Looking to buy trawler 34 feet or less.

[sailsman10]

Selling my Catalina 34 and moving to power. Looking for a well kept older trawler that can do 10-12kts min and is stingy on diesel. I am in sw florida and not a big trawler Mecca. Send me link and i can email directly for photos. Looking for the owner who has had pride of ownership and is moving up,or out.

 

[Marin]

Do you have a cost range in mind?

 

[ben2go]

10 to 12 knots,is that expected cruise speed or max speed?

 

[Rambler]

Looking for a well kept older trawler that can do 10-12kts min and is stingy on diesel.

Yeah. 10 to 12 kts (MINIMUM) and stingy on fuel. Not gonna happen. 7, maybe 8 kts can be stingy on fuel.

 

[psneeld]

Yeah. 10 to 12 kts (MINIMUM) and stingy on fuel. Not gonna happen. 7, maybe 8 kts can be stingy on fuel.

Under 40 feet (36 or so waterline)...maybe 6.5...

 

[FF]

10 to 12 kts (MINIMUM) and stingy on fuel.


No problem , you just need a boat with a 100ft LWL.

To be "stingy" the boat will be operated at the Sq RT of the LWL.

NOT HULL SPEED (that 1/3 extra speed will cost double to triple the fuel burn

36LWL ,6K cheap is easy 100ft LWL , 10 K is easy.

 

[jleonard]

Look for an older (1977 thru 1986) 34 Mainship. Any of them with 200 hp or more (oem OR repowered) will get you economy at 8 knots, and won't break you at 10-12 knots.
I owned one for 14 years and they are great boats.

 

[Art]

Looking for a well kept older trawler that can do 10-12kts min and is stingy on diesel.

Good luck sailsman! Keep us up on your boat search... you'll find plenty of info on TF.

Wanting a 34' trawler to travel at speeds of (10-12kts) - Please define your definition of "stingy on diesel", i.e. how many GPH fuel do you expect (want) to use?

A 34' OAL boat with 32' LWL has an approx max hull speed calc of 7.58 knots. In actuality... 6 to 6.5 knots is is the sweet spot for fuel economy, at least that is so on our 34' Tollycraft twin screw. By utilizing one screw at a time (alternating per engine use as appropriate - for hour consistency and trany/free-wheel lubrication purposes) I'm able to get from 2.75 to 3 NMPG through the water - depending on loads and wind (land speed and therefore land mpg alters according to the current's velocity and direction) . By using both engines and doing 7.5 knots (max hull speed) we get approx 2 NMPG. At full plane cruising along at 16 to 17 knots we average 1 NMPG (yes... our Tolly is a well designed planing hull with WOT 22 +/- knots – but at near top speed fuel gets expensive). I believe the 10 - 12 kts you seek for a 34'er would be considerably inefficient due to the attitude-to-level the hull would need to maintain as it tried to jump atop its bow wave... for a planning hull that is. And, I’m confident that a 34’ OAL full displacement hull would simply gobble fuel at 10 – 12 kts... if it even had the enormous power required for a FD to try and move that quickly through the water.

That said: At 34' (or a bit longer - let's say 38 to 42 foot), a well designed, single screw semi displacement (i.e. semi planing... another way to look at it) hull with correct power and prop style/size might be able to do relatively efficient cruising at 10 - 12kts. Again... it comes down to: Please define your definition of "stingy on diesel"

Happy Trawler Daze! - Art

 

[jleonard]

Look for an older (1977 thru 1986) 34 Mainship. Any of them with 200 hp or more (oem OR repowered) will get you economy at 8 knots, and won't break you at 10-12 knots.
I owned one for 14 years and they are great boats.

I'll qualify this by saying I would get 3.2 nmpg at 7.5-8 knots, and 2.3 nmpg at 11.5-12 knots with my repowered Mainship 34 (Cummins 6bta 270 hp)

 

[Art]

I'll qualify this by saying I would get 3.2 nmpg at 7.5-8 knots, and 2.3 nmpg at 11.5-12 knots with my repowered Mainship 34 (Cummins 6bta 270 hp)

Wow - 2.3 is great nmpg at 11.5 - 12 knot speed.

What hull design is Mianship 34... semi-displacement/semi-planing? My experience has shown that intermeidate speed range of betweeh hull speed and planing speed causes elevated drag on any hull design of a 34'er. Mainship 34 actually get atop her bow wave and on plane at that speed?

 

[jleonard]

I would call it semi-planing. I added 42 x 12 trim tabs, (before the repower) and the boat would start to plane at 8 knots (I am defining plane as when the wake leaves the stern and forms a nice V).
At 11 it was pretty well on plane, at 14 or 15 it was truely on plane with a very flat wake (tabs had to be full up and out of the water at that speed).
As soon as the boat got over 16 knots it would "chine walk" or whatever the proper term is for when the boat tips wildly from side to side.
Every older Mainship did that was my experience, but you needed more than 250 hp to get there, and most repowers were in the 200-220 hp range.

 

[Art]

I would call it semi-planing. I added 42 x 12 trim tabs, (before the repower) and the boat would start to plane at 8 knots (I am defining plane as when the wake leaves the stern and forms a nice V).
At 11 it was pretty well on plane, at 14 or 15 it was truely on plane with a very flat wake (tabs had to be full up and out of the water at that speed).
As soon as the boat got over 16 knots it would "chine walk" or whatever the proper term is for when the boat tips wildly from side to side.
Every older Mainship did that was my experience, but you needed more than 250 hp to get there, and most repowers were in the 200-220 hp range.

Thanks for the breakdown. What weight do you feel your Mainship is during its 11 knot / 2.3 nmpg capability?

 

[tomtomterrific]

Sails man
I have a 1981 CHB 35 tri cab for sale in LI NY. Email me if interested tom10235@optonline.net
Thanks
Tom

 

[jleonard]

Thanks for the breakdown. What weight do you feel your Mainship is during its 11 knot / 2.3 nmpg capability?

I had the boat weighed once on a new travel lift (19K lbs) and added what I estimated for extra weight.
So I used 21,000 lbs in my prop calculations and I came out right on the money getting 35 rpm over rated at WOT.
Mainship "specs" say 14,000 dry weight. So all the numbers made sense to me.

 

[Bubbastump13]

I've got a 1980 Mainship 34 and have to agree with the postings so far...its an excellent fit for where you seem to be targeting. A Perkins 165hp turbo diesel, single screw, trim tabbed and a clean, new bottom painted hull, I post 7-8 Kts on cruise at 1350-1450 rpm and burn an average of 2.8-3.2 nm/gal. Push her up to around 1800 rpm and she'll clip at around 10-11 Kts, but fuel burn drops back to around 2 nm/gal.

I am actually looking to go up to a 40+ and twin screws, so I'd welcome a conversation about making her available. Heck, I'd even cruise it down to FL for you just for the joy or the ride!

 

[Bubbastump13]

Oh yeah....another plus on the Mainship! 220 gal of diesel in twin tanks makes for some SERIOUS cruising time between re-fuels! I keep two 5-gal cans and pick up good, cheap diesel inland to easily keep the tanks topped off.

 

[sailsman10]

Mainship 34

send me some info and photos off this forum. sailsman10@comcast.net
This is a bit older than I was thinking but as you know condition is everything.. I have a neighbor with a Mainship pilot 30 I am also looking at.
Thanks

 

[mdmay]

I have a 1992 34 MT DC in great shape. its top end speed is aprox 14. and only has 2000 hours. It is located at Fort Myers yacht basin Give me a call 406-740-2036 if interested