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Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:12 am
by Netpackrat
Narfi, check out MJ Sailing's latest video on YouTube. They recently sold their Trisalu 37 sailboat, and are in the process of selecting a catamaran to build. Latest video was talking about a kit option from Vietnam, assembled from premolded components rather than foam cored flat panels like the other designs they have been considering. Looks like there is a power cat version of it as well.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 9:19 am
by jonnymac
I think there are some key take away’s when you look at the bigger boats built on here and other sites.
1. Life happens, so the time spent building must be effective. Ensuring that all the products, materials, etc are on hand when life gives you time is essential.
2. climate controlled building space, this could be temporary, but i view it as a must. epoxy and paint has such a tight band where it cures properly that any weather delays compound the project schedule drastically. Its hard enough to find large blocks of time to work, let alone finding large blocks of time where the weather works. when i built my workshop it was a nightmare trying to align these two. And epoxy won’t cure right when its sleeting on you
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3. getting help for bigger sections to maximize wet on wet. any time saved from sanding is twice the time making progress towards completion.
4. planning in breaks. plan in vacations, breaks from the projects so you get some mental break from building to have renewed vigor when you come back to it.
I think if you can do these things the likelyhood of big project completion will be much better.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:21 am
by narfi
Netpackrat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:12 am
Narfi, check out MJ Sailing's latest video on YouTube. They recently sold their Trisalu 37 sailboat, and are in the process of selecting a catamaran to build. Latest video was talking about a kit option from Vietnam, assembled from premolded components rather than foam cored flat panels like the other designs they have been considering. Looks like there is a power cat version of it as well.
Thanks, we watched that this weekend.... Though I really doubt kit form will be a practical approach where I live... maybe though, it never hurts to research logistics and prices. A couple of containers barged in is 'dooable'....
Overall I tend to think that most kits have more psychological benefit than true time/work savings in terms of ratio of the overall project. It isn't difficult to draw out lines and cut and make bulkheads and hulls, but it is intimidating to someone who hasn't done it before. The finishing, and interior and wiring and plumbing, etc.... will take up much more time overall than building the hulls and some of the furniture.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:25 am
by jacquesmm
Netpackrat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:12 am
They recently sold their Trisalu 37 sailboat,
The Trisalu 37 was designed by a friend, Jean Pierrre Brouns. It is smaller but very close to the boat I sailed for 10 years. It is based on the same lines, same concept, same box keel. It is an ideal boat for sailing around the world.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:31 am
by narfi
jonnymac wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 9:19 am
I think there are some key take away’s when you look at the bigger boats built on here and other sites.
1. Life happens, so the time spent building must be effective. Ensuring that all the products, materials, etc are on hand when life gives you time is essential.
2. climate controlled building space, this could be temporary, but i view it as a must. epoxy and paint has such a tight band where it cures properly that any weather delays compound the project schedule drastically. Its hard enough to find large blocks of time to work, let alone finding large blocks of time where the weather works. when i built my workshop it was a nightmare trying to align these two. And epoxy won’t cure right when its sleeting on you
.
3. getting help for bigger sections to maximize wet on wet. any time saved from sanding is twice the time making progress towards completion.
4. planning in breaks. plan in vacations, breaks from the projects so you get some mental break from building to have renewed vigor when you come back to it.
I think if you can do these things the likelyhood of big project completion will be much better.
1. check, life is always there
where I live I have to plan ahead, so will get all the major stuff in one big order at the beginning, much like I did when I shipped up the supplies to build the HC14 and FS17 all in one initial order.
2. check, we have planned and budgeted to start building the heated shop next spring. The initial purpose was for plane and boat building, so will need to make it a 'little' bigger than initially planned, but if we can figure out the needs now we will build around that goal for a larger build.
3. check, while I primarily work solo, I have had no problems getting assistance from my wife who has gotten more interested in helping as time and projects go by as well as conning and hiring other young backs to assist when needed. Slow epoxy will help a lot for larger areas as well.
4. check, we will still be doing our annual cruises and with the FS17 weekend camping trips and evenings out to roast sausages on the beach.... we will probably be adding a yearly catamaran charter to our schedule once we get deep into the project both for training and experience and to fuel our energy on the project itself.
I like to think I have proven to myself that I am not a quitter. I am a fairly analytical person, and like to plan projects out in advance while working on a current project and then when the time comes I am mentally prepared and able to attack that project with energy and excitement of the years of mental preparation for it. For example my current plane project I have been planning towards for 3+ years and so when the time came it was very easy to pull the trigger on the plans, materials, and my wife was also mentally prepared for the expenses of time and money.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2020 3:11 pm
by Netpackrat
jacquesmm wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 11:25 am
Netpackrat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 7:12 am
They recently sold their Trisalu 37 sailboat,
The Trisalu 37 was designed by a friend, Jean Pierrre Brouns. It is smaller but very close to the boat I sailed for 10 years. It is based on the same lines, same concept, same box keel. It is an ideal boat for sailing around the world.
Yeah, kind of wish I lived where I could keep a boat in the water, I would have liked to make an effort at buying her (would have been difficult anyway given they were in the UK at the time). There were only 5-6 of them built and theirs was maybe the only one with a pilothouse layout, so it would have been a great Alaska boat. They said there was some issue with Brouns having not been paid by the yard that built them, and he was understandably still annoyed about that, so they were totally on their own support wise in the refit effort.
If you get the chance, their series on taking her up to Norway is pretty good.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:06 pm
by jacquesmm
I saw that serie.
I tried, with two friends, to sail from Belgium to Svalbard (= Spitzberg) but we never made it. After 4 days of bad weather, beating against the wind, cold, wet, we turned around.
The Trisalu is only one of a larger serie of boats based on the Trismus. About 500 total were built. Very popular in Europe, box keel, shallow draft, extremely seaworthy: many sailed around the world, passed Cape Horn etc.
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:06 pm
by Netpackrat
jacquesmm wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:06 pm
The Trisalu is only one of a larger serie of boats based on the Trismus. About 500 total were built. Very popular in Europe, box keel, shallow draft, extremely seaworthy: many sailed around the world, passed Cape Horn etc.
The Northwest Passage too:
https://www.maewan.com/
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2020 4:58 pm
by jacquesmm
Impressive, I did not know that one. A friend of mine (same yachtclub), Willy de Roos, was the first yacht sailing the North West passage in a steel ketch designed by Van der Wielen.
I believe, the very first Trismus still holds the record for the most southern cruise by a sailboat. Patrick Van God sailed below 75 south.
It was sort of a hobby at that time to sail as far north or south as possible. I tried but was not as good or as persistant as those guys.
The hull design of the Trismus and Trisalu is based on an American boat that won the Transpac in his category: Teacher's Pet by Morgan Embroden.
My friend Patrick Van God, bought the lines plan to build a replica in balsa sandwich. He gave me the lines to loft and I built my 41' boat from my scaled lofting. JP Brouns and Patrick founded the Bureau Trismus, drafted some clean lines and sold more than 200 plans the first year!
Re: Retiring and/or Snowbirding on the water
Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:12 pm
by TomW1
THIS IS THE ONE.
Evan_Gatehouse wrote: ↑Tue Oct 06, 2020 10:05 pm
So you design boats, and have a large catamaran, I assume you live aboard?
What questions should I be asking, what should I be looking for as I research a project like this?
Our catamaran was a sailboat and fairly light at 7 tons fully loaded for cruising and living aboard. We sailed it around the world. Lived on it for 8 years.
First question: do you want to build a boat or go voyaging or both? That's not a trick or stupid question. Some people really like to build a boat and enjoy the process. Others really like the voyage and build or modify a boat but the trip is the thing. Few like both equally.
I'd say build a boat if you can't find an existing boat that suits your needs.
And read. Read lots. Start with your local library, check out inter library loans. start with some classic sailors on a budget Lin and Larry Pardey. They sailed around the world several times in a 24' and 30' self built wooden sailboat. With no engine. They represent the extreme end of the sailing community.
Then read Robert Beebe "Voyaging under Power" and his articles for Passagemaker (a magazine focused on cruising under power)
Is your boat(yacht?) a motor sailor, or is it purely a powerboat?
What would your wife advise?
When I said it would take about a year to modify our catamaran to suit us, she thought working part time and I meant full time for a year. It was 4 years working on weekends. Clarify your goals. Make sure you both have reasonable expectations that match.
My wife and I both see the romance in sailing, but are fearful (not really fearful, maybe timid?) of the process, work and clutter that seem to be associated with it. I feel that most of that would be resolved with training and experience, but there is something to the cleaner and larger living space of the pure powerboats.
Eh, clutter is the least of it I'd say. Yes a powerboat of similar length will have more room than a sailboat but it's a small space no matter what you think. It was easy to go from a 600 sq ft apartment to a catamaran which actually seemed larger!
Sailing is relatively easy to learn the basic skills and a lifetime to master. But honestly the engine, plumbing, electrical, propane system, fiberglass repairs are the same to sailboats and powerboats. Pick a sailboat if you like to sail and want to cross oceans economically.
The other question I guess would be speed, if a sailing catamaran goes 12kts and a power cat motoring economically goes 5-7kts, which one gets there first? I assume it is a case of the tortoise and the hare? Though in this case the hare can still go at tortoise speeds when taking his naps.......
No typical sailing catamaran AVERAGES 12 knots. You might hit 8 knots in hour boat for a few hours at a time but faster is more stressful and harder on the boat (well unless you're racing
- we averaged 6 knots under sail and that was a nice easy pace; very relaxed. The one thing we did have was the ability to turn on the speed when conditions were right and get to a destination before dark.
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