Just boght a 1984 Marine Trader Labelle 43'

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7tiger7

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
239
Hi Everyone,
I am the proud new owner of a 1984 Marine Trader Labelle 43', with twin Volvo TAMD40B.
It' my first trawler, moving up from a 30' Catalina sailboat. Plan to moor her in Boston, maybe cruise to Maine and Cape Cod for the summer.
Happy to hear advice or recomendations for a trawler newbie!
:)
 
Welcome aboard and congratulations on the new boat!!!
 
Congrats! Now it's time to put an avitar.
 
I have an '84 TT (don't ask).

Check the fuel tanks for crud and windows for leaks.

Otherwise, enjoy your boat!

Woody
 
Congratulations!!* I've had my eye on a LaBelle 44 for a while.*It's located in Jacksonville, Fla.*It was under contract but the buyers backed out and decided to go on an extended cruise (cruise ship) instead. I hope it's still available this summer. *I didn't know they made a 43.* Did you get the sundeck or cockpit configuration?*I think it's a really good boat, if it's dry.*I'm anxious to see a pic.* Good luck.**** KJ**

-- Edited by KJ on Monday 17th of January 2011 01:06:03 AM
 
Install comfortable heat and refrigeration that wont destroy the batteries.

Get a 60lb + anchor and an easy way to retrieve it.

Enjoy!
 
Wow...Nice. Congrsts and good luck. What is the big square rigging?

**EDIT** Oh... closer look sees outriggers and flopper-stoppers. Never seen that on a pleasure trawler until now. IMHO, they're ugly.
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-- Edited by GonzoF1 on Monday 17th of January 2011 06:46:18 AM
 
Nice. Congratulations. I have a 1982 44' DC and am installing Volvo TAMD 41Bs. Same size as yours, I believe, or close. 200 HP each. I would love to know your fuel burn and what you top out at. What trannys on the vessel? Thanks.
 
MD; I have 41s in my C&L 44, same hull (and most everything else) as the MT44
7tiger: I used to have 40s, till 2000, when I moved up. I saw a pair of TAMD40Bs in a MT47 pilot house, rating the engines at 165hp. Is that what yours are?

TMD40A, or B, is a glow plug start 145 hp (A, I don't know the B rating) engine, without the aftercooler. The injection is into a chamber in the manifold, so on start you need to grind for a while. This engine was designed well before the boat was, so not a high pressure injector, some blue smoke, especially on startup. Mine had 4500 hrs on them when I got the newer 41s. They burned just over 4 gph at 7.5 knots, which I measured over 1500 hrs of my own use, in 6 seasons. the only real problem with the design was the heat exchangers, with a rubber boot over the aft end, that has both in and out hoses and fits over a central vane on the brass part. when the HE was getting clogged, water pressure would cause the boot to let go of the vane, allowing cooling water to exit through the boot instead of going first through the HE, result: engine overheat. I fought that until after I bought the 41s, before I solved it. The cure was to keep the HE cleaned out, by shoving a rod down the 100 tubes if there was any hint of an overheat. Also had recurrent pinhole leaks in the high pressure fuel lines. Annoying, as the mist of fuel covering the top of the engine seemed like a potential fire hazard and got everything messy. Had that on 5 different lines by the time I got the new engines.

The TAMD41s, being a newer design (late 80s) have direct injection, higher injection pressure (still nothing like a truly modern engine, IIRC something like 1500 psi v 800 on the 40s, v 30000 on really new stuff) resulting in very fast starts, very little blue smoke, better fuel economy. Mine are the As, rated hp is 200 hp.
Fuel burn is 3.8 GPH at 8.2 knots, so you see I gained 10% in boat speed as well as saving another 5% in burn. I also repitched my existing props from 19x13 to 19x17. That results in getting the 8.2 knots at 2100 rpm instead of 2750, so should be less wear on the engines. I am expecting these to out last me by a large margin. I have put another 1500 hrs on the 41s since installation in 2000, so the numbers are accurate averages. Another big difference: zero maintenance in 10 years! I am not counting the oil and filter changes and I did start with rebuilding the injectors and replacing the sleeves on getting these engines at 1500 hrs.
Top speed went up a little, from just under 10 knots to about 10.5. Seems limited by the hull shape, which would probably take 800 hp to get on a plane. at 10.5 the bow is angled up quite a ways and the hole at the stern is deep, into which all that extra fuel burn is being wasted.
I didn't change the trannys, still run the BW Velvet drives that came on the 40s. No issues there either. I checked the damper plates on hte swap. They were ok then, at 4500 hrs, and seem ok still, at 6000 hrs. I had a tranny fluid drip from the seal at the back of one, got that fixed years ago, so no other issues.

All calculations are in Canadian Gals, nautical miles.

Sorry for the longish post. Hope the info helps.
 
Congrats 7tiger! Welcome to the best trawler forum to be found on the internet!
 
Hi,
the TAMD40B are rated at 165hp. Will let you know my fuel burn in the spring when I start cruising her.

And, yes, those are out riggers, with birds. I can't say I like them either, I'll probably remove them and sell them, or store them some where until I sell the boat some day.

Or I could rig a pair of jib sails to them, and sail down wind :)
 
Contrary to some opinions, I am not at all offended by the outriggers, and I know you will like them when you find yourself rolling side to side at anchor.
 
Shew! *That's a whole lot of boat there. *But before you go chopping off those birds or anything else, use the boat as is for a while. *I've modified more than one boat before I found out why it was like that in the first place. *Wish I had some of the stuff back. *Congrats and welcome to the power side of pleasure.
 
Congrats on your move to the Dark Side. My own transition was from a 34' Catalina to a 34' Marine Trader, and the learning curve on sail-to-power boat handling was steep. These tanks just don't turn and stop like a sailboat. You will experience 'way more challenges with the displacement of 44' plus the big sail area of a sundeck, so practice, practice, practice.
 
Very nice!! Congratulations & welcome
Steve W.
 
Did you take it out for sea trials?*
 
7tiger7 wrote:

And, yes, those are out riggers, with birds. I can't say I like them either, I'll probably remove them and sell them, or store them some where until I sell the boat some day.
You might not want to get rid of the passive stabilizers yet.* I have met people who have them on their boats and regardless of their*appearance (the stabilizers', not the owners'), they have told me they make the difference between a ride that everybody likes and a ride that nobody likes.

Something I read a lot on the GB forum is that*someone's boat*has*ride in rough water*that the husband can tolerate okay but that makes the wife/significant other very uncomfortable.* And an uncomfortable or unhappy boating partner renders the aesthetics of a boat totally meaningless.

GBs very rarely have passive stabilizers--- most of these guys are talking about active stabilizers.* But nevertheless, you might think about keeping your outriggers and birds on the boat until you are 100% sure that everyone involved in your boat is happy with the unstabilized ride.* There are times we've wished we'd had them on our boat, for instance in the Strait of Georgia on a rough-ish day with a beam or quartering*sea.* Semi-planing hulls like GBs have a very quick, snap-back roll that a lot of people find very un-nerving or uncomfortable.* Stabilizers--- passive or active-- can greatly*reduce that.

-- Edited by Marin on Monday 17th of January 2011 07:57:46 PM
 
Pardon my ignorance, but can you explain what exactly the outriggers and birds are. I can see the frame and lines. I have out riggers on my Grady, and use birds to troll, but obviously that's not we are talking about here.

How do the outriggers and birds aid in stabilization. Are there sails involved.

And lastly, I've seen ads for stabilized trawlers. Exactly how and at what cost is that accomplished.
 
Passive stabilizers are heavy, streamlined weights--- usually finned-- that are hung from outrigger booms angled out from each side of the boat. The weights are often called "birds." Their weight and their resistance to vertical movement in the water reduces the roll of the boat when they are deployed. The birds "fly" several feet below the surface, deep enough so they don't break the surface of the water when the boat rolls away from them. The booms provide leverage to multiply the resistance of the birds.

When not deployed the birds are swung inboard and stowed and the outriggers are are raised to a vertical position against their supporting tower. The outriggers used for passive stabilization are a far cry from the outriggers used for trolling. They are much heavier and are strongly braced to the towers that support them and fore and aft to the hull (usually)since they are subject to a lot of stress from the rolling and pitching of the boat and the resistance of the birds in the water.
 
Really, is all that extra weight (high up), boat stress, expense, and much-increased chance of fouling something worth it all?
 
I have an '88 NOVA 40 sundeck (avatar) with twin TAMD 41A'S 200hp.
It tops out at 3900 rpm = 14 kn.
It smokes like a bastard on startup but great otherwise.
I'm gonna install a couple wolverine pan heaters and hope that helps the smoke thing.
 
I have only seen one MT44 (or any other boat on a similar hull) equipped with passive stabilizers. That was tied up in Queen Charlotte City, Haida Gwai, where the boat was used for commercial fishing and had to go out into Hecate Straits, regardless of the weather. Any other boat similarly equipped (as far as I have seen) have been round chine hulls, and mostly commercial. We yachties just don't need them, as we have the sense to stay tied up when it gets that snotty out.
My own (same hull as MT, so I can chime in here) will smarten up and stop rolling if I change course 15 degrees. I wouldn't have poles and birds just to avoid having to tack across the straits.
When I was a kid, I crossed Hecate straits in a fishing troller, and to make some time, we would pull in the birds and allowed the boat to roll 45 degrees to each side. Fat lot of good they did when we were in a hurry to get to sheltered waters. While fishing, they were in fairly constant use, but at trolling speed the effect on boat speed wasn't a problem.
Friend of mine had them on his converted fishboat. Always in the way, especially when he tried to raft up with plastic boats, and he hardly ever deployed them.
Unless you are going to do a whole lot of fishing, get rid of them.
 
markpierce wrote:

Really, is all that extra weight (high up), boat stress, expense, and much-increased chance of fouling something worth it all?
The people I have met who have them on their boats say they are worth their weight in gold in the difference it makes in the rides of their boats.* Obviously the boat needs to have the proper structure to support them.* But I've met over the years owners of Nordhavns, converted fishboats, one GB owner, and several other boats, custom and production, that had passive stabilizers and the owners all said they were great.* They are particularly popular with the owners of converted fish boats, especially ex-salmon trollers, since their boats have the required rigging to support,deploy, and*stow*them already.

All the passive systems I've seen on boats stow well*inboard of the side of the hull, so there has been nothing sticking out to interfere with docking.* And passive stabilizers are considerably cheaper than good active stabilizers, particulary if one's boat is configured to accomodate them relatively easily.*

From all accounts I've heard, active stabilizers do a more effective job of damping roll.* But they stick out all the time unless you have retractable ones, and are way expensive.* Plus it's another system to mainain with pumps, actuating mechanisms, etc.* Birds and outriggers just sit there, either deployed or stowed.

Good system, and if we had a boat that could accomodate them, we'd have and use them as a GB has nasty roll characteristics when the waves kick up.

*


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 17th of January 2011 09:26:43 PM
 
markpierce wrote:

Really, is all that extra weight (high up), boat stress, expense, and much-increased chance of fouling something worth it all?
I'm not all that hot on running a pair of fish while cruising, even though I'm sure they help, but I really like the idea of a couple flopper stoppers while anchored.

*
 
Well,
I'll give the stabilizers a try and let you guys know.
Just out of curiosity...
If some of you could please see the pictures of the boat again, and give me your opinion of roughly how much you think she is worth... I don't want to disclose the price I paid until I hear some thoughts on what is a fair price for her.
She has 3,500 hours or so on her volvos, an Onan 7'5kw, radar with twin plotters, several VHF, sounders, about 12 different bags/boxes of tools (manual and power), several anchors, windlass, about 12 golf cart batteries, AirCon, Heat, Autopilot, inverter, etc (all electronics are no more than about 5 years old).

Thoughts?
 
7tiger7 wrote:

Well,
I'll give the stabilizers a try and let you guys know.
Just out of curiosity...
If some of you could please see the pictures of the boat again, and give me your opinion of roughly how much you think she is worth... I don't want to disclose the price I paid until I hear some thoughts on what is a fair price for her.
She has 3,500 hours or so on her volvos, an Onan 7'5kw, radar with twin plotters, several VHF, sounders, about 12 different bags/boxes of tools (manual and power), several anchors, windlass, about 12 golf cart batteries, AirCon, Heat, Autopilot, inverter, etc (all electronics are no more than about 5 years old).

Thoughts?
Don't hate me now. Remember that you asked. If you got her for $150k, you stole it, and if you paid $200, who am I to say it's too much. She really looks good. I am not a broker, but a full time shopper, so don't take my pricing to heart. Congratulations!!! We really won't know how well you did for about twenty years, when you can do a long term evaluation. The important thing is that you are comfortable with what you paid, and that you enjoy your time on her. In the end, the best day you have with this or any boat will be the day you sell it.*
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*
 
$150k to $200k Carey? Please call me- I have a lot of boats I can sell you!
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7tiger- it is hard to place a valuation from the pics. However, it looks like you have some light cosmetic stuff- exterior teak refinishing, maybe the salon floors refinished, etc. Good news is I don't see any major water damage from leaks on the interior and she looks overall to be in pretty good shape. Ask prices for your make/year/model right now are between $79k and $149k. With all older boats, condition and maintenance plays a major factor in valuation. I'll send you an PM here via this site with some sold info.

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Carey- PLEASE call me- I really can sell you a lot of boats I think!
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Woodsong wrote:

$150k to $200k Carey? Please call me- I have a lot of boats I can sell you!
cowboy.gif


7tiger- it is hard to place a valuation from the pics. However, it looks like you have some light cosmetic stuff- exterior teak refinishing, maybe the salon floors refinished, etc. Good news is I don't see any major water damage from leaks on the interior and she looks overall to be in pretty good shape. Ask prices for your make/year/model right now are between $79k and $149k. With all older boats, condition and maintenance plays a major factor in valuation. I'll send you an PM here via this site with some sold info.

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Carey- PLEASE call me- I really can sell you a lot of boats I think!
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TonyTry to understand that I wasn't putting a value on your boat
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, but what appeared to be a really nice boat in top condition, showing nothing negative that I noticed from the photos. I would pay $150k for that boat if it showed as well in person, and a survey supported my beliefs. But, as I first said, I am not a professional, and have only looked at a lot of boat ads over the years.


Those are West Coast prices by the way.*
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*



-- Edited by Carey on Tuesday 18th of January 2011 12:02:49 PM
 
Hmm...
I'm tempted to disclose the price... but want to gain a better feel for what would be a "normal" price, what would be a "great price" and what would be a "steal"...

Under $150? Fair?
Under $100? Good?
Under $50? Great?
Under $35? Steal?
 

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