This 40' trawler seems like a good deal

[refugio]

Bluewater-Marine-Raised-Pilothouse-Trawler

Most boats in this price range are sad to look at - this one looks well loved.

 

[SomeSailor]

Nice looking boat. Well cared for it appears too. Priced right as well.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Yes it looks quite nice and I suspect one of the reasons you noticed it is that it's much like your own boat. I'd say yours is a better example of the type though.

Wow my i-Mac is really slick compared to my i-pad ... as I've been on the i-pad almost exclusively for several months now. Spelling and a few other things are better on the i-pad though.

 

[Max Simmons]

I've seen similar lookig under the name Tayana. Nice looking stout vessels

 

[sunchaser]

The two ER pictures are not too encouraging and no meaningful electronics, but for $38K what can you expect on a 40 footer. Teak decks could provide some fun if they leak. How good an engine is a Bedford for marinization parts?

 

[BaltimoreLurker]

That does look like a LOT of boat for the money. The engine is scary, but only because I don't know what it is.

 

[refugio]

The two ER pictures are not too encouraging and no meaningful electronics, but for $38K what can you expect on a 40 footer. Teak decks could provide some fun if they leak. How good an engine is a Bedford for marinization parts?

My first glance at the ER pictures I had the same thought, but this is a 40 year old boat and I think they're not too bad.

2 staterooms, 2 heads, a pilothouse with great rear visibility, and a Portugese bridge - a very livable boat.

I posted it here as every week there's somebody starting a thread about being a new trawler enthusiast on a budget - this boat appears immediately usable and (assuming you don't have rot in the house or deck or leaking tanks!) would allow someone to "try" trawlering without a big financial risk.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Is the Bedford possibly the 1st marineazation of the Ford engine that Lehman used? As I recall there was one on Yacht World that was 330 cu in. Could be the same block w different stroke or bore. If so that shouldn't be much of a problem. Find one on YW and see if it has the same bore or stroke as the Lehman.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
I think Bedford is a GM product...

 

[alormaria]

I'm in love.

 

[Monterey10]

Rare engine... Those manifolds are unique...

 

[sunchaser]

RT is absolutely right, GM (notice the old GM diesel color) made in Europe. They stopped production 30 years or so ago. Parts are long ago difficult at best to find. FIgure a repower in its future, but an inventive diesel guy could probably keep the base engine running, but the marinization parts and pieces would prove a challenge to find.

 

[Alfton]

I owned a 1980 twin engine model of that boat. I lived aboard it for 4 years. Mine was a two (2) stateroom one head model. Wide body and very livable boat.

 

[Kwajdiver]

Some how I missed the price on this boat. What was the asking price?

Thanks,

Bill

 

[refugio]

The asking price is $37,777. I grovel Yachtworld every couple of days and restrict my searches to boats that are 1 to 3 days old, so it's a new listing.

This is a boat that I personally would be interested in if I didn't have my current boat (and particularly if I were in CA). Most of the threads I was referring to are about GB versus KK but on a vintage Bayliner budget (BTW, did anyone notice that Bayliner announced yesterday they were going to cease production of cruisers?).

Someone new to boating would probably miss noticing a boat like this, but I thought it worthy of some attention.

As Alfton said, it could make a great liveaboard for someone.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
$37,777....

 

[refugio]

...and no meaningful electronics...

Well, it has an autopilot, VHF, fishfinder, and a compass - and what I think is a mount for a GPS. So it's missing what, radar?

One thing I bet it does have is wiring that hasn't been screwed up by a succession of owner-installed-but-decommissioned-with-wirecutter junk. And there aren't a bunch of holes in the dash. It's an almost virgin canvas waiting for future POs (previous owners) to cobble up. <grin>

 

[ancora]

Gotta love the configuration. That and no brightwork or teak deck just waitin' to leak would make it an ideal both for me.

 

[Marin]

Bedford was a truck brand and a subsidiary of Vauxhall (owned by GM) in the UK. Bedfords were among the most popular truck brands in several British Commonwealth countries from their inception in the 1930s through the 1970s. (I do not believe Bedford trucks were ever exported to the US or Canada, however.) While the brand continued on into the 80s it was heavily diluted by mergers and other business dealings. The brand name disappeared altogether in 1986.

In the 1960s and 70s Bedford was an extremely popular light truck in the UK, competing with the similar Ford D-Series. So it's no surprise that Bedford engines found their way into the marine world.

I have no idea who marinzed these engines. I would not be surprised to learn it was one or more companies in the UK. The Ford Dorset and Dover engines were also marinized by companies in the UK and elsewhere. While Lehman in New Jersey is the best known marinizer of these engines (into the FL120 and FL135) they were by no means the only people doing it.

I would REALLY research the current availability of parts for Bedford diesels before thinking about buying a boat equipped with one.

The boat itself looks like a stubby version of a deFever design. It has elements common to the deFever 46, the American Marine Alaskan, and the Fleming. I find it a bit tall and boxy-looking for my taste but it has a lot of elements that I like in a boat.

It's impossible to tell from photos but the decks don't look like teak. I wonder if the deck has been replaced at some point with a synthetic planking. It's unusual to see a boat from this era with teak deck planks that don't follow the inward curve of the hull at the bow. Straight planks can sometimes indicate a replacement deck.

PS--- Looked at the specs more carefully and saw the decks described as teak. I have no idea how this boat was positioned in the market when it was new but straight-planking the foredeck can be an indication of budget construction (or a re-decking).

 

[rumdrunksailor]

We had an accepted offer on a very similar boat this past summer. It was a 40' Bluewater made in 1970. When it came time for the survey, the surveyor called me about 30 minutes into it (I was running late) and said he wasn't sure he should continue. The entire cabin structure was made of wood and was full of rot (most of which I couldn't see, the boat looked to be in excellent condition, otherwise I never would have made an offer). We stopped the survey when we arrived at the boat and saw the field of blue tape marking each spot of dry rot. The surveyor, who is very respected in this area, said basically there was way too much rot, and even if we got it all we couldn't rest easy because the parts that weren't replaced would still be made of the sub-standard plywood the Taiwanese yards were using.

Of course, I can't say for certain if that applies to this boat, but I would sure recommend the best surveyor one can locate if someone is seriously considering buying!

 

[Peter B]

The decking looks like the plastic derived synthetic type like Marinedeck or Flexiteek, so as that is glued down in large sheets, (if I'm right), it should be well sealed and ok.

 

[Marin]

The decking looks like the plastic derived synthetic type like Marinedeck or Flexiteek, so as that is glued down in large sheets, (if I'm right), it should be well sealed and ok.

That's what I thought, too, but the broker sheet says teak.

 

[sunchaser]

Refugio

Yes, a chartplotter and radar would be nice if not necessary for those who choose to leave the dock. While at it, AIS too.

 

[oceano]

Recent experience

Here's a recent experience from Southern Cal.

In the past six months I have tapped and probed my way through 12 trawlers in this asking price range from Ventura to San Diego, and had one complete survey/haul.

Some boats were a mess, and the ask of $39K was immediately amended by the broker to "this boat will sell in the 20's." Many were really nice with great upgrades, from SS rails to modern navs to exceptionally clean and neat engine rooms to new $5K bimini enclosures. Several were early 70s GBs, with dry bilges--I quickly became a fan of mahogany hulls, which stand the test of time and remain works of boatbuilder art. Five of these boats had twin Lehmans (the rest were singles). None had more than about 2,000 hours.

Almost every one of these trawlers was Awlgripped (or similar) from waterline to flybridge and the hulls and superstructure look almost new. In most cases the brightwork was what you'd expect of a $39K offering, but not scary to somebody (like me) who has time to sand and varnish and is crazy enough to almost enjoy it.

And yet: in every case, there was one brutal issue that changed everything, usually either/or/all:
--Original questionable black iron fuel tanks.
--Spongy Teak decks
--Cabin house roof trampoline effect.

In dealing with five or six brokers--not the way I used to do it but with the Internet listings today just about unavoidable--I was told that boats are selling for half price. From what I've seen in our recession-hit marinas there's truth to that. My guess is that you can get a whale of a bargain at about $75K and up.

But from what I;ve seen in the price range of the pretty 40-footer that started this thread, it is very unlikely to stand the scrutiny of even an optimistic restoration-minded bidder. So my search continues.

You know what the most interesting thing is about Internet shopping these days?

It's the wonderful sales photographs, soemtimes 40 of them, by which a good eye can tell so much, and then drive 200 miles to see the real thing.

The photographs are unexpectedly misleading. I would never have guessed how shabby a boat can look when in the pictures it beckoned like a mermaid and within ten feet revealed itself a walrus.

For what it's worth--still looking.

 

[ancora]

Another brutal issue: the unavailibility of replacement engine parts. Do some research before you buy a boat whose engines are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

 

[Marin]

The photographs are unexpectedly misleading. I would never have guessed how shabby a boat can look when in the pictures it beckoned like a mermaid and within ten feet revealed itself a walrus.

Yes, that is the "magic" of stills/film/video. To those of us in that business we depend on it to be able to fool an audience into thinking they're seeing one thing when in fact they aren't. Special effects that look so realistic and convincing on a screen are in fact often quite crude if you could examine them closely frame by frame.

While photos of a boat for sale are valuable for showing you the boat itself, its configuration, equipment, etc. one should never judge the actual condition of anything on a boat by the photos. Even something as basic as a stove top can look great in a photo of the galley but when you see it in person you see the corrosion, rust, etc. that the camera didn't register.

Our own almost 40-year-old boat looks pretty good in photos. But up close you see the ravages of the California sun on the gelcoat during the boat's first 25 years, the chips and dings, the trim pieces that need refinishing, old glass (unless it's a pane we've replaced), and on and on and on.

It is virtually inevitable that something that looks great in photos, be it a vehicle, boat, house, you name it, will not look that good in person or will have defects that are obvious to the eye but not to the lens. The only exceptions I can think of are brand new boats, cars, etc. or totally restored, immaculate boats like Hackers and Gar Woods, or cars that are restored to museum quality. They tend to look like their photos, if not even better in person.

So my rule is to use photos of something only to show me what that something is and if it will suit my needs in terms of configuration, equipment, instrumentation, etc. But I totally dismiss the photos as any sort of indication of the actual condition.

 

[Rambler]

Yes, that is the "magic" of stills/film/video. To those of us in that business we depend on it to be able to fool an audience into thinking they're seeing one thing when in fact they aren't. Special effects that look so realistic and convincing on a screen are in fact often quite crude if you could examine them closely frame by frame.

Hey now. Isn't chatter about the debates supposed to be in the Off Topic or OTDE?

 

[Alfton]

And yet: in every case, there was one brutal issue that changed everything, usually either/or/all:
--Original questionable black iron fuel tanks.
--Spongy Teak decks
--Cabin house roof trampoline effect.

I said that I owned one I did not comment on the black iron fuel tanks, spongy teak decks, and cabin roof trampoline All of which it had