EVERYTHING WRONG WITH MY HURRICANE DAMAGED TRIMARAN | Ep.120 

Hi Alex, Wow, there's so much to comment on here that this one is just for the first half of this video. First, Please don't cut a channel groove into you deck to drain the recessed ama deck hatch. This would put in a huge structural weakness into the middle of the amas! The recess itself was a design error in my opinion that will causeany hatch to leak. The recess need to be brought flush or proud of the deck and then have the hatch reattached and well bedded which will do away with the leaks. The gel coat.All PCI boats are known for hairline cracks in the gelcoat. This is because the fiberglass is laid up to minimal specs to do the intended job yet keep the boat light and that means that the fiberglass which is very flexible material is going to flex. The gelcoat on the other hand is relatively brittle and therefore cracks when the fiberglass flexes underneath so fixing those hairline cracks is next to impossible and strictly an aesthetic problem. The big bubble cracks on the other hand are well worth fixing. These are the large cracks on the boe and the large open "holes" near mainly outside corners of the fiberglass. Outside corners of the boat were inside corners in the deck mold where the gelcoat was easily sprayed in but it was harder to lay up the fiberglass right up against the gelcoat and get all of the air out. So the occasional bubble is trapped and these crack and open up over time. Anyhow, once repaired, they obviously won't come back.

9.8 hp outboard is fine. Assuming it is a high thrust, ie designed for sail boats. Going any faster just wastes a lot of fuel. It is the static thrust that count, needed when making way against a full Gale. The weight of a 20hp would really spoil the sailing performance.

I feel like I'm gonna learn loads watching you work on this

Bravo Zulu Alex, look forwards to following your adventures in 2024 and beyond. Fair winds and following seas.

P.S. get a small lead acid for the outboard, have the outboard charge that directly then get a victron orion dcdc charger to charge your lithium only after the starter battery is charged. You then always know you have electric start etc, and you don't draw too much power from the outboard alternator and burn it out.

If the Amas hatch is symmetrical then perhsps just spin it around so it opens the other way. Then it can open fully and rest open on the amas without having to hold it. Look into hyfield levers for quick stay and shroud tensioning. I have them on my gaffer so i can lower the mast while under way and get under bridges. That propane locker is frightening, im sure you will research modern standards for construction and gas safety. Good luck on your project. Illbe watching from the USA.

A great account. I like your approach and can tell you will do this vessel justice. Keep the videos coming. You are currently the number one UK trailer Sailor RU-vidr in my opinion and can see great a evolution ahead. Thank you.

You have plenty to keep you busy this winter. You have good skills and I look forward to seeing the progress. Best of luck to you Alex!

Try rotating the hatches through 180’ so that the lid opens inwards on the outer hulls. Just a thought

She is an upgrade on the last boat, but it needs a fair bot of tidying up Good to see you got the mast down and back up. For the outboard you might need to keep a 12v lead acid battery with its own circuit. Looking forward to seeing the work in progress 👍👍

Looks like you've got a busy winter, then on to new sailing adventures! 👍

Hey Alex, I'm A big fan of trimarans also.. In fact that's how I first found your channel you were evaluating or testing a small like a 20 foot trimaran. I had texted encouragement to you to get or look at trimerands more I frankly feel it's the best way faster to get between points. But congrats and good luck, can't wait to see how it goes.

those transparent entry "flaps" sound like toughened glass, if so - very cost effective just to polish them clean using (up to) 3000 grit wet and dry. check out glass car headlight restoration processes

Love the scaffolding chairs supporting the amas. Great video as always !

The gas locker should really be drained over the side too. Just in case of leaks.

Really enjoyed this video Alex 👌 I’m getting timelines mixed up a little ! If this was Feb then you must have already got the Tri when we met at Rutland ? In which case you would have been referring to RU-vid timeline when we chatted about you ‘getting’ ‘future tense’ a new boat 🤦‍♂️🤷‍♂️ goodness knows 🙃.. that aside, I’m hoping you’ve got plenty of footage of the gel coat work on the crazing / cracks as it’ll be good to see that. For info: I’ve recently used a Matting additive from International yacht paints to bring their gloss paints to a satin or mat Finnish that I’ve used for interior surfaces and it’s worked extremely well, you might find it useful ! All the best John

Nice one mate ⛵️⛵️⛵️

Alex took me three goes to watch all of this video. Yes, there is a lot of work, but I am sure you are the man to do it and look forward to the stories. 👍👍👍

i would put the lipo battery somewhere else (lower in the boat) and put a fridge where the led acid batteries were

Imperial threads are BSF (British Standard Fine) or Whitworth. The latter is the same geometry as a metric threads. American threads are Unified fine and coarse. UNF and UNC. These are measured in inch sizes but are not imperial.

Not sure grinding out and filling gel coat crack is a long term solution. The crack are caused by either an external damage, or an inherent fault. If the latter, needs addressing

Looking forward to the rebirth of your new boat.

Wow, it's certainly a project but your positive approach will soon get things underway!

Great tour loads of interesting projects to come will look forward to your take on gel coat repairs.

Multi ,you will not go back , Fun fun ,fun

I wish you all the best in your restoration I love Tri's, we had a one off 9mtr Tri built for a race to Corsica back in the 80's, great boat really fast we owned it from 1995 to 2000 on the Atlantic coast in France wish we still had it. Will keep looking at your site good luck. Clive in S W France

Lots of work ahead Alex , I had the same to do with my boat. Stainless steel bolts get rusted with time best use if available 316 grade on places in contact with water. Having a boat is pleasure in the water and enjoinment fixing it. At least for me is.🙂

Wow. Plenty of work 🤕but doable. It's a proper boat and the range for length will make it worthwhile. Electric toilets are usually very noisy, maybe manual is simpler? Will you change the name? 😁

"We're in February now and I wanna go sailing in April". Alex, I've got good news. It's still only December and you've got more time than you think

Jersey st Aubins . On inch at the time . Looks a good boat at heart

I found it is more often; the washers that have gone rusty.

Looks a lot of sorting. If it was me I would have to strip the whole boat do all repairs to structure and fully paint inside and out . Clean everything as I put back or replace fully rewire etc. This is exactly what I have just done to me 22 foot trailer sailor and it over a year of weekends ( not every weekend ) and that is 22 foot on monohull . Do not think that way would be possible with that boat .Good luck as I just see a huge amount of work but am sure you will get it sorted and back in the water . looking forward to see the mast system in operation .

It's a lot of work but that mast raising works is worth it.

We had freezing fog in Portsmouth was not good for all the boats

Great video Alex. I watched the whole lot. Looking forward to seeing the Completed project. I'm going to get my boat out next year, keep an eye out for my videos

Love it. With your mast raising, which is a brilliant design by the way, just have a look to see if the B frames (from hull to just under spreader) would restrict your mast from bending. If they don't allow it to bend, there will be some pretty big stresses on the pinions. It's fine if they were designed for the stresses but that is normally taken care of by the lower shrouds and not your mast raising struts. As an aside, you do the same type of sailing I do so I really enjoy your vids.

Hi, really well edited videos, i love your channel. On the mast raising and lowering system - I have a similar system albeit more simple on a Dehlya 22 monohull. I found that I cannot simply raise or lower the mast - i have to loosen the stays and tighten them again after raising. This is to even allow the forestay to be loosened. My mast is rather "soft" by design to allow finetuning but after raising it i found that the stays need to be re-tuned to have a perfect straight mast - including the balance between the lower and the upper stays. So I suggest you adjust your expectations in regards of raising or lower the mast. Its out of the question for me to go under a bridge (as i have to dismount parts of the supports structure) but even going out sailing on a day or even a weekend means half a day lost to slip and mast raising/lowering and tuning respectively. So honestly trailer sailing with a bigger mast and yacht to me means its minimum 5 days or a week to make it worth the effort. Where it really helps is to move between different (semi-pemanent) harbours via land - in my case the baltic sea and the reiver neckar in Heidelberg. This really works even towing my 1.5 tons of monohull boat and trailer with my 2.5 ton VW T5 for longer distances. I really look forwarmd to more of your great storytelling and one day I might hop across the channel to follow your tracks. It definitely made the UK waters more appealing to me. Regards, Marcus from Heidelberg

Float joints. Not sure how the deck / hull is bonded, but in due course I would want to get rid of that flange. When the float poles into a wave it will not allow a clean water flow and contribute to risk of a cartwheel capsize. Probably a big job as structural, but it would also look so much better. Ok you lose the rubbing strake, but you will learn to take care. Hinges. If you do go offshore consider what can be done to prevent a catastrophic failure should a bolt fail, particularly the forward ones.

Great video, very excited to see these projects come to life. What is the plan for meraki? You seem to be stealing some parts from her so are you keeping her or selling her with a few parts missing 🤣

Minging Mingulay 😊😊 but I’m sure it will be fine

have a word with #ruddercraft, they can make you up an HDPE rudder and centerboard with a propper NACA profile. might even give you a discount for some publicity. My new rudder from them for my Jag25 is coming tomorrow :-) like you, a big project. got to drop the swing keel, put a new bushing and pivot pin in for starters, rigging next. I did write a letter to santa. I found an American shorelin'r trailer which I'm adapting for mine it's a beast at 8ft wide and an I beam aluminium chassis which is 😍. Don't forget trailer regs for breaks. Both axles need to be breaked and auto release for reversing. Handbrake has to be mechanically activated.... go figure that's the one thing I've got to figure out the breakes are hydraulic on my trailer and amazing.

Make sure all your electric cable is tinned.

Re the puddle you say collects near your mast: check both the compression post and how it is seated on keel and coachroif underside, and the coachroif it self. Is balsa present & collapsing due to water penetration? I had a similar puddle form when coachroif support began to fail.

dude what happened to the centerboard? woah it got eaten by a monster.

Wow lots to do

Swap out the toilet for a cassette type no thru hulls needed

Is the folding mechanisms working properly? No bends no cracks? What about the structural frame for the rudder? Very important becsuse the forces on the rudder of a trimaran are much bigger than that of a monohull or catamaran.

Great vid alex

Thanks alex,I have to fix a lot place in my boat,I have been repaiering 4 years .but I could make it, please will you teach me how to fix ,

Go for the structural problems first 👍😀

I have the exact same Trimaran! Mine is hull #0318, curious to know what yours is? The transom plate will show you PC|T_ _ _ _|_ _ _ In my case, PC|T0318|505, the first four blanks indicate hull (#0318), the final three digits indicate month/year of manufacture. (May 2005) (Performance Cruising, Inc. Trimaran Manufacture year began in 2003) Tony Smith, designer I personally know that 0315 was destroyed in Hurricane Sally in Florida … mine survived. Also, check the softness of the deck joint at the base of mast-raising support ‘B’. During the mast raising procedure, that triangle carries maximum downward load (the mast is heavy), especially just prior to transitioning to horizontal. I always have a second line from the mast base to an adjacent winch as insurance while lowering/raising the mast. If your main line were to fail … well, let’s just say … ‘timber’! Your frame ‘D’ is bent, maybe from incorrect adjustments, or as a result of the transport accident. Balancing the line adjustments/lengths is vital for smooth mast raising. I have seen decks driven downward due to incorrect line tension. As I mentioned earlier, the stresses and tension involved during this event are intense. Once she’s vertical or horizontal, the stress is minimal. I have a heavy 50 hp Honda on mine, but I am seriously considering 2kw electric pods in each ama. Too much weight hanging off the transom reduces performance! The boat was built with Kevlar and polyester. Make certain you match repair materials! All the best.

Did she not loose both her daggerboard and the mast in the same hurricane crash ?

How did she get to the UK? Did someone cross the Atlantic on it?

I had the same problem where the compression post was not installed for a long period of time and the cabin top where the mast steps is located was down a little less than yours. I used a car jack to pu the original compression post back in. Here is the video where I jacked up the ceiling and put the post in (around the 7 minute mark) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-64DZZfZCezc.html.

it a toss of the coin lots of work, do you do the minimum to get on water or do you do a full strip out to refurbish the hulls and re gelcoat so many fixtures and fittings to take off and reseal, if your committed to keeping boat for some years to come then i,d go with a full strip ,what you see on video and the eye is only the surface of whats to do ,for instance the rub strake on the deck to hull joints on both outer hulls look like they been loaded with sealant and epoxy be the horrors if you removed to look at those joints be leaking water of the years ,all them spider cracks and stress cracks by time you clean them all up and find more every time you look ,another will be found be end to it becomes a full fresh gel coat , build a polytunnel drag each hull in separately and do the work on them also you need yo balance out cost of work to boat value at resale

another question is why your videos 2 months old?

Hi ! I was surprise to see your boat . I have same trimaran in Japan . may be my boat telstar28 only one in this country I guss , keep in touch please .... my name is Yosh Suzuki.

Fasten down that gas bottle.

At the risk of annoying you, I've got 2 more suggestions and I'm only trying to help as I know PCI boats well and am now boatless and considering a Telstar for myself hence finding your videos. You pointed out a bilge pump in your ama... OMG! I can almost guarantee you that that was not factory installed. The last owner did that instead of figuring out a way to keep water from leaking in. First off, for the pump to actually work that means that you have a couple of inches of water in you extremely weight sensitive ama. That alone would freak me out, but second, how is it wired? That wiring, no matter how they did it goes against many ABYC (here in the US) standards. There is virtually no acceptable way to run wire out thru a folding system to an ama that any standars organization or insurance company would approved of. Fix the hatch so it doesn't leak please. The last is mearly a suggestion. Throw out the speed transducer and glass in the hole. They rarely work reliably and the only data that they really are good at is figuring out the current induced speed by comparing it to you gps speed which you'll have on you chartplotter, phone and tablet. Not worth the trouble IMO. Enjoy, Frank

Love your videos man, but please ease off the all caps titles?😅

What a mess. Can see this boat has been unused for many many years. Is there anything that doesn’t need to be redone ? Sails ? It may cost you a year of work. What about losing income and social life and career? This boat may cost you a fortune.

Dont want to be a killjoy, but if you say the Trailer is 3.5 Tons , you need to check your driving licence is valid to tow over 3.5 ton.

Nice.... that will be a lot of work, good luck