Trimaran - Especially Searunner - Owners

[Roy M]

Thanks, Jmolan, for the info on Colligo. I will be looking at it shortly when I rerig.

[PatnKarl]

Hello Searunner lovers.
I have owned Ishmael, a Searunner 37, for 20 years now. We have lived aboard for seven of those years. My wife just found this thread and we hoped to join in with some of our thoughts and opinions (reminding you all that these are worth exactly what you paid for them).
We built a hardtop on Ishmael in '96 and the boat is a totally different experience with one. We made it of foam and glass with a opening windows, simple supports and canvas, a moon roof for tending to reefing the main, and lots of features that have really enhanced our cruising life. The main consideration in the design was weight and it comes in at well under 150 pounds - Pat and I lifted the 8' x 12' top, less front dodger and supports, onto the boat ourselves. The hardtop adds windage but doesn't seem to impair our cruising desires as we kick cruising monohull and charter catamaran butts on a regular basis. We don't do any offshore work, only coastal cruising for a few days at a time up and down the East Coast periodically, so I can't vouch for, nor built her, for full open ocean conditions. Regardless, it has changed our lives aboard, for sure.
Other things we have done have all been very minor with respect to the original design. We bought the boat from the original builder and his wife following their circumnavigation with her in the Eighties. The design worked. It's hard to argue with success.
The nets are an interesting area, where we just learned the lessons of wind and water. We used a relatively close tramp material from Sailrite. In Dec 06 crossing the Gulf Stream out of Angelfish Creek we hit a choppy rough sea and 27 knots of unforecast SE wind. The nets didn't allow enough water to pass through them and the forces tore the material moving the tangs supporting the front support on the netting enough that they leaked and had to be rebedded. We now have a rope net but will be making a net from seatbelt webbing soon because we like to lay out there and stare at the stars. The webbing solution has wide openings to let wind and water through with less resistance and was the solution that was on the boat when we purchase her.
That's it for now. We have a couple pictures posted at Ishmael the Searunner owner site. If more pictures of the hardtop are of interest let me know and I will set some up on a photo sharing site soon.
Thanks for all your interesting inputs so far.
Karl

[Maren]

Originally Posted by PatnKarl

That's it for now. We have a couple pictures posted at Ishmael the Searunner owner site. If more pictures of the hardtop are of interest let me know and I will set some up on a photo sharing site soon.

That was a really interesting post and I do hope you will post some more photos of both the bimimi and any other interesting features. Incidentally you can post them here on the site.

[Jmolan]

PatnKarl, thanks so much for sharing....always a hit to hear from a fellow Searunner. I have been toying this week with the idea of trying to re-boot the Searunner website. While the owners list is still in place now, the rest of it has died I think.
My boat is on the owners list as "Slick". We originally came to Mexico 3 years ago to look at Slick. We fell in love with the area (San Carlos/ Guaymas) And ended up buying a house as well as the boat...:-)
Slick was very well built and I sailed the heck out of it here locally for a year and a half...basically putting off any changes or big maintenece untill I got a feel for what she needed....Basically the boat has spent 7 years in the Mexico sun, and was in need of some real paint.
Well...just finished with a complete stipping of the deck fiberglass, all the fittings off. Re-fiberglassed and faired, as well as fairing the hulls and then shot with Allgrip two part polyurathane...oh my. Big job, but she looks way better. I am currently cleaning out all the sanding dust and mucking out the amas and lockers. I have to re-bed all the deck fittings, winches, tracks, etc.
I will be rigging with Dux to replace the stainless wire. Huge saving in weight, and I can splice it myself. No more worries about corrosion or fatigue etc.
I work in Alaska for the summer then will return to Mexico for Oct. and hope to get out on the Sea of Cortez for some cruising.

http://photobucket.com/albums/c305/jmolan/
http://s109.photobucket.com/albums/n53/jmol_album/
http://s91.photobucket.com/albums/k292/sancarloscondo/

[Steve Rust]

Hi PatnKarl
I have seen photos of your boat and the hardtop. A friend of mine mentioned running into you in the Bahamas a few years ago. His name was Hal W. on a steel Roberts 53 named Mane Bris. When I was first looking into getting a Searunner your boat then named Galena under the previous owner was one I was looking into. I never did view the boat and decided the location was not practical for me at the time. Small world. Welcome aboard.

[PatnKarl]

Steve:
I do remember Mane Bris but your off a bit on Ishmael's origins.
She was built in '76 by Mike Heeg and Bill someone. Mike eventually bought her out. Ishmael sailed around Vancouver area until '80 when she began her circumnavigation with Mike and Claire. Hawaii, S. Pacific, top of Oz, Indian Ocean, Cape Town and finally Grenada. OK, near-circumnavigation having never tied the knot.
I purchased her in Grenada in '87. I considered changing the name until I took her to sea the first time off Norfolk, Mike having delivered her to Beaufort NC for me. She was too long in her own personality for me to do that. So Ishmael she has been and will always be.
Coffee's ready. Time to go.
Check out Google Earth 23 31 19.36N, 75 45 31.04W. A satellite made a hi-res pass in May 07!
Karl

[Steve Rust]

PatnKarl
I had a total late night brain misfire. I confused you with another Searunner 37 Maxolar

[Maren]

Steve, did you build your boat or buy it?

It seems between here and the Searunner Owner's site you are the expert. Granted for that site it has more to do with the photo than anything else

Jmolan - You were suggesting getting the Searunners Owner's group back up and running on the I'm Looking for a SeaRunner thread. I was thinking about this a bit more since I figure there are less than 5000 webpages to read through on SeaRunner Trimarans and I might was well read them all.

Anyway, aside from finding out I have way too much time on my hands, I learned there is a guy in South America currently building a 34. He has almost as many photos as Clarke from the Rikki. And today I came across an article. The point is there is content available and people who still sail them and build them.

I think a wikki might also be a decent addition too.

[PatnKarl]

It sounds like you are working at the big project of keeping one of these great boats healthy and loved. I wish you the best!
We have friends who redid "Mantra" in the same way you are. They did it 25 years ago and the boat is in great shape. My daughter and son-in-law purchased her and now have their own mini-Ishmael. (we raised our girls for 5 years on Ishmael between '92 and 97 from ages 10 & 12 to 15 & 17) It is great to see the tradition continue.

About your deck fittings, I know I am preaching to the choir but I can't over-recommend over-sizing your mounting holes! Oversize them and, of course fill them with structural epoxy, redrill the bolt/screw holes into epoxy and forever end the seepage into the hull and deck. This all but eliminated points of entry that had plagued us in the early years of owning Ishmael. Every hole in the hull is now drilled and filled before fitting the final connecting hardware.

I love the idea of rope rigging. We replaced our wire four years ago and the weight is significant. Next replacement, I would like to hear about the longevity and replacement costs associated with your rope rigging. We met "Tribe" in the BVI when chartering there in 03 and were amazed to see rope holding up the rig on this performance Gunboat 62.

Best of luck on the refit of Slick!
Karl and Pat

[Steve Rust]

Maren
I bought my boat in 1997. It was built in 1982 cruised extensively for several years and then sat unused and ill maintained for several years in the Chesapeake till I bought it. It is sail #87. We sailed it on the Great Lakes for several years. We were also trying to do alot of repair work and eventually the long (220 miles one way) drive made it impractical. In a long roundabout trip we brought it to Minneapolis and have it hauled out for an extensive makeover and interior refit. Having long admired the design and having done alot of work on mine I have become very familiar with it. Roy Miles how also posts here is more an expert than me having built and lived aboard his 40. I looked to him in the first years of owning mine for advice and guidance. and still do. Maybe not so well known outside it's small circle of owners but they are a great cruising boat. If there were a cruising boat hall of fame it would be on the list.

My contracting/remodeling/audio visual installation business kind of overwhelmed me and put the project on the back burner for a few years. Now I am trying to reverse that and work less and get back to the boat project.

Pat n Karl's point about deck fittings is pretty important to eliminate future problems. I also found that the way the wet hatches are usually built in the wings eventually causes problems in the deck around the hatch.

I would be interested in the website of the 34 building in South America if you can post it.

[Maren]

Originally Posted by Steve Rust

Maybe not so well known outside it's small circle of owners but they are a great cruising boat. If there were a cruising boat hall of fame it would be on the list.

I suspect you can add to that circle many of the multi hull designers, notably Chris White. I saw on that other link - the one by Larry H - the boat was sold. I'm certain I'm not the only one who wishes the buyer well.

I would be interested in the website of the 34 building in South America if you can post it.

No worries, here it is. How is your ... umm ... Portuguese?

No matter, a picture is worth a thousand words.

[Steve Rust]

This is an idea I came up with to provide easy access to that large but hard to get at storage area in the dressing room wing area. The rack rails are just a simple wooden frame that the baskets slide on. Though it does not show in the photos one more basket will fit behind the lower one in the upper set. There is also one larger basket behind in the lower set for a total of three on each level. The bottom rack rail is fastened from the top and does not contact the bottom of the wing panel. Forward of the lower one you can see a separate little cubby being built, this will be repeated on the top as well. The baskets came from Home Depot and seem to hold up well as some of them were original to the boat and were actually used in the galley bilge. I have done this for both sides.

Anyone else have a good idea or project to show and tell.

[PatnKarl]

Steve:

You mentioned that you had had problems with the deck wet hatches. Do you have a solution to share? We've had a recurring problem with all four hatches. We're using a fillet of epoxy for the hatch to rest on but this still has its problems. We've heard about using an Lshaped aluminium strip & even making aluminium hatches. Any other ideas.

Karl & Pat

[Roy M]

I've been using a simple solution for thirty years, now, on a Searunner 40. Simply cut a 3/4" rim of plywood (Baltic birch has more layers than Doug fir) that projects 1" into the hatch opening (which you can trace onto plywood), and has an outer edge 1 1/2" wider than the hatch dimension. Clamp the rim under the deck edge, drill and screw, then close the hatch to confirm everything works. Remove the screws, round all the edges that will be exposed, epoxy the rims, then epoxy the rim into position using the screws as clamps. Later, remove the screws, fill with epoxy, prime with epoxy primer, sand and finish with LPU paint. They are bullet proof, attractive, don't snag stuff coming out, and are really primo. I have many wet hatches: Starboard forward (spare anchor rode), starboard quarter propane and combustable storage lockers (2), and the aftermost locker at the curve of the underwind for storage of docklines, etc. Port forward holds the high pressure saltwater outlet, 50' of hose and the nozzle. Aft, near the cabin fixed port, is a locker for fenders, and aftmost, another locker for fenders and docklines. Everything drains through the underwing, so anything that could be damaged by saltwater is contained in plastic boxes or baggies to protect from mini fountains when swells splash the underwing.

[Steve Rust]

My hatches were built similar to what Roy describes with what seems to be one critical difference. The rim attached to the underside of the deck that the hatch rests on was not continuous and was interrupted by the deck stringers. The problem developed over time because of walking or standing on the hatch. The stress would most often open up a glue joint in the deck ply and allow water in. This always seemed to start at the edges of the non-continuous rim. It seems from Roy's experience that having this rim be one continuous piece may fix the problem. You would need to trim back the deck stringers 1 1/2 inches. The first one I repaired in the original manner and after 8 years it is starting to show signs of the problem. The other side I did a few years ago and this one I removed enough of the deck to reframe the hatch opening so that the hatch covers rests on framing and does not hang off of supports attached to the underside of the deck. While this has been a solid solution it does involve alot more work than Roy's solution. I also rounded the deck edge of the hatch opening and wrapped it in cloth and epoxy before attaching anything to it. It is a bit tricky to get the cloth stay stuck to the rounded edge and keep out air bubbles but applying a few initial sealing coats and letting it get very tacky before wrapping the cloth around seems to work.