About Tridarka

Rather than refer the reader to my website, I thought I would take a moment to explain Tridarka and also to outline the nature of this blog.  This blog is about the wanderings and life of the three of us: Karen, Pussifer our cat and me--Larry.  The work we do in the boatyard is every bit as important as the exploration that we pursue once our boats are ready for action.  I think that many readers will not only enjoy watching  us struggle for solutions, but also find inspiration from our problems solved and perhaps even learn a trick or two.

The boatyard is a big part of our lives.  We have three full size boats including a Boston Whaler for exploring creeks.  We also have (and I cringe in shame) three dingys and two kayaks one of which is the very seaworthy Innova Sunny inflatable which we use aboard Belle.  The other kayak is a Old Town Angler edition hard shell.  The dingys are as follows: a twelve foot Porta Bote which we towed behind Belle on our Saint Johns trip.  It has a reinforced transom with anti cavitation trim tabs and a 6 hp Nissan motor with a 6 gallon trip tank.  As a river boat, it is extraordinarily well suited for exploration of small creeks moving along at around 10 knots with 2 people aboard.  We also have an 8 foot Porta Bote which we use as a folding dingy.  Finally for offshore work we have a 6 foot Mercury inflatable.  For the two latter boats we use an extremely small and light 2.5 hp Nissan 2 stroke short shaft which fits in the locker on Belle.  The inflatable rolls up very small and fits just behind the main mast.  Well there you have it.  Our fleet; protagonists, if you will in our efforts to get out and see the work.

Back to Tridarka.  I bought Tridarka the 21 foot trimaran which Chief (Steve Isaac) and Matt Layden designed for the 300 mile Everglades Challenge at Cedar Key last year.  Apparently after two trips in the challenge, the second netting 3rd place over-all, the two previous owners had serially decided that this project was not for them.  Both Chief and Hal Link had poured tons of cash into the project making me the lucky recipient of a very good deal and a fine "bomb-proof" sailer.  It is a one to one sailer, meaning one knot of speed for one knot of wind up to about 17 knots.  The sliding akas and stainless rigging along with the carbon fiber spars are way overbuilt yet the boat is quite light, making it a great beach cruiser.
Some of my writings will definitely include work on, and stories about Tridarka