Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[slowbat]

I decided to convert the Gen, Yankee, and Stay Sails to luff tape and add sunbrella as the UV guard. For the storm sail I went with a conversion like the ATN Gale Sail. It adds a hank-on sock to the luff and you hoist it over the rolled up sail. I will report how it works when I get it finished up.
Thanks

[Tusitala]

Dan, Looks really good, and easy to use. What type of furling gear did you end up installing?

Pat

[longjonsilver]

Originally Posted by slowbat

For the storm sail I went with a conversion like the ATN Gale Sail. It adds a hank-on sock to the luff and you hoist it over the rolled up sail. I will report how it works when I get it finished up.

Very interesting concept. i'm very interested in your report. What do you do with the jib sheets?
jon

[buoyracer]

Seems everyone busy sailing xmas time-
yeh our sr 34 cutter rig so run old furler headsl but a hanked staysl- so yep the storm jib hanked. Mod furlers pretty convenient but gimme hanked for any offshore stuff. Also have my pocket hanky trysl for my freedom rig that can use up front round furler as backup. The wrap around clew to clew v efficient with the foil shape. Only drawback is setting in major breeze- need to throw around & tension foot with sheet b4 cranking haly'd. All more controllable if flake sail clew out to clew & woolled.
Vanes... Just scored an old atoms pendulum- prob just flip another tiller aft off stock & scissor lines to that- easypeasy.
Typical wind against tide beat other day- despite wifes better judgement as usual not reefed enuf & boat on ear massive crashes as seas tried to break lee’wd wing- [I still thrash her to windward like a mono hull & go too fast] then huge crunch- tree or hard headed penguin came right thru- all wifes locker contents swimming- “see!” She sez. Sigh. More repairs... happy sailing all

[Boatguy30]

Mark, great to hear you using the boat. No worries in the 4hp. Hope to raft up alongside later this year !

[DreamBig]

Hello everyone, I am looking for anyone that owns a Norman Cross, and has plans. I have a Cross 38, new to me, needs a bunch of deck work, and possible more. I would like to have an Idea of how Mr. Cross wanted his boats built, and would like to have a look at some plans, Mine is a Ketch rig and spade rudder with LAR keel. I have searched the inter web and noticed that plans for Crosses might have disappeared with some guy that evidently vanished. I have a few issues that need to be attended to and would like to see how the areas were drawn up. Thanks in advance.

[Dsanduril]

I have the plans for a Cross 40 (which is a stretched 38). They were used to build a boat 45 years ago, spent 2+ years getting torn up and abused, and are overall not in good shape. But I’ll pull them out this weekend and see how much is legible. Just don’t want to set expectations too high.

I do know that some sets of plans got collected at a maritime museum on the east coast. Mystic Seaport?

[DreamBig]

Hey, that would be awesome! I will look into Mystic Seaport Museum. Let me know what you find out on those plans you have. Kind of like having a service manual for an old car. If your going to do the work yourself, you might as well do it correctly, and how the engineers drew it up. Do you have a Cross 40 currently?

Cheers,
James

[thatguyrob]

Hey Everyone

I am looking for some ideas to mount an outboard onto my Searunner 37...... Pictures would be appreciated, thanks

I will post pics when I am back at the boat

[Dsanduril]

@DreamBig
Below are some thumbnails of the plans I have. The full size images and more complete set can be downloaded here (don't know how long I'll have the link up, if anyone else needs them in the future PM me). They're about 4MB per photo. As you can see, the right side of each sheet is quite faded and torn up. In person you can make out more with the plans in front of you, I'd be happy to mail them to Texas as long as I can get them back.

There isn't a lot of detail on the deck framing, but basically it was a 1"x3" (true dimension) stringer at 16" centers. For the main cabin coach roof these ran across the boat. On the amas decks these were ran fore-and-aft and were notched into the frames. So really only one fore-and-aft stringer on each ama, then supported at the outer and inner edges of the hull. The deck was then covered with 3/8" marine ply.

Our boat was the cutter version so the mast was stepped in the middle of the coachroof (on the ketch it is stepped on the main beam). We had a compression post inside that went down to the keel. The roof itself was essentially un-reinforced here. About an 18" square base above deck and a box of the 1x3 below deck, but nothing significant - the load was carried by the compression post.

Sadly we no longer own the boat. My family (mostly my dad) built her in the 70s and we owned her for 40 years. Did two circumnavigations, a couple of laps of the Pacific, a tour of the Caribbean, and any number of other adventures. As we got older we decided we wanted a few more creature comforts than could be accommodated in that boat, but we miss her every day. She is currently (last I heard) in the Sea of Cortez enjoying Mexico and doing occasional charter work with her new owners.







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[Roy M]

Hi James, and welcome. Don (dsanduril) is an excellent resource for this boat. Where do you live? I ask because San Diego was the home of Norm Cross. I knew him pretty well, spent many hours chatting with him when he would visit Los Angeles where I was building my Searunner. Later, I launched and moved to San Diego, where I got to know Norm much better. My next door neighbor at my marina, owned a sister ship to ANDURIL, named THESIS. It was the product of a teacher who got his master's degree in industrial arts at San Diego State University. I used to read the thesis while waiting for my wife to finish teaching there. Later, the new owner hired me to do some work on the boat. The best local knowledge is my friend Bob Dixon, who probably knows more about Cross boats than anyone living. He crewed on CRUSADER (later named CYSTIC FIBROSIS CRUSADER) which attempted, back in the eighties to beat the clipper ship record from New York to San Francisco. It dismasted after rounding Cape Horn, and got destroyed during the salvage operation. Bob just gave me permission for you to have his phone number, so send me a private message and I'll pass it along.

By the way, the new owner, at the time, was the father of the guy who Norm's widow gave all his plans and documents. That guy had some problems and disappeared.

[DreamBig]

So awesome, Thanks for the link downloaded them all. I will Pm you later with some questions about the drawings and such. @Roy, I will pm you, also. I could only imagine the conversations that you and Norm had. I had the pleasure of speaking with John Marples a few years back, when I was looking at buying a Searunner 37. The information and stories he had were amazing. Thank you for the resources, it will sure will be a help to getting her back to perfect. Did Mr. Cross ever design a self steering like the Brown did for the Searunners? I have heard that the Brown design worked great, while many production type struggle with trimarans.

Any truths or knowledge that could be shared on that topic?

Also, this boat, which currently is "nameless" has the most water intrusion around chain-plates through cabin top, and cabin top to deck area. I am sure it is a trickle down effect from the leaks in the chain-plates in the cabin tops. Is there a better way to seal or re-construct these areas, as to not have persistent problems at those locations?

Have very small seep in rudder gland seal, coming in out of top, by rudder post. How much concern should I have in this area?
Is this common?

Should rudder be pulled on haul out and inspect wood surrounding rudder area?

Thanks again for all the info.... priceless!!!

Cheers,

James

[dcruz99801]

A possible contact is in San Carlos (just outside Guaymas, Sonora, Mexico on the Sea of Cortez). His name is Denny, and his Cross 38 is a glass/foam version.


Sorry I can't give you more info but I just left San Carlos. You might try posting a 'shout-out' on vivasancarlos.blogspot.com or www.sancarlosmexico.com . There's a radio net every morning and someone should be able to raise him.


Another Cross 38 owner is Milt, who owns the Casa Buena B&B in La Paz; his boat is sitting across the street from the B&B and he is <slowly> refurbishing her. One interesting thing he has installed is a CV-joint-based system for coupling his shaft, while reducing its single-run length into two shorter segments; it reduces noise/vibration and makes alignment almost an afterthought.


Hope these help.

[DreamBig]

Great!! Thank you Dcruz99801. I have always wondered why a universal or cv joint and a couple of pillar block bearing wasn't used to make alignment an ease. I would guess it is one more thing to break, and space can be limited. Thanks for the info. I will look them up.

Cheers
James

[Dsanduril]

James,

I don’t know of any Cross design for a windvane. The Searunner was a trim tab on the back of the transom hung rudder and quite successful. The Cross spade rudder doesn’t lend itself to that design. I know a few boats that had an auxiliary rudder style and it worked, we never had one. With four people on board most of the time we just hand steered. The boat also balanced quite well, we could put the brake on the wheel and go for long periods (days a couple of times).

The chainplates through the roof have always been a problem. A cover plate with a slot topside and some really good, flexible sealant. Butyl tape is my favorite now. Have to create a bit of a “well” for the sealant under the cover plate so the thickness of the sealant is enough to allow the required stretch.

Is the rudder leak at the rudder shaft? That was usually a stuffing box. Or is it from the join of the box to the hull?