8M folding/ raising the amas.

Marina · Post by **Marina** » Wed Mar 03, 2010 1:12 pm

Would appreciate some info on how the amas fold and raise on the 8m. Whats the procedure, how much hassle, and how heavy are the amas? How many of you actualy trailer your telstars?

cheers.

Marina · Post by **Marina** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 3:45 am

Anyone? Perhaps an introduction will help...! I wasn't actually planning on introducing myself until we had the boat in hand as I didn't want to temp fate, but here it is in brief. We are the Harveys, and are in the process of buying an 8m. We shall be sailing out of Pembrokeshire in West wales. Hope to gain some valuable knowledge here, and possibly bump into you on the water some day...

Pat Ross · Post by **Pat Ross** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:09 am

Hello and Welcome,

Sorry no one has responded to you. I like you am relatively new to ownership of an 8M. You can read more about our boat here:

http://www.multihulldynamics.com/news_a ... icleID=179

Thus far we have only brought our boat home. We plan a re-launch around August. I am recovering from recent Rotator Cuff surgery and expect to be fully functional by then, otherwise we would be launching shortly.

There are three types of multihull trailerables:

1st type can be launched and ready to go in 90 minutes, sailed for the day and put back on the trailer and you can be home in the same day. Within this group of trailerables I would place the new Telstar 28's and some of the Farrier's and perhaps the Dragonfly tris. These boats can be launched and retrieved without extra equipment. They come as a package ready to go. Could be used as day sailers and for extended cruising.

The second type of trailerable is the Telstar 26's, 8M's and I suspect the Contour trailerable tris are similar. They will take more time to launch, like 3 to 4 hours and much more physical effort. You could sail for several hours and then retrieve her back on the trailer, again you are looking at at least 3 hours before all is secured for safe travel. While there is more physical effort involved, I think there are ways to reduce the physical effort. All this said, I think 3 days is a typical minimum time for a comfortable and enjoyable trip; launch and sail half day on first day, sail full day second day, retrieve 3rd day.

As far as I can tell they do not come equpped with all the gear to launch and retrieve them. The equipment needed is relatively minimal and can be setup to travel with the boat and costs less $400 U.S., although I suspect an enterprising fellow could do it for under $200. The Ama's weigh 600lbs each. The mast requires two people to safely remove from the boat. However you do not need to remove the mast to trailer or launch. Finally it appears trailers vary a great deal. The more sophisticated types have sliding sections making launch and retrival easier. I do not have such a trailer. The trailer I have is the standard type, trailer backed into water, boat winched into place, then pulled out.

The third type trailerable is what is referred to as a demountable. These boats require external machines such as a fork lift or marine travel-lift to be launched and retrieved. They are generally launched and retrived once a year. These types of multihull boats are like the Sea Tribe 870.

I was in the middle of planning to remove my boat from the trailer when I injured myself working on anther boat. Anyway 26's have made several crossings of the Atlantic. I think the 8M's may have as well, they are certainly built as well. While there have been other such tralerables to have made this crossing, it does speak to the strength of the early Telstar designs, pre '82. The 8M I have is sandwich built, she was on the cutting edge of boat building technology in her time, actually she was really ahead of her time. Solid as the day she was built in April '81. Of course it goes without saying that the boats will make awesome coastal cruisers and are quite comfortable for extended cruising, a great boat for a family. I think the solid decks are a real asset for safety and especially enjoyable when you are moored.

I think most anyone would be very hard pressed to find a better boat with all the possibilities it offers for the price, monohull or multihull. One in very good condition should bring about $25 to $30K U.S., plus the cost of a dependable charging outboard. Remember the trailer is worth at least 3k if in good ffunctional state and tagged.

I will post a link on an article describing the raising and lowering the mast. It explains how to raise and lower the amas and mast by yourself. Though I have not done this yet, I have owed a trailerable monohull. There are similarities to raising and lowering the mast. Meanwhile if you have not joined The International Telstar Owners Association please do so. Great people and great boats make it very worthwhile.

If you choose not to purchase the boat please gives me the listing details. Please excuse spelling errors as I am typing with my non-dominant hand, my left.

Warm Regards,

Pat

Pat Ross · Post by **Pat Ross** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 8:48 am

Marina wrote:Would appreciate some info on how the amas fold and raise on the 8m. Whats the procedure, how much hassle, and how heavy are the amas? How many of you actualy trailer your telstars?

cheers.

Marina,

Are you sure you are looking at an 8M and not a 26?

I ask this because I am still learnig about when and where the boats were built. I did no know of any 8M's built outside of U.S. What are the complete hull numbers?

Pat

Marina · Post by **Marina** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:03 am

Thanks for the info pat. A link to that article on mast and amas raising would be just what i need thanks. I've laid down a substantial deposit on the boat, so definately having it, and it is indeed an 8m. No idea of the hull number yet, but will be sure to give you full details and pics when we collect. I'd stumbled across your telstar site before whilst researching the telstar. Its a lovely looking boat. Particularly like the black wrap around windows effect. Would like to see some closeups of that... I've already donated and got my full ITOA membership. It's very helpful and seems a very welcoming site, but as yet i've not found any info on the mast and amas raising/lowering. Thanks for the warm welcome and apologies for my grammar etc but i'm posting from a mobile phone at the moment! Cheers, Harvey.

Pat Ross · Post by **Pat Ross** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 12:53 pm

The artcle below is one of two methods I am familiar with. This method and the article were featured in MULTIHULLLS MAGAZINE, MARCH/APRIL 1979.

Telstar 26 & 8M Mast - Ama pg 1.JPG (159.28 KiB) Viewed 226 times

Telstar 26 & 8M Mast - Ama pg 2.JPG (140.06 KiB) Viewed 226 times

Pat

Marina · Post by **Marina** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:06 am

Thats great, thanks Pat. Hope you're recovering well. Have you refurbished your boat since purchase? Would be interested to know if your hulls and deck are sporting their original gel coat, or if they have been painted? Stripping the paint and spraying with an epoxy 2 pack paint is the major job required for our telstar. Apparently ours was originally gelled in a vile colour, hence the paint job, which unfortunately was not a great job.

Cheers

Harvey

Pat Ross · Post by **Pat Ross** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:47 am

Hi Harvey,

We have done very little to our boat outside of removing everything in her interior to give her a good cleaning, before I injured myself. Unfortunately this is just a slow recovery surgrery, Rotator Cuff repair. You can actually do more damamage to yourself unless you are patient, Ugh.

As a result, we do no plan to do much of any cosmetic work this year but do hope to have her in the water by August. Our boat needs a complete new paint job. The original Gelcoat is solid with few but some stress cracks. She has minimal damage but does need repair in a few spots, i.e safety stanchion boat supports leaking into amas, cockpit chipping of gelcoat, etc... I don't see anything that someone with average skills could not repair. She looks almost like she was painted with latex house paint over the gelcoat, ugly. She was road hard and put away wet as they say. But her beautiful lines and design are still very evident. We will probably use a two part paint like Interlux Perfection using the Roll and Tip method rather than spraying.

You remarked earlier that you liked the accent painting of my boat, I think that may have been looking at a photo of Joe Siudzinski's boat. He was the North American representative of Telstars prior to the company moving to the U.S. He has been very kind and helpful to me. Here is the link to his site: http://home.earthlink.net/~smercc/index.htm

Looking foward top seeing your boat, these are wonderful boats.

Cheers,

Pat

luigisante · Post by **luigisante** » Mon Mar 08, 2010 4:06 pm

The Ama raising tool is fairly easy to make if you have access to a junk yard or steel scrap yard where you can buy Unistrut (brand name I think). I bought a few lenghts of unistrut and made a bopod that acts as stand for a turning block and winch (old manual trailer winch). The Unistrut is attached to the hand rails on the top of the boat with a u-bolt and the amas are easily raised by the block and winch assembly. I also installed pad eyes on the front and aft of the amas to act as lifting points for the raising device and to double as spinaker and drogue connection points. Total cost was about $50 - $75 for the unistrut parts and another 50-75 for the pad eyes and backers. I can take pictures when your ready to make them. The mast can similarly be raised with a couple of aircraft grade aluminum tubes and the boats a winch run through the anchor roller in the front. The aluminum tubes act as a ginpole to get leverage over the mast.

Lou G.

Marina · Post by **Marina** » Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:59 am

Hi Lou. Great to be able to speak to someone who has actualy constructed one of these rigs. In the article it describes the triangular amas raising rig as being made of aluminium, which to me sounds very flimsy for raising a 600lbs weight. You have constructed yours from steel, yes? Im not familiar with the product you have used. Is it a box section/tubular steel? If so, what size? Is it built in sections for compact transportation or are the steels full length? Do you not have another stabilizing arm going back from the rig lower down to the trailer? If not, how stable does it seem. I'd just be worried from a safety aspect, what with the need to position yourself under the amas for doing up the amas bolts. If the rig gave way, with 600lbs swinging down on you, you wouldnt stand much of a chance... Cheers, Harvey.