Re: How seaworthy is a telstar
Posted: Fri May 11, 2018 7:12 pm
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.
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.