New Owners of a 1982 Marine Trader 30

[rakoerber]

Hello,
We recently bought this Trawler. She needs a lot of work so we will be burning up the forum looking for others with the same or similar boat to gain knowledge from.
According to the HIN we think it is a 30 but the broker kept calling it a 32. Probably need to break out a tape measure on her, lol.
Just now cleaning her up and getting familiar with all the systems, etc. I see that manual appear to be non-existant except may be for some of the system.
Anybody have anything out there to share on this particular boat?
Thanks in advance.
Ralph

 

[robbie]

Welcome aboard Ralph, I'm sure you will get plenty of feed back on your MT.......just as soon as they wake up!!:lol:

 

[CaptTom]

I can't opine on the Marine Trader specifically, but I'm coming up on one year of owning the 1980 Praire pictured here.

For the most part, the systems are similar on all our boats, so ask away, someone here can probably help.

You'd be surprised how many manuals for individual components can be found on line. The hand-typed "manual" that came with my boat WAS in the package I got from the PO, but it really didn't help much. There was a whole thread here on writing your own boat manual as you learn the systems.

 

[Autoteacher]

Hi rakoerber, We have a restoration project going on a MT 40 that sat up for seven years before we got her. Been working a year and 7 months on everything. We sure enjoy her when we go out to visit the islands on the coast of Georgia.
Our Blog, @ TheOffice: May 2013

What engine(s) do you have? What electronic gear do you have? You can find manuals online for all those. HTH, Sonny @ The Office

 

[rakoerber]

thanks everyone

I will keep searching here and on-line for the answers as i know help is here.

we have a single 120 ford lehmans (2715E) diesel. also an onan 4.0kw genset.
masirator in head. hot water. heat and a/c.

sump pump needs worked on or replaced.

just now running the electrics and water and thru hulls to check everything.

was set up for 3 years.

more later and pics.

ralph (sonny)

 

[rakoerber]

profile pic

not sure why it does not show

 

[SaltyDog]

Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual: How to Maintain, Repair, and Improve Your Boat's Essential Systems: Nigel Calder: 9780071432382: Amazon.com: Books

The closest thing to an owners manual for most boats.

This is just a link to the book - not an endorsement for the seller - not that I have anything against them.

 

[CPseudonym]

Good looking boat Ralph

That's my first time seeing a photo of a Marine Trader 30 footer.

 

[rakoerber]

Good looking boat Ralph That's my first time seeing a photo of a Marine Trader 30 footer.

Thanks. Still confirming it is in fact a MT. Lots of confusion out there on Taiwan types.

 

[rakoerber]

Hi rakoerber, We have a restoration project going on a MT 40 that sat up for seven years before we got her. Been working a year and 7 months on everything. We sure enjoy her when we go out to visit the islands on the coast of Georgia. Our Blog, @ TheOffice: May 2013 What engine(s) do you have? What electronic gear do you have? You can find manuals online for all those. HTH, Sonny @ The Office

We have a single FL 120. Also a 4kw Onan genset. Rest we are still looking over. Working on the engine now.

 

[boatpoker]

The confusion over Taiwan boats stems from the fact that there were more than a dozen yards within 20 miles of each other and molds were shifted back and forth over the years. Some guy from NJ would show up and say build me twenty of "those" and call them Marine Traders, then another guy would show up and build me six of those and call them "Cape Flattery" or Nova or Heritage or one of twenty or thirty other names. I believe there is a list of those names somewhere in the forum archives. The interiors were farmed out to "families" who would do one boat at a time and did not work for any specific yard and this accounts for the wide variety of joinerwork quality. Essentially all of a given size and style are generic.

As the HIN's were assigned to the importer (Marine Trader etc.) and not the builder it is often difficult if not impossible to determine which yard they were built in.

 

[Steve]

I made several business trips to sugar plantations in Taiwan in the late 70s and early 80s I remember being in Kaoshiung in the Southwest of the country, there were trawlers being built all over the place. I haven't been back since then but it was a very nice place to travel, good facilities and food and the people nice and hardworking.

 

[alormaria]

It looks like a fine boat and sounds well equipped. Good luck with her.

 

[Capthead]

Welcome to the group. FL120's are great engines and lots of us have them so feel safe asking away there. That looks like a roomy 30'er and I know you'll enjoy fixin' her up.

 

[Peter B]

The confusion over Taiwan boats stems from the fact that there were more than a dozen yards within 20 miles of each other and molds were shifted back and forth over the years. Some guy from NJ would show up and say build me twenty of "those" and call them Marine Traders, then another guy would show up and build me six of those and call them "Cape Flattery" or Nova or Heritage or one of twenty or thirty other names. I believe there is a list of those names somewhere in the forum archives.

Pretty fair comment. Your vessel, rakoerber, is the 30' version of our CHB 34, and here in Oz, was known as the Clipper series, and yours in Oz would have been called the Clipper 30. Someone here who has done a lot of restoration and refurbishing of that model is someone called Erik, and the vessel, "Shipshape". He posted quite a lot of progress pics, so although he has not been active on here for quite some time, you could do a search under that vessel name or that of Erik, and I think you'd find it. Also, from memory, the thread started with... "A nice little project...."

Oh, here it is..the search worked even tho I had a word missed out...
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s32/start-nice-project-clipper-30ft-4127.html
Hope that helps...