help with an old Tri

[kim s]

Fanie,

I was being a bit daft, just happy to know the wreck I had bought was not a complete mongral.

I have done too much monohull sailing to know I cant slap it together. Like all these things, maybe lifting the outer hulls up, remove keels and install dagger boards, maybe go for a different design of rudder (this one is a barn door) keep the weight down ets and I feel improvements can be made. But all this must be done carefully.This poor old girl had more metal work attached than your average fin keel yacht, so I know I can get her back up to scratch. I do have a small one off tri I built in glass from a british designer which kind of worked. not great design and not a great build but introduced me to multihull and I am hooked. time to take it serious and above all enjoy the journey.

Cheers

Kim

[kim s]

Cheers Bill

First time asking for help and already some one slagged my boat off.
One with a direct bit of history to your country as well.
May not be to your taste, or you would not want to take on a rebuilding task,but please -----give me a chance and dont pi55on a mans dreams no matter how stupid they might seem to you.

Kim

[dialdan]

Hi Kim

I really think you would be better off restoring back to original .If you straightened the beams it wont go to weather as well, also you would have to add stays to them or beef them up as they would not be as strong . Just my opinion.
Al

Originally Posted by kim s

a mortgage full of epoxy, new sails and off we jolly well go.

Kim, I know Epoxy is extremely expensive in the UK, to skimp a bit on that go here:

http://www.r-g.de/

this has proven to be a cheap and high quality source for several UK builders, every time I posted the link.


Regards
Richard

[kim s]

Thanks Apex1.
that is ceetainly cheaper, even with the pound going down the drain!!!!
Just need to check delivery price to uk.

Kim

[peterAustralia]

You have a lot of work to get through


Have you made a list of what is good and what is bad? What will it cost to get up to a reasonable state. Perhaps compare that to buying with that money, what can you get? Can you salvage parts from that and add to someone that has a half completed project, example someone has built a trimaran, run out of money after they finished the hull. Buy this unfinished project and then add the rigging engine, fittings from what you have.

There has to be someone in the UK that has built a tri hull and given up?


Alternatively,
Maybe it can be thought of as a rebuild, if the frames are mostly sound, it could be thought of as building from scratch, but the framing is already done.

Are the amas sound? Would it be better to build new ones? I hate the deck house, so much windage, maybe it could go and add something that is made of canvas and goes down and is stowed away in the day and is setup at night-time.

For the crossbeams. My boat was small with 240L outrigger. I made wood box beams and had 3 people (300kg of us) stand at mid point with the ends supported on bricks. Maybe just copy the original design of the crossbeams and build anew. What do the connectives to the main hull look like, do they look strong?

I guess you can look at other trimarans and see what sized crossbeams they use. My main concern would not be the crossbeams but where they join the main hull, the connection needs to be sound.

I think what you are doing is possible... whether it is easy i am not sure. 28ft you say, I guess that is not huge.

I assume this was originally a keel yacht and the lead keel has been removed and replaced with dual outriggers? In the case you ought to have a little bit of spare weight to play with.

I guess my main point is, before you spend too much money, look at all the options. How much money will it cost to do up? how many hours? with what you have spent, is that better or worse than some alternatives?

regards
N Peter Evans

[catsketcher]

Gday guys

Got to this thread late but I have seen a few Sparkles in my time. To the typical multihullers eye they look a bit like a mono with training wheels. I know that one circumnavigated Oz in the 60s - it may have been the first multi to do so. I would need to dig my mag clippings out to see.

This is a typical Sparkle. The beams were always in this configuration. I seem to recall a waterstay but I could be wrong. If the beams are bad I would make nice new box beam ply ones - maybe with a waterstay.

Hartleys used to be an abomination in my eyes. After cruising a Twiggy I can understand some of their benefits. You get more room, high immersion rate and level sailing compared top a mono. Do not expect tri performance. If this boat will be used for mooching around protected waterways it will be fine. If you want to sail around the world then a suspect old ply (or any material) tri is not your vessel.

On another note - be very careful about using materials that are not normal. The most expensive part of this rebuild will be your labour. I believe in Chris White's maxim - If you can't throw it overboard build it out of good quality materials.

On the other hand - you will be amazed how far rot goes. If you can feel it in the deck then I would guess that the hulls have some too. I would urge caution in spending money until you have ripped the thing apart. I got a free trailer sailer once. A little digging and I found she was full of rot. She didn;t seem to until I started getting in there with tools - she went to the tip. If all the decks are gone I would say you have an 80% chance of the whole boat being too far gone. Tread carefully and don't commit until you know what the score is.

cheers

Phil

[kim s]

Cheers for the advice Guys,

Well as you suspected Phil, The rot has gone on from the decks, but having removed all the dodgy ply, there is only one main frame that has gone soft. that has been removed and replaced and now we are into the fun bit of atually putting good stuff back on her.
I know that she will be no ocean flyer, but for coastal stuff here on the east coast UK, she should be ok. For those who haven't been here, Its all tidal and fairly shallow with lots of mud banks. So I think she will suit these waters very well.
I do admit she is not the prettiest of craft, and Once the main hull is back sound, I may change the top half. But for the first time in a long while I have standing headroom, and just with the cabin hatch open!!!!.
I will probably rebuild as is then end of next year, change her----who knows.
Right I am off to trawl through the posts about weather or not to sheath the whole boat in epoxy, or just do the below the waterline ( upto the chine) Every thing you read or hear about, every-one has different ideas.
I will DEFFINATLY do below the waterline, more for impact resistance (i did say its shallow round here). but the rest Hmmmmmm we will see

Kim

[kim s]

Originally Posted by bill broome

i would be inclined to rent a chainsaw, and turn this into something useful: firewood.

seriously, building a new boat is likely to be easier than making something half-way useful out of this dinosaur.

Bill , I have sat and thought long and hard over this weekend and have decided to carry on rebuilding the "old dinosaur" cos in the UK we have already got one pile of ashes ,so no need to create another
Kim

[kim s]

Yahooooo,

Plans turned up todayand confirmed it deffinatly is a Lively/Sparkle 28.

It looks like the original builder did build her to spec. Its some idiot bolted everything on after wards with mild steel that has caused the problems.

New frames in stern main hull all replaced
New transoms frames and skin in
50% of the hull skin is now replaced.
Cabin all rot taken out and new frames in place.
Most of cockpit frames replaced and sorted and seats replaced

Just have to do new cabin sides and cut out decks and glue down, then ontothe outrigger arms (now I have the plans)

Its so easy this plywood construction love it
Day off tomorow as sailing ona shutlwoods design tri called
"Strontium Dog" ex "strontium 90"
Looking forward to that
kim