Bought, Trailed, Broke, and Sailed…

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

I am now a proud owner of a 2006 Telstar 28. I even had the pleasure of meeting Tony Smith in the process. I trailered it from Edgewater Maryland near Annapolis to Lake Monroe in Bloomington Indiana where she is currently docked. Before I ever got her in the water though I broke her trying to put up the mast. I broke her in spite of the best effort of our administrator here, Ron, who I am extremely grateful to (thank you Ron). Apparently the broker did not use the masting system to put it down and must have had the braces removed and put them back on wrong. Not knowing any better I tried using the system and broke one of the t-rails (a repair I still have to make). Luckily my marina has a gin pole that I was able to use to put the mast up.

Then we got her in the water and I enlisted the help of one of our old salts who, in spite of not knowing this boat, was able to help me get the sails on and up. I have taken her out a few times, but was very little wind we have struggled to sale much. Everything seems to be working except perhaps the wind gage electronics that I will be looking into soon, and of course my masting system.

I could use some help from this community. Two things… 1. Would someone be so kind as to send pictures of the C and D braces and how they are mounted on the boat? I don’t think I have them mounted properly. 2. Does anyone know where to get the T-track that the D brace attaches to? It is broken and I must replace it.

Thanks!

Jim

[Ron]

Here's a decent picture of the 4 frames.

frames.jpg (238.2 KiB) Viewed 1742 times

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Thanks Ron- nice looking boat! Are those some kind of rods securing your C frame to the boat? I don’t see T-rails on yours...

[Ron]

Yours seems to be older than mine (#359). Tony was constantly "improving" the boat from day one, so I don't have the answer to that question. But I'm not aware of any changes in that connection.

[ggreen]

I do remember that tracks were added to the boat for the "B" frames so that they could be adjusted forward or back when tuning. My boat is #311 and I do not have them. By "B" frames are are connected to attachments to the boat like Ron's. I do not know whether it was a regular feature of the boat later or was an experiment.

Gary G.

[Ron]

Not sure why the forward lower shroud tube would ever have to be adjusted for angle. If you meant the aft lower shroud, there's a pretty big load on that chain plate. The uppers attach there as well. The load is transferred to the main hull. I'd be surprised if Tony thought he could get away putting a track there.

[ggreen]

I remember specifically that it was the forward tubes, ("B" frames) that had the adjustable tracks. I think somewhere on this site there is a picture of them. I also thought it unusual but there must have been a reason why they were placed there.

Gary G.

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

Here’s a picture of my broken T-rail. There is another, but newer, T-28 on our lake and he doesn’t have a rail either.

[Tri’d n Sail’d]

As you can see above it is my D Frame that is in the rail...

[Ron]

This A, B, C, D nomenclature is driving us all crazy. It looks like the T rail is holding the Telstar equivalent of a gin pole (the D frame), to improve the lift angle at the low end of the hoist. I can see what Tony had in mind when he did it. To get a full cover over the boat when the mast is down, you've got to release the bottom end of the gin, because the top end sticks up around 6 inches above the folded mast and will tear the cover. With this track, you can just slide it forward instead. He probably thought it wasn't really needed.

But is that really the D frame? Looks kind of thick in the photo, more like the aft lower shroud - our A frame. If that's the case, Tony took it out because he knew it couldn't take nearly as much load as a chain plate tied to the hull.

I hate this A, B,C ,D naming. Just about everyone calls one part something else. To me, they are the aft lower shroud, forward lower shroud, lifting hoist (at low angles) and gin pole.