Barrie Farrell Trawler

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olsurfer

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Jan 25, 2018
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Anyone familiar with these? Pros and cons?
 

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Hordes of them here, fish boat hull.
 
A bone in her teeth? She's pushing the whole carcass! It would be a challenge to design an uglier superstructure (hardly call it the "house").
 
Whether you like her or not they have a darn fine reputation in this neck of the woods.

As Xsbank says, hundreds of them around here. Mostly sold/used as fishboats, gillnetters and trollers.

The commercial versions had a MUCH smaller cabin and a LARGE working deck.

The back deck cover was the purchasers option which would not have been on the commercial units.
Many people chased him for a pleasure version so he accommodated them. I think they are nice looking boats.

With enough power they were a good planing boat at ~15 or so knots.
 
From the Amazon page for the autobiography "Boats in my blood" by Barrie Farrell:

Despite his grade six education and his grounding in traditional methods, Barrie became one of the leading innovators in West Coast boatbuilding. When fibreglass first became available, Barrie was among the earliest to see its potential. He perfected a method of laying up hulls in moulds that accelerated production and his designs incorporated flowing curves and shaped details that were never possible with wood. He was one of the first to realize that modern fish boats needed to be fast and consequently his graceful, planing gillnetters and trollers dominated the BC salmon fleet in the 1970s and 1980s. By the time he was done in the late 1990s, Barrie had built over 300 commercial and sport fishing boats as well as pleasure boats and left a profound stamp on West Coast boat building.
 
At a boat show in Campbell River last spring I had the fortune of meeting Barrie. A very humble man and quite the raconteur I understand, although the show was too busy to spend time chatting for too long. I did purchase his book, and he threw in a CD of some of his recorded songs; quite the gentleman.
 
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Beer? Did someone mention beer?
 
Saltspring is a little out of my sphere but if you get going past Pender Harbour this year, drop me a line?
 
From what I've found, Barrie Farrell was a major player early on with fiberglass boat construction. Most say his trawlers are heavily built and were primarily fish boats.
He did do a few "long cabin" cruisers and to me they have very nice lines. I like that rounded corners stern and the amount of bow flare. This particular boat started out as a fish boat, then they put this cabin on it sometime later. To me they should of pushed the windshield back a bit and they could of left that roof over the cockpit off. The shade is probably welcomed and the roof looks sturdy enough for solar panels.
I liked the way the owner described the boat. "It's a capable rig that does what you want it to and when you're done, you hose it down and put it away. The hull looks like it would plane, but how much horsepower would that take. Be nice to find a hull/diesel power train that is comfortable at 7 or 8 knts sipping the fuel but could do 12 to 15 if you needed to run for cover.
 
Here both 32 and 40 foot Snowballs were pretty popular. They bucked into chop pretty good but took a lot of green water over the bow. The 40 was a lot better than the 32. Most of the 32s punched their glass out at some point. The lexan became standard on most of them.
 
Saltspring is a little out of my sphere but if you get going past Pender Harbour this year, drop me a line?
As a matter of fact I just happened to go by Pender Harbour on Thursday. I stopped by to see your boat but you weren't there (she was). I chatted with the guy with the nice ex-commercial fishboat with the varnished caps. With a bit of work you could get some shine on that aluminum. It won't help her look like a Farrel but it would be a good reason to stop for a beer.[emoji4]
 
Greg, yes, right now the sewage system is ripped out, the new tank comes this week and then the plumbing can continue. The forecastle is also ripped apart while I build a new bed and storage, adding a sink, all new flooring in the lower areas and all new hydraulics in the windlass. If it has to be shiny to attract beer drinkers, not going to happen, I will be drinking alone! With all the crap and bits of wood and sawdust lying about it looks derelict now. I have high hopes. I am also banished to the public dock as my marina is building all new docks and new electrics, which I will now get to pay for. Now, if you’re offering to polish, I have other chores you could do...
 

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