For Sale: Restored Willard 36 Trawler - bargain $38k

I have no financial interest in this boat whatsoever, however I moderate the Willard Boat Owners Group on Yahoo so have almost 25-years of Willard experience.

Pictures do not do this boat justice. The owner, who 'crossed the bar' a few months ago, was legendary in the SF Bay Area for meticulous restorations of cars and this boat. When I saw it 20-years ago, I was in awe of the caprail, which was totally redone in teak. To say it's a labor of love is a gross understatement.

Sisterships to Nokken have made trips to Hawaii burning 335 gallons of diesel, the Galapogas Islands, and through the Panama Canal - all before Nordhavn was even conceived. Willard 36's are the original production trawler - a Bill Garden design with full displacement and 7000-lbs of ballast.

My only interest in this boat is the hope that she finds a remarkable owner to join the close-knit community of Willard owners. Interested parties should contact the email address in the URL attached.

8-bells to Vern Neff. Do not let the price of $38k scare you into believing this is an old, low-quality boat. My opinion is this is a remarkable opportunity to own a beautiful example of a trawler designed by one of the most respected naval architects to have bent over a drafting table.

Richmond Yacht Club - Boats for Sale

Beautiful boat!!

Beautiful boat...I hate when boat adds go into detail about the builders lad dee da history. Just give the facts of the boat plz. Looks like a really great buy for someone.

Sailor of Fortune said:

Beautiful boat...I hate when boat adds go into detail about the builders lad dee da history. Just give the facts of the boat plz. Looks like a really great buy for someone.

Click to expand...

I agree. But sometimes it does make a difference. For sailboats John Alden and Nathaniel Herreshoff come to mind. For pacific coast coastal/offshore power and fishing boats operating between Alaska and Mexico, three names rise to the top of the list as having an accute understanding of the local and offshore conditions in which their designs operate: Ed Monk, Art Defever, and Wm Garden.

mvweebles said:

I agree. But sometimes it does make a difference. For sailboats John Alden and Nathaniel Herreshoff come to mind. For pacific coast coastal/offshore power and fishing boats operating between Alaska and Mexico, three names rise to the top of the list as having an accute understanding of the local and offshore conditions in which their designs operate: Ed Monk, Art Defever, and Wm Garden.

Click to expand...

The potential buyer of an old Willard will know all about the builders pedigree in my opinion... Your not going to get a fast ski boat buyer for this boat by tooting the builder rep in this case. The types of buyers for this boat don't need to be "talked into it"... The same way your not going to talk to a Hunter sailboat guy to buy an Alden..
The add itself says highly sought after,so why does anyone have to explain about the builder?

Sailor of Fortune said:

The potential buyer of an old Willard will know all about the builders pedigree in my opinion... Your not going to get a fast ski boat buyer for this boat by tooting the builder rep in this case. The types of buyers for this boat don't need to be "talked into it"... The same way your not going to talk to a Hunter sailboat guy to buy an Alden..
The add itself says highly sought after,so why does anyone have to explain about the builder?

Click to expand...

I could see where this description could be of interest to the casual shopper of trawlers. New members of this forum are always asking about the pros/cons of recreational trawlers and are researching the difference between a full displacement versus semi-displacement cruiser. There are many dreamers who imagine saving up their pennies and eventually casting off the lines of a $1M+ Nordhavn to go exploring off of the beaten path, if they realize that a boat with similar capabilities is already within their budget, they very well may be inspired to do a little more research on the boat.

Cool, lets see who the buyer is. I'll bet his last boat won't be a Four Winns.. I just see a Yacht Broker stroking his own ego when I read these types of adds.

Sailor of Fortune said:

I just see a Yacht Broker stroking his own ego when I read these types of adds.

Click to expand...

I know what you mean - and their puffery is often wrong. But in this case, everyone is well-meaning. The owner died, his widow donated the boat to his long time yacht club that happens to be one of the larger, sail-dominated clubs in San Francisco. So the "brokers" are volunteers who are much more comfortable with sailboats. The buyer will most likely be a recovering sailor tired of being wet, cold, and...well...tired.

BTW - the W36 is the only Willard Bill Garden designed. Rod Swift, Willard's in-house navel architect did everything else. More specifically, of the three different configurations of the W36, Garden only did the Sedan-trawler. Swift did the Pilothouse and Motorsailor. To some, a difference without a distinction.

Sailor of Fortune. I would suggest that you let the man speak. It’s not about you and what you hate and dislike. Give the guy a break.

Please refrain from posting unsolicited commentary in the Classified section and review the Classified guidelines.

This forum is for posting Boats For Sale or Wanted

Here's what Willard had on the dwg board about 2000.

Spent a day on a friends 1963 Vega recently. What a cool vessel; the "back porch" as he calls it is the ultimate hangout spot.

nice boat. too bad is on the left coast otherwise might think about picking it up. have to pull out the Jimmy and replace with a 2-71. wayyyy too much hp for a 15 ton displacement boat

makobuilders said:

nice boat. too bad is on the left coast otherwise might think about picking it up. have to pull out the Jimmy and replace with a 2-71. wayyyy too much hp for a 15 ton displacement boat

Click to expand...

I've owned my W36 for over 20-years, and moderated the Willard Boat Owners group on Yahoo! for 25-years (900 members, though majority are dormant). I was aboard Nokken years ago and she was an immaculate restoration. I am told she is still in incredible condition.

The previous owner was passionate about restorations, apparently had a love of Lotus sports' cars. My guess is the Gray Marine 6-cylinder in Nokken is in excellent condition (yes, based on a 6-71 and develops over 200hp). While this is not high on the list of preferred engines, would be hard to pull-out a perfectly good engine just to get fewer HP, especially since she has operated for 52 years with the one she has. Personally, I thought about repowering my Perkins 4.236 (75hp - perfect engine for this boat) with a JD 4045 NA which are fairly easy to come by lightly used.

As far as her being on the wrong coast, well, my story is I moved to Florida a few years ago and decided I really want to cruise The Bahamas, the Loop, and Rio Dulce. W36 is a bit tall to truck economically without surgery, but can be shipped from Ensenada. So last October I left San Francisco with my wife and my best friend. 75-hours, 500 nms, and around 100-gallons later, we arrived in Ensenada where she is now undergoing a major refit at $18/hr for skilled labor. I had originally planned to ship her to Florida for around $15k, but have since decided to dawdle our way through Central America instead.

In my opinion, the boat is way undervalued at $38k, especially for a full displacement, ballasted trawler. I know of few serious buyers who do nothing to a boat after purchase, and there is room in the sale price to personalize the boat. Just depends on what you are looking for.

Looks just awesome in the pictures. Love the classics, and would also be interested if nearer.

Is the boat fiberglass or wood?

Willard 36 Displacement Trawler - restored, $38k

Hull is hand laid-up fiberglass - heavy layup schedule as was the custom at the time. Deck and deck house is 3/4" plywood with about 1/4" laid-up fiberglass over it. These boats do not have a history of rot unless a previous owner made a penetration improperly. Hull/deck joint is pretty bullet proof. These boats carry about 5000 lbs of internal ballast of steel punchings encased in concrete.

Nokken should draw around 3'6". She is a round-bottomed boat with relatively full bilges. Combination of the ballast and the displacement hull means she has a slow period of roll to about 7-10-degrees, then stiffens-up considerably - think: "soft close drawer." The heavy ballast does a lot to attenuate the roll. She has a nice motion in a seaway with decent reserve buoyancy but not too much that she hobby-horses. Part of that is an extremely low A/B ratio - I would estimate the sole is 16-inches above waterline, tops. She is a low boat with a high bow - she was designed for Pacific Coast conditions where 25-30 kt NW winds are common at least 80% of the time, so beating north is a grind.

I believe Nokken is Hull #35 (my W36 Weebles is #40, the last one struck). Willard had been making fiberglass boats since the late 1950's - the first W36 was struck in 1961.

Happy to answer any questions - few people know more about these boats than I do.

In a heart beat I'd buy this boat right now if I was at a different place in my life. Right now speed is more important than a lot of things. Many weekends we'll only have Saturday and Sunday which means we'll need to scoot to get to where we need to be.
I have owned a Willard prior, great boat, handled anything I sent it into. This one does appear to be well under value and will make a great vessel for a new owner. Operating a Willard - go slow and enjoy the journey. Spend very little on fuel and have a great vessel with a long history and a cult like following.

There are 2 practical choices for me to get this boat to the southeast US.
I am guessing it would be $15k to truck it overland from S Diego.
Would the flybridge need to come off to truck it?
Anyone have an idea how much it might cost to put it on a ship?

I have a sistership to Nokken.
1. Trucking. Not practical without surgery to the flybridge. It's damn close, but in the end, about 6" too tall.
2. Shipping. From Ensenada to Florida, I received a quote of around $16k. Does not include yard work on either end, but did include all else.

It is coming up on a good time of year to transit the California coast from San Francisco Bay to Ensenada. I took Weebles, my W36, from SF Bay to Ensenada last October. 500nms in 75-hours straight through. Was a nice ride.

I just received an update today from the agent and they signed a contract today. So unless it falls out it is off the market. Hopefully a buyer who will understand that even though the acquisition price is relatively low they will need to spend time and money to keep it on the water for decades to come.

READY said:

I just received an update today from the agent and they signed a contract today. So unless it falls out it is off the market. Hopefully a buyer who will understand that even though the acquisition price is relatively low they will need to spend time and money to keep it on the water for decades to come.

Click to expand...

Awww - right when I was going to ask the question as to what it might cost to leave at RWC for about a year as I make plans for my future;-)

Gmarr said:

Awww - right when I was going to ask the question as to what it might cost to leave at RWC for about a year as I make plans for my future;-)

Click to expand...

Nice boats at an attractive price move..."You can't steal in slow motion"...shoulda ,woulda coulda? Oops, already got taken to task for commenting on a classified add. Sorry Mods, my bad

READY said:

Hopefully a buyer who will understand that even though the acquisition price is relatively low they will need to spend time and money to keep it on the water for decades to come.

Click to expand...

Ready, other than the usual ownership costs of a boat, are you aware of any major/costly issues with this boat for sale?

Already pending

God darn it!!! How did I miss this!?

Nokken is my dream boat. For several years, I've driven from Berkeley to Richmond every 3 or 4 weeks just to sit in my truck, eat a sandwich and look at her at the dock. Sometimes, I'd walk down and stand beside her and try to sketch her lines. I've dragged boat friends there to show her off. I've coveted her for a long time.

I can't believe I missed this. I just left a voicemail for the broker trying to put in a backup offer. Son of a gun.

my only mental problem with the 36 willard, is its like a 36' tunnel!...clyde

“Tunnel”
Clyde care to explain that.
You mean cave like a sailboat?
And I thought vague posts were only on FB.

Sold instantly to a friend (who also got it in front of me). Four backup offers. Everyone knows the boat. Friend knew the owner well. With the new custodian, it is in extremely good hands. (but I still kind of hate him for taking it). Work has started on the boat.
Photos will appear eventually

Still jealous, but I'm really glad that she's going to continue to be so well-loved.

With so many of us in love with Nokken, the new owners might consider hosting volunteer work days. I'd happily donate some time waxing or scrubbing just to be aboard.