Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[joewvr12]

Boat is in idaho...... even further from mexico. I wanted to get a look at a completed one closer to me in new mexico before i go to idaho. I want small, simple, safe and practical.

[joewvr12]

I think i unsubscribed from this thread. I need and want to be on it. Keep info coming. I appreciate ALL input borh negative and positive. Looking at buying a project searunner 31 but trying to find a completed one near me in new mexico to look at.

[owly]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

You literally can’t walk thru a SR31. They are very small boats with a big footprint.

Not saying this to discourage you or to knock Jim, but it’s more and more a boat for a different time. Marina rates just have gone up 15% near me and multihull berths were already hard to come by.

What nonsense..."you can't walk through a SR31".... There are areas you cannot stand up in, and areas you can't. The berth area is a stoop area, the dressing room a stand up area, the galley a stand up area, and the saloon a stoop and sit area. Clearly you cannot stroll through the boat side by side, and as you say it's a small boat with a big footprint, but that is true of ALL small multihulls. The benefits of a multihull do not come without a cost, and if one plans to spend one's time tied up in a slip as most folks do, a monohull is a better choice. Personally I see the SR31 as lacking mainly in payload... but I'm inherently a solo, and have an aversion to living in a trailer park, weather it be land or sea. The huge benefit to something like a SR31 to me is that you can exist comfortably at anchor in places where monohullers either can't go or are not comfortable due to rolling. If you need marina services... regular pump outs, running water, power, easy shore access.... a monohull is definitely what you want. If money is no object... a condocat.

[Boatguy30]

Originally Posted by joewvr12

Thank you for your input. All offered is very good info. And nothing is offensive. Luckily , i have access to a free anchorage in mexico at my wifes hometown. I couldnt afford a dinghy slip in the states. Trailering it down is one of the reasons it seems like a decent possibility. I also have some great Mexican friends who are artists in fiberglass boat work. What i mess up they will laugh and happily fix.

Cool, where at?
I’ll drop the hook nearby sometime and check it out.

My comments coming after living aboard with 2 other adults on Scrimshaw for 6 days, also owning a 34, doing extensive repairs on a 37 and almost buying SR 40 Maxolar but did very poorly on my survey. They are good Mexico boats for sure.

[Kaimana]

Originally Posted by joewvr12

I am looking seriously at a searunner 31 project. .... Owner asking for $9000 with lots of rot work completed,

Having built two SeaRunners personally, a 25 and a 37, plus a 56-footer that looked a lot like a SeaRunner underwater, and having built and repaired boats professionally for most of the last 40 years, here's what I think.

Watch out when people say "I finished most of the rot work".

Here's the problem: unless you know the boat intimately, OR have had the "bad" marine surveyor come survey it (you know, the one you DON'T want surveying your boat when you sell it), then you or the owner will have missed rot spots. Rot doesn't start overnight; it's a result of poor construction and/or poor maintenance when the cracks started showing up. And if you find some, there's more that is simply at an early stage that hasn't become glaringly obvious yet.

Properly built, a SeaRunner is waterproof from the deck down to the keel, and unless you get a ding through the glass and don't repair it, there's nowhere for rot to get a toehold. However, poor glassing, oversanding and making thin glass, not enough epoxy or bedding compound, or cheap bedding compound used in the course of construction, as well as damage poorly repaired, are all ways fresh water starts getting into the boat and turning into rot.

I've looked at two Searunners with thoughts of purchase, but both boats, even though one was professionally-built, and the other built by someone who'd built a SeaRunner 31 before, were shot through with rot pockets. They both had gone through years of uncaring owners who didn't do any maintenance on them.

So, your $9,000 boat? Run away, run away! Or get that "bad" surveyor and save yourself a nightmare on Boat Street.

With Warm Aloha, Tim

[joewvr12]

Thanks tim. My background includes the rebuilding of 70 yo airplanes often completely rotten from the inside out. I am not trying to compare steel tube and fabric to plywood and glass but i do suffer from the idiots voyage of “i can fix anything”. You offer great experiential advice but my next question is? Should i start from scratch? Continue looking for a reasonably sound 31? Forget homebuilt? Never go sailing? What if the price is halved? Would you consider looking at some pics and extending your opinion based on photos? I am not asking for a free survey. I give you credit because you “have been there” and value what you say. I am trying to collect info across the board and i thank you for yours

[Kaimana]

Originally Posted by joewvr12

Thanks tim. My background includes the rebuilding of 70 yo airplanes ..... i thank you for yours

Alohs Joewvr

Thanks for the kudos. The problem with rot is that it is often invisible until it's too late.

A trickle of water runs down alongside a mast tang that's installed on a hollow sandwich main strength bulkhead; and it doesn't emerge inside the boat where you can see it and do something about it, it emerges inside the bulkhead. It's invisible for years there until you thump the bulkhead one day with your hand and it goes boof instead of a good solid thump!

Repairing is often at least as difficult as building SeaRunners. It's always a balance between funds and time; you need to decide what you have the most of and utilize that. It also depends on what kind of sailing you plan to do: if you're headed offshore for years, you need a boat that is as good as brand-new.

If you're planning on coastal cruising in relatively populated areas, where a disaster isn't as much of a disaster as 1,000 miles offshore, you can afford to go out in a boat that may have some questionable areas. But you still want to be real careful about this; if a questionable area has a chainplate near it, and that chainplate lets go and drops the mast on your or your beloved, it wasn't worth it.

Also, although my SeaRunner 37 was my favorite trimaran ever, and it took me only a year to build (she was cosmetically rough but structurally near perfect), and SeaRunners are almost impossible to beat for sailing enjoyment, speed, and comfort, I recognize it often takes others much longer.

With that in mind, you might consider building a Marples SeaClipper, which are simpler boats than SeaRunners, with far fewer pieces.
I've got a Marples SeaClipper 28 in my front yard here in Hawaii; we bought it after it went on the rocks and tore up the bottom. We put in a new bottom, centerboard trunk, centerboard, minikeel, and other small repairs. We're on a waiting list for a slip, then we'll put her in the water and have another boat for our family to learn to sail on. But repairing her, I got to like the design and philosophy of the SeaClipper line of boat designs.

So, unless you can luck into a 31 or 37 in really good shape for what you can afford, what I'd suggest is to build yourself a boat. Get in touch with John Marples (https://www.searunner.com/index.php), and talk to him about Searunners and SeaClippers.

With Warm Aloha, Tim

[trimar009]

I/we had a Piver Victress series at 41' length X 22' beam. We sailed her (Sorceress) and lived aboard for 22.5 years and raised our daughter at sea. The only down side was a place to berth her. It took us 6 years to obtain a slip in Keehi Lagoon, Hawaii and another 5 years to get to Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu. We sailed inter-island mostly because they were more boater friendly than the folks in town. Loved the Sorceress and would still be aboard if not for family illness' on the mainland. SAIL UPRIGHT is the only way to go.
Have a great sailing adventure, we did.

[joewvr12]

I am now entertaining the idea of hiring a qualified surveyor to check out my possible searunner 31 project buy. Anyone out there that can recommend a knowledgeable person in old wooden trimarans in the Northwest area. Specifically idaho Maybe i can meet them at the boat and learn something.

[snort]

Originally Posted by joewvr12

I am now entertaining the idea of hiring a qualified surveyor to check out my possible searunner 31 project buy. Anyone out there that can recommend a knowledgeable person in old wooden trimarans in the Northwest area. Specifically idaho Maybe i can meet them at the boat and learn something.

If I were you, I'd pick up a book by Don Casey, learn to use a moisture meter, and a lightweight hammer of some sort (I use the back end of a screwdriver for sounding wood).
Boatpoker has a good website (member on this site).
Check out videos. I'm sure they exist on youtube.

It's really not at all difficult to survey a boat. Practice on boats for sale in your area and your skills will improve to such an extent that you'll know within a few minutes if they boat is worth investigating further or is too trashed to bother with.

[joewvr12]

Thanks snort. I will check out caseys book. My problem is that i have often overvalued my abilities ( more the money and time, I have the skills)to repair things like houses, cars, airplanes, and boats. I have a hard time talking myself out of any potential project no matter what shape the thing is. I was thinking maybe a professional surveyor could make a better call. I was born with rose colored glasses. Lol.

[joewvr12]

To compound my delimma i just found a listing for a neglected seaclipper 34in la paz mexico which is where we will be based out of. My wife is from la paz. I am sending my family over to take pics and look. They are not boat people but can see rotten wood. 18k asking price seems way high but maybe its a real diamond! Lol

[thatguyrob]

Need details for the starboard ama bow and back about 4 feet. My blueprints are stuck in the mail in Montreal and I have a carpenter working on it but he is unsure of some details any help would be appreciated. It is a Searunner 37. Thanks all this thread has been helpful

[thatguyrob]

I meant the port ama, what is wrong with my head today

[Roy M]

Update on WILDERNESS: Just finished the first coat of LPU on the cockpit, sole, cockpit hatches, companionway hatches and coamings. One more sanding with 220 grit, then the final base coat next Thursday and Friday. It's already gorgeous, but the final base coat, followed by the nonskid, will really make eyeballs pop. I decided to make the extra effort and expense because the cockpit is where it's all happening, in bright sun, and full, clear view. And after 43 years of enjoyment, I'm taking it on as many cruises as I can manage, and not have to make repairs in exotic locales.

Next steps are reinstalling the steering pedestal, engine controls and instruments, and installing the upgraded deck gear. The new Selden mast, rigging, and sails will happen this summer. It will be so much more fun than all the work I did over the pandemic. At least the social distancing meant fewer distractions of lookie loos. Then, this autumn and winter will be spent doing the interior upgrades and refinishing. It was the smartest decision I ever made to build the boat with West System, to use Linear Polyurethane paint, and to keep reinvesting in the boat over the years. The structure is solid, and keeping up the regular maintenance has kept it so. The boat looks better today than when I launched it. And, as I age, I make the boat more comfortable and pleasure able to continue adventuring. Smartest move I ever made, to build, and improve a Searunner. Thank you, Jim Brown, and all the great folks who guided and inspired me to set out to sail over the horizon, and to return safely to my home port.