pounds-per-inch-immersion numbers are for your Searunner 40.

Example: if the Pounds-per-inch-immersion for the boat at light displacement is say 1000 pounds then the boat sinks 1" deeper into the water if you add 1000 pounds.

Bear in mind, because the hulls get fuller as they sink deeper into the water the Pounds-per-inch-immersion number continuously changes.

And, wow! Your arms must be ready to fall off with all that sanding!

[Roy M]

Timbo, When you launch the boat, you can mark the waterline with a felt pen. Then, beach the boat at high tide. Water goes out, you scribe the new waterline, and you're good. I assume you meant resin instead of Cabosil, which is a light weight filler/thickener. Did you make the underwing radii out of chopped glass? That doesn't sound like a lightweight solution. May I ask who was providing you with your structural decisions? At any rate, the 40 has a lot of buoyancy. You will probably do just fine unless you are trying to race me (unless I'm loaded for long range cruising).

In the future, focus on keeping everything possible as light as possible. Multihulls, unlike monohulls, are like aircraft. High strength to weight ratios govern our construction methods. I suspect you were relying on the advice of someone with more "traditional" boatbuilding experience. Even with that, excess weight on a monohull, above the keel, is not productive.

And, congratulations! You deserve to play now. A warning, though: should you be comfortably curled in your bunk some night after the launch, and hear some snaps, crackles and pops, it's probably cleaner shrimp clicking their claws, not the fiberglass breaking off the boat. That's from someone who's been there.

By the way, another way to raise the boat out of the water is by using sheets of foam to build up the minikeel thickness and the bottom plank of the hull. Of course it will make your cross sectional area larger and slow the boat a bit, potentially, but it could gain you some carrying capacity without submerging the hulls. Nah!!! You need to go sailing.

[PJOHara]

immersion data for a SR40 is 855 lbs per inch. Epoxy averages about 9lbs/gallon, so if you used 80 gallons of resin with cabosil you're looking at 720 lbs plus the weight of the cabosil. If you used 80 gallons of cabosil it would weigh dramatically less. factor in the weight per yard of the fiberglass fabric and you should have a reasonably close number on the weight. take about 50 lbs off for all the old paint and glass you removed. Maybe leave the boot top stripe off so you can adjust the level or trim of the waterline per Roy's suggestion.

Pat

[Capt.Timbo]

[QUOTE=PJOHara;1727754]immersion data for a SR40 is 855 lbs per inch. Epoxy averages about 9lbs/gallon, so if you used 80 gallons of resin with cabosil you're looking at 720 lbs plus the weight of the cabosil. If you used 80 gallons of cabosil it would weigh dramatically less. factor in the weight per yard of the fiberglass fabric and you should have a reasonably close number on the weight. take about 50 lbs off for all the old paint and glass you removed. Maybe leave the boot top stripe off so you can adjust the level or trim of the waterline per Roy's suggestion.

Pat - Thank you for the immersion data. Looks like we'll be safe by raising it an inch./ We have a total of 45 gallons of Resin, 45 Gallons of Fairing light weight filler, one roll of chop and 1/2 roll of cross stitch. Looks like a jet, hope I didn't turn it into a tank

[Roy M]

WILDERNESS update (since no one has been on this thread for a month, I just wanted to keep it relatively current):

Finally! The decks are all non-skidded and painted and the dinghy rollers are installed permanently. Now I'm stripping tape and cleaning up details. I took a risk which paid off handsomely: I used the 3M blue tape for all my masking over the LPU, which remained for over two months in many places. Through temps in the high seventies (sorry, for those of you in the frigid east and southeast US), occasional rain, and lots of bird poop. The tape is coming off very well. I used some of the green 3M to mask my cabinside fixed ports, but this expensive tape hasn't lived up to its reputation, leaving some residue on the plexi.

I think I may have exhausted the few remaining sources of Sterling LPU in the country. I'm down to one gallon of Moon Dust and a couple gallons of Cloud White, with just enough brushing catalyst to make it all happen. That should make it possible to paint the cabinsides, cockpit and cabintop. I'm recoating all of the hatches (wet hatches and deck hatches), and I'll non-skid those next week. From here on, I'll be using AwlGrip for my cabin soles, and probably the mast and boom.

As soon as I get all the hatches secured, I will begin putting hardware back on deck. This project has taken far longer than I had anticipated. Partly, that's because I had to remove every piece of deck hardware (with the exception of the dock cleats, for obvious reasons). Now I have to put it all back, and the details are a bitch. Polishing the metal, including the screw and bolt heads, before installing, fabricating the rubber gaskets that I use between the stanchion and pulpit pads and the decks, reinstalling the windlass, bow roller, etc., and all of this before I install the new bownets. I'm hopeful to have those done by the end of March.

I used a heavier grade of sand for the non-skid this time, and I'm really glad I did. The deck feels very secure, even when slathered in soapy water. I'll use a much finer grit for the cockpit sole and seats, and the cabintop, because I tend to sit on those surfaces more than the main deck. I'm also very pleased with the dinghy launch/retrieval system. I'll send some pics after I get things cleaned up. I included some foam block chocks to hold my spare composite forklift propane tanks for the Lehr 15 hp on the RIB. The engineering on this thing was a killer, but, fortunately, it worked out even better than my hopes. It's a real addition to this boat, giving me a fast, powerful and easily deployed scout boat to make my adventures even better. And, I was able to keep the weight down in the process. I've also included many secure padeyes and belaying straps to keep the RIB in place in the nastiest of conditions (as well as covers to keep the following seas from turning the RIB into a swimming pool).

Okay, that's it for the update. I've got to get out of bed and get some paint on the hatch lids, then, back to picking masking tape from the deck.