We had a good weekend in COVID times, gathering a small tribe to put some love into an old boat. Say hello to Triple Zero. This is the prototype, the actual first boat built, of designer Dick Newick’s Summer-Salt 26. The model was picked up and a dozen or so built in Chicago as the Outrigger 26. Check that out here:

Www.smalltrimarans.com/info/Outrigger-26-Trimaran-Brochure.pdf

Our man Anton responded to a “free boat” ad a few years back. It was in Colorado with a man in his 70’s who realized he just wouldn’t get the boat going again. Anton convinced him the Newick would splash again if she went to California. I got to see it in Anton’s barn as we discussed what would be needed to get her sailing. Since that day the barn creatures and Father Time further conspired against seaworthiness.

Fast forward to last week, when various parties got a rallying call – grab your facemask and grubbies, drive to the ranch, and join the Newick work party. He promised to tow it out into the open, power wash the owl crap off, and provide some COVID-safe hospitality. We got ten folks across the weekend, and kept things socially distanced and/or alcohol wiped. No handshakes, only the Wuhan ToeTap for personal connections.

The day 1 inspection found damage to repair. Main hull transom rot, starboard ama deck/hull join delamination, and rotten net lashing bars on the ama decks. So Saturday was consumed with prepping the structural repairs. A couple of us were assigned to make trampoline nets between the hulls. It made me realize again how thankful we were for Carlos and Dean four years ago in Napa when they did that amazing job installing Ravenswing’s nets in Napa. So hey, Damien and Beth, do you recognize this?

Rumor is this is Brizo’s (awesome refreshed Catana y’all saw in MX with us) former bow net. We cut it in half which is just about right for this:

You can see the new temporary nets lashing bar at the bottom of that photo.

By 7pm of the day that hovered in upper 90’s, and featured itchy fiberglass grinding, Anton called for an Eldo Run to Lake Berryesa. (Above Napa). Good thing, because they weren’t going to let us each go in the house for showers!

Kinda surreal to spend the day cleaning up an 80s boat then joyriding a mostly clapped out ‘76 Cadillac.

PS my mask flew off when he hit 65 down a country road. That’s after he cleaned the car with the leaf blower.

We swam in the lake for sunset, rinsing off old-boat grime. Ate some good food back at the ranch, watched the comet, and hit our distanced tents / vans / pickup beds.

Sunday morning after fresh goats milk & chicken eggs, it was time to slew some West Systems epoxy. I was thinking about the Gougeon brothers and Dick Newick; figured they’d be pretty happy about today’s work.

The new transom work was dubbed red neck vacuum bagging.

Here’s a net lashing bar underway.

And the ama deck / hull join repairs underway

The nets are important with this design; they hold the amas, beams and main hull in tension together. So once we had them laced up, it was time to roll out of the barn into the former horse arena.

You wouldn’t believe this rusted out trailer covered the 1500 miles that got the boat to Anton’s place. Today as he tugged it over bumps we watched it falling apart like the comet. Leaves rust trails when the frame touches the ground!

Time to stand up the rig! Doesn’t everyone have a man-lift in their yard?

The mast and boom are in very good condition. It’s a 26 footer with a proper rotation foot setup and a nice CDI furler. The production boats had 31’ sticks but we’re thinking this will be enough power for windy SF Bay.

Such a good feeling to see your friend excited. This guy is ready to see what all his hard work has earned!

Keith, we ended up with perhaps all the needed cordage, but that’ll get checked carefully soon.

I’d never seen a boat rehab party done entirely on the scrounge. Not one trip to a store the whole three days, and this thing is about ready to sail. Judy says he’ll have to buy her a few little sailmakers notions to get the jib repair done next weekend, and that should do it.

The trailer was deemed by group consensus as, “none of us will help you launch the boat from that piece of shit”, so Anton will borrow an actual boat trailer (already onsite). There’s a bit more uni fiber to add on the stern before refitting the rudder on the rebuilt transom. The dagger and trunk look ready to go. I’ve implored him to take a few more hours now, during the trailer switch, to sand off the failed bottom paint and epoxy barrier below the waterline. Despite that old brochure, this is not a frequent-trailer-launch boat. Some bottom paint now will save potential headaches soon.

We want to know any history on this boat. Found a mooring license sticker from the public marina in Chicago for 1987, but no other info is known. If anyone had any clue on the life of this first hull, please comment back here or on the Multihull Anarchy thread I’ll start tomorrow. Thank you!

So there she sits. The prototype of Newick’s SummerSalt design. Almost ready to relaunch after a couple decade drought. Stephen will approve- another Golden Oldie will live on.