International Telstar Owners Association

From what I heard, the boat suffered most of the damage AFTER Sandy when some idiots masquerading as a towing service DROPPED the mast onto the deck to get it past a bridge. Thats what got the mast, cabin top, etc. The boat must be about 5 miles from my house in NJ, but I'm down here in FL now. Graham must have spent 2+ years building this boat from 2 of PC's prototypes.

The Friday before the hurricane I went to the boat and checked everything. I also removed alot of equipment. I felt confident that my boat would survive as long as no other boat rammed it. When I went back after the storm my boat as well as every other boat in the harbor was gone. It seems that the 120 foot floating dock across the harbor broke loose or came off its piers and floated along taking all of the boats in its path. My boats mooring jammed in between the docks and was dragged along with the dock. The interesting thing is, all of the other boats on 200 lb mushrooms and small chain broke loose and crashed on the shore. My boat with a 400 lb. mushroom and 3/4" chain and 1 1/4 lines held. My boat had survived the hurricane but with both ama bows ripped open from banging into the dock and some trim missing. I notified the insurance company and they arraigned for a salvage company to tow the boat to a marina for the fiberglass work. I spoke with the salvage men and advised them to seal up the bows with duct tape so water wouldn't get in and do more damage, I also advised them that the route 35 bridge in New Jersey ws closing for the season that saturday and they needed to finish the tow before 5PM on Saturday. I was assured they would accomplish it. I didn't hear from them again despite repeated calls to their cell phone. On Monday Morgan Marina(really great people and helpful too) contacted me that my boat had arrived. Tuesday I went to my boat and couldn't believe what I saw. It seems they didn't close the bows and drove the boat at a good speed. The water went into the hulls couldn't go anywhere and the pressure blew the decks off of the hulls, the rivets popped and the 5200 let go. They also tried to get under the bridge which is 28 foot high, after cracking the mast they decided to just pull the pins letting the mast crash down on the boat.They snapped the mast and damaged the coach roof and hatches. The insurance company took one look and totaled the boat. But wait it gets better. The same guys showed up again to tow the boat to Farmingdale NJ with what everybody at the marina thinks was/is a farm trailer, no boat trailer or flat bed. You can see the trailer if you look close at the photos in the auction. At the end of the marina you need to turn left to get to the main road. They turned left, the trailer turned left and the boat went straight off of the trailer and on the the ground cracking more fiberglass. Morgan Marina reloaded them and suggested they tie the load on, they still insisted it was OK. Morgan Marina got some old rope and tied it on for them. And now the boat sits derelict in new Jersey. If you were thiking on buying it and fixing it I would tell you to stay away, More work than it is worth and probably unsafe. Oh and yes, this same salvage company called Morgan Marina to get them to call NJ transit on their VHF to get the second bridge opened, when Morgan advised them to call on channel 13, the salvagers told Morgan they don't have a VHF radio on their boat. HUH???

very sad. Hate it when we lose a boat.
lefty2

Is there an intact rudder that would fit on my 2006, 28 ?

The boat was auctioned off by the insurance company. Perhaps Graham knows the buyer??? "SimonHayes" in SF also had a broken rudder not too long ago. I believe he had a partially bent skeleton left to work with. You might try contacting him as well???

Thanks Gene.