Newbie with a Trimaran

[SheepdogShaun]

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.

[Don C L]

Welcome aboard Shaun! One important thing you didn't mention is the engine. How is it? If that, the prop shaft, the stuffing box and prop are all in good shape then you have dodged a bullet. If not, you may need to spend some money to get her going soon. I know a very good surveyor in Santa Barbara, though I am not sure if he still goes down to Long Beach. I'll check on that if you don't find someone more local. The lady at Lighthouse marina right across the fairway from you may know of someone good too, she knows a lot folks around there. Good luck! Congratulations!

[SheepdogShaun]

Oh yeah! It has a Yanmar Diesel. It looks like a 4cyl to me but the guy had no idea what size it was. It fires right up and seems good. My only experience with diesels is the cummins in my 2nd gen ram but it doesnt sound like it has internal issues. No leaks and I'll be changing fluids and filters asap. underneath, the shaft looked perfect when I scraped it. I wouldve thought it was brand new if i didn't need to scrape off that layer of growth. The prop didn't look brand new but it wasn't corroded or chipped. It actually looked better than most power boat props I've seen.



Thank you!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Shaun.


Congratulations, on your new (to you) boat!
Generally, one does a survey, prior to buying the boat.

[JonColyer]

Welcome ! A boat is a cool thing. Congratulations.

[SheepdogShaun]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Generally, one does a survey, prior to buying the boat.

I am quite aware but I traded a 1991 Jeep wrangler for it and didn't.....so I'm looking for advice on how to move forward.

[SheepdogShaun]

Originally Posted by JonColyer

Welcome ! A boat is a cool thing. Congratulations.

Thank you!

[Sand crab]

I'd give the rigging a good check and then the sails. Get tow insurance just in case.
You can post crew wanted here on the forum for day sails or whatever. CF locals will come over to help you get started out for beer.


There's also Meetup which is an international website for like minded people to meet up and do whatever, bike riding, hiking, knitting, sailing etc. It's free to join or about $100 a year to start your own group. I'll bet there's already a big sailing meetup in LA.



Make sure the bilge pumps are functional.

[Sand crab]

A few sailing Meetups.
https://www.meetup.com/find/?allMeet...tFilter=mysugg

[SheepdogShaun]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

I'd give the rigging a good check and then the sails. Get tow insurance just in case.
You can post crew wanted here on the forum for day sails or whatever. CF locals will come over to help you get started out for beer.


There's also Meetup which is an international website for like minded people to meet up and do whatever, bike riding, hiking, knitting, sailing etc. It's free to join or about $100 a year to start your own group. I'll bet there's already a big sailing meetup in LA.



Make sure the bilge pumps are functional.

Thank you!


I have used meetup for hiking before! I'll check it out!


The bilge pumps are one of the first things i kicked on when I looked at it. It did pull a little water out when he first showed me but I tried again a couple hours later and nothing came out(I assumed was a good thing). Now days later, there's still nothing to pull out but I believe that at least works!

[longjonsilver]

Come over to the multihull forum here on CF. We need another trimaran guy,
blessings
jon

[TigerPaws]

Trimaran people are a different breed, I have met a few over the years, my biggest takaway has been how they generally do not collect unnecessary things because of the lack of space.

I learned my lesson in a humbling way just how fast a trimaran can be.

All success with your new boat, my humble suggestion is to haul her out and begin with the hull, working your way up, get as much as you can in first class condition before you do to much else.

SeaQuest OE II

[Franziska]

It's a character boat. Show us the interior too, please.

Good luck and fair winds from Lady Rover,

Franziska

[purvisgs]

There should be (at least there were a few years back) 3 yards in Sand Diego that can haul a 24-25+ ft beam. Unfortunately I can't recall names. The other option if you're looking at a longer term haul out/refit (always expect AT LEAST twice as long as your initial, educated time estimate) might be to build a custom trailer out of a mobile home frame and therefore rent (potentially cheaper) work space anywhere near a boat ramp or somewhere you can hire a crane.


Unlike a lot of the trimaran people TigerPaws mentions, who do crazy things like drill holes in their toothbrush to save weight.. your Horstman actually does have (and was to some degree designed to carry) a decent payload. That's not to say she won't sail much better if kept as light as possible.

[Training Wheels]

I’m not crazy enough to drill holes in our toothbrush handles. We simply cut off half the handles.