West vs East coast Tritons

[JonnyBoats]

What are the relative advantages/disadvantages to Tritons built on the east vs west coasts?

[Rachel]

Okay, I'll take a stab at it:

The number of West-Coast Tritons is relatively small compared to East-Coasters. I think they were only built in the early 60s on the west coast.

I'm not sure what any one person would consider "advantages" or "disadvantages," but here are some differences:

West Coast:

*All boats internal ballast
*Fiberglass cockpit coamings
*Solid fiberglass decks
*One-piece fiberglass companionway steps
*Integral watertank in bilge (water perhaps not very potable due to lead proximity)
*Frameless large main cabin windows
*Only one of the small ports opens (head)
*Full cabin-overhead liner (in all?)
*Forward lowers (in all?)
*Bronze handrails on cabin top
*Outward-turning flange hull/deck joint
*All boats have top-lid cockpit lockers - lids made of wood
*Different engine stringers (wood?)
*Painted cabin sole (all?)

East-Coast:

*Early boats external ballast, later ones internal
*Wooden cockpit coamings
*Balsa-cored decks (longitudinal planks on earlier boats, vertical grain later)
*Wooden companionway ladder
*Bronze-framed (earlier) or stainless-framed (is this right?) large cabin windows
*All six small ports open
*No cabin overhead-liner in early boats, main cabin liner only in middle boats, full liner in late boats
*Forward lowers in some, not others
*Wooden handrails on cabin top (mahogany earlier, teak later?)
*Fiberglassed butt joint for hull/deck joint (wooden toerail later boats)
*Cockpit lockers: early boats have only wooden panel in vertical wall of benches; later boats have top-opening fiberglass lids
*Engine stringers different (don't know how though)
*Wooden (teak?) ply cabin sole

I'm sure others will want to add or comment on the above - and I've probably forgotten some things.

I'll go find a couple of links I have about the differences and then post them here.

HTH --- Rachel

[Rachel]

Here's a link to a "What's the difference?" page on the National Triton Association website:

http://tritonclass.org/mir/DIFFERENCE.htm

And here is a quote from a Triton History article on the New England Triton Association website, about West Coast (Aeromarine) Tritons:

"The subject of numbering of Sausalito boats has been a mystery for many of us. I have a letter from, Dr. Phyllis Van Vleet, NTA Commodore back in the late 70's. In a letter dated Oct 19, l977, she says" I think my boat is the first Sausalito built Triton, #92. We have 5 in the 400 series and I'm not quite sure whether these are Sausalito on not. Other Sausalito boats are: 93, 94, 96, 101, 103, 106, 107, 141, 143, 144, 149, 150, 162, 163, 165, 166, 168, 169, 244, 245, 248, 250, 25l, 252, 254, 255, 256, 257, 257, 260, 26l, 262, 263, 326, 327, 328, 329, 330, 331, 332, 333, 335, 357, 358, 359, 360, 362, 363, 367, 368, 369, 372, 374, 375, 376, 377, 378, 388 and 393. "

"[Update 8/04: John Donovan writes, "I just read your history of Tritons....and DR van Vleet is quoted as saying her hull # 92 is probably the first one built at Sausalito,Ca. The boat I just bought was trucked to the East Coat by an IBM emplyee who was transferred east. It was bought by the owner previous to me in 1990 when the then current owner was transferred to Japan. My boat is "Documented"...stating it is hull # 89 built in 1960 at Sausalito. Therefore , I may have the first Triton built by Aeromarine.]"

--- Rachel

[Robert The Gray]

One of the things I really like about my west coast triton is that I have only had to read about a deck recore project. I will never have to go through that process with my boat. There is a way that the east cfoast boats are a little finer in their detailing, while the feeling of the west coast is a little beefier. At times the total lack of wood on the westies makes them feel just like refridgerator, down to the smell. the lines of the east coasties wood copings add a nice element to the look of the boat while sailing. THere seem to be a lot more east coast boats that are really junk because of the deck recore issue. while I think a west coast boat could sit in the water for a long time and you would have to replace the plywood bulkheads but almost every thing else could be around for the next 40 years.

[kabauze]

When I was looking for my Triton I didn't have a preference between East and West Coast boats, but I wouldn't have bought a boat with serious delamination because I didn't want to do a recore. So I was overjoyed to find a WC boat that fit my other criteria, because I figured that with those solid fiberglass decks, I would be free from worrying about core delamination.

Except that Nevermind, my Sausalito Triton, has wood cored decks.

This came as a bit of a surprise to me, let me assure you. All the information I could find, both online and offline, indicated that the WC boats had no core. But yesterday as I started drilling out some poorly filled old holes in my decks, I was shocked to find wet wood mush coming out along with fiberglass shavings. I probed into the holes with a hooked wire and found more and more mush. I tapped decks all around the holes and didn't hear any hollow sounds, so maybe there's no delamination. But now there's one more thing to worry about (heh heh, EC boat owners won't have much patience with my whining, I'm sure).

I started looking around at various through-deck fittings and was eventually able to determine that while the cabintop and aft decks (from the middle of the aft large portlights) are solid glass, the foredeck and side decks are cored. The poop deck is cored too. I don't know about the cockpit sole. It's hard to inspect because the fiberglass fuel tank is under there.

Anyway, the assertion that all WC boats have solid decks is a myth. Judging from what I've seen here in California, there were two major production variants at Aeromarine in Sausalito. The early boats ('60-'62?) had the frameless bolt-on main portlights and bronze/plastic grabrails, and perhaps they have solid decks. But the later boats ('63-whenever), like mine (#450) and another around here (Sirius, #357 I think), have the same framed portlights as EC boats and have teak grabrails. In fact, in terms of the list above, these "Mark II" boats are:

West Coast:

*All boats internal ballast - YES
*Fiberglass cockpit coamings - YES
*Solid fiberglass decks - NO, cored.
*One-piece fiberglass companionway steps - YES
*Integral watertank in bilge (water perhaps not very potable due to lead proximity) - NO , integral tank is under vberth
*Frameless large main cabin windows - NO, framed like EC boat
*Only one of the small ports opens (head) - YES
*Full cabin-overhead liner (in all?) - YES
*Forward lowers (in all?) - YES
*Bronze handrails on cabin top - NO, teak.
*Outward-turning flange hull/deck joint - NO, same U-shaped flange as EC
*All boats have top-lid cockpit lockers - lids made of wood - NO, top-lids are made of glass
*Different engine stringers (wood?) - ??? (mine are glassed)
*Painted cabin sole (all?) - YES (FRP sole is painted/dyed poop brown)

Additionally, my boat has these features:

• Fiberglass fuel tank centered under the cockpit sole (makes stuffing box access insane)
  Deep bilge
  Original fractional rig
  Glassed-in main beam

Are there any other West Coast boat owners out there whose boats are like this? I'll see if I can get some pics up of some of these features.

[Tim]

And yet another exception proves that we know nothing about these boats, even after more than 40 years!

Interesting observations on your boat--thanks for the info!

[Rigel]

Pictures of bronze port frames on a WC here:

http://www.triton381.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1422