Trojan 10 Meter Express purchase. Advice ??

[low944]

Hello all,

I am in the process of buying an 82 Trojan 10 meter express. It has had some work done and is a pretty fair price I think. I have a couple of questions hopefully someone can help with? I put a deposit on the boat and will pick it up this weekend.

1. Under the front birth, there is a storage locker. I noticed that the floor to this locker is a piece of plywood that is rotting. The owner says his surveyer told him that it is non structural and not to worry about it. fix it if you want. Anybody have any experience with this? I know I will need to make sure wherever the water is coming from needs to be fixed, I am more concerned about if this is anything to worry about?

2. I am under the impression that these boat are mostly fiberglass under the water line including the stringers from posts online. Is this correct? Well with the exception of at least the bulk head behind the engines. This bulkhead does have standing water against it and does not look rotten but im sure its got some moisture in it. I plan to be more vigilant that the current owner at keeping water out of the bilge. He likes to kill power to the bilges due to oil leak and not wanting it to contaminate the "clean marina". Should I be very concerned about this bulk head? The floor seems pretty solid.

Thanks for any input! If you think of anything else major I should be looking at please let me know!

- JW

[WESTWIND]

Hello and welcome to Trojan Owners,
Did the "owners" surveyor provide a printed detailed document that the owner can provide ? What was and was there a moisture meter reading on stringers etc. ? What instrument ( not H/F cuz it don't work on F/G ) Why is locker floor under a berth rotten unless water is repeatedly soaking it from an above leak and why owner didn't fix ? You cant see internal rot on f/g encapsulated stringers , bulkheads ,ribs . Drill a 1/4 " hole just thru the glass covering & probe with a #3 Philips screwdriver . If its solid ,great ,if its wet mush walk away . Plug the hole with J-B Weld . Owner will probably not agree to any of this . Oil leak in bilge ain't a cheap fix on 454's . I have chased and fault window leaks , replaced rotten stringers & ribs & bulkheads since 2001 , 71 Sea Raider ,73 F 32 Sedan ,74 Tri Cabin . Be careful . Let us know the result.
Best regards ,
Larry West aboard Westwind V

[Flyboy]

Your stringers do not have wood in them, they are solid fibreglass. Water can get under the forward berth from several places. 1). The anchor locker is at the head of the berth, check to make sure the drain hole from the locker is clear. check the bottom of the chain locker for cracks that could allow water to exit the locker.
2). My railing stancions were leaking and allowing water to enter the forward berth area and under the mattress.
3). There are also cleats that could be leaking.

My rear lazarette behind the engine bulkhead always has some what I will call mystery water. I have no idea where it comes from, however it will work it's way under that bulkhead and end up in the engine room bilge.

As for the oil leak, my Port engine leaks some oil from somewhere, I have placed absorbant mats and aluminum roasting pans under the engine that catches it.

You will love this boat!!! Congrats if your purchase goes through.

[RWS]

If the area in question is under the mattress in the forward berth, yes - not structural.

That said, the question of the rotted wood is WHAT CAUSED THIS ?

It is important to track down the CAUSE to stop further and continuing damage.

The pre mid cabin 10 Meter International series of boats has very little structural wood below the deck.

The stringers are hollow - no wood and the hull is solid.

There are however five pieces of wood below the deck that I am aware of:

1. yes, the bulkhead between the engine room and lazarette is in fact wood.

this would be difficult to replace. I fish-plated mine with STARBOARD and then added extra sound insulation over top

2. there are two pieces of plywood running vertically in the corners between the sides of the hull and that bulkhead at the stainless steel air intake vents. I do not believe these to be structural

3. A pair of 1"x3" strips of wood about 2-3' long running fore/aft just below the fixed part of the aft deck. They are in the area beneath where the removable deck step touches the deck. These are simply stiffeners, and are attached with thru bolts. When I had my fuel tank out, I replaced mine with tubuar aluminum and a bead of 5200.

As compared to the mid cabin based boats, yours has a full liner and uses very little wood throughout. You will also come to enjoy several unique features left out of the later production mid cabin series, including the overhead HVAC vent system.

I do hope you had a professional survey done on this boat before purchase.

Best of luck, and enjoy your 10 Meter.

RWS

[low944]

Thanks so much for the good info. I did purchase the boat and plan to address the water leaks getting under the mattress and storage. I see you had a set of 4 blades on yours when you had gas engines. I think I will do the same and keep the current ones as spares. What were the specs on your 4 blades? Props sizes, shaft size, and performance? Thanks again! I tried to attached an image so hopefully you can see it.

FB_IMG_1477422076976.jpg (65.85 KiB) Viewed 9010 times

[RWS]

the 4 blade props were 18x19 on the factory shafts which as I recall are 1 1/4"

If you do a search here on the forum you will find all kinds of good data I posted including the efficiency curves and info on the updates done to the trim tabs

RWS

[low944]

the 4 blade props were 18x19 on the factory shafts which as I recall are 1 1/4"

If you do a search here on the forum you will find all kinds of good data I posted including the efficiency curves and info on the updates done to the trim tabs

RWS

Thanks for the info. I will do a search. Would you happen to still have the 4 blades and want to sell them?

[jhalb]

I have a spare set of 4 blades for my 10 Meter. I am out of town but will check the size this weekend. If you want them I would list on this forum in the for sale section. ps, great looking boat!

[low944]

I have a spare set of 4 blades for my 10 Meter. I am out of town but will check the size this weekend. If you want them I would list on this forum in the for sale section. ps, great looking boat!

Thanks John. I am interested in the props. Look forward to the specs.

[low944]

the 4 blade props were 18x19 on the factory shafts which as I recall are 1 1/4"

If you do a search here on the forum you will find all kinds of good data I posted including the efficiency curves and info on the updates done to the trim tabs

RWS

Hey RWS,

What are your thoughts on me running 18x20 4 blades vs 18x19 4 blades? I think you went from 18x21 to 18x19, right? I see your chart with the numbers for the 18x19. I am curious, what did you see different? or did you ever run the 18x21?

Thanks again,
James

[prowlersfish]

What are you Running now and what rpm are you getting at WOT ?

[low944]

What are you Running now and what rpm are you getting at WOT ?

They are 4 blade, but I am not sure on the size and pitch at the moment. It will be pulled again next week for a haul home so I will get the size then. Currently it runs a little over 4000 at WOT and does 27mph per gps. The bottom is a little dirty at the moment, but not really bad. It will also get a clean up and maybe new bottom paint when hauled home and blocked. I am assuming that the 4 blades on it are 18x21 like RWS had originally. I am curious if that is what I had, how much different it would be to go to 18x20. I know I will lose a little top end and rpms, but I wonder how much. Thanks!

[RWS]

the 4 blade props were 18x19 on the factory shafts which as I recall are 1 1/4"

If you do a search here on the forum you will find all kinds of good data I posted including the efficiency curves and info on the updates done to the trim tabs

RWS

Hey RWS,

What are your thoughts on me running 18x20 4 blades vs 18x19 4 blades? I think you went from 18x21 to 18x19, right? I see your chart with the numbers for the 18x19. I am curious, what did you see different? or did you ever run the 18x21?

Thanks again,
James

I bought my boat in 2001 from the ORIGINAL OWNER.

She was wearing 4 blade props, and came with a spare set of 3 blades, new in the box and a spare shaft, as the boat was used to run the Bahamas.

I tested the 454's with both blades and while the 3 blades were a bit faster, the 4 gave her better lift and much better efficiency.

I honestly do not recall if I did anything altered on either set of props.

If you tend to run a little "heavy" do a search on the upgrade I did with the Bennett extended drop fin trim tabs.

This made for a huge efficiency improvement with the 454's.

I yanked the 454 engines in 2005 and did the Yanmar refit, creating one very amazing boat.

Funny surprise...... other than changing the running angle, the tabs have virtually NO EFFECT on the diesel efficiency, and are now only used to enhance sea keeping as needed, which is rare.

RWS

[jhalb]

I have a spare set of 4 blades for my 10 Meter. I am out of town but will check the size this weekend. If you want them I would list on this forum in the for sale section. ps, great looking boat!

They are 18 x 20
1 1/4

[low944]

I have a spare set of 4 blades for my 10 Meter. I am out of town but will check the size this weekend. If you want them I would list on this forum in the for sale section. ps, great looking boat!

They are 18 x 20
1 1/4

Thanks John. How much would you like for them with shipping to 20112? Manassas VA.