Hey everyone!
My wife and I are both 35 years old and just traded my 91 Jeep Wrangler for a 1971 Horstman 39'
Trimaran. She has a 23' wide beam and has had quite a bit of
work done... and from what I can tell, needs quite a bit of TLC too. We feel like even if we have to put in a ton of
work. We hope it's not $30k but even then we still came out ahead on the
trade. Obviously we're not in it to make financially smart choices but we want some fun and there's no turning back! We're determined to have our fun! From what I've gathered, the previous owner used it only as a floating condo for their daughter while she was in
school. They painted the bottom 3 years ago but with their neglect, they let it get bad! They now live 1000 miles away and after some wheeling and dealing, they were eventually willing to take the hit on the
trade just to get the pit off their
books. I think they tried for a couple years but were asking $45k(way too much) for it and didn't even

before showing it. Just makes me think there's most likely more to it than the eyes can see.
My buddy and I cleaned the bottom yesterday and I found areas where there was no
bottom paint anymore. I've heard it should be done every 6ish years but if you don't take care of it, it won't take care of you. I didn't feel soft spots and maybe the
paint came off with our
cleaning but I now know it's going to have to come out soon. Not sure how long soon needs to be but I'm not really trying to gamble on it. I plan on getting a
survey done asap but was wondering if I just pull it out and get it done while on dry
dock or have it done asap in the
water and plan out the pull a little better in case it needs something else. Maybe wait til summer ends and dry
dock prices drop? I assume, the longer I wait, it could get exponentially worse.
I just remodeled our townhouse including sub
flooring in a few rooms, a ton of drywall work, stripping popcorn ceilings and orange peeling the ceiling, and basicall all the other joys of being a homeowner. Our
project home is done though! With that said, I'm fairly handy with woodwork and have repaired many
fiberglass surfboards....so I also know
fiberglass work on a much smaller scale. I understand boats are pretty much the same as a home when it comes to needing fixes.....but add the saltwater
corrosion to the mix of forever revolving needs.
I grew up sailing with my grandparents, went to sailing camps for a handful of years, but it's honestly been a while. I still know the basic concepts and could probably just jump right into it if I had to but I'll feel more comfortable after a little refresher. My wife has no sailing experience other than being drunk on our friends small
newport. lol. She also loves
scuba diving and enjoys the ocean as much as I do. She wants to take lessons or a class. Private lessons on our
boat or Sailing 101?
The
boat is in Long Beach, CA. Looking for as much
advice as people are willing to throw at us. Who do we have
survey? Where do we pull a
multihull like this? I assume it's much harder to just sling up than our friends little
newport was. We're almost as wide as they are long.