tradewinds 28 comparison to the telstar 26?

Talk about the older Telstar 26 and 8M
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JoeS.
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Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:56 pm
Location: Los Altos Hills, CA
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tradewinds 28 comparison to the telstar 26?

Post by JoeS. »

Having owned a Tradewinds 28 (George Llewellyn, the original designer/builder of the boat lives in Sequim, WA) and still have my Telstar 8m (poor baby, hasn't been in the water for 13 years) here's what I wrote in response to a query a few months ago as there was (is?) a Tradewinds 28 for sale here in the SF Bay Area:

Interior volume is much more usable and liveable on the Telstar, as the Tradewinds bunks can't be used for anything but storage and sleeping. On the Telstar you have full sitting headroom everywhere (especially around the table) and good standing headroom in the aisle.

My primary reason for selling the Tradewinds 28 was the inability to launch directly off the trailer. The Tradewinds needed a hoist or large forklift and couldn't be launched directly off the trailer because it sat very high. I decided to sell it after I paid $200 to launch the Tradewinds in Lake Tahoe around 1983. Oddly enough, the fellow who bought it lived up there and kept it on Lake Tahoe for 20 years. He finally sold it to someone in Florida. I'm still in touch with the Tradewinds designer/builder, George Llewellyn. I had actually trailered the Tradewinds up to Canada and sailed it around the Gulf Islands one summer.

The Tradewinds design is very sleek and slippery whereas the Telstar is somewhat tubby. The Tradewinds has much better water clearance between the main hull and the amas.

The Tradewinds had significant lee helm. I added a skeg forward to try to counteract that. The long boom on the Tradewinds could raise up and snag on the backstay, posing a significant safety issue. If I recall, I think the first thing I added was a vang.

The Tradewinds' main hull had very little buoyancy forward. My son used to love having me go through waves while he was sitting up forward (inside, looking through the window) as the boat would submarine through waves. I actually did the Doublehanded Farallones Race in my Tradewinds - no problem. Here's a small photo of the boat by the Golden Gate: http://www.katiekat.net/JoeSail/PhotoLi ... sGate.html

The Tradewinds orginally came with a very unique NSU Wankel rotary engine and infinitely-variable-pitch propeller. Amazing engine, way ahead of its time, but the apex sealing eventually gave out... it took the Japanese with their Mazda to fix the problems. Gosh, nowadays I would keep the drivetrain and put in an electric motor and Lithium batteries...

Hope this belatedly helps.

JoeS.
petrel
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Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 9:29 am
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tradewinds 28 comparison to the telstar 26?

Post by petrel »

Joe,

Great to know that you are still ardently involved in multihulls.

Hope you and family are doing well.

Best regards
Geoffrey
brockwestin
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Joined: Sun Dec 08, 2013 5:58 pm
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Re: tradewinds 28 comparison to the telstar 26?

Post by brockwestin »

Hey JoeS
I think I now own your old tradewinds 28..if you get this I can be reached at 7274854040..im doing a little rehab before selling. Thx ..Lance
JoeS.
Posts: 16
Joined: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:56 pm
Location: Los Altos Hills, CA
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Re: tradewinds 28 comparison to the telstar 26?

Post by JoeS. »

I contacted Lance about a week ago.
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