International Telstar Owners Association

Anyone know the details on how the fire started. The boat is a 2007 Telstar that's for sale on E-Bay at the link below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-PER ... ZSailboats

I don't know if that ad is legitimate or not. The HIN, PC100358H707, is wrong and not a Telstar HIN, which has the format PCIT####*###, and the hull number in the screwed up HIN is a Maryland boat, not an Illinois one, IIRC.

Good eye Dan, your right the ID number is wrong. There are also spelling errors. They even misspelled Telstar! But the picture sure looks real and boat 358 would be an 2007? The motor looks like a 50HP. It sure would make a good spare parts boat and a good way to upgrade to 50HP, if the motor is any good.

Ebay listing states that it has a Maryland title, so it could be 358. Based on the damage displayed in the photo's, I'd guess that the cause of the fire was the propane tank. It was something in or near the cockpit - so maybe the fuel tank and stove could have been involved.

I posted a warning about what I discovered in #342 some time ago in the old forum, sans photo. I think it’s worth it to do so again as this could have been the cause for this fire, perhaps luckily while the boat was on the trailer and not occupied.

We purchased #342 as a used boat in June of 08 and during inspections and upgrades found the pos. and neg. terminals for the outboard were uncovered, as in this picture of the inside rear of the port cockpit locker. This was not visible until we removed the propane tank. Compounding the problem was the tachometer location prevents the propane tank from sitting properly in the factory wooden tank base. So it just kind of rattles around and has to lay on its side to get the hatch closed. My concern was what happens if the steel tank moved down and contacted both terminals at once? Dead short, much heat- kind of like an arc welder spark- while melting through the tank. (We found rust marks on our tank that match the terminal bolts and one of the bolts has rust) Please take a minute to inspect the terminals in your boat and cover them with good quality terminal covers if they are bare.

Perhaps the tachometer should be on the starboard side of cockpit, (plenty of wire and you can see it if you operate from port side) and then the propane tank can be properly secured to prevent a possibly fatal situation developing at sea.

Dave, your warning is right on. I hope everyone takes the advice and inspects there Telstar. My boat is #340 and I discovered the problem early on. It's an easy fix, just cover the terminals with terminal covers.

The boat in question was hull 358 - and the fire started as a result of a vagrant breaking into the boat and accidentally setting it alight.

We've reviewed the photos and there are salvageable parts off the boat - the engine perhaps... but it would require taking on the whole boat.

I assume that this boat has long since been dismantled? If anyone knows of it's current status, I just bought hull #357 and am need of a centerboard, and will soon be looking for a jib and spinnaker. Interestingly, the HIN on mine also starts with PCI00357, not PCIT00357, however the title includes the "T".