How seaworthy is a telstar

[Cruissser]

So sorry to hear about your Telstar Steve, but I am sure it will be better than new once you get it repaired.

I have only owned mine for less than a year and am very happy with it. One thing I have noticed concerning the amas was that for them to have strength the hinged area must be parallel. If you think about it you will realize what I mean. Imagine the flaps on a cardboard box.....if the flap is straight out you cannot bent the box, but is its even partially closed you can twist the box out of square very easily. This can be adjusted on the amas with one of the lines. I believe this may lead to some of the problems people have with their amas. Also on mine the bolts holding the hinge together were loose. As others here have suggested this also leads to egging out the holes and a loss of strength. I am going to follow the suggestion and add a plate to the bottom of mine as well.

We did get down to the Keys with our Telstar and I was amazed at how stable it was. We did have some heavy seas, but nothing that ever gave us any concern. I would not be worried about the boat in extreme weather, but as others have stated the ride would not be pleasant. You ride out the waves like a cork on top of the water with no ballast to absorb the force of the waves.

For us the size of the cabin wasn't much of a concern and we adjusted easily. Keep in mind we altered the bed setup and now enjoy a queen sized bed. We also made a rack up in the V of the boat to store the table allowing plenty of room to walk and lounge around in the cabin. Storage was short, so we went to work and sealed up the amas and they are now water tight. We do keep water sensitive items in Contractor garbage bags just in case water does enter the ama.

The biggest thing to get used to is if you need something, such as your bed, you have to take the time to prepare it. If you need an item chances are you will have to move several other items to get to it. For us its a small price to pay and easy to deal with given you are on vacation and usually not in a hurry anyways. I would not be scared to stay on the boat for an extended period of time, but you would have to accept the small cabin and deal with its limitations. We stayed on our boat for around 3 weeks.

I would love taking a trip to Cuba and am confident our Telstar could handle it with proper planning. We also are hoping to try making to the Exumas and beyond once we are more proficient at handling the boat. There are so many features that we have with a Telstar 28 you don't find on most boats.

- Trailerablility: We can pull our boat back home to South Dakota easily and not worry about hurricanes or slip fees. At home here I also have all the tools and things needed for repairs and alterations.

-Insurance: Being our boat is insured with our local company here it is unbelievably cheap.

-Self Lowering/Raising mast: We "motored" from West Palm Beach on the ICW down to Biscayne Bay before we put our sail up. No waiting for bridges to open made for a quick and enjoyable trip. The option of lowering your mast to perform work if needed also provides a level of safety unavailable to most boats.

-Outboard motor: I really was against an outboard when we decided to purchase our boat, but now I don't think I would want an inboard. We never had any issues with cavitation because in rougher seas we just placed to motor lower in the water. With the location of the motor I an imagine it would take a pretty big wave before it would come out of the water. Being able to tilt it up and out of the water for sailing also was a big benefit. Even though we have the original motor it too runs so quiet, but I am not sure that’s all good. There were several times both my wife and I would "start" the motor when it was already running. We had to get used to looking at the tach before trying to start it.

-Tiller: I always thought to have a real boat you had to have a wheel. The tiller pointed straight up takes no room away from the cockpit unlike a wheel. Also when someone inexperienced is steering they can't get lost like some do with a wheel. You always know where your rudder is and and quickly move it to where it needs to be.

-"anti crab trap" performance: We never did snag a crab trap with our boat while sailing. Our buddy boat was a trawler and they constantly were stopping to deal with traps and the mess they make.

-The Ride: We have no experience with trimarans and found how smooth a motion the boat has on rough or confused seas to be a huge benefit. Our buddy trawler friends were pretty green at times while we would be sailing along enjoying a nice cup of coffee or a beer. Even though I had heard that things don't fly around in the cabin on a trimaran, I would have never believed it was that stable until we actually experienced it ourselves.

-The deck: While crawling around on the boat while under sail I felt much more secure with the ama and area in between keeping me from tumbling into the drink instead of just lifelines. With its ability to keep the spray out of the cockpit and give you more area to roam around at anchor we really enjoyed it. We also used the starboard side to store our dinghy while under sail as well. It was very easy to get in and out of the water and we didn't have to worry about it coming untied.

-1 foot draft: This really allows you to go about anywhere! Its nice to know you can pull into shallow water to scrub the bottom or inspect things if needed.

-Retractable Keel and Rudder: If set right no worries of damaging these if you bump the bottom.

-Portable gas tanks: We actually were able to get the one large tank along with 2 3.5 gallon tanks into the stern. Sometimes its nice to just throw your empty tanks in the dinghy and get them filled instead of lifting the hook and heading for a fuel dock.

These boats are definitely not for every body, but as you can probably guess mine won't be on the market any time soon. With any boat you have to weigh the good and the bad. We have lots to learn yet, but are really enjoying the fun and experiences we have had so far. Can't wait to get her back in the water next fall!!

I am anxious to hear what others could add to this list, good or bad.

[Mangodoc]

I call them “adventures in sailing”. In Nietzche-esque fashion, truly they make us better sailors- as long as we survive them. All the same, I’d rather learn my lesson from your experience than find out for myself the hard way. I think I’ll keep Trinity within sight of terra firma. Thanks for sharing.

[wooden]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the boat. I agree with every one. I can add a few additional things to the list. I placed a composting head on the boat and I have been very pleased with the results. I also like the abundant storage space, as long as you don't need the fore and aft bunks.

My next goal is to prepare for the Great Loop. I think this is the perfect boat for such an adventure.

I also want to elaborate on the new Suzuki 30hp outboard. What a fantastic engine. I have been waiting for new technology to come to the smaller engines. And this is it. It does not weigh much more than the Honda 20hp, and it moves the boat significantly faster, quieter, and leaner. On the trip back, with the damage to the outrigger, and the push against the current, I burned 18 gallons of fuel in 100 miles. That is outstanding. I was running the engine at about 50% power because the increased speed created some instability, so I had to hold it back a bit. If anyone is considering a new motor, this is the one. It comes in white as well ..

Steve

[Cruissser]

Ouch!! Can you keep us posted on the repair? Let us know what was done?

I can tell you I would never make it 100 miles on 18 gallons with my old Honda. It burns way more than that!! I know everyone talks about how economical the Hondas are.....maybe I need to do some tinkering and tuning on mine. One good thing though is has been very dependable, so its hard to justify a new motor....but I guess I can still dream right?

[wooden]

The new 30hp Suzuki outboards are worth the price. I am so impressed. I was running at about 50% or less power because of the situation we were in, but even at regular power, I suspect I would burn less than a gallon an hour. It is so quiet as well. The new engine was an easy install, and it cost about $4500 from port-a-boat out of California. Free shipping as well.

I will keep you posted on my repairs. We are going into hurricane season in the Keys. And my house is still being repaired from Irma. I am hoping to get the roof on before the next hurricane. After that, I will start looking for hardware replacement for the pivot part that broke, or manufactures one out of stock. The fiberglassing will take some time, but I believe it is all very fixable.

[escape]

Hi Wooden,

Have you began the repairs? I am curious, what was the cause of the fail amas? did you hit something?, did the tension line broke?

[wooden]

I started organizing and constructing a cradle for the broken ama. I am also in the middle of repairing my house after hurricane Irma, so that is taking priority right now.

After evaluating the damage, it appears that the failure began at the starboard front pivot point. The large stainless rod broke just below the acorn nut. That destabilized the ama and allowed it to flex. The flexing then broke the flat stainless plate that the rod passes through and then the fiberglass on the posterior part of the ama began to break up because of excess movement. I had to wrap a rope around the front and back of the ama and lift it out of the water to keep it from filling with water and capsizing the boat. The boat motored fine for the next 100 miles without further incident.

The cause of the failure was primarily rusting. Both the rod and the flat plate had obvious rust penetrating the metal. The force that caused the break was 20knot winds under sail breaking through 10 foot waves. I believe if the stainless did not have rust penetrating it, the boat would have handled the winds and waves just fine.

The bottom line is that the boat is built well, and it got me back home under a difficult situation.

I will try to keep you updated.

Steve

[escape]

Thanks for the reply, I am sorry for your home and boat. I am happy that you can point to a real fault. Up to now I only sail in fresh water, but it is one more item to add to my check list.

After reading a post here a while ago, I check all the bolts and nut on the amas system and I was surprised that they were all loose. Now every year I check every bolt, shackle and turnbuckle for sign of wear.

Good luck

[wooden]

It has been a while since I posted about my damaged Telstar. After almost sinking the boat in a storm returning from Cuba, much has happened. Our house in Summerland Key was hit by the center of Hurricane Irma, and it took a while to repair. Once that was done, we decided to sell the property and move to Galveston TX, closer to the grandkids. The repairs to the broken ama had to wait.

I strapped the ama to the boat and found a gutsy Texas trucker who hauled the questionable trailer and boat to Galveston in a straight 27-hour trip. Lots of coffee or whatever, I am sure. It arrived in one piece and was placed on a concrete pad near our home to begin repairs. I have started, and want to update all of you on the progress, and what I found.

In my previous post, I thought that the damage was due to a failed hardware part and perhaps a bad design. I actually found more when I removed the damaged fiberglass of the broken ama. Apparently, there was an impact accident which the previous owner did not fully disclose, and it damaged the internal support structures of that ama. That made the ama flex more under heavy loads and there was also perhaps an impact crack in the stainless hardware that allowed for internal rust to form. All of this combined set up the failure of the hardware and damage to the ama during our trip back from Cuba under storm conditions. My thoughts are that the previous accident rather than a design flaw was the reason for the hardware failure. That makes me feel better about the ability of the boat to handle extreme conditions if taken care of. Regardless, the boat brought me back in one piece, even though she was not in one piece.

OK, I started the repair by finding a great shop near me that did a fantastic job duplicating the stainless rod, fabricating new attachment plates, and completing the needed welds that made the hardware good again. Farmer's Alloy of Texas City TX. The best stainless fabrication place I have ever worked with. Once I had secured the new hardware, I could comfortably begin the fiberglass repair. I started by beefing up the hardware attachment points with carbon fiber. There were large holes in the ama from the accident that complicated the repair but actually went pretty well. I used a combination of closed-cell foam backing, bidirectional glass, and West System epoxy. Once set, filled with a slurry of glass bubbles and epoxy allowed for easy sanding. Finished with Gelcoat made the repair look pretty good. I was then able to reattach the hardware and ama to the boat. Great outcome. Swings like new.

I have a few more minor issues to address and a much-needed cleanup. I have to find a proper slip to get started, and then I plan to prepare for a trip around the Great Loop starting January 2023. I will keep everyone updated.

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Great update thanks. I hope you're taking pictures and can post them. Also, very interested in the Great Loop, but not in my Telstar - is that what you will be using?