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Hi, We are new to this group. I peeked before signing up and you all seem very knowledgeable about these boats so feel it is a great place for us to come to ask for advice.
My wife and I are looking at a 1976 Tri-Fly and we are wondering if there are any particular areas we should pay close attention to. There was a survey done on the vessel 2yrs ago and he said at that time there was nothing major but, some wet bulk heads and some wetness in the deck coring. We are going to re-survey the boat of course but, any additional helpful information is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Mike
Welcome to the site and possibly to a Try-fly.
All I can tell you is from my own experience from my tri-fly. We had purchased our boat in October ’13, and have only had one season with it. We had looked at 2 other tri-fly’s at the time and all three of them had evidence of the same things. They did have or had at some time, rain water leaking in from the aft of the rear deck. The bulkheads had been repaired on two of the boats. I made the repair myself on our boat since it was a relatively easy access. The boats all showed evidence of water leaking in around the windows and some damage around the lower helm. My boat has a very nice camper top, however in a heavy rain water still comes in the flybridge. This water makes its way through the hole for the flybridge wiring. All of the wiring and shifter/throttle cables travel from the bridge, forward of the starboard windows. This rain water runs down the wiring and was soaking the lower helm. This too was a relatively easy fix. I put a heavy bead of caulk around the passage hole to create a dyke, and then sealed the camper the best that I could. I found that most of the water was coming in through the seal between the bridge and the salon roof. I re-sealed this and did not have a problem for the rest of the season. Until I brought the boat to its new home, it had been kept in a covered slip and barely moved, so the previous owner and the surveyor were not aware of these problems.
My guess is that these problems would be similar on all Trojan flybridges of that era.
All other problems appear to be more related to almost 40 years of tinkering by previous owners.
We love the boat and are very happy with it. Our marina starts launching on May 1st. We plan on being ready by then.
I would look at the "wet" areas to see if there is a something is getting worse fast or has been addressed / repaired or is a minor issue . It is a 40 y/o boat so you have to expect some issues . While I don't like to see soft cores its not uncommon in any boat of that age . resealing deck hardware can help a lot in slow it down .
Boating is good for the soul
77/78 TROJAN F36 Conv.
6BTA Cummins diesels
Life is to short for a ugly boat
Welcome. Prowlersfish is right -- all boats will have some issues, you just have to decide what you can live with as a starting point. The best maintenance dollar that you can spend is the one that prevents you from buying a piece of junk, so shop carefully. How many boats have you looked at? I looked at 11 1981-1985 tricabins before I bought one.
I needed a less expensive hobby, so I bought a boat!
Not as many tri-flys around so you can't be as picky and they did not make them in the 80s so there older so...... . You have be conferrable with what you buy . What would be a deal killer for one person would not be a issue for another . My problem is nothing scares me buying a boat if the price is right ( figuring repair costs as part of price)
Boating is good for the soul
77/78 TROJAN F36 Conv.
6BTA Cummins diesels
Life is to short for a ugly boat
Thanks very much for the advice. We have looked at 3 other f36's but this is the only Tri Fly and that is the biggest thing that drew us to this boat. We love the upper deck space as we have 3 kids and look forward to spending a lot of quality time on the lake. There is some damage around the lower helm from the window leaking so I can see what you are talking about. Both engines have been rebuilt recently and i have read that the hulls on Trojans of this era are "bulletproof" because of the amount of fiberglass they used at that time. The layout is great and with the 13' beam it's really spacious. We are looking forward to getting our hands dirty making it our own if all goes well with the resurvey and sea test.
I am sure that you will love the space on the boat. Our maiden voyage was a 2 week journey, were we went through 4 locks, a section of Georgian Bay, and 125 miles of Lake Huron. It was the wife and I, with 2 teenagers and 2 lab puppies. The boat is roomy enough that we didn't kill each other. Also roomy enough that we were able to take several toys to keep people amused. We also carried 2 kayaks on the bow and a Zodiac on the swim platform. The only time that we came into port was when we ran out of beer. We never even tried to get the boat up on plane. Ran the twin 400's at 1700 rpm or less, so there were several long travel days. Great trip. Maybe if the ice ever melts we will do it again.
Kevin
Hi Boatloveres2, I just purchase a 1977 tri fly with what I now believe 400s. Good luck with the survey and sea trials, mine won't see that kind of action for a year or two,it's been a little neglected
I'm quite new here, but have been creeping the forums back to the beginning, lots of info, and knowledge.
My first purchase will be the manuals from Beacon, the site sponsor, I hear they are a must have.
Barrie
Aylmer Ontario, Canada
36' Tri-Fly "The Obvious"
The only time that we came into port was when we ran out of beer
CannuckkB -- You are my kind of boater!!
Mike -- I have 15 and 17 YOMs. I keep them involved in boating by ahem, encouraging them to participate in its upkeep. The boat does not magically appear on the weekends ready for use, unlike the glossy magazine covers, it takes work. To me, and forcibly to my children, that is part of boating, which quite frankly, I rather enjoy. Get your kids involved too, so that they appreciate what they've got when they get out on the water. Best of luck moving forward. The forum "search" feature is handy and should be your first bet. Ask whatever questions that you want to here, though. You will get lots of information, some of which may be correct!
I needed a less expensive hobby, so I bought a boat!
I have to be honest. In my wifes mind and my own the boat is already ours. We are hoping the sea trial and survey are just a must have for insurance purposes. We have already been dreaming about what projects we will do first. One thought I had was adding a kegerator in the salon so running out of beer wouldn't be a problem. My wife is quite handy with a sewing machine and plans on redoing all the cushions and curtains she also has her own plans of adding a wine cooler. We will also replace carpet and the list continues to get longer every time we talk about it. I like the way the camper top looks too and may pursue that eventually as well since the boat has two bimini tops now. See, the list is even growing as i type here. The kids will definitely be getting their hands dirty as well. I think they secretly like the idea.
Mike
Hey Mike,
I also have a 82' 260 Searay Sundancer. I have done a ton of work on this boat in order to make it as useful as possible. I made a fiberglass hardtop, and extended swim platform, reupholstered inside and out with memory foam added to the births, new carpet, rebuilt outdrive, and a built up 325 hp (used to be 260 hp) engine, etc etc. I love restoring and customizing my boats. The Trojan that I have is in good shape however there is always some work to do. I am going to remove the cupboards beside the aft bunks and get new mattresses so that the bunks are a little wider, because we have a couple big kids. Other than that, it should be normal maintenance stuff. We keep the salon fridge full of food and an added bar fridge on the flybridge full of beverages. Also, inside our dock box, we have beer keg fridge. Inside the camper we have tacky lights that look like fishing bobbers. Half of the fun of owning boats like this is customizing. My neighbor once told me that everything on your boat is broken, you just don't it yet. That statement is so true.
Also, there is a Trojan Boat Owner Club facebook group. It is mostly a forum to post pictures but it is fun to look at.
Good luck with the survey and trial. Hope everything works out for you.
canuckkb wrote:I am sure that you will love the space on the boat. Our maiden voyage was a 2 week journey, were we went through 4 locks, a section of Georgian Bay, and 125 miles of Lake Huron. It was the wife and I, with 2 teenagers and 2 lab puppies. The boat is roomy enough that we didn't kill each other. Also roomy enough that we were able to take several toys to keep people amused. We also carried 2 kayaks on the bow and a Zodiac on the swim platform. The only time that we came into port was when we ran out of beer. We never even tried to get the boat up on plane. Ran the twin 400's at 1700 rpm or less, so there were several long travel days. Great trip. Maybe if the ice ever melts we will do it again.
Kevin
you caught my attention at LAB PUPPIES!!!!! yeah......... anyway, when i was growing up, dad and mom fully engaged my brother and sister and myself in our own duties onboard BUBALA 3. it actually started with B1 AND B2. my sister and older brother sort of lost interest, but, i loved every minute of the little things that made our boating summers fun. i'm all the better for it too as i learned a lot from helping my dad work on our engines and kohler genset. memories i still carry with me to this day. so, get the kids involved. it's nice to see a family work together to make it all come together.
1982 F-36 TRI CABIN ENTERPRISE
PARKSIDE MARINA IN MIDDLE RIVER, MD aaronbocknek@gmail.com
A bar fridge on the fly bridge is a great idea. I also like the idea of changing the cushions to memory foam. What kind of fuel burn did you have on the trip? Were you running the generator the whole time? There seems to be quite a few of these boats still around and that is impressive and encouraging because buying a boat this old that our family will be basically living on a few weeks out of the year is a huge leap of faith even with a survey and sea trial.
The bar fridge fits nicely to the starboard side of the railing for the companion way to the salon. I made a simple shelf that fits behind the fridge which is where we put all of the half cases and the recycling container.
On our trip we did not use the generator much. I had installed two additional deep cycle batteries and a 2500 watt invertor, so this provided most of the 110 volt power. If we were to anchor for 24 hours, I would run the generator to charge up the batteries. I would run it for maybe 1 1/2 hours in the morning and again in the evening. I was a little worried about fuel consumption from the gen. It draws it's fuel from the starboard tank only. Because I was not very familiar with the boat, I did not fully trust the fuel gauges.
I was happy with the mileage that we had. The engines ran well however there may be room for improvement. I don't know because I am not a mechanic. We stopped for fuel twice. We were lucky in that we had near ideal conditions for travelling. We made our big crossings at night while everybody was sleeping, but there was no place to stop for fuel. Which added to my worry. The boat was loaded fairly heavy with toys (2 kayaks, zodiac with motor and gas, two weeks of food and beverage) etc. The theoretical optimum mileage for this hull length is 7.8 knots. To achieve that, I targeted about 1500 rpm for most of the trip. Anyways, I saw about 2 knot per gallon at this speed. I read that the boat would get just less than 1 at 3,000 rpm. Not sure is that is true.
My wife is quite handy with a sewing machine and plans on redoing all the cushions and curtains she also has her own plans of adding a wine cooler. We will also replace carpet and the list continues to get longer every time we talk about it. I like the way the camper top looks too and may pursue that eventually as well since the boat has two bimini tops now. See, the list is even growing as i type here. The kids will definitely be getting their hands dirty as well. I think they secretly like the idea.
