International Telstar Owners Association

I'm currently using my trailer bunks on a lift during the summer and on the trailer in the winter. It is a pain swapping them over so I am looking for additional set. The original manufacturer tells me he has thrown out the molds but is willing to make new molds to replicate them this spring when I relaunch. If anyone has a pair they are not using, I'd be interested in buying them. If there are others interested in getting some made, we could probably get a better price by buying them at the same time.

Mark

While I can't help you... I wouldn't think it would be that hard to fabricate??? In any event, I hope to be in your shoes shortly. Please keep me posted if you don't mind...

"I wouldn't think it would be that hard to fabricate??? "

Might not be easy either - it's steel encased in fiberglass. I've got 2 sets, but I need both. You're best best may be to find someone who's lost his boat and wants to get rid of the trailer. It could be easier to sell the Venture trailer with Tony's modifications removed?

Did you call the old PC phone number. Tony gets into the office occasionly and may have a set or two hanging around.

Mark, I had called the company that made the bunks and they were not really interested in making me bunks. I can tell you that the price will be outrageous to remake the molds , bend the steel and weld everything up.The reason i am telling you this is that I lost my Telstar in Hurricane sandy, however I was in the process of building bunks for my boat when it was destroyed. If you are interested take a look on ebay under trailers and see if you are interested in them. I am not sure at this time if I will buy another Telstar and if I do I will bend up another set in my shop if I have to. The bunks are bent and one coat of fiberglass has been applied. All you need to do is build up some more coats of fiberglass. BTW the bunks are heavy, I used 1/4 plate and extended the dimensions a couple of inches to support the boat better. If interested send me a private email with phone number and we can talk. Graham

Thanks Graham

My private message to you appears to be stuck in my outbox. Could you try sending me one to which I will reply?

Any thoughts on bunks fabricated out of aluminum?

I am in the unfortunate position of having had a couple of the trailer supports taken from the trailer that were apparently manufactured by Performance Cruising rather than Venture Trailers. Does anyone know if Performance Cruising keep a stock or if there is an alternative supply? I also think I read in the thread that there were some available privately. Can anyone assist in this query? Thanks very much. Douglas

I believe that all of the trailers were built by Venture and that Performance Cruising modified them with the curved bunks, etc. It could have been an outside supplier as well, but it was definitely not done by Venture. It will not be easy to replace these bunks, but it can be done. Any strong metal, including aluminum, could probably be bent into the correct shape, the center brackets welded on, and then put several layers of fiberglass over the bunk portion. If the metal is thinner, you could add supports at the ends as well. The bunk is then attached to two galvanized square beams spanning the main trailer beams.

Other people may be interested in doing this as well, and that could lower the per-unit pricing.

I doubt if PC has any of these parts available.

Ron, I guess that I will have to wait to see your trailer to know exactly what you are talking about. After reviewing the photographs in the owner's manual, I see that there were some specially fabricated bunks made for the Telstar. I am sure that these work very well but it seems that the same support could be provided any number of ways as long as the end result offered a padded, correctly-contoured support for the hull in the places designed to carry the load. I just used a custom-made trailer designed to carry a Dick Vermeulen-designed one-off trimaran to move a mast in North Carolina. The trailer featured vertical plate members with hull cut-outs that were capped by a padded flange. Sort of like a padded wine-bottle rack. I think that I can come up with something but it would definitely be helpful if I could see your trailer first, take measurements and copy the bunk curves onto a template. I am looking forward to meeting you at the end of the month. --Mark Z

There are probably other ways of doing it, but I'm pretty sure that most of the weight has to be at the two bulkheads in the main hull. My lift is set up exactly like the trailer -