Telstar 28 Trailerable Trimaran ...good boat?

[Perithead]

I was looking through SAIL and saw the add of the Telstar 28 Tri what was trailerable and was pretty wowed by it. I am looking for a trailerable to purchase before Christmas and it seems I have read so much about how a multi hull is considered better than a mono that I might consider the Telstar.

The first question that popped into my mind is would the "trimarans" (not sure if thats the right usage) maybe the pontoons... would they break off easily while underway. Lets say I was going parallel with the waves and both pontoons happen to be on the crest of a wave at the same time and the center hull would be in the trough of the wave. If the wavers were big enough and close together like that could that potentially cause a major problem??????? It seems to me like that would be A LOT of weight on the joints. Did the buildbers prepare for this instance and make the boat strong enough or the boat be ale to flex or what?

Just something I didnt understand..

Also, I am wanting something with a nice spacious cabin and I know that the Telstar is 28' wich would help but with it being a tri, would it suffer in space when I think about the beam of the center hull? I cant seem to find the demintioins for it. Has anyone been inside one of these things?

What do you think? Good boat? Sturdy? Good Liveability?

[Giulietta]

SD.....Customer aisle 4..........

[TrueBlue]

Check with sailingdog who has a Telestar 28 - he's the most prominent poster here and will proudly provide info on his boat

[SailorMitch]

I can't believe this post is 7 minutes old and Dawg hasn't jumped on it already!

[TrueBlue]

Perithead - here's a video SD made of a Buzzard's Bay sail late last season:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7u2yLR85sY

[Giulietta]

Perithead...you are aware this is sailnet, don't you??

Its normally for sailboats only, no powerboats, and no "things" that float and move with a sail.....like skinny windsurfers with side floats for balance....

However...since SD is a nice guy we won't say anything...but please, be brief with your quest....

By the way, its normally a good gesture here at sailnet to post one's photo as an introduction.

OK?

Humbly yours,

Xavier Perez de Cuelar

[Jeff_H]

One suggestion, this might get more of a response if it was placed in the 'Buying a Boat' forum and not here in 'Sailboat Design and Construction'.

I would also suggest that you do more research on Trimarrans which are very different creatures than cat's. In a general sense small Tri's are much faster than a similar length cruising cat, and sail more like a monohull (which is a good thing), but there is nothing spacious about their interiors. In a general sense, for any given length, Tri's offer substantially less living space, are far more weight sensitive, are wetter, less seaworthy, less forgiving, and require more skill to sail, especially in heavier going.

In general Tri's like cat's are supposed to be designed for any wave configuration and loading. In general, in modern Tri's you rarely hear of ama/aka failures. That said, around here in Annapolis, I have encountered some vague local scuttlebutt about Telstar build issues, but my exposure has been to second hand info and so not all that reliable.

Personally, to my eye, the Corsairs have always looked like a better built and more sophisticated design.

Respectfully,
Jeff

[JohnRPollard]

Perithead,

As others have indicated, when SailingDog signs in he will be a great source of hard data and performance info on this neat boat. I will add just this, more by way of anecdote:

About 5 years ago, I was aboard the Telstar 28 prototype when it was being rigged for the first time and when the folding akas were being put through their paces in Annapolis, at the builder's dock on Back Creek (builder is Perfomance Cruising, who also make the Gemini catamarans). I was impressed by the clever interior layout and spaciousness -- given that it was a multi-hull. By that I mean it does not have near the same volume in the main hull as you would expect from a mono-hull. But this is a multi-hull, and the accepted trade off for better sailing performance is less accomodations in a given length. Also, I was very impressed by the folding akas, although at the time I wondered how sturdy they'd be and whether they could be easily manipulated away from the protected dock if necessary. Tony Smith, the designer and builder, assured me they were engineered to be adequate in every respect. He also demonstrated to me that the mast could be raised by one person -- an important point for trailering.

More recently we passed a Telstar 28 trimaran on Chesapeake Bay. We were heading opposite directions through a tight cut called Knapps Narrows. Before entering the narrows, the Telstar folded its akas and brought the amas in tight against the main hull, then proceeded to transit the narrows with little more beam than a mono-hull. Presumably the skipper folded everything back out after reaching open water again. Very impressive!!

Trimarans are a different breed of sailboat, and do require some additional skills and understanding of their performance and stability limitations. We once rendered assistance to a Corsair 27 that had pitch-poled at night on Chesapeake Bay. So get some advice from experienced mulit-hull sailors before pushing one too hard in heavy conditions.

[Giulietta]

Hey...a friend of mine bought a Corsair, its in Portugal, its a fast boat, but he is very unhappy.

Its poorly built, and leaks everywhere...the retracting mechanism is poor, and he is now selling it.

We told him..but he was stubborn and wouldn't listen...

[wiseleyb]

I had a Wind Rider 17 trimaran for a year and it was ridiculously fun (but a pain in the ass to setup). It's generally pretty hard to rooster tail in a sailboat. That thing was sick in 20. You'll sacrifice space for speed and you'll always need to be very aware of weight in that small space since multi hulls are complete pigs if you load 'em up with too much weight. I seriously considered getting a Corsair but went with a mono hull instead - I think they're better cruising boats. Outboards also really suck if you have any kind of sea state.

But - if trailering is a major purchase decision you can't do much better than trimarans (well, maybe a Flika). I think I'd need a Mac Truck to trailer my Westsail.

I don't know anything about Telstars though.