Is Marine Trader building and selling trawlers these days?

In the late seventies a broker in Annapolis was selling the boats. They were
almost affordable and I had a hair up somewhere and wanted to try living
aboard. Part of it was the very high cost of housing in Washington, DC where I
was then stationed.

After considerable thought I decided the 44 double cabin would accomodate all
my space requirements.

Then I boarded one and had a good look. First I checked out the layout and
interior accomodations. Pretty good human engineering and decent joiner work
in the cabin area. Then it was into the bilge area to check the engine
arrangement, etc. Poor quality abounded. All the through hull fittings were
cheapo faucets. There was no strainer. Single bilge pump of questionable
capacity poorly mounted and plumbed. Cleats were through bolted but without
backing plates. Wiring was house quality. No duplex fuel filters... the
on-engine primary and secondary was it. Don't remember the fuel tank
construction but surely it was mild steel. My estimate, in 1978 dollars at a
decent yard, at least $10K to set it right and probably more.

Teak overlaid decks and solid teak rails above. Simply beautiful and looked
like decent work. Loved the flying bridge, also all teak. Nice pulpit. But,
after my visit to the basement how could I believe the deck had been properly
bedded and mounted. Besides, all that maintenance of all that teak.

Still, at a base price of around $125K it was a lot of boat. OTOH it was not a
boat for me. Is there such a thing as a good cheap boat? Probably, depending
upon how one defines good and cheap.... I just have not yet seen one.

Butch

On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 00:50:33 GMT, bb wrote:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2004 17:29:07 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

Fuel tanks and electrical systems seem to be two of
the biggest problem areas with older boats built in the far east.

Here in the hot and wet south east, I'd have to say poor bedding and
the resulting leakage and rot problems are one of the biggest problems
with older far east boats. Also, overuse of teak has resulted in many
problems from worn out decks to hatches and windows that have to be
sealed every other weekend. Old fuel tanks are a problem no matter
where the boat was built.
=====================================

Those are all good points. I think it's a fact however that many of
the "far east" boats were built with black iron tanks which are way
down there on the longevity scale.