Texas Marine Int

tealdreamin · #1 (**permalink**) 09-20-2009

Hi all,
Anyone have any info on Texas Marine International? I'm looking at a 29.9, supposely a '86 model, but I can't seem to find any info on this boat other than TMI came from Chrysler Marine.
Any help or info is appreciated.

dbruce85 · #2 (**permalink**) 09-21-2009

Try this site.
If it's the boat I am thinking of, it was produced as a Ticon 30 for a while.
A friend of mine has one, it is a nice boat. Click on "The Ticon Story"
David

Ticon Sailboat Home Page, Ticon 30, Ticon 27, Ticon 34, Chrysler 30, TMI 30, Sailboats, T-30, Sail Nautical

bobmcgov · #3 (**permalink**) 10-19-2009

I would be cautious about any boat made by TMI. The joke, based on the initials, goes: Avoid them like they are radioactive. TMI was Chrysler's boatbuilding factory until the 1980 reorg, when Iaccoca was forced to shed assets. The employees took over production, but without the parent company's capital clout.

It also happened to be the middle of the oil embargo, so the price of epoxy resin was sky-high. TMI began cutting corners in hull thickness, using chopper gun where not appropriate, etc. It got so bad the designers of the Buccaneer 18 and Mutineer 15 -- Dick Gibbs and Rod McAlpine-Downey -- pulled TMI's license to manufacture those craft, because of gross manufacturing defects. To this day, Bucc18 owners will buy, fix, and race Buccs made by any of four other builders ... but no Bucc sailor wants a TMI boat.

YMMV.

mitiempo · #4 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009

I think you mean polyester resin - very few boats were (and are) built with epoxy resin.
Brian

bobmcgov · #5 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitiempo

I think you mean polyester resin - very few boats were (and are) built with epoxy resin.
Brian

Correct -- I was referring to the entire category of petroleum-derived structural adhesives: polyester, vinylester, and bisphenol-A. All go by the name 'epoxy' in popular use, all get employed in various parts of the boat-building process, and all were very expensive in the late 70s & early 80s.

By now, after all its repairs, our SJ21 is prolly half original polyester resin, half West Systems epoxy.

mitiempo · #6 (**permalink**) 10-20-2009

Mine is getting more epoxy in her makeup as well.

Brian

silverlake · #7 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009

bobmcgov - where did you get this information? I new about the Crysler sail, but the other stuff is news to me.

chrisnewtimes · #8 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009

I have one (TMI 30)
currently doing it up, it's no worse built than a good many of that era, and a whole lot better than a good many as well. Anythin I can hel you with and give me a shout. office # 765-472-2404, cvcalderbank@yahoo.com

silverlake · #9 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009

I too have a TMI 30. Which I like very much. For a 1981 sailboat she is in great shape.
I have previously owned: Spirit 23, Catalina 27, Catalina 30, another Catalina 27, plus a couple of smaller sailboats. I don't claim to know all that much about boats, but I have played with them for the past 25 years. The TMI 30 is very similar to the Catalina 30. Like any boat built 28 years ago I am upgrading the running rigging, but other than that she is sound.

bobmcgov · #10 (**permalink**) 10-21-2009

Silverlake: glad you like your boat. As mentioned, YMMV: it's possible TMI was building some boats better than others. But on the whole, their reputation is terrible. Especially among Bucc18 sailors, who are content with mediocre quality. (The Chryslers and Starwinds weren't exactly well made; my '78 Chrysler has all kinds of issues, most of them from the TMI factory while under Chrysler Marine oversight.) But the TMI boat are shunned.

I got the information about TMI's corner-cutting direct from Gibbs and McAlpine-Downey, explaining why they pulled the molds from TMI. They didn't want their name on the boats coming out of that factory. They demanded quality improvement & that TMI build the hulls to specification; TMI ceased royalty payments; it got ugly. TMI went bust, mooting the dispute; and Wellcraft/Starwind/Gloucester began producing Bucc18s.

It was a tough time to make plastic boats. Lots of US boat companies felt pressured to economize on materials and methods, and anyone buying a craft of that vintage should look hard at the layups. TMI began as a troubled, undercapitalized business and sold off its sailboat assets within months; your 1981 TMI-30 might even have been made by Ticon Yachts, which bought the rights in that year. Do you know where it was made?

ETA: I've altered my first boat to be less categorical; I'm only personally familiar with the smaller boats of the Chrysler/TMI legacy & am not qualified to disparage the larger models.