Mainship 34 or Integrity 350

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davlloyd

Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2023
Messages
6
Hi All,

A big hello and as a newbie, this is my first post asking the community for some wisdom. My wife and I sold our cruiser and are now looking for a trawler that would allow us to cruise our home waterways around Sydney and up the east coast of Australia. As would be piloting this frequently solo, also want something that is easy to handle when on my own.

Two boats are firmly on our radar at the moment as ticking our requirements, easy to maintain, easy to handle, single engine, comfortable for extended stays, walk around and able to have guests come along for short stints. This has me looking at a 2007 Mainship 34, a 2009 Integrity 350 and a 2011 Integrity 350 MkII.

I am leaning to the Mainship as seems better value but would be great to get any feedback / thoughts. This will be our retirement boat as kids have finished school so looking at keeping it for quite a while.

Thanks for the help ?
 
The difficulty with your enquiry is most Mainships are located in USA/Canada, there are a few here, but probably more Integrity boats. A Queenslander bought a ?Sydney 350 and took it north, it could be the one for sale,otherwise I think I`m the only Aussie TF Integrity owner. Mine is a 2005 386 with twin Cummins, but the hulls are fairly similar. It`s a better built boat than I expected, way better than the (related) IG36 it replaced.

The guys who moved my boat from Melbourne to Sydney rated it a good sea boat. Not sure about Mainships,less SD more planing hull I think, though but for the water tankage, I nearly bought a 395. I`m biased and would recommend the Integrity but feel free to ask questions.
 
Just had a quick look online and seems there is one Mainship and two Integrity boats for sale that match your criteria. So I think I have seen all three boats you are looking at.

They seem to be fairly similar boats in size and layout, but one is Yanmar powered and the other two Cummins. Also they are located in vastly different parts of Australia and none of them are local to you for easy viewing.

One is also significantly less money than the other two.

To be honest, I don't think there would be a vast difference in any of these boats, so would suggest thinking about how well they have been maintained, is there any 'deferred maintenance' requiring an immediate spend and your own budget situation to see if the less expensive vessel would meet your needs.

It is hard to tell from photos online which boat is the better buy. I think you really need to invest time/money in getting on board them.

Otherwise you may be better served looking for something local where you can easily view it and your first trip doesn't need to be a significant distance in open ocean.

Anyway just a few thoughts, so hope that helps.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies. Serene you are right with the boats I am looking at. About to go up and have a look at the Mainship, the Integrity’s have a little more of a challenge to get to them and then to get them back to Sydney, but they are popping up. The price difference is interesting and had not thought about the Mainship before this one was listed. Now I have over analysed it, hence going up to have a look directly. Have suffered in early boat ownership thorough the purchase of what looked like a bargain. The positive side is that I got good at boat maintenance as a result ��
The integrity up north is a known quantity, the Mainship has apparently been under utilised for the last few years which can be a concern of course. Had also looked at Clippers and IGs but concerned about the age of the IGs and the deck issues and probable hull bubbling issues. Even got caught up in the whole Grand Banks cycle but concerns around age for price and cost and risk of servicing spooked me.

Will keep the thread posted. One thing is concrete, we will end up in one soon enough ��
 
Not sure if this is of any interest, but it was just listed today;

https://www.boatsonline.com.au/boats-for-sale/used/power-boats/integrity-340-sedan/303611

No association with the seller or vessel, just saw it and thought of this thread.

0_4.jpg
 
Good wishes for your search davlloyd. Took me 3 years to find our 386.
Not sure if the the Mainship you will see is similar but the 395 with Vacuflush fresh water head was so tight in the ER I couldn`t see where to expand the fresh water capacity of about 150L.
I suggest seeing both brands before deciding. We`re berthed at Bobbin Head, I`ve not seen the Integrity there but maybe its on a swing mooring for sale, seeing one may tell you if it`s worth the effort to see a 350. The broker is not "resident" at Bobbin Head.
 
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It’s a lovely boat and could take our tinny out to see it when we get back home. It is being sold by Adam who is also selling the 350 up at Airlie so can chat to him on return. I do like the classic trawler with fly bridge design though ��
 
BruceK said:
Good wishes for your search davlloyd. Took me 3 years to find our 386.
Not sure if the the Mainship you will see is similar but the 395 with Vacuflush fresh water head was so tight in the ER I couldn`t see where to expand the fresh water capacity of about 150L.
I suggest seeing both brands before deciding. We`re berthed at Bobbin Head, I`ve not seen the Integrity there but maybe its on a swing mooring for sale, seeing one may tell you if it`s worth the effort to see a 350. The broker is not "resident" at Bobbin Head.
Click to expand...

Hi Bruce, the search ? is definitely a long one but seeing more stock coming online than the last few years. Prices seems to be normalising again as well. We have been searching since we sold our boat January last year. Had an offer accepted on a Clem Master but the survey spooked us away, so had our tinny sitting on our mooring since (thankfully maritime accepted our reasons for having a 16ft tinny on a mooring for a 40ft boat). The good thing is we are definitely narrowed down now, just waiting for the right boat. Hopefully soon ?
 
davlloyd said:
Hi Bruce, the search �� is definitely a long one but seeing more stock coming online than the last few years. Prices seems to be normalising again as well. We have been searching since we sold our boat January last year. Had an offer accepted on a Clem Master but the survey spooked us away, so had our tinny sitting on our mooring since (thankfully maritime accepted our reasons for having a 16ft tinny on a mooring for a 40ft boat). The good thing is we are definitely narrowed down now, just waiting for the right boat. Hopefully soon ��
Click to expand...
Our first power boat was a Masters 34 which started life as the CYCA Committee Boat(big fridge!). Excellent sea boat but limited creature comforts led us to the IG36. We rejected a Qld Integrity 426 post survey before finding the 386.
We saw the Integrity 340 at Bobbin Head but only from a distance. All single deck Integrity have a saloon all galley one side all seats the other, though they do have the enclosed cockpit overflow. Our 386 gave us saloon seating both sides and less galley. Good luck. Feel free to ask questions.
 
David
Welcome aboard TF.
We love our 2008 MS 34HT but tell everyone it is a great 2 person boat. We had one close family member join us for a few days but never had to pull out the sofa for a double. If you do that it really fills the saloon area. We found the MS sofa was not very comfortable for sitting and swapped it out for 2 recliners that work very well for us... pics on my Bacchus website.
I'm not familiar with the other boats so can't make any comparisons.
 
The Integrity 350 has 2 sleeping cabins. Master is semi walk around, second cabin has a smallish double and may have a bunk bed above.
 
Good luck with the search for right vessel, the Integrity 350 is a fine looking boat, with an excellent beam for length, creating a roomy interior, I’m not sure how this compares to the Mainship?
We have one in our marina which is kept like a show boat, in stunning condition.
 
Bacchus said:
David
Welcome aboard TF.
We love our 2008 MS 34HT but tell everyone it is a great 2 person boat. We had one close family member join us for a few days but never had to pull out the sofa for a double. If you do that it really fills the saloon area. We found the MS sofa was not very comfortable for sitting and swapped it out for 2 recliners that work very well for us... pics on my Bacchus website.
I'm not familiar with the other boats so can't make any comparisons.
Click to expand...

Thanks for response. I have read a number of articles where the sofa was been swapped out. It is a concern as do have two older kids (uni age) but unsure if they would, stay with us overnight anyway so see the benefits of bunks although they seem to be focused on small people. Have fallen for trap of purchases driven by decisions catering to other people, such as the 7 seater 4WD where the extra seats were only used a few times while we owned it.

The MS does seem like a good day entertainer, you just may need to drop your guest off at the end of the day (or get them to swim to shore ?)
 
Just as an aside comment, nothing to do with the vessels mentioned in this post, but for the Oz members, AMSA have published a coronial inquest into the capsizing and subsequent loss of life of the new owner of a late model Halvorsen 44, being delivered from the Gold Coast to Sydney.
Quite a sobering read, but the essence of the story was since Mark Halvorsen sold the moulds of the 40 to China in later years, it was lengthened and raised in height dramatically to make the vessel unstable in following seas.
The vessel capsized and sank with a quartering, following sea of one metre, in 15-20 knots of wind during a night passage.
 
Southern Boater said:
Just as an aside comment, nothing to do with the vessels mentioned in this post, but for the Oz members, AMSA have published a coronial inquest into the capsizing and subsequent loss of life of the new owner of a late model Halvorsen 44, being delivered from the Gold Coast to Sydney.
Quite a sobering read, but the essence of the story was since Mark Halvorsen sold the moulds of the 40 to China in later years, it was lengthened and raised in height dramatically to make the vessel unstable in following seas.
The vessel capsized and sank with a quartering, following sea of one metre, in 15-20 knots of wind during a night passage.
Click to expand...

Terrible situation! I have been in some hairy seas where we were effectively surfing the swell with water coming through the stern, so can understand how this could happen if the boat is unable to handle the situation. Not sure about the integrity, but have read mixed reviews on the MS competency in rough seas. Must admit, when it’s strong winds, rough and a short interval swell, prefer to be moored up in a bay and drinking beers.
 
My post 3 has the opinion of the delivery guys about my 386. I haven`t forgotten a text msg from them one night, off Batemans Bay, "Surf`s Up, we`re going into Batemans Bay".
The 386 is based on the IG36, the extra 2ft 6" is making the swim platform part of the hull. It`s a way better boat offshore than the IG36 it replaced, it cuts through waves rather than jumping off them, more like the seaworthy Clipper 40, suggesting the Integrity revamp improved handling as well as onboard accommodation. I regard the Halvorsen Pilothouse disaster as unrelated, note it did not bear the Integrity brand.
Integrity were building IGs for years, when IG ceased operations they had the moulds and kept using them. On what terms, I know not, maybe their own, ie possession is 9/10ths of the law.
 
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