International Telstar Owners Association

After reading various posts I am now thinking of extending the ama support brackets on my Telstar 8 meter Sail No. 175.

I have removed mine and they are 89 centimetre's at the front and 57 centimetre's at the back, I was thinking of moving the forward brackets aft and lengthening the aft brackets to replace the forward ones, however if the path is taken I guess I would have to increase the forward supports to 121 centimetres (the difference at present being 32 ctm) and this increase in length seems a bit over the top!

Does anyone have any experience of doing this job and if so was there any improvement in the boats performance ? also what length have you extended them by.

Thanks in advance for any comments / assistance you can give

Rick

on my 8m #254 front and back are same length about 30 in
in any case if you lengthen them enough only one ama will be in the water at one time, definitely increasing performance due to decreased drag. the downside is hobby horsing side to side as the first few degrees of heel will be very tender unless you have heavy motor and or sit on motor side.

i thought of doing this since my 30 hp merc 4s efi is 157 lbs. to make motoring more efficient i was going to replace the starboard ama with a much lighter one that folds forward.

I have an 8m, sail no 198 and the previous owner has raised the amas.
At the same time the brackets were replaced by stainless steel ones, so I can't say if they are to the same pattern as the old ones.
I have just measured my supports and they are all the same length at 900 mm.

Due to variations in the position of the hull and ama plates by only a few centimeters this has resulted in one ama being slight higher that the other.

Having bought the boat already converted I cannot comment on any increase in performance, but I would say this; by raising the amas the main hull will sit lower in the water when loaded (more drag?) Potential benefit is probably most, if any, in light winds when the ama lifts of the water earlier.

I have just placed a few more photos which may be of interest.
go to: http://s844.photobucket.com/user/jonath ... ing%20Star

Been a while sine I logged into the site.

Thanks for the replies I made the decision to make the after supports the same length as the forward ones to lift the after end slightly however on trying to fit them realised that I also need make an adjustment to the hinges as the deck was pressing against the main hull with about 10" still to go.

To late in the season now so old supports re instated and new brackets packed away in the shed for fitting next year !

Rick

Jonathan Sykes, your 8M amas ride 6-9 inches higher each than mine. YOU MUST HAVE STRUTS AN INCH OR SO LONGER than mine