Ahoy from S Carolina

We joined to refresh thinking as we help a friend select his first trawler. We have completed our travels including most of the "loop" in "Classy Lady" our Alaskan 46. Our home port was the Detroit Yacht Club. We traveled the Great Lakes extensively prior to doing our loop travel. Classy Lady is now in Auckland NZ sailing the southern oceans.
Our efforts in helping the friend are focused presently on the DeFever trawlers in the 48 to 50 ft range. We've returned from the Baltimore Trawler Fest & there are lots of ideas floating around. It is great fun to be messing around with boats!

Welcome aboard skipper 2. Hope you enjoy TF.
Can you post a pic and tell us more about your Alaskan 46?

More from Alaskan 46

Sorry for delay in responding--stuff gets in the way. I'll try to put a couple of pics as attachments. Classy Lady was our summer home for several years based at the Detroit Yacht Club. We traveled the Great lakes extensively and in '04 went thru the Erie Canal & down to Charleston SC. From there in in "05 began the Great Loop[Back up the coast, thru the Great Lakes and into the rivers ( we reduced air draft and went thru downtown Chicago) we wandered around and in the fall of "06, went up the Black Warrior river to Tuscaloosa AL to spend the winter. Katrina had happened, and the gulf coast was still recovering next spring. So we decided to move ashore. Classy Lady is now in Auckland NZ and we still miss her! She is a Grand Banks built DeFever design. Cannot think of a better vessel for the waters we traveled. The Great Lakes are by far the roughest waters we found, (prevailing fall winds & storms are brutal with big winds, steep seas, short wave sets) and with her solid hull & high flared bow she served us well. Machinery wise, the Lehman's are performed very well operated at roughly peak of torque curve at 1750-1800 rpm. We are now ashore in Columbia SC aand still missing boating! I think I've got a pix attached for y'all to see!
Later, Gayle

Nice boat, nice narrative. Thanks for sharing both. Just out of idle curiosity, how did Classy Lady travel to NZ?

John, She went around from Tuscaloosa to Savanna GA where she was loaded as deck cargo and shipped to Auckland. If anyone is planning such ashipment, I'd be happy to offer some cautions.
Later,
Gayle

skipper2 said:

John, She went around from Tuscaloosa to Savanna GA where she was loaded as deck cargo and shipped to Auckland. If anyone is planning such ashipment, I'd be happy to offer some cautions.
Later,
Gayle

Click to expand...

Thanks. I'm not planning such a shipment (although, I suppose that if someone in Outer Mongolia were to offer the right price . . .) But I would like to know the cautions, just to add to my data bank.

Well John, the stevedores in the yards are not the best ones to determine proper shoring of a vessel. Classy Lady was wood and only two sets of stanchions were used with minimal bow and stern support. I believe at least one more set of stanchions should have been in place and stiff supports fore and aft at stem and stern to prevent shifting during transit. further I would be present at loading. As always hindsight is 20-20.
Gayle