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Old 09-23-2014, 09:04 AM   #4
DavidM
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City: Litchfield, Ct
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,784
I have admired, closely inspected and buddy boated with a Lord Nelson from the Bahamas to Florida and north. I also saw your post on the downeaster forum. This trawler forum seems a better place to answer your questions.

You first have to decide on some basics: flybridge or not, displacement cruiser or semi-displacement with go fast capabilities. The downeaster crowd is mostly go fast and non flybridge oriented. Nothing wrong with that and you can go as slow as you want even if you have a lot of horsepower on tap.

But back to the Lord Nelson. It is a very well built, slow- about 7 kts, displacement cruiser. I think that the interior layout is perfect for a boat of that size. The only complaint is that the engine compartment is in forward of and below the galley and is reached by a narrow door to the side. It makes the engine room a bit cramped as I recall. The advantage is that it places the engine well forward in the deepest part of the hull, so the prop shaft angle is reduced.

This boat was delivered with a number of engines, probably the most with the Cummins 4BT 4 cylinder. That engine is rock solid but as an unbalanced 4 cylinder will be rough at low rpms. It should push that boat to displacement speed easily.

Seems like I recall one that had been repowered with the John Deere 4045 which is also a 4 cylinder but has a balance shaft to make it smoother. Also a very good engine for that boat.

Avoid the 6 cylinder BMW engine.

So I like it a lot. But they are not cheap for an older boat which reflects the quality as built new and its endearing popularity. The closest modern competitor is the Nordic Tug 37 but at double the price.

David
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