Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[Cavalier MK2]

Nice picture Drew. My resolve may be weakening, here we broke the all time record for the most rain from Oct. - April and we still have a few days left! Always something to celebrate.

[rossad]

Same in NZ. We have broken all records with rain also
There is certainly changes in our weather and there always where changes I reckon
Really nice sunsets here every day over the last couple weeks

[Caiters]

My dad purchased a 50' Cross trimaran Nov. 2015 in San Pedro, CA. S/V EPIC

It's huge, the (double sized) beds are between hulls and the side hulls are large enough to walk through! (Water bashes underneath the beds between the hulls so it wasn't always comfortable to sleep between watches)

There's a center cockpit which is pretty much completely enclosed, and when standing between beds it's easy to see bow to stern and port to starboard. Very open feeling while still being completely enclosed! Theres an aft cabin separated from the fore via the cockpit. It feels more like an apartment than a boat if you're used to a monohull.

I love monohulls. Never been seasick on one but the trimaran had an awkward turtle movement, jerking from side to side. So while we could leave a cup of coffee out without it spilling or tipping over, it took me 2 weeks to get over the nausea.

We took it from MX to NZ last year, he's currently on his way to Fiji. It's a huge project since trimarans aren't popular it was pretty run down when we got our hands on her, but as his only boat in decades it's worth it to him

[rossad]

Interesting Caiters.
Sounds like a very large trimaran at 50ft.
Im not sure about such large vessels any more for me anyway
There are places i like to go into with my 37ft tri that anything bigger i probably couldn't.
And also just maintenance time and money on a larger vessel means less time on the water.
Humans but not all seem to go bigger is best. Biting more than we can actually chew.

[blewett_john]

Here are the plans for summer 2017:

As you know I left the boat in the RI boatyard over the winter. It just got too late in the season last year. So, this year I plan to arrive in RI the first week of June to get the boat ready for the trip south.

Things to do:
- install the engines lower, start them to make sure all is well with them, I am concerned that with the lighter weight of the boat that they may be too high out of the water. The engines consist of a 15hp outboard on each side of the boat mounted even with the forward end of the aft cabin
- epoxy together some of the steering components, I am concerned the screws may not be enough
- fill the bilge with water to make sure the boat is not leaking
- check all the electronics
- check all the other systems
- restock the food supplies

The trip:
- I hope to leave by 8 June. The trip should take about 5 weeks. Hopefully I will have crew from Newport to Norfolk (via Long Island Sound and New York City), and then alone from Norfolk to Tampa. The only offshore leg will be New York City to Norfolk, the rest of the trip will be either in Long Island Sound or the Intracoastal Waterway.
- During the trip I hope to do some upgrades to the insides of the cabins, mostly the aft cabin. Right now the boat interior is an ugly dark blue house paint. That will go away and be replaced with white and a vary light blue.
- I would also like to install spinnaker launchers in each ama and a launchable bow sprit.

Arrival in Apollo Beach, FL:
- get the mooring installed
- secure the boat on the mooring
- brief the Tampa Sailing Squadron sea scouts on the boat and then let them use it in exchange for watching over it while I wander the country in the new motorhome

All should be interesting! (pictures can be seen at the link below)

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by rossad

Interesting Caiters.
Sounds like a very large trimaran at 50ft.
Im not sure about such large vessels any more for me anyway
There are places i like to go into with my 37ft tri that anything bigger i probably couldn't.
And also just maintenance time and money on a larger vessel means less time on the water.
Humans but not all seem to go bigger is best. Biting more than we can actually chew.

Bigger is not often better. If 37 does it, stick with it. A 37ft. tri. should take you anyplace you wish to go.

[Cavalier MK2]

Originally Posted by rossad

Same in NZ. We have broken all records with rain also
There is certainly changes in our weather and there always where changes I reckon
Really nice sunsets here every day over the last couple weeks

I suppose it is because we are each getting the fallout from our respective melting ice caps. Fall through spring has been really wet here. What is worrying me is you are talking about your summer? Shrinking boat work windows ......

[steve ripples]

Searunner 37 project for sale (NOT mine)

Roaming the net in search of trimaran stuff, as you do, I found this on the Toronto Multihull Cruising Club classifieds, updated as at April 30th 2017 so should be in date. Listing is very brief and reads as follows:-

"Searunner 37' It is stripped to the bare wood. It needs work. It comes with mast, sails , a universal 4 , it can float. Must be removed by first Saturday in May. It is lying at Toronto hydroplane and sailing club. You can contact me (James brown) at 4165785230."

I have no other information on this and post it here simply in the hope it might turn out well...

[Redreuben]

No rain at all here in Perth for April, our Autumn, 4th time this has happened in the last 140 years, last time was 1982.
Makes for a pleasant Indian summer but not good for the gardens, woodlands and water storage.

[Cavalier MK2]

We'll trade you some of ours for that sunshine.

[Redreuben]

Sorry Cav, no rain, I'll make do, no Sunshine is the pits.

[Redreuben]

I came to Perth in 1987 for the America's Cup, first winter I was here I couldn't believe it, it seemed to only rain at night. Paradise !

[Cavalier MK2]

Yeah, thanks for watching out for us. Sunshine, who'd want to go there....

[Redreuben]

Well, you have scenery as opposed to desert !

[owly]

I'm new to this forum... and new to multihulls. My ambitions are probably a bit "out there" by most people's standards. I'm planning a long term (many years) foray on the high seas. It will inevitably involve circumnavigation, though that is NOT the specific goal. The goal is to see the world. To steal the title of my favorite jurist, William O Douglas...... to experience "strange lands and friendly faces". The allotted time frame....... as much as the rest of my natural life. Age 62 in a few months.
What I do know is that I want a comfortable platform that doesn't have me living on my ear all the time, or dealing with the sickening metronomical rolling so common in monohulls running down wind, and I want relative comfort at anchor. I want shallow draft, and a rig that is virtually effortless to handle.
I expect to be single handing. I don't need a million dollar seagoing condo, nor do I need or want a racing boat. I want something I can afford to walk away from if necessary, something I can afford to maintain without breaking the budget. Something of a construction I am comfortable with.

All this leads me to the Searunner 31....... or perhaps the 34, though the 31 is common, proven, and inexpensive. The 37 is pretty much out..... It's just too big, and there is much to be said for the open wing of the typical 31. Two of the 5 31's I know of which are currently available are full wing.

Now comes the fun part...........the rig. I am determined to fly some sort of cambered junk rig, probably a split junk or an aerojunk. Here I part company with almost everybody, and there are numerous arguments against this rig..... I'm absolutely deaf to all of them......period. Don't waste your time trying to talk me into sticking with the stock Bermuda cutter rig. It is non-negotiable.

The problems........... The need to step a free standing mast forward of the original location is the only real problem here. The location will be just forward of the main strength bulkhead in the dressing room, offset to port about 10".
The junk rig has a reputation of being a "slow" rig..... Undeservedly, as modern cambered and split junk rigs hold their own against Bermuda rigs on all points of sail.
It will be a low aspect ratio rig, with sail area similar to the Bermuda rig if you exclude one of the foresails.
Mast location is NOT ideal, and provision will need to be made to compensate for the center of effort being a bit farther aft than desirable. Not a huge challenge, and I have a number of solutions.
There are a number of threads on junk rig multihulls in various places, but almost none in existence. A few small ones and one Dragonfly, so this is a foray into never never land, but my no means an uninformed foray.

The reasons..... A junk rig is the simplest easiest rig to sail bar none. It uses an unstayed mast, which eliminates a huge number of components, any one of which can bring the rig down. The rig is "balanced" to some extent, enough that tacks and jibes are non events. There are no headsails to deal with, and essentially no deck work. Reefing is a matter of letting go the halyard. The sail is very lightly loaded as the load is between each set of battens, not the whole sail. A rip in one panel does not effect the rest of the sail. Tacking involves putting over the rudder....not much else. There is no need of a vang or kicking strap, winches are not necessary, no traveler, preventer, etc. Sail design is simple enough that you can stitch one up yourself from almost any material available.
I want to be able to cross the ocean in bedroom slippers... to paraphrase Blondie Hasler from the 1960 Ostar. The ability to reef without spilling your coffee..... which is in your other hand, appeals to me. I'm not interested in exhausting myself changing sails and clambering about on deck tying in reefs. There are enough things to absorb your energy when a real crisis comes along.

Liabilities........ Few folks understand the junk rig, simple though it is. Lack of much in the way of methods to balance the rig due to a single sail.


H.W.