A few weeks ago now I closed on a new, used boat in Fiji. She is a 52' trawler, built in 1992 in Washington State. I am super excited, but it was a super stressful process. Fiji is completely shut down due to covid, and there was no way to go see it in person. I am crossing my fingers that pictures and Zoom tours gave me a good sense of the boat. The broker helped me hire an American delivery Capitan and Engineer for the delivery to Hawaii, then on to LA. They had to be American, because only Americans can get into Hawaii. I will bring the boat up the coast to Anacortes WA next spring, but LA seems like a safer trip in November. Getting insurance for the delivery was a huge challenge too, but I was able to get it in the end. To add to the stress, Cyclone season in Fiji was officially starting 2 weeks after my closing, adding to the pressure to get it the hell out of there.
The passage from Fiji to Hawaii is not an easy one. It is about 2850 miles, and mildly upwind, and current for almost the entire way. The boat is now about 200 miles from Hawaii, after 18 days. If it wasn't for Covid they definitely would have stopped in American Samoa for fuel, food, and a rest, but since it is closed for covid we just had to go for it all the way. I am flying out to Hawaii on Wednesday to check out the boat, help with some needed repairs and maintenance, and if the weather cooperates and gives us a window soon enough, will join them for the trip from Hawaii to LA. I am super excited.
As far as I can figure out the boat was built as a custom one off in 1992. I think they used the mold from the old Skookum motor sailors built in the 70's. It was built as a trawler with paravane stabilizers. The second owner put hydraulic stabilizers on it, turned the Paravanes into flopper stoppers for use while at anchor, and poles for sheeting out the headsail for downwind tradewind runs. He also added a sailing rig. It only really sails on a broad reach or farther off the wind. No beating to weather, so they have not been of much use on the way to Hawaii. The family I bought it from was from Vancouver Canada, and were in the middle of their second South Pacific cruise in her when Covid messed up their plans, and they decided to fly home and put the boat on the market. The previous owners did some really nice upgrades on the boat over the last 5 years which is cool. They put in stabilizers, hydraulic stern thruster, rebuilt engines, new generator/watermaker, steelhead crane, 13' bullfrog dingy, 1000W solar, Lithium batteries, new plotter, radar, AIS, sailing rig, second 10' inflatable tender, Built in gas station for filling tenders with Gasoline, new canvas, high output alternator driven off hydraulic system, 2x 12V air conditioners that can run off lithium batteries, etc.
The old Snapdragon can be found on Yacht World if you are looking for a sweet 41' aluminum trawler at a reasonable price.
