Sunday, November 22, 2009
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Friday, April 3, 2009
What is it like?
I am at one with the wind, the boat and the sea.
Then Bev shakes me. Wake up, wake up. It is almost dawn and we have 80 nautical miles to cover before we anchor today.
I groan. I step into my clothes and then take to dogs to the cockpit so that they can do their business on their "welcome mat". They have given new meaning to the expression, "the poop deck".
I start the generator and fire up the coffee maker. I check for water in the exhaust and note voltages and charge rates. I know that engine and generator fluid levels are OK because I checked them last night before turning in. I turn on the instruments and start booting the computer. I retrieve the dogs and check their food and water. I start the main engine and check its exhaust for water as well. The coffee is almost ready. Bev has started her shower.
I go to the upper helm station and pull covers off instruments and open the front window of the flybridge enclosure for better visibility. I make sure the computer screen is displaying navigational charts, our position, speed etc from the computer below.
By now the coffee is ready and Bev is slipping bagels into the toaster.
I return to the upper helm station and, using the remote windlass buttons, hoist the anchor. We will attach its safety line later. There is light but the sun has not yet risen. I turn out the masthead anchor light and turn on the navigation lights.
I slip the engine into gear. At 1000 rpm (idle is at 800 rpm), we thread our way out of the anchorage at 5 knots. Once we hit the channel, I nudge the throttle to 1200 rpm and we pick up speed to 6 knots. We still have very little wake. There are other boats anchored just off the channel and I don't wish to disturb them. At this speed, we probably burn about 1.1 gallons per hour.
As soon as we clear the last boat, I nudge the throttle again, to 1450 rpm. We are bucking a very slight chop. Our speed is 6.8 knots. We are now burning 1.9 gallons per hour and getting about 3.5 nautical miles per gallon. In a flat calm, we might do 7 knots at the same rpm.
As we round the point and hit the open sea, I contemplate how far we have to go and at what time we might arrive. The previous owners cruised at 1700 rpm. In a calm, they would hit 8 knots but I know that today, we would probably only hit 7.8. Our mileage would drop to about 2.5 mpg.
While I am contemplating this, I note that the exhaust note has changed. The bagels are finished and Bev has turned off the generator. The Perkins, although much larger and much more powerful than the Onan generator, is comparatively very quiet.
As I lock in the autopilot, Bev arrives on the flybridge with hot buttered bagels. We discuss arrival time vs fuel consumption. The last time we filled up. diesel was $2.05 per gallon so if we travel 1 knot faster, we will save 1.5 hours but spend $18 more in fuel. Today, we have no incentive to arrive early, so we opt to travel more slowly. Another day, at these fuel prices, the decision might be different.
Now that theses decisions are out of the way, except for keeping a lookout for other vessels and for crab pot floats, we have nothing to do for the next 11 hours or so.
Did I mention that driving one of these things is kind of boring. It's like driving a RV down the middle of a 6 lane highway with absolutely no other vehicles at 15 kilometers per hour. You still have to pay attention, but really, there is absolutely no challenge. Did I mention that it is boring. Well, its really boring. If you get into a good book, Murphy's law makes it certain that a crab pot float will sneak up on your propeller. There is nothing to do, but you still have to pay attention.
So, the challenge of using the forces of nature to conquer the sea is no longer the point. The point is to have the luxuries of home in exotic and remote locations. After all, you can rent a lot of hotel rooms in pedestrian locations for way less than the cost of owning a boat.
In this way, trawler boating is similar to RVing. Paying $95 per night to park a RV in a really terrible campground in Las Vegas would be stupid. Paying $10 per night to park a RV in a remote campground with no services but located at the top of a cliff overlooking the Grand Canyon is priceless.
So what else is it like you ask?
There is an old saying that "if Moma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy". Moma is ecstatic. That is the good side and it is a very good side.
So what is the price? There is an old axiom that simple things simply tend not to break. Compared to any boat I have ever owned, this thing is incredibly complex. My friend, Bob Williams, informs me that compared to his boat, ours is very simple. Still, there is a lot here that can go wrong and most of it has not been new since 1981!
The marine surveyor left me with a list as long of my arm of things that needed to be fixed. None of it was hugely expensive, but it all takes time. Because most of the equipment on the boat is new to me, I am spending a lot of time sifting through manuals trying to figure things out. One of the problems is that although there is a manual for almost every piece of equipment on board, there is no manual for the boat as whole.
Part of the problem is that I believe the boat had been marina serviced. The previous owner was elderly. I believe he was very conscientious, but employees of marinas are sometimes neither so conscientious nor so capable as one might have liked.
Let me give an example. When we did the sea trial, the generator would not start. As part of the deal, the owner had it fixed. The starter was removed, rebuilt and its solenoid was replaced. Reportedly, this cost the owner somewhere in the order of $700 to $800. A few weeks after we took possession of the boat, the generator started to hunt. Fortunately for me, my friend Bob Williams was on board. Being an old motorcycle mechanic, his approach to an electrical problem was to grab a handful of wires, to shake them and to see if anything changes. While doing this, the main power cable to the starter came apart in his hand. He also found that neither of the bolts holding the head of the starter to the generator was tight. In addition, the single bolt at the other end of the starter was entirely missing. The loose electrical cable not only explained why the generator had started to hunt but why it had failed to start at all for the previous owner.
So here we have a situation where a conscientious owner had paid a lot of good money to have a problem fixed, but the "fix" had left the situation worse than it was before. To add insult to injury, inspection of the cable showed that about 6 inches from where it attached to the starter, the main power cable had chafed through its insulation and had arced half way through the copper. This was a major fire just waiting for the right time to happen.
Even an incompetent mechanic (like me) should have been able to do better!
All of this is to say that I plan on spending a lot of time maintaining this boat.
What else is it like?
The storage areas are the pits.
Comfort is great.
The generator is noisy, but I think I can do something about this.
The generator must be run a lot. Part of the problem is that the boat is really designed for marina living. For example, when you turn on a switch, it energizes 6 lights - not just one and there are lots of incandescent lights on this boat.
What about rolling? The boat has hard chines and so it probably rolls less than some. When you are in the upper steering station, however, your head is about 16 feet off the water. Even when the boat rolls a little, you move sideways a lot and so you really feel it.
The movable furniture really does move. This is great when in harbour but can be less than great at sea. Unless something is restrained, if you don't put it on the floor when you leave port, chances are that it will be on the floor and broken when you get to your destination.
The steering is strange. When you turn the wheel, it takes a while before anything happens. When the boat finally starts to turn, you had better start to countersteer right away. Otherwise, you will overshoot. Bucking a head sea is OK but I have found that you don't have to be a drunken sailor to steer like one in a following sea.
So, in summary, it's comfortable, it's going to be a lot of work but Moma is really happy, and if Moma is really happy, I am really happy.
That's what it is all about isn't it?
(Note from Bev) Yes i am really happy.
The galley is wonderful, lots of hot water.it really is a galley for one but close to salon so we can talk as I prepare meals.
The sundeck is the best thing on the boat , next to the fishing cockpit.
I can set up my sewing machine, have people over for dinner, pull up the wicker chairs, need I say more.
When we bring boat home as we are doing my girls can swim from the cockpit, as we will be right there, life is good.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
what we got
We had a list of what we were looking for. We set out to look at "oldie goldies". Mostly, we saw "mouldie oldies".
We finally found a boat having most of the characteristics we were looking for and the asking price was not too far above what we felt we could afford.
The broker helping us find the right boat had warned us not to appear to be too excited when we saw something we liked. Otherwise, the offer acceptance price just went up.
The boat was what I will call a Gulfstar stretch 38. That is a standard Gulfstar 38 motor cruiser with a 5 foot cockpit added at the back to make the overall length 43 feet.
Bev was ecstatic. Asking her to completely contain her exuberance was like asking a balloon to behave like a 1000 psi pressure vessel. It could not be done. She would have exploded!
This is the standard Gulfstar 38. Ours is similar except that it has the cockpit, a single engine (a perkins 6 cylinder, turbocharged monster sized chunk of cast iron), a bow thruster, 300 gallons of water storage and 250 gallons of fuel capacity.
As you can see here, our boat also has a cockpit enclosure .
This photo was taken at the dock before we took possession. You can see the shade screen on the sundeck (or back porch).
Another shot of the sundeck.
I am not sure if the maroon carpet will stay. It matches the trim on the boat beautifully but it shows the dirt too well.
The wood work is beautiful though.
This is Bev in the galley when we were doing our initial inspection. As you can see, she has her best poker face on so that the broker would not know that she liked it.
This is the double bed in the forward cabin.
So what is it like? Tune in for the next installment.
what we saw - part 2
This Canadian Marine Trader 44 looked beautiful in the adds. Its price was reasonable and, we thought, if the duty and GST were paid, then so much the better.
The selling broker wanted us to negotiate price before we got to see the boat. If we came to an agreement, then the owner would clean it up for inspection. We made a low ball offer and then got on board before price negotiations were complete. This is what we saw:
The first impression was that you had to hold your breath. Your eyes watered. This was because of rampant mould growth.
The drip marks are from a botched effort to seal up the deck leaks from the inside. This is water that has sat in the core of the deck until it finally found a way out. So what is the condition of the deck? What is the condition of all the upholstery? How would you wash down and clean each and every surface inside the boat? And would the mould come back? You bet it would.
This is a photo of a beautiful Marine Trader 44 right where were based in Indiantown. The owner came down for 2 or 3 days every month or two in order to keep up the maintenance. It appeared to be in beautiful shape.
Oh well.
Then we saw a Thompson 44. These were built as empty hulls by a fishing boat compamy. They were finished by the owner, but usually in a professional yard.
They are wide beamed (don't roll too much), shallow draft and often had only one engine. Often they had fuel polishing systems and other things that relate to a no-nonsense fishing boat heritage (as opposed to a yacht - toy background).
What we saw - part 1
Gulfstar 43 - they even built sailboats and motorsailers on top of this hull. It has round chines and a reputation for being "rolly".
Nice back porch. Too bad you have no direct access to it from the saloon as you do on motorcruisers. Instead, you have to go out the side doors and then go around.
This one should not roll much. See the stabilizer fin. There is one on the port side as well. They turn to counteract any rolling action. Expensive but cool!
Nice back porch or sundeck. There is a substantial crane for lifting the dingy onto the roof.
There is also a bit of a vertical climb from the swim platform to the gateway. This would not be great with an arm load of groceries.
Saloon. Note the galley down to port and the dining table to starboard. The space on this boat is extremely well used.
The far side of the engine (the side you have to get to in order to maintain it) is sandwiched tight up against a tank. Marine Traders also have a reputation for having fuel tanks that corrode out necessitating either removal of the engines or cutting a huge hole in the side of the boat in order that they may be replaced. Bummer!!!
This boat appeared to have been well looked after. There were still some signs of significant damage due to water leakage (typically around doors and windows).
We looked at a Formosa 40 that had all of its major systems very recently redone, had few signs of significant leakage but was a traditional trawler design and so had little useable space.
Stern view.
Next: The Marine Trader 44s we looked at and a Thompson 44.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Trailer Trash to Trawler Trash – Part 1
I am going to divide the transition from “trailer trash” to “trawler trash” into three parts”
- What we wanted,
- What we saw and
- What we got!
You will almost certainly notice some discrepancies between the three.
What we wanted:
Bev wanted space and all the comforts of home. I wanted simple and easy to maintain. We both wanted inexpensive.
To meet Bev’s needs, we were looking for a 40 foot sundeck model (classical motor cruiser with a big lounging space over an aft cabin and a roof over top) or a 44 foot classical trawler that had a significant on-deck lounging space with a soft roof over top. She wanted an aft cabin to create some semblance of privacy between ourselves and guests, a lounging area between, a large dining table, a good sized galley and a refrigerator that looks like the one at home. The boat should have a double bed in the aft cabin with access from both sides and lots of cupboard space. A gas stove would be preferable. A shower in its own space was also important as was hot and cold running water.
To keep things simple, I really wanted a boat with a single engine and a bow thruster. I wanted a full keel so that the prop would be protected in case we grounded (recognize that this is not a question of if but just a matter of when). To give us access to shallow bays, I wanted a draft of 4’6” or less. For anchoring out, we would need a generator. For getting to land and for exploring, we would need a substantial dingy and a means of storing it on deck or in davits. The more I read about trawlers, the more I became convinced that we wanted to avoid teak decks (if they don’t leak today, they will tomorrow and you will have to replace the entire deck including its core), iron fuel tanks (when they leak tomorrow, they will be almost impossible to replace) and wooden window frames (when they leak tomorrow, the interior woodwork of your boat WILL rot out).
To keep our operational costs low, a single small engine (or two very small ones) were felt to be important as well as simplicity in equipment. If it is not on-board, it is not likely to break. We wanted a displacement hull suited to slow speed cruising.
So this was a pretty simple list of basic desires. It should have been easy to meet. Right???
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Stray Cat moves on to another home!
This is the Stray Cat being repositionned in the yard so that it could be worked on in November.
When we came back down to Florida. I thought that we were cleaning up and painting the Stray Cat in preparation for the next winter’s sailing season in the Bahamas. I was motivated to work!!
Bev thought we were cleaning up the boat so that we could sell it. She was motivated to work!!
We sanded and painted the bottom. We cleaned and painted the deck. Bev bought fabric, made and installed new upholstery, curtains and cushions, sometimes sewing in the sunshine on the sewing machine she bought in Elizabeth City last fall on the way South. We even removed a whole pile of gear from the boat so that we would have space to work.
It was hard, often hot and sometimes dirty work. But we were motivated.
In the end, the Stray Cat looked great. She was ready for the run to the Bahamas (Rob). She was ready to sell (Bev).
As it turned out, Bev was right!
Within a couple of weeks, we had 2 serious offers. We negotiated price and conditions on both. When the first fell through because of financing, the second became pre-eminent.
The deal closed on Dec 29, 2008. The Stray Cat now belongs to a wonderful and fascinating man, Thomas, from Key Largo. Thomas must be in his 70s. I hope that when I am his age, I have half of his energy and continuing sense of adventure.
So early January, we came down to Florida where we re-commissioned the Stray Cat for Thomas and began our search for a new boat.
They say that the happiest two days with a boat are the days you buy it and the day you sell it. For me, the purchase was definitely joyous but the sale was very much a bitter-sweet experience. While not perfect, the Stray Cat was like a trusted and loyal friend. She sailed better than we had a right to expect. She was strong and seaworthy. She was simple to operate, simple to maintain and relatively inexpensive to run. She could host a great party. She could be anchored in spots where others would fear to tread.
While I was pleased that the sale of the Stray Cat would enable us to move on with the next stage of our boating adventures, when the Stray Cat glided out of the harbour, her new engine purring ever so softly, I really felt as though I was saying good bye to a good friend – maybe never to see her again.