Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[Jmolan]

I can't leave out the bunks! They are port and stdb. obviously. they are separate from any of the other boat functions. Make for a nice place to escape to for a siesta. Again it is centered in the boat gyro motion area. Another plus.
Next couple shots make the boat whole. You can see the vent windows that are located next to the head in the first shot. Last shot shows me the "wholeness" of the design. I think it is brilliant. The eliminated so many negatives by going with a central cockpit and centerboard. Made the boat first to sail, then packed in the accommodations, which were not compromised by a big bulkhead to support the mast.
As you can tell I like my boat. It has been a very satisfying relationship so far. Not always easy, but all good.

[Maren]

Originally Posted by Jmolan

I can't leave out the bunks! ...
As you can tell I like my boat. It has been a very satisfying relationship so far. Not always easy, but all good.

Nice!

I've been waiting for someone to place some interior shots. Those are really good looking, as is rigging shots.

...which makes me wonder how wide the bunks are...

... which reminds me I had better order a set of drawings pretty soon!

Thanks for the reminder

[Jmolan]

Originally Posted by Maren

Nice!

I've been waiting for someone to place some interior shots. Those are really good looking, as is rigging shots.

...which makes me wonder how wide the bunks are...

... which reminds me I had better order a set of drawings pretty soon!

Thanks for the reminder

Maren. this boat was built with both bunks being doubles. I have see 34's that made the Stbd bunk a single and made a nav station of sorts. I failed to mention in the sterncastle under the table is another set of cushions. You can slide the table back and hinge up the seats to make another double, by sliding out the front cushion. I will probably never use it but the Admiral wanted to have it in place. I will make em' sleep in the cockpit or out on the bow nets or tunnel nets....A regular boat ghetto

[Maren]

Originally Posted by Jmolan

Maren. this boat was built with both bunks being doubles. I have see 34's that made the Stbd bunk a single and made a nav station of sorts.

I think mine is set up like yours, only much much less developed. Or perhaps de-developed is better since the whole thing was gutted in order to be a test platform.

As for the other photos (the cockpit, the galley, and the other shots on the previous page).. I totally missed them. So I am even more impressed with the whole thing.

Mind if I ask a few questions though?

1. In the galley sink photo (turned sideways) there is an object right below the panel. What is that?

2. Where are the controls for the galley faucets?

3. How is the ventilation, especially in the amas?

4. (speaking of which) is that a vent pointed downward on the binnacle?

I'll have more (if you are willing) but work has been keeping really busy lately.

[Jmolan]

Mind if I ask a few questions though?

1. In the galley sink photo (turned sideways) there is an object right below the panel. What is that?

That is a lunar lander...nah it is a flashlight I got for Christmas.

2. Where are the controls for the galley faucets?

On the floor, they are foot pumps, Fresh and Salt water

3. How is the ventilation, especially in the amas?

I have a scoop on each end of the Ama's I can turn it Fwd. while at anchor, and I have it turned down on the tailer to keep the rain out. On the sterns I have the same vent turned backward. It works really well to keep things Dry and ventilated. By the way you can take the scoops off and replace it with a plate.

4. (speaking of which) is that a vent pointed downward on the binnacle?

Yes it is, it is one a guy gave me so I threw it in there, not really needed.


I'll have more (if you are willing) but work has been keeping really busy lately.
__________________I will be around a few more days, then I will be out of contact most of the next two months.

[Jmolan]

I did a write up ditty here

Small Trimarans

[Rann]

Jack,

Kudos to you for all the pictures and text you have put on this forum and elsewhere. I am visiting my mother's home in Hesperia, California, and it is the first time I have been able to get on line in over a week. I really miss not being connected!

I will give you and this forum an update on ETAK's progress (or lack thereof) when I have time to sit down at my leisure at the keyboard. All your pictures from your earliest posts to the most current one will be going into a Corazon file for future reference.

Maren, when I have time I will comply with your earlier requests for interior shots, even in the rough state, so you will have lots of ideas to draw from.

Rann

[clemon]

I've got a trivia question. I've got a Searunner 34 tri. It's got two through hull fittings about 13mm dia buried deep down at near the bottom of the trunk holding the swing keel, roughly below the mast set and about 1.5meter below the hinge pin for the keel. THere's one on each side. The only thing I can figure is that the original planned engine installation required them. They're so hard to get to it seems unlikely for a sea water feed though, as getting to the shut off would be a major effort.

Anyone else with a searunner have any idea what they were for? The boat appears to be well built, and to plan. The fittings are beast to get to, and one of mine is seeping. I'm debating how to get to the fitting, which cutting a hole through the hull during the next haul out as the least complicated option so far.

The boat is a lot of fun, aside from the occasional discovery of mystery features, and sails pretty well.

Thanks

[Jmolan]

Welcome Clemon!

I am currently on a cruise in the Sea of Cortez myself on 34'. This fittings you mention sound like what I thought WAS the hinge fittings for the centerboard. I do not recall any other fittings in that area so i figured it had to be the hinge pin......
And I whole heartedly agree, they are next to impossible to service to get at. i am considering enlarging the holes into those ares and using a plywood doubler around the outside of the bigger opening to make them more human friendly. They are for a very small kid to get and out of. Too bad because they are such a big low down space to utilize for heavy stuff.
I would normally go right down and check my fittings and I will look for any others. But it is getting how and not much of a breeze, so I will wait till morning maybe.........:-)
MAybe if Rann gets on here he can look at the original drawings and help us out as to where the board hinges.
Did you just recently get your boat? Good on ya mate!

[Roy M]

Yes, they are the housing for the "axle gland", simple threaded throughhulls (mine are Delrin, thirty plus years old, and in excellent condition). They commonly have pipe caps sealing them. When you are hauled out, remove the caps, support the centerboard with blocks from the underside, fore and aft, then drive the centerboard "axle" out with a punch, screwdriver, or whatever. Then you can remove the centerboard out through the cockpit using the main halyard. Replacing the centeboard is sometimes a challenge, trying to align the hole with the throughhull axle ports. Just seal the threads and screw the caps back on.

As for access to these puppies, I'm a big guy. When I built my Searunner 40, I made the floorboards surrounding the centerboard trunk completely removeable. The floorboards have reinforcing bracing to spread the considerable load from the trunk to the hull sides. I plan on replacing these floorboards in a couple months with polyurethane foam floorboards, supported by aluminum square tube stringers (for the regular floorboards) and a removeable aluminum truss on each side of the forward centerboard floorboards. The originals were 2X4's, epoxied flat to the underside of 3/4" floorboards. Changing all the floorboards will save me the weight that I'll be adding with a 10 foot RIB dinghy.

[clemon]

Thanks JMolan and Roy M.

I should have been more descriptive, these are WAY down low, below the hinge pin, only about 40CM up from the keel. They are even worse to get to than the Hinge pin. Must be some strange "Feature" for this boat. I've got the same problem with very small access ports into the area under the Mast Step, which I will probably end up widening. I tried to get my (petite) daughter to shoehorn herself into the area, but she didn't quite fit. I suggested later that she try again, but she's a law student and said she'd rather spend a day researching case law on child abuse and labor law, so I figure I should look at other options.
I'm not sure that doubling around enlarged access ports is critical, but I'll probably do it anyway.
Yes, I just got the boat about 8 months ago; it had been neglected for about 5 years. The amount of work I had to do to get it working initially sounds like something out of a magazine article, which maybe I'll write. I'm happy that the Ply/Glass structure is easy to fix, as I've had some adventures with wood rot, and hitting a dock. All in all I really like it. The tight interior space is more then compensated for by the way you can spread out on deck, or hide out up in the bunks. A really clever design.

[Cadence]

Roy,
I'm just curious. I had bought a 31. The former owner said it was possible to remove the axle pin and centerboard while afloat, he had done it. I no longer have the boat but someone else may benefit from it.

Seems it would be a plus if you really hard grounded the centerboard and it needed repair.

[Jmolan]

I removed the board outta' my 37' while in the water. Biggest problem ws getting enough weight on it to get it to sink or at least be neutral to get it out of the box and under the boat to float it out.. I had help. We C clamped a bunch of diving weights on it and when I go it on the dock I was blown away at how massive it is. With the caps it only leaked a bit. But the 37' you could get to the pins. On this 34' I am not so sure.......I mean it is tight!
need to remove my 34's board, It will take some measuring but I believe they designed it to come out the top with a (strong) halyard. I may have to remove my binnacle.

[Roy M]

A lot of the boards begin to crack and absorb water over time. I'm on my second one and will be building a new, higher tech centerboard in a few months to replace it. They are a challenge to fit the axle when conditions are well controlled in a boatyard. Trying to find the aperture for the axle to fit in, while the board is bouncing, the boat rolling, and water rushing into the hull from a hole about a foot underwater, can be downright entertaining. Best to do it in the yard or when beached in a quiet cove.

[clemon]

Notes on the center board on the 34.
The leaking fixture I have is the hinge. I dug out some drawings and yeah verily, there's the pin. The previous owner mentioned he had dropped the board out the bottom when the boat was in the water. I didn't catch what he did to keep the water out. Resealing the lot up when he was done apparently wasn't done quite right.
Sounds like pulling the board out the top while hauled out will be less exciting than the alternative.
So the to do list grows incrementally longer.