Leaving Telstar in Florida

[Ron]

I'm not bringing Tri-Power up to NJ for the summer (May 1 thru Oct 25). My wife got tired of trailering boats back and forth and suggested that we buy another boat to permanently leave in NJ. I couldn't refuse that offer, so I've been searching for possibly the easiest boat to launch and rig ever made - which is my goal up north. Sail it off of the driveway, whenever and wherever I want. My choice for easy launch / rig was the Com-Pac Horizon Cat (not a catamaran - the old NJ and New England style of fishing boat with a forward mounted mast and a large gaf rigged main. No head sail. Seriously - this is a 5 minute launch / rig / retrieve boat. Found one last week in Pensacola and bought it. The 2007 Horizon is loaded - including the Yanmar 1GM10 diesel, full cover, and more teak than I've ever had (in total) than all of the boats I've owned. Might not be as fast as a multihull, but it looks absolutely beautiful out on the water (and I'll get into the water sailing perhaps 75 minutes faster than a Telstar). I'll miss the Telstar this summer, so anyone in NJ who wants crew you know how to find me. Pictures below -

Rigging is a matter of raising the mast by hand (could use a gin pole too), fast-pinning the mast and headstay, removing the sail cover, and raising the gaf with it's attached sail. Period. I would back it up into the water before raising the sail and gaf - and even that is easy (remove 2 tiedown straps and it floats off in 3 feet of water).

[Graham]

Great Boat Ron, I am very familiar with them and you will have a ball with it. Consider yourself crew when I get the boat wet this year. Need some tips with trimaran sailing. BTW could you tell me the model numbers of the Schaeffer triple blocks on the boom/Traveler, my boat is missing these crucial pieces of equipment.

[Ron]

Graham -

Sorry I missed your question about the triple block on the traveler. I think I documented most of the parts in the "Members Section" under "Projects" and "Adustable Traveler System" when I did that system last year. The boat is in a storage yard now so I can't take a quick look. If it's a 5 series with a 2 inch sheeve, the part numbers are 506-93 and 506-90. If the sheave is 2 3/8 then it's a 7 series (704-98 and 704-90). Maybe someone can take a ruler to theirs. If you're buying parts, note that the line control system is one of the best things I've done to the Telstar. The spring pin stoppers it came with is a pain in the ____ and you wind up using just the mainsheet. Big mistake if you want the car and then the boat to move fast. I tend to use the mainsheet to trim only if the wind speed changes.

I recall that the blocks are 7 series but mated to a 5 series car. The bigger tripple wheel car won't make the radius on the track?