Converted Sailor - Pilot 30

Greetings,
We are closing on a Mainship Pilot 30 next week. Looking forward to it! We'll be keeping her on Kent Island, MD.

Cheers,
Jack

Welcome to the forum, Jack. You'll find lots of Mainship fans here and a few guys who are quite passionate about their dark-colored hulls!

If you haven't noticed already, there's a Mainship Section devoted to everything Mainship. Marlow - Mainship - Trawler Forum

We love boat pics here, so feel free to fill this thread with boat pics of your new baby when she arrives.

Welcome. Here is a group where you should find plenty of company.

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Welcome. Nice looking boat!!

Failure to launch. Some issues with the survey. Sad day.

Ouch! Any resolution to survey issues

The Pilot 30 is a very honest, straight forward boat. Was there some kind of abuse? It looked pretty new.

Dammit....I hate it when that happens. If there is anything I can help you with, post up here or don't be afraid to PM me. I owned one for 6 years....and it was a great boat!!!

Well, I don't have the survey back yet' but here's the key deficiencies:
1. Some minor blisters, small, few.
2. Windlass "ran away" in deploy mode. Probably bad switch at bow?
3. Little play in cutlass bearing.
4. Little play in rudder bearing.
5. Battery charger appears to be dead. Xantrex inverter appears to be charging too, but not sure if charging both banks.
6. During sea trial, my brother-in-law (mechanic) was actually laying on top of the engine. He had seen some rust around a head bolt. He saw very tiny droplets of water escaping, not around the bolt, but from the head, then evaporating. That scared us and we decided to not close the deal. Looking to have a Yanmar tech do an eval next week.

Other items maybe acceptable for 2003?

Items 1-5 are small and not surprising with a 10 year old boat. They could be easily worked around. Water coming from the head is very different. It would take some looking into. Was the engine a 315 horse Yanmar?

Moonstruck said:

Items 1-5 are small and not surprising with a 10 year old boat. They could be easily worked around. Water coming from the head is very different. It would take some looking into. Was the engine a 315 horse Yanmar?

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Yes. 315.

What do you guys think about the blister report?
"Approximately 10% - 15% of the wetted surface of the hull contains blisters
ranging in size up to approximately 1/2” in size, although most sighted were ¼”
or less. While a slight concentration of these blisters (and evidence of previous
blister repairs) were noted along the chines, most of the hull below the waterline
is affected to some degree."

JackD said:

What do you guys think about the blister report?
"Approximately 10% - 15% of the wetted surface of the hull contains blisters
ranging in size up to approximately 1/2” in size, although most sighted were ¼”
or less. While a slight concentration of these blisters (and evidence of previous
blister repairs) were noted along the chines, most of the hull below the waterline
is affected to some degree."

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Blisters are one of those things...if you have them, it is not that big of a deal. But if you have a choice, you would rather not have them. If the boat was awesome and you really liked it and it had some blisters, then it you may look past them. Many of those blisters, if they are that small, might just be in the bottom paint. I would rather hear a number for blisters, not a percentage. The boat I just bought had about 150 of varying sizes. I repaired about 75. I will repair the other 75 on the next haul out.

Like Don said, the other issues are not a big deal. The head issue is. There are too many Pilot 30s for sale out there to settle. If you have to have this boat, get a good mechanic and run the piss out of that engine under load for awhile. Generally speaking, if there is a head gasket leak, the coolant will show up in the oil. I would not trust just checking the oil since the owner could have just changed it before survey. Oil can also show up in the coolant. Anyway, do your due diligence if you still want the boat. A good mechanic should be able to tell you how bad it is. If there has been a "mingling of fluids" as explained above....RUN away from the deal.

PS...I just sold my 2004 P30. It had no blisters.

Baker said:

PS...I just sold my 2004 P30. It had no blisters.

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My 1999 didn't have any either. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

I decided to walk away from the deal. I will keep an eye out for another P30 or maybe P34.

JackD said:

I decided to walk away from the deal. I will keep an eye out for another P30 or maybe P34.

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As I previously wrote...I owned a P30 but were I to do it again, I'd get the same age P34. More room and speed & not nearly as "tender." (Some came with twins, too!)

hope I am not offending anyone here but can blisters be cured with out bringing a ship out of the water?

Baker said, "PS...I just sold my 2004 P30. It had no blisters."
__________________


Baker, 2 to 1 that your boat was in the batch that was all vinylester resin.

Daniel Ward said:

hope I am not offending anyone here but can blisters be cured with out bringing a ship out of the water?

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No

JackD said:

I decided to walk away from the deal. I will keep an eye out for another P30 or maybe P34.

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+1 on the 34. Single 370 with bow thruster will cruise 16-17 knots. Twin 240s @ 19-20.

Moonstruck said:

Baker, 2 to 1 that your boat was in the batch that was all vinylester resin.

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What is the history of Mainship resins? My boat-building buddy wrote me a lengthy note about all of the various resins. I know it is important, but it makes my eyes glaze over. I have attached a photo of another P30 that is on the market and I believe you can see the blisters, right? Is blistering a known Mainship issue? Are there certain "good years" or "bad years"?

JackD said:

What is the history of Mainship resins?

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Don't know the history of their resins, but I do know this. When I took delivery of my 2004 34' Pilot in St. Augustine, I asked that the boat be taken over to St. Augustine Marine for an epoxy barrier coat before painting the bottom. I was told that it would not be necessary as the entire boat was built with vinylester resins.

Mainships were built in Midway, GA. It seems the GA dept of environment was going to shut the plant down because of emissions from polyester resins. It was expensive to do, but for a period of several months (until proper equipment was installed} they had to use vinylester resins. These are much more resistant to blistering. Many quality manufacturers use them in the outer first couple of layers of bottoms, but not the whole boat. My Sabre was built this way. My Blackfin has an epoxy barrier coat.

Moonstruck said:

Don't know the history of their resins, but I do know this. When I took delivery of my 2004 34' Pilot in St. Augustine, I asked that the boat be taken over to St. Augustine Marine for an epoxy barrier coat before painting the bottom. I was told that it would not be necessary as the entire boat was built with vinylester resins.

Mainships were built in Midway, GA. It seems the GA dept of environment was going to shut the plant down because of emissions from polyester resins. It was expensive to do, but for a period of several months (until proper equipment was installed} they had to use vinylester resins. These are much more resistant to blistering. Many quality manufacturers use them in the outer first couple of layers of bottoms, but not the whole boat. My Sabre was built this way. My Blackfin has an epoxy barrier coat.

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Nordhavn hull lamination schedule calls for "vinylester resin to be used in the first laminations". That explains why

Vinylester resins are more expensive, and better. This is not a new finding. Mainship flirted with economic disaster during the mid 2000s before going belly up. Cost containment and lower build quality go hand in hand whether boats, cars, houses or chart plotters. But, I do find 2 buck Chuck quite acceptable as does Consumer Reports.

Many lesser resins are just fine for trailer boats and rack storage. Look for a Pilot 30 that has been rack stored and owned by a smart skipper and you may have the right vessel for you. Don't settle for a problem vessel, it will not get better.

sunchaser said:

Many lesser resins are just fine for trailer boats and rack storage. Look for a Pilot 30 that has been rack stored and owned by a smart skipper and you may have the right vessel for you. Don't settle for a problem vessel, it will not get better.

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. . . . . .or look for a boat with no blisters and an epoxy barrier coat on the bottom. My Blackfin is a 1978 model with no blisters. If you find one with minor blistering, fix them and then an epoxy barrier coat.

SeaHorse II said:

As I previously wrote...I owned a P30 but were I to do it again, I'd get the same age P34. More room and speed & not nearly as "tender." (Some came with twins, too!)

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Seahorse and Moonstruck concur that they wish they had bought a P34 instead of the P30. Can you expand upon that? I'd like the extra space and berths, but those extra 4 ft nearly doubles the price. I actually prefer a single engine, from a maintenance perspective. Plus the 34 will require a larger slip, higher insurance, transient dockage, etc.

JackD said:

Seahorse and Moonstruck concur that they wish they had bought a P34 instead of the P30. Can you expand upon that? I'd like the extra space and berths, but those extra 4 ft nearly doubles the price. I actually prefer a single engine, from a maintenance perspective. Plus the 34 will require a larger slip, higher insurance, transient dockage, etc.

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There is nothing wrong with the P30. It is a great little boat that cruises economically. The P 34 with it wider beam and extra weight just has a more big boat feel. If kids or occasional overnight guests are involved, the benches on the helm deck can be pressed into service. The footwells under the front seats make the bunks long enough for even an adult.

My 34 was a hardtop. A 16,000 btu reverse cycle heat/air cond unit was added under the port bench. It had ducts to both the pilot and navigators seats. It absolutely increased the usable living space. It would cruise at 16 knots getting almost 2 statute mpg. It had good ventilation and storage. I also had them install the first 5 kw generator the factory had done. It was a sweet boat that did everything we asked of it.

I almost forgot to add that the front state room had a hard wall and door that made it private.

Here is a photo by her next owner, Bill Jacobs who is a member here.

Moonstruck said:

It would cruise at 16 knots getting almost 2 statute mpg.

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So that works out to about 9 GPH? I was hoping for more like 5-6 GPH.

JackD said:

So that works out to about 9 GPH? I was hoping for more like 5-6 GPH.

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If you get a P30 with a 4 banger that is exactly what you'll get. The 6 is around 8gph.

Daniel Ward said:

......can blisters be cured with out bringing a ship out of the water?

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No, it must be on dry land so you can grind them out and fill. Normally it is no big deal to repair them as long as they are not large and deep. If you have what looks like chicken pox, it will be quite time consuming.