Hi, passing along a couple of upgrades we have made on our Swift Trawler 44 thinking it might be helpful not only for other ST44 owners but also hopefully anyone “up-fitting” for offshore and coastal work. We purchased her in May of 2013 and have taken her on two California Coastal trips (SF- LA and SF to San Diego) also a number of shorter hops and overnight anchorages. We are planning a trip up the coast to the San Juan's this summer or next.
We love the boat, the ST 44 is well built for coastal work and regardless of the sea state and weather has always performed extremely well in a myriad of seas. Including an often not so kind SF Bay when Ebb tides oppose seas in “the slot”. Super happy with the build and the boat but we have made a number of alterations and additions during the time we’ve owned her.
Bilge Pumps/ Alarms
We felt the stock bilge pump (whale) in the engine room and the lack of any pumps in the bow or stern where there are thru hulls and obviously the bow where the possibility of holing is high was not the margin of safety that we desire. Additionally, there was a lack of any water intrusion alarms. The batteries sit low in the bow, engine room and stern thus we placed the alarm location as low as possible to provide early warning in the event off sea water intrusion which would quickly disable the batteries. We installed Three High Capacity Jabsco Pumps, low in each one of the locations controlled with switching and audible alarm at the main helm station. (pic below)
Handholds
We are firm believers in “One hand for you, one hand for the boat” Below decks the handholds are well designed and engineered throughout. However there was a lack of sufficient handholds on the flybridge (only one) which is where we prefer to control her from. As such, we had three fabricated and placed at the top of the stairs, on the mast and at the front of the flybridge storage area. This provides secure handholds from the stairway to the seats. Additionally, when offshore we have a jackline that can be run both above and below and be connected with a tether from our Mustang inflatable jackets.
Flir Night Vision
The best day to day, or ummm Night to Night addition was a Flir Night Vision camera. This is a critical piece of our nighttime safety equipment whether in the bay at night or night voyages. I originally felt it was awesome for detecting objects but on a night rounding of Pt Conception with fairly large, short period seas against a 25 -30 knot offshore wind it really earned it’s keep, as it allowed us to make adjustments to the course based on the ability of seeing the seas.
House Batteries
We learned on our first overnight anchorage (at 3AM) that the stock 2 house batteries were entirely insufficient for the amount of electrical drain from electronics. We added an additional 5 deep cycle batteries in the engine room and this has never been a problem again.
Charger/Inverter
The stock chargers were not up to the new storage capabilities and the stock inverter wasn't great. So we added a beefy Magnum Energy MM Series Modified Sine Wave Inverter Charger,1200 Watt Inverter, 70 Amp Charger.
MOB Alarm
Although I don’t believe they make it anymore, we installed a RayMarine Sea Talk Man overboard system with remote sensors on life jackets (or Dogs collars) which interfaces with the main RayMarine Nav system and alerts you if anyone falls overboard and you can navigate to them. We are also fans of the Midland Walkie talkies we use to stay in touch while underway and require anyone on the move to notify when safely below or above decks.
Fuel Filters
Not a fan of the main stock fuel filters as there was no sighting bowl to gauge the presence of water. The stock ST44 racors require the use of a hex nut to drain fuel into a container to look for the presence of water. We retrofitted them with Racor clear bowls and metal heat shields for the 500 series filters. (Pic)
Thru-hull Grounding
The stock thru-hulls did not come with any bonding to a ground and as such we tied all them to a ground.
Liferaft/Dan Buoys
ISO approved 4 Person Liferaft and 2 Dan Buoy SOS throwable. One Dan Buoy is mounted on the Stern and the other on the Fly Bridge so can be easily thrown if needed. A tip, if you use these DO NOT leave them out in the weather and take them inside when not underway. I learned this the hard way doing some work at the dock. The one on the flybridge inflated as the water detector “pill” had been exposed to enough water that it engaged the unit. I was below decks and it was a WTF sound
Door/Head locks
The Master Stateroom shower has a heavy teak seat that is raised to use the head and it did not have anyway of securing it when in the up position and was a pain in any kind of seaway so we retrofitted it with a bolt which has made all the difference in the world. All of the doors except the Main Head have magnets to secure them and we like to leave the door open when underway and when we’re not on the boat so we also had a latch installed on that door. The magnets have worked well except for a rounding on Conception where the sea was rough enough that the doors if not closed would swing.
Spares
We are constantly upgrading spares and among them carry extra fresh water, Bilge and Macerator pumps as that would be shitty if it went out.
Cooler Stuff:
We installed two underwater LED lights off the stern and LOVE them. We turn them on when at anchor. Awesome in Southern California with the clear water and sea life, they create quite a show at night. We made a number of new friends in Avalon with people coming over to witness the “living aquarium”. (Pic with Avalon in the background)
We have changed out all of the outside white LEDs with Blue ones as they are much easier on your eyes when underway at night and OK they look hella cool.
Wish List
Install fuel sighting tubes on the tanks. Crazy but there are none.
The missing 4th Windshield Wiper. For some reason there are two in front and one to far Port but the window giving you vision from 9 - 11 o clock doesn’t have one which is just odd.
Open Array Radar versus the radome. With a lot of Fog up and down the coast and often running at night I feel that the open array would provide a better solution for smaller targets.
Would LOVE dual screens especially for all nighters but there really isn’t enough room and while you can split the existing screen, the Night vision camera and radar really benefit from full screen view. I do often use my iPad for Navionics while relying on the full screen for the camera or radar.
A lot of words but hopefully useful.
CB
