On Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:38:27 -0800 (PST), Bob
wrote:


When I worked in Indonesia the owner of the
company bought a 35 ft. .................

After checking we discovered that with everything on -
electric stove, air con, ice maker, fridge, hi fi, etc. he was drawing
more then 3 Kw which turns the head on the generator engine all black
and blistered...........

He traded the Grand Banks for a
share of a charter business in Bali (which was later sold for a
million, or so) and bought a bigger boat - 65 ft. steel hull motor
sailor which had a gigantic Lister genset.

Cheers,

Bruce

Now that is what I call a satisfactory solution. A 65 ft MOTOR
(sailor) is just the right size for a couple plus occasional company
if they are the sorts who enjoy cooking turkeys, drinking wine, and
hate the inconvienance of doing laundry in those "gross laundromats
(that means Washateria Joe) for where those common people frequent."

I still advocate buying a 10 year old 70' gulf shrimper for most the
people here. Heck $100,000 boat plus $10,000-20,000 for some yard work
and your good to go! And talk about a deep freezer for your turkeys!
Heck you can haul 50,000 lbs of frozen turkey if ya want Plus cary
15,000 gallons of fuel to run those two gen sets.
Bob


The problem with converting fishing boats is mainly that the engine is
sized for working and as a yacht you don't need all that power. Given
that most fishing boats do not have plaining hulls likely you can get
along with, say 60 H.P., for cruising at, again say 7 K.

The fishing boat engine is probably sized to haul a net along the
bottom and is likely 1 - 200 H.P. A 70 foot working boat loads fuel by
the ton, not by the gallon as most long distance power boats do.

There is a 40 ft. New Zealand shrimper in the Marina with a 100 H.P.
Gardner engine. The saving grace is that a Gardner is quite happy to
churn along at 900 RPM all day. A modern diesel isn't.

Your figure for 10 - 20,000 to convert the boat is, I suspect, quite a
few dollars less then the ultimate cost. Remember, you'd need to do
something about the fish hold and rip out the big chiller system.

Cheers,

Bruce