Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[dale d]

Nice upgrade from ZOO <grin> really like the black countertops. More photos please.

[Doggone]

Originally Posted by dale d

Nice upgrade from ZOO <grin> really like the black countertops. More photos please.

Doggone has been a rewarding project. Was a open hull lien sale in'98. Really nice here in Northern Calif Delta. Looking to go back to Sausalito in a couple of weeks for AC 34.

[dale d]

Really nice. Good work.
I finally got Corazon out of the boat yard and into the sea. The first Mexican village I anchored in has a Jim Brown 40 already in residence. These boats are everywhere.

[rossad]

Nice to see that these Searunners are everywhere.... that Lazy Susan is smart. I think i could get some idea's of these pics.
Please send more.

[dale d]

One of the best things about this list is how much we can learn from eachother. Of course some of the members have so very much more to share. The lazy susan for instance. It would have never occurred to me and I imagine on a forty the lockers in the stern castle are cavernous.

[Doggone]

Originally Posted by dale d

One of the best things about this list is how much we can learn from eachother. Of course some of the members have so very much more to share. The lazy susan for instance. It would have never occurred to me and I imagine on a forty the lockers in the stern castle are cavernous.

Something that I have never shared is my success with my auto pilot. After much thought I went with Edson steering system in'99 and have never regretted the expense. About 2k then. I had hoped that if I had a steering system that had the least resistance that I would be able to operate a low voltage ,inexpensive auto pilot right to the cable quadrant. It works, I use a ray marine with the remote display. Over 5,000 miles SF to all over central Mexico and back. Did upgrade to the more expensive ram for the trip back. Dale, I did spend most of the time in Banderas Bay, 01-05. guest of Paradise Village one of the finest marina resort complexes that I have ever seen. A long ways from hanging out in front of the military base in the downtown anchorage in '80 with Zoo....boy we had some fun then, you probably remember my bearded crew mate Lance. Anyway, photos of my modest aft cabin with the auto pilot and without. also I take off the wheel and store it next to the mast using a rubber fishing rod bracket. The flooring in the cockpit is 2"x2" drilled and tied with a knot between each one.....works for me. That is a flat screen that I drilled the stand and bolted it to my steering platform, it doesn't move.

[Captryan23]

I know this is not the classified section, but when I bought the SR 37 "Honeywind" it came with a ton of sails I will probably never use. I have listed all of the sails below I would like to sell if any other SR 37 folks are in need. Of course the SR community will get the discounted rate I can also send pics if desired and ship.

Best,

Stu

Rollerfuring headsail in good shape with a few small rust spots
Luff 36' Leech 29' Foot 17'

Rollerfuring headsail in excellent shape
Luff 42'6"' Leech 40' Foot 24'

Rollerfuring headsail in very good shape with a small rust spot
Luff 30' Leech 28' Foot 20'6"

Storm Sail with Hank-ons in very good shape with a few small rust spots
Luff 18' Leech 14'5" Foot 9'

[clemon]

Hello fellow sufferers of "SeaRunner Syndrome", last summer I replaced a somewhat dodgy marinized Kubota tractor motor in my Searunner 34 with a shiny new shallow sump Beta 20 (also a Kubota) engine. This went rather well, and did not involve any spilling of blood in the boat. (The bank account bled a bit.) I also switched to an alternate blade set on the KiwiProp. So now there's no moment of apprehension about whether the engine will start or not. The Beta engine looks like a pretty good re-power option to me. I'd recommend checking on one if your in the market.
With the new engine in, I'm down to worrying about the remaining issues which haunt Searunner owners as the beat upwind in stormy nights. Specifically, what's the easiest way to figure out if the headstay mount plate is rotting out and needs replacing? And is it possible to get the center board out through the bottom of the trunk, to fix known issues, or does the damned thing have to go out the top, with associated moving of the mast, etc?
Any thoughts on the subject?

[FSMike]

I've never owned a Searunner, but it seems that there are a lot of worries about the centerboard. I'm curious - has anyone ever replaced the centerboard with a daggerboard? Seems like a lot less maintenance headaches if you could make it work.

[Roy M]

Touch bottom with a centerboard, it pops up and aft, rotating on an axle. Then, you pull it back down. Touch bottom with a dagger board, it rams into the back of the daggerboard trunk, then fractures off completely. Now you have no daggerboard and the possibility of a leaking and damaged daggerboard trunk. The only real problems with SR centerboard trunks occurs when folks take shortcuts building them.

I recently built a new, higher tech centerboard with composite materials to replace a solid plywood unit I built thirty five years ago. I will be installing it in a few months, after I make some slight changes to its overall thickness where it passes through the "slot" on the minikeel.

Having spent a fair number of weekends with Norm Cross tied up alongside, and having him visit my Searunnner once a month for four years in the boatyard (there were two Cross tris being built in the neighborhood), I know how nice his boats are, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. I have never regretted building the Brown, but I would probably have built a Cross if I hadn't had the chance to enjoy a Searunner. Different strokes......

[Roy M]

On reflection, I would also have considered a Kantola.....

[Mark Johnson]

I agree strongly with what Roy has said here, and might add...

I did know of a "sort of" Searunner that had a daggerboard rather than a centerboard. It was sailed by a guy that I got to know in my anchorage, when I lived on the hook a mile or so out from Key West Fl.

This boat was a SR 37 that had it's transoms stretched out in a looong slope, about 4 or 5', making it a 41 or 42'er. The amas too, were seriously raked out.

It was mostly built of just 1/4" plywood and TOTALLY empty, so was FAR lighter than ANY SR 37, even considering it's being about a 42'er.

The cockpit was totally dominated by a high aspect daggerboard, that when raised, occupied the entire space forward of the wheel to the mast, and up above eye level. When lowered, this efficient but very fragile daggerboard made the boat draw about 9'!

I was out sailing my hot little SC 28 one day, and had become used to "smoking" all of the competition.
Then, along comes this radical Searunner, (Which I had previously looked all over and knew well), and he flew past me like I was still anchored.

It was VERY fast. It was also a goofy, ill conceived, white elephant! It could not come close to being a 42' racer, and with it being built under spec out of 1/4" ply, and having a radical daggerboard, it was incredibly fragile and no longer "practical". Combined with the daggerboard's dominating the cross over cockpit when raised, and 9' draft when it was down, it was a total waste of time and money, AS FAST AS IT WAS!

The boat's proud owner had sailed her to Key West, ALL the way from CA, where John Marples had surveyed her, saying: "She's not fit to go beyond the Golden Gate Bridge". Since the boat had successfully been on such a long voyage, he concluded that John didn't know what he was talking about. Imo... This intrepid skipper had merely been "lucky". It was not a safe sea boat!

These Searunners are "right down the rational middle", practical cruising boats, not racers. Trying such major changes as these to the designers' concept, is like installing a V-8 engine in a VW Beetle. (It would be faster, but "dangerous" and a really sorry car)!

Except for the rich and famous who can afford "extreme boats" like Chris White's Atlantic 42, then pay for others to repair the occasional damage, Daggerboards do not belong on a "practical cruising boat" design.

Roy pointed out the centerboard's advantages, as have I in the past. THERE ARE NO "SERIOUS" CB MAINTENANCE HEADACHES DESIGNED INTO THESE BOATS! The Searunners that have had problems with their centerboards and/or trunks, had these issues due to underbuilding and/or years of neglect. They don't take to either of these well at all.
We do loose perhaps 4 or 5% of windward ability over a high aspect daggerboard, but that is a small price to pay for the centerboard's superior utility.

I too would probably choose a Cross if I were not "Searunning". Size for size, with their having keels, they may loose 4 or 5% of windward ability over our Searunners, but overall, they take to underglassing and/or neglect better than Searunners do. This is due to their having fewer parts and much less complexity of the entire structure.

It was my penchant for really shallow anchorages in places like the Bahamas or Belize, that made the choice clear for me. Otherwise, a Cross with a less troublesome keel would do just fine. I would not choose to "cruise" on a daggerboard design, however.

Mark

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Roy M

On reflection, I would also have considered a Kantola.....

Agreed Roy, Very nice designs as well. Not many of them out there...

M.

[FSMike]

Goodness.
I am well aware of the design advantages of a centerboard vs. a daggerboard.
I did not intend to start a discussion of Norm Cross designs vs. Jim Brown designs.
All I said was that I noted a lot of comments about problems with the SeaRunner centerboards.
Since I am told that these problems only happen with improperly constructed centerboards, I guess that those comments put anybody with centerboard problems on notice that their boats were improperly constructed.
Anyway, all I wanted to know was if anybody had used daggerboards in their SeaRunners.
Seems to me that a daggerboard could be designed so that when it was in the sailing position it would not be in the way in the cockpit.
When motoring, it would not be a problem raised up in the cockpit since winch access, jibing the main etc., would not be needed.
Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.

[Roy M]

Nobody here seems to get ruffled, and few of us object to talking about good multihull designs. It keeps all of us on our toes and open to new ideas. Since all centerboards and daggerboards are subject to banging into things, they occasionally need repair or replacement. My leading edge is now heavily buttressed with Kevlar. Look out rocks!