# Telstar 28 Trailerable Trimaran ...good boat?



## Perithead

I was looking through SAIL and saw the add of the Telstar 28 Tri what was trailerable and was pretty wowed by it. I am looking for a trailerable to purchase before Christmas and it seems I have read so much about how a multi hull is considered better than a mono that I might consider the Telstar.

The first question that popped into my mind is would the "trimarans" (not sure if thats the right usage) maybe the pontoons... would they break off easily while underway. Lets say I was going parallel with the waves and both pontoons happen to be on the crest of a wave at the same time and the center hull would be in the trough of the wave. If the wavers were big enough and close together like that could that potentially cause a major problem??????? It seems to me like that would be A LOT of weight on the joints. Did the buildbers prepare for this instance and make the boat strong enough or the boat be ale to flex or what? 

Just something I didnt understand..

Also, I am wanting something with a nice spacious cabin and I know that the Telstar is 28' wich would help but with it being a tri, would it suffer in space when I think about the beam of the center hull? I cant seem to find the demintioins for it. Has anyone been inside one of these things? 

What do you think? Good boat? Sturdy? Good Liveability?


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## Giulietta

SD.....Customer aisle 4..........


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## TrueBlue

Check with sailingdog who has a Telestar 28 - he's the most prominent poster here and will proudly provide info on his boat


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## SailorMitch

I can't believe this post is 7 minutes old and Dawg hasn't jumped on it already!


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## TrueBlue

Perithead - here's a video SD made of a Buzzard's Bay sail late last season:


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## Giulietta

Perithead...you are aware this is sailnet, don't you??

Its normally for sailboats only, no powerboats, and no "things" that float and move with a sail.....like skinny windsurfers with side floats for balance....

However...since SD is a nice guy we won't say anything...but please, be brief with your quest....

By the way, its normally a good gesture here at sailnet to post one's photo as an introduction.

OK?

Humbly yours,

Xavier Perez de Cuelar


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## Jeff_H

One suggestion, this might get more of a response if it was placed in the 'Buying a Boat' forum and not here in 'Sailboat Design and Construction'. 

I would also suggest that you do more research on Trimarrans which are very different creatures than cat's. In a general sense small Tri's are much faster than a similar length cruising cat, and sail more like a monohull (which is a good thing), but there is nothing spacious about their interiors. In a general sense, for any given length, Tri's offer substantially less living space, are far more weight sensitive, are wetter, less seaworthy, less forgiving, and require more skill to sail, especially in heavier going.

In general Tri's like cat's are supposed to be designed for any wave configuration and loading. In general, in modern Tri's you rarely hear of ama/aka failures. That said, around here in Annapolis, I have encountered some vague local scuttlebutt about Telstar build issues, but my exposure has been to second hand info and so not all that reliable. 

Personally, to my eye, the Corsairs have always looked like a better built and more sophisticated design. 

Respectfully,
Jeff


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## JohnRPollard

Perithead,

As others have indicated, when SailingDog signs in he will be a great source of hard data and performance info on this neat boat. I will add just this, more by way of anecdote:

About 5 years ago, I was aboard the Telstar 28 prototype when it was being rigged for the first time and when the folding akas were being put through their paces in Annapolis, at the builder's dock on Back Creek (builder is Perfomance Cruising, who also make the Gemini catamarans). I was impressed by the clever interior layout and spaciousness -- given that it was a multi-hull. By that I mean it does not have near the same volume in the main hull as you would expect from a mono-hull. But this is a multi-hull, and the accepted trade off for better sailing performance is less accomodations in a given length. Also, I was very impressed by the folding akas, although at the time I wondered how sturdy they'd be and whether they could be easily manipulated away from the protected dock if necessary. Tony Smith, the designer and builder, assured me they were engineered to be adequate in every respect. He also demonstrated to me that the mast could be raised by one person -- an important point for trailering.

More recently we passed a Telstar 28 trimaran on Chesapeake Bay. We were heading opposite directions through a tight cut called Knapps Narrows. Before entering the narrows, the Telstar folded its akas and brought the amas in tight against the main hull, then proceeded to transit the narrows with little more beam than a mono-hull. Presumably the skipper folded everything back out after reaching open water again. Very impressive!! 

Trimarans are a different breed of sailboat, and do require some additional skills and understanding of their performance and stability limitations. We once rendered assistance to a Corsair 27 that had pitch-poled at night on Chesapeake Bay. So get some advice from experienced mulit-hull sailors before pushing one too hard in heavy conditions.


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## Giulietta

Hey...a friend of mine bought a Corsair, its in Portugal, its a fast boat, but he is very unhappy.

Its poorly built, and leaks everywhere...the retracting mechanism is poor, and he is now selling it.

We told him..but he was stubborn and wouldn't listen...


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## wiseleyb

I had a Wind Rider 17 trimaran for a year and it was ridiculously fun (but a pain in the ass to setup). It's generally pretty hard to rooster tail in a sailboat. That thing was sick in 20. You'll sacrifice space for speed and you'll always need to be very aware of weight in that small space since multi hulls are complete pigs if you load 'em up with too much weight. I seriously considered getting a Corsair but went with a mono hull instead - I think they're better cruising boats. Outboards also really suck if you have any kind of sea state.

But - if trailering is a major purchase decision you can't do much better than trimarans (well, maybe a Flika). I think I'd need a Mac Truck to trailer my Westsail. 

I don't know anything about Telstars though.


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## sailingdog

Hmmm... where to start... I've had a Telstar 28 for almost 2 years now. I've sailed it on Buzzards Bay for two seasons, and taken her out in weather that scares off the powerboats and most other sailors. 

First, multihulls are a very different breed of boat from monohulls. Trimarans tend to handle much like monohulls, but don't heel as much. They will generally sail better than a catamaran, and pivot around the main hull, much in the manner of a monohull. Catamarans are a different beastie. Trimarans will generally have less stowage and cabin space than a monohull of the same LOA, while catamarans will have more cabin space and stowage. Trimarans will generally dust a monohull in performance. I've run down 40' monohulls pretty easily.  They do get a bit pissy when a 28' boat goes by them without even trying.

It is a very solid boat... and I've been very happy with mine. I've got a few videos of sailing in my Telstar up on Youtube. I spent quite a bit of time researching boats when I was looking to buy mine-both monohulls and multihulls. There are quite a few reasons I went with the Telstar 28 over the other trimarans, and several reasons I went with a multihull over a monohull.

*Hmmm... monohull vs. trimaran. 
*
I wanted a boat that is fast. Trimarans are generally much faster than monohulls. To get similar speeds out of a monohull, I'd have to be up in the 40' range at a minimum. This was far less expensive a way to get a faster boat. 

I also like the fact that it has a very shallow draft with the centerboard up... which means there are more places I can go with less trouble. I also like the fact that the boat doesn't heel much. Several of my good friends have physical disabilities and probably wouldn't be comfortable on a boat that heels 25˚ or more.

Versatility-I like the fact that I can trailer this boat if necessary. Not to many boats can go to windward at 55 mph. 

*Why a Telstar and not a Dragonfly or Corsair.

*Well, I am not a wealthy person by any standard... I wanted a reasonably affordable boat. I looked at the three most common trimarans, which are the Telstar 28, the Dragonfly 800/900 and the Corsair 28/31. The Telstar simply gave me the most boat for the buck.

* The Quornings*

The Dragonflies are beautifully built and finished boats-and their prices reflect it. They, like the Corsairs, are fairly wet boats to sail. The folding system is one that I'm not particularly crazy about. Folding a Dragonfly 900 adds about four feet to the length of the slip required, and the folding system makes maneuvering the boat more difficult-since the rudder goes from a transom hung rudder to one five feet into the boat's effective hull length.

*The Corsairs*

The Corsairs are predominantly racing focussed boats. This is especially true of the 28, which is a one-design boat. I wanted a cruising boat. The C28 doesn't come with a full galley or marine head. The options are for a camping stove and a porta-pottie. Also, the C28 doesn't have standing headroom for me, and I'm only 5' 5" or so. Clearly, the C28 wasn't an option.

The C31 is a bit better, since it has standing headroom at least. However, the C31 is about 70% more money than a Telstar 28, and doesn't really provide much more in the way of cabin space or stowage.

The mast raising system on the Corsairs also left a lot to be desired. A common way to damage a Corsair is to drop the mast while trying to raise it. One of the C31's I had looked at had the mast replaced for just that reason. Also, the mast raising system is dependent on the trailer winch... which means you can't lower or raise the mast on the water. Finally, the Corsairs were just really wet boats to sail. This is fine in the summer, but in early April, when I usually start sailing, it really isn't an option.

Finally, the folding system on the Corsairs left a lot to be desired. Most Corsairs you see in the water are on a mooring or a lift. You can't have the boat sit in the water with the amas folded for two reasons.

First, the amas folded leave the ama hull-deck join in the water. This isn't a problem on the newer boats, since the amas are effectively one-piece IIRC, but it does require you to have hull paint on the topsides and deck of the ama or get lots of nasty growth on them.

Second, the rigging is attached to the amas... folding the amas makes it far more likely that you'll lose the rig in a storm. The rigging on the Telstar is all to the main hull, and isn't affected by folding the amas.

There are two more problems IMHO with the ama folding system. One, you can't motor with the amas folding on the Farrier designs. It really isn't designed to allow that. Two, you need to have tools to fold and unfold the amas. The amas are held in the deployed position using four bolts each, and you need a wrench and the bolts to lock them down. These are two more reasons most Corsairs are on moorings.

* The Telstar 28*

The boat is significantly drier than the Corsair or Quornings. I think this is mostly due to the hard ama deck that extends inboard of the amas, between the akas, and tends to deflect most of the water that would normally spray up onto the main hull from the amas.

The ama folding system is very solid on the Telstars, and doesn't require any longer a slip than the actual boat. The amas do not change in orientation, like they do on the Corsairs, and only require a slightly higher waterline on the hull paint if the boat is to be stored with the amas retracted. The amas do not require any tools to deploy or fold. They are held in position using a line clutch in the cockpit locker-two lines per ama, with one tensioning the nets and the other the amas. The amas are also locked in the closed or open positions using the line clutches. The amas allow you to motor with them retracted... so the boat can be stored in a normal 25-30' slip. The ama design requires them to move forward and then back again to be either deployed or retracted, and they rise about 4" during deployment. Both of these factors make it very unlikely for the amas to retract under sail, since buoyancy and the forward motion of the boat will tend to keep the amas deployed. This is not the case with the Dragonflies, where the amas swing back to fold, or the Corsairs, where the folding mechanism requires the use of bolts to secure it in the deployed position.

The cabin on the Telstar 28 is almost as large as that of the Corsair 31 or Dragonfly 900. It comes with a marine head and galley-as well as having an option for a refrigerator. My boat was one of the first equipped with a refrigerator btw. The literature says the cabin can sleep five.. which while true, is highly optimistic. In reality, the cabin can sleep two or three in a pinch.

The mast raising system on the Telstar 28 is one of the key reasons to buy the boat. It uses a series of a-frames and a line led to a genoa sheet winch to raise and lower the mast. It can be raised or lowered in about 15-30 minutes, and this includes taking the boom on/off and all that. And it can be done by a single person, either on the water or on the trailer. One of my sister ships was on a cruise in Florida and found that the marina they had chosen to haul out at required ducking two relatively low bridges, so they just dropped the mast, and motored to the marina. If they had been in a Corsair, Quorning or monohull...they would have been screwed. 

BTW, they recently modified the hull design a bit to allow for a longer centerboard than I have on my boat. The new design also has a shower dam molded into the interior, to allow you to take a shower in the head IIRC. The Telstar 28 hull numbers start at 300, since there were about 300 Telstar 26s built previously.

If you're really interested in the boat, I would recommend that you join the Telstar 28 forums, which are located here. On Sailnet, Onremlop and CaptRon400 also have Telstar 28s IIRC.

I've got a lot about the boat, the modifications I've made to mine and the reasons I bought mine over at my blog.


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## Giulietta

Excellent post SD


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## sailingdog

Thanks Giu... I do love my little boat... 

BTW, IIRC, Corsair has moved much of their production offshore, to Vietnam, and has gone down considerably in quality IMHO since they parted ways with Ian Farrier... the original designer of many of their boats. Ian Farrier does design a damn pretty boat, and fast too...but the smaller ones aren't all that well suited to cruising IMHO—more like camping on water...


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## SailorMitch

Dawg -- got on the Telstar at the Naptown boat show in Oct. and was impressed. Not my cup of tea (committed monohull guy here), but a nice layout, build quality was good -- and the damned thing looked fast as hell just sitting there.


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## sailingdog

Not only do they look fast... they are fast.  I've had mine up to 15 knots several times...  Regularly sail at 9-10 knots...



SailorMitch said:


> Dawg -- got on the Telstar at the Naptown boat show in Oct. and was impressed. Not my cup of tea (committed monohull guy here), but a nice layout, build quality was good -- and the damned thing looked fast as hell just sitting there.


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## max-on

sailingdog said:


> Not only do they look fast... they are fast.  I've had mine up to 15 knots several times...  Regularly sail at 9-10 knots...


SD, you could give Giu a fair amount of competition on the race course!!


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## sailingdog

Upwind, his boat would probably trounce mine... but I could rig the race by having a 5' deep sandbar on the course...just before the finish line. 


max-on said:


> SD, you could give Giu a fair amount of competition on the race course!!


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## onremlop

I too have a Telstar 28 and just towed it from the marina this weekend. We sail it on Lake Minnetonka in Minneapolis. My wife usually runs the helm as I take care of the sails. We have not had any problems handling the boat in high winds - just do some reefing and we are good to go. 

The amas take about 10 seconds to push out and that increases the boat to about 18 feet wide. In decent winds, there is not a boat on the lake that can keep up with us.

We did enter our first sailboat race of our lives this fall and got smoked big time. The wind was hitting as high as 4 knots and the course was straight upwind and downwind - not a good combo for this boat. It just so happened the guy who set up the course won the race. How'd that happen?

Raising and lowering the mast is fairly straight forwards and one person can do it. When we first raised the mast, we attracted quite a crowd and one of the gawkers asked us how many years we had been doing that. I told him it was our second time of raising it. 

All in all, it is really a fun boat to sail and is quite easy. This summer, we tended to have other people at the marina go out on our boat as there is quite a bit more room to move around because of the amas. We have had as many as 8 people on board and no one is tripping over each other. My favorite part of sailing it with monohullers is watching how fast they grab their drinks when the wind kicks up. Their beverages aren't going anywhere.


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## sailingdog

Onremlop-

How warm was it when you were out this past weekend. We just got a sprinkling of snow here in NE today. Fortunately, my boat's been in storage since just before TS Noel came to visit.


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## wiseleyb

SD - one problem I had with my W17 trimaran was that it refused to go into irons... on monos you let everything go an your into the wind pretty quick - makes single handing with out auto helm pretty easy. Is this something with all trimarans? You vids are fun looking.


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## sailingdog

Wiseley-

It depends.. If I have the mainsail up...she goes into irons just fine... if I'm sailing under genny alone... nope.. won't go head to wind... and won't tack very well.  Lee helm is a problem on some boats, but not generally on the Telstar.  

The boat is a blast... and handles 7-9' waves and gusts up to 35+ just fine... as long as you've reduced sail enough.


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## max-on

sailingdog said:


> Upwind, his boat would probably trounce mine... but I could rig the race by having a 5' deep sandbar on the course...just before the finish line.


SD, now that's thinking outside the box!!


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## sailingdog

What can I say... I don't like to lose... and that's the simplest thing I could think of.  his boat draws 10'. 


max-on said:


> SD, now that's thinking outside the box!!


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## TSOJOURNER

> I was looking through SAIL and saw the add of the Telstar 28 Tri what was trailerable and was pretty wowed by it. I am looking for a trailerable to purchase before Christmas and it seems I have read so much about how a multi hull is considered better than a mono that I might consider the Telstar.


Well, let's start by mentioning that you can't believe everything you read .... 



> The first question that popped into my mind is would the "trimarans" (not sure if thats the right usage) maybe the pontoons...


 the correct term here is 'training wheels' 


> would they break off easily while underway. Lets say I was going parallel with the waves and both pontoons happen to be on the crest of a wave at the same time and the center hull would be in the trough of the wave. If the wavers were big enough and close together like that could that potentially cause a major problem???????


It certainly has been known to happen yes.


> It seems to me like that would be A LOT of weight on the joints. Did the buildbers prepare for this instance and make the boat strong enough or the boat be ale to flex or what?


Well for your sake, let's hope so !   



> Just something I didnt understand..


Multihulls ??? I must confess I don't understand them either 



> Also, I am wanting something with a nice spacious cabin and I know that the Telstar is 28' wich would help but with it being a tri, would it suffer in space when I think about the beam of the center hull? I cant seem to find the demintioins for it. Has anyone been inside one of these things?


I believe people have gone inside them - whether they went willingly or not I can't say .... 



> What do you think? Good boat? Sturdy? Good Liveability?


I'll recuse myself from any further comment as I am a died-in-the-wool monohull sailor. Sailing Dog has no doubt given you a glowing report and answered any questions you have. Good Luck and leave your children ashore !


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## sailingdog

Please forgive Sailormann, he's a eurocentric monohull heathen... I call things the way I see them...good, bad or ugly. 

The outer hulls are generally called amas or floats... they are most definitely not pontoons.... or training wheels. The crossbeams are also often called akas. The terms ama and aka are from the Polynesian terms used for their Proas... but have been adopted for use with Trimarans. 

The cabin space on a trimaran is generally a bit smaller than that of a comparable LOA monohull, since you don't have the depth of hull, since the hull is usually fairly narrow and flares to accommodate the cabin—stowage is much more limited. Also, you don't have a deep bilge to stash stuff in—the bilge on the Telstar is all of 2-3" deep. However, there is considerable stowage for relatively large, light, bulky items in the amas. Be aware that you can't get to the central ama storage area when the hulls are retracted. 

IMHO, the Telstar's crossbeams are very strong, even though it is a folding system. The beams do not fold in the direction of the major stress on them—ie. the vertical plane. The Corsair folding system depends on eight bolts for the rigidity of the amas in the vertical plane.


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## onremlop

sailingdog said:


> Onremlop-
> 
> How warm was it when you were out this past weekend. We just got a sprinkling of snow here in NE today. Fortunately, my boat's been in storage since just before TS Noel came to visit.


 Dang cold! We started getting some flurries. We had pulled it a couple weeks earlier to have some work done. When we took delivery of our boat in May, the nut used to lower the centerboard had galled and we had our marina replace it, however, we ran out of time and it still isn't done. Also, the starboard ama has a big silver dollar-sized chip missing out of it due to it hitting the main hull when we would extend and retrieve it. We are going to have a piece of the fiberglass that is hitting it trimmed back about a 1/2'' to prevent that.

We had to park our boat and wanted to move it before we got hit with any bad weather, so we will have to have those repairs done this spring.

We went to the St. Pete Strictly Sail show and talked a bit with Will. It was good to see him, but he was busy trying to make a living. We went over to a Corsair, 28' I think, and talked with them. It reminded me of a big hobie cat. I think the Telstar and Corsair are two totally different animals and am glad we decided on the Telstar.

We had a good sailing season and learned a great deal from some really experienced sailors. I think we averaged between 3 and 4 sails a week throughout the summer in all different kinds of conditions. We had one sail where we saw some menacing clouds coming in and my wife, the amateur weatherwoman, said we needed to head to the marina. We parked the boat, got in the car and as we drove around the lake, the winds were really kicking up and by the time we got home, it was really blowing. A couple of the J boats racing that day capsized because they didn't couldn't get in quick enough since they were sailing into the wind and we were on the opposite side sailing downwind.


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## sailingdog

Define cold.. up here, the temps today were only up to the mid-forties... last week was a good deal colder.  

What other projects do you have for the boat coming up???


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## onremlop

sailingdog said:


> Define cold.. up here, the temps today were only up to the mid-forties... last week was a good deal colder.
> 
> What other projects do you have for the boat coming up???


Today's high is going to be 19. I am going to need to put some bottom paint on and have never done that, so am going to have to research what I need and what I need to do.

I want to install a battery charger and meter and am trying to figure out how to put additional speakers outside the cabin without drilling holes. Wifey is deathly afraid of any alteration of the boat. Other than that, I can't think of any alterations right now.


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## sailingdog

Onremlop-

The way I installed cockpit speakers was pretty simple, but does involve cutting two big holes in the aft end of the cockpit. You can see the speaker installation here.

On the newer boats, there seems to be a hatch on the aft end of the cockpit, and that would vastly simplify this type of installation.

Get at least a 40 amp charger, if you have a separate house bank. Otherwise a 20 amp charger should be plenty.


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## TSOJOURNER

*question about hinges*

Hello Sailingdog,

thanks for your really extremely informative post. I can only absolutely agree on the Corsair / Dragonfly issue, which is by the way just being confirmed again, as Quorning releases its Dragonfly 28, copying quite a number of the Telstar´s features, at the usual high price of about $150.000.

We are looking for a decently priced tri for some years now and considering all arguments we will very likely be ending up buying a Telstar, new or second hand, mainly because of the value-for-money argument.

That is why I have some crucial questions, stemming from Quorning´s early problems with their hinges (had to be replaced every 3 - 5 years):
a) which materials are used for the pivoting parts?
b) is there any slack in the hinges after having folded it as many times as you supposedly did?
c) have you detected any faults in the laminate? being as light as she is, the T2 might be a candidate for cracks, I thought.
d) any probs in general after some use?

Well, thanks again for sharing your experience!


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## sailingdog

Jogumann-

The pivoting system is primarily made up of stainless steel with some fiberglass parts that add some rigidity and support to the system during the folding/unfolding process. I have no doubts about how strong the folding system is when the amas are deployed. The system is quite robust and handles even really snotty conditions without any issues. In several of the videos I've posted on Youtube, the conditions were 28-30 knots of wind, with gusts up to 35 knots or a bit more, 7-9' seas, and we had only one issue that I found, which I've since fixed. The issue was that we'd get a fair amount of water in the cockpit, and thanks to my lazy crew, down in the cabin as they'd forget to replace the bottom dropboard in the companionway. I fixed this problem by adding a bridgedeck to my Telstar's cockpit.

Given some of the sailing I've done in mine, if layup were an issue, I'd probably know it. It hasn't been as far as I can see.

One thing I will say about the Telstar 28s is that they are a relatively new design, having been announced in late 2003, and the design is constantly undergoing slight modifications to it. For instance, the current models do not sport the ama-mounted lifelines that were featured on the earlier boats. This is probably for two reasons. First, they really seem a bit unnecessary-after all the amas have a foot-high bulwark on the outside edge to keep you on the boat. Second, the stanchion mounts were a major source of water leaks into the ama interiors.

I'd recommend you read the article I've written about the evolution of the design of the Telstar 28, which is on the *ITOA forums*.


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## UK-designer

wiseleyb said:


> SD - one problem I had with my W17 trimaran was that it refused to go into irons... on monos you let everything go an your into the wind pretty quick - makes single handing with out auto helm pretty easy. Is this something with all trimarans? You vids are fun looking.


The current W17 did not exist in 2007 .. so it can be assumed that the above comment probably refers to the WR17 or Windrider, that was sometimes referred to as a W17.


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## JimsCAL

And another thread rises from the ashes!


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## smackdaddy

JimsCAL said:


> And another thread rises from the ashes!


Ooof. Considering the back-story...poor choice of words.


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## Samiam

Hi all, 
I know this is a long dead thread, but I just found a 2008 Telstar to buy. Those of you that have and know and love your folding trimarans, Telstar 28s in particular I have a advice to ask. 

I want the speed, the trailer ability and shallow draft to gunk hole my brains out at any puddle of water big enough anywhere.

My idea is to use this thing as an amphibious assault Winnebego! I'd use it as a travel trailer as much as a boat. I'm based in Texas, but far from the Gulf. I'd like to drag it to the Gulf, the Oregon Coast, lake Coeur D'Alene in Idaho, Revelstoke in Canada, Mountain lakes in the Ozarks, the Great Lakes.... where ever. Is that a terrible idea with a folding trimaran? It's only 3,000 pounds so seems it'd be both a boat and an RV and get me onto a lot of water I'd never get to explore. Thoughts? Thanks all!


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## nettles.jim

Samiam said:


> Hi all, I know this is a long dead thread, but I just found a 2008 Telstar to buy. Those of you that have and know and love your folding trimarans, Telstar 28s in particular I have a advice to ask. I want the speed, the trailer ability and shallow draft to gunk hole my brains out at any puddle of water big enough anywhere. My idea is to use this thing as an amphibious assault Winnebego! I'd use it as a travel trailer as much as a boat. I'm based in Texas, but far from the Gulf. I'd like to drag it to the Gulf, the Oregon Coast, lake Coeur D'Alene in Idaho, Revelstoke in Canada, Mountain lakes in the Ozarks, the Great Lakes.... where ever. Is that a terrible idea with a folding trimaran? It's only 3,000 pounds so seems it'd be both a boat and an RV and get me onto a lot of water I'd never get to explore. Thoughts? Thanks all!


 I think your idea is interesting - did you go for it?


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## Grith

I also came close to buying a Telstar back in 2015 but a new partner back then vetoed my purchase on cost and our available time to go extended sailing. Also she was used to bigger yachts and couldn’t see herself living in something that small.
I wish you best of luck with you plans which are very similar to what I am now doing part time having just retired with a new travel and adventure partner.
After parting ways with that lady I began a long search for the ideal trailable on water and land multi purpose expedition platform and even reviewed and quickly dismissed some trailable stinkboat cruisers and trailable houseboat options.
I have settled with an unusual and sometimes controversial choice being a 28 foot Imexus a Polish Built Water Ballast Powersailer that in my view delivers on the sometimes exaggerated promises of the first really mass market powersailers by Roger Macgregor.
One of the issues I looked hard at was ease of accessing the boat when on its trailer when living onshore between cruising destinations along with the ability to have standing headroom and an enclosed shower/toilet compartment for longer term living onboard especially with the view to attracting a longer term travelling companion.
Mission accomplished in all regards and after extensive modifications for long term liveaboard cruising we have just competed a relatively short 6 weeks living onboard cruise in winter here with Clare keen to go again.
Your plan is achievable! I hope you find success.


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