• Trawler Forum Classified Posting Guidelines
    • We expect ads placed to be related to the topic of this forum.
    • Ads that are inactive for 180 days or longer may be moved to the Classified Archive and locked. Ads may be relisted if the item is still current. Alternatively, owners may contact a Moderator to reinstate an archived ad.
    • The Classified section is for advertising, members are asked to refrain from posting discussions to a Classified Ad. Please start a discussion thread or PM the owner for discussions.
    • Do not hijack another member's ad by posting unsolicited commentary. Example: if a member has posted an ad offering an anchor for sale, don't add a post to his thread stating that you have an anchor you'd like to get rid of also. Posts deemed as unsolicited commentary may be removed.
    • For your own security, do NOT include your e-mail or phone number in your ad. Instead request that interested parties contact you via PM (private message) to provide owners contact info.
    • Brokers, Dealers, or those with a commercial interest in a sale are prohibited from posting in Classifieds.
    • Only Trawler Forum Commercial Members may post ads in the Commercial section. You must be a designated Commercial Member to start threads in this section of the forum. (Contact a moderator if you have questions about this)
    • Don't post links to commercial sites where you are also offering the boat, such as eBay, Craigslist or Yachtworld, etc. unless it contains a more in-depth description, additional information or pictures.
    • Place only one ad per item (you may repost only when your ad has expired and been removed).
    For Sale ads MUST include:
    • Asking price
    • Location
    • A Basic Description
    • Clear statement whether you are the owner or non-owner (posting for friend, relative, or acquaintance)
    • Don't forget to select: FOR SALE, WANTED or FREE in the Title block.
    All ads should also include ALL the following:
    • Pertinent maintenance and condition information
    • Exterior picture or pictures
    • Interior picture or pictures (boats)
    For maximum impact & exposure, it is suggested the Ad Title include: Year, Manufacturer, Model, Length, Price, and Location or at the very top of the ad body. When your item has sold or the ad is no longer relevant: Please post a Reply to the ad that the item is SOLD or click "Report Post" on post 1 of the thread to ask a moderator to archive the ad. Ads may be moved or removed by our staff at any time for any reason. All ads must comply with site rules. Thanks for your cooperation.
  • Avoid Scams.

    Our classifieds are free and anyone registered here is welcome to post an ad.
    Be aware that there are unscrupulous folks out there. Avoid any interaction that seems odd to you or �feels� wrong. Inquiries from unknown buyers, buyers �agents� and other non-traditional approaches should be treated with extreme caution.

    Beware of unsolicited contacts offering to put you in touch with someone else who is buying or selling via e-mail or text.

    Do not post your e-mail address or phone number in a classifieds ad.

    Hints that you may be dealing with a Scammer:
    • Seller or Buyer approaches you via a direct email or PM and then steers you to an off-site communication method (text or email).
    • No posts or very few forum posts.
    • Recent forum membership
    • Insists on conducting negotiations via email or text rather than PM
    • Requires payment via Bank Transfer, BitCoin/CryptoCurrency, WesternUnion or other unsecured method.
    • Buyer or Seller suggests Paypal "Friends and Family" payment. Paypal is a good way to arrange payment but an invoice for goods and services should be used rather than "Friends and Family". "Friends and Family" avoids fees BUT there is no recourse if the transaction runs aground. Friends and Family is for gifts only. There is no protection for Friends and Family transactions, so never ever use it to buy something.
    • Declines to allow viewing the item before proceeding with the transaction.

Mainship MK III For Sale

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Status
Not open for further replies.

bryan3536

Newbie
Joined
Dec 14, 2012
Messages
3
Selling our 1984 MK III. You name it, we've done it - repowered, electronics, autopilot, bow thruster, windlass, charging system and house bank, reconfigured bridge seating, replaced all the wood in the cockpit/steps, replaced swim platform, installed dynamic trim tabs - all in the last 5-6 years. New canvas and (huge) batteries this year, repainted non-skid, putting in new rod/beverage holders in the back . . . Full description and photos can be found on Craigslist. Located in Long Island, NY, Asking $29,900.

https://longisland.craigslist.org/boa/d/sayville-mainship-34-mkiii/7231292893.html
 
It looks like the re-power is with a gas engine not a diesel. Is this correct?


Thanks
 
2014 REPOWER: Crusader Classic 5.7 (Carburated), Fresh Water Cooled, approx. 315 hours since installed.


That is a gas engine.
 
Yes, this is a gas engine boat, and it was always a gas engine boat.

I know a lot of folks on here are pretty adamant about having diesels. I can say several guys have reached out to me on this boat already and decided not to even take a look solely because they have convinced themselves they need a diesel boat. Don't get me wrong, I think there are real benefits for diesels in the right applications, but I think it is overblown and overkill for most recreational boaters. So, here is my experience, FWIW, and why I am glad I don't/didn't have a diesel boat:

1) I bought the boat with the original 1984 motor. I replaced it in 2014. The original Crusader engine made it 30 years! That's a good run for any engine in salt water.

2) The cost of replacing with another Crusader was $14k, all in. Mind you, that wasn't just the engine block - I replaced the entire motor, everything attached to the motor, the shaft, the engine mounts, the exhausts, etc. For comparison, my buddy with a similar-sized downeast boat spent over $40k repowering with a Yanmar diesel that same year. I love my boat, but I could not imagine putting a $40k engine in a 40 year old boat that I could maybe resell for $35k. On the flipside, it made total economic sense to replace the engine on this boat, and I could do so 2-3 more times if I wanted to and STILL come out ahead of my buddy with a diesel from a cost perspective. The reality is if I get 1/2 the years on this engine as I did on my first engine did, I'll be long dead before I would need to do that.

3) I get good fuel numbers with the gas engine. I can run the boat at hull speed of 6-7 knots burning ~2-4 gph. Or, if I want to go faster, I basically burn 1 gph for every knot I go over 7 knots - 10 knots, I'm burning ~10 gph; 11 knots = 11 gph; 12 knots = 12 gph. Often enough the conditions are right and I find myself going 12-13 knots and burning ~11-12 gph. Maybe a diesel is a little better, but I doubt it. I also think the guys with diesels on this Mainship run their boat much slower than I do.

4) Everything about the gas engine is less expensive. Gas is cheaper than diesel. Routine maintenance is cheaper. Repairs (not that I've had any) will be cheaper. Why? Because parts are more plentiful and less expensive than diesel parts - especially if you are trying to keep your 40 year old Perkins or Lehman or Isuzu alive. Also gas mechanics are more plentiful and cheaper than diesel mechanics.

5) I can't speak more highly about the Crusader engine. It just feels bullet proof.

6) The gas engine is quieter, and has less vibration, than the diesel.

If you are running a commercial fishing boat for days at a time, or a ferry, or a tug boat, then absolutely get diesels. But engines wear by the calendar, not the hour, in salt water, and unless you are putting thousands of hours of near continuous use per year on the engine (and paying to maintain that kind of use), I think the choice of gas v. diesel for a recreational boater, or even a coastal cruiser, should be far harder than you see discussed on these boards. The surveyor David Pascoe was a big proponent of gas over diesels in recreational boats (google him I think his website is still up), and given my experience, I think he was 100% right. The use profile of most non-commercial boaters should push more people toward gas engines than it does.

But, people will have their opinions. To me, I don't understand people who look at my boat - clean, updated, well-maintained, with a 6-year old gas engine - and pass on it to go find a 40-year old boat with a 40-year old diesel engine. Especially if you're shopping at my boat's price point!!
 
Yes, this is a gas engine boat, and it was always a gas engine boat.

I know a lot of folks on here are pretty adamant about having diesels. I can say several guys have reached out to me on this boat already and decided not to even take a look solely because they have convinced themselves they need a diesel boat. Don't get me wrong, I think there are real benefits for diesels in the right applications, but I think it is overblown and overkill for most recreational boaters. So, here is my experience, FWIW, and why I am glad I don't/didn't have a diesel boat:

1) I bought the boat with the original 1984 motor. I replaced it in 2014. The original Crusader engine made it 30 years! That's a good run for any engine in salt water.

2) The cost of replacing with another Crusader was $14k, all in. Mind you, that wasn't just the engine block - I replaced the entire motor, everything attached to the motor, the shaft, the engine mounts, the exhausts, etc. For comparison, my buddy with a similar-sized downeast boat spent over $40k repowering with a Yanmar diesel that same year. I love my boat, but I could not imagine putting a $40k engine in a 40 year old boat that I could maybe resell for $35k. On the flipside, it made total economic sense to replace the engine on this boat, and I could do so 2-3 more times if I wanted to and STILL come out ahead of my buddy with a diesel from a cost perspective. The reality is if I get 1/2 the years on this engine as I did on my first engine did, I'll be long dead before I would need to do that.

3) I get good fuel numbers with the gas engine. I can run the boat at hull speed of 6-7 knots burning ~2-4 gph. Or, if I want to go faster, I basically burn 1 gph for every knot I go over 7 knots - 10 knots, I'm burning ~10 gph; 11 knots = 11 gph; 12 knots = 12 gph. Often enough the conditions are right and I find myself going 12-13 knots and burning ~11-12 gph. Maybe a diesel is a little better, but I doubt it. I also think the guys with diesels on this Mainship run their boat much slower than I do.

4) Everything about the gas engine is less expensive. Gas is cheaper than diesel. Routine maintenance is cheaper. Repairs (not that I've had any) will be cheaper. Why? Because parts are more plentiful and less expensive than diesel parts - especially if you are trying to keep your 40 year old Perkins or Lehman or Isuzu alive. Also gas mechanics are more plentiful and cheaper than diesel mechanics.

5) I can't speak more highly about the Crusader engine. It just feels bullet proof.

6) The gas engine is quieter, and has less vibration, than the diesel.

If you are running a commercial fishing boat for days at a time, or a ferry, or a tug boat, then absolutely get diesels. But engines wear by the calendar, not the hour, in salt water, and unless you are putting thousands of hours of near continuous use per year on the engine (and paying to maintain that kind of use), I think the choice of gas v. diesel for a recreational boater, or even a coastal cruiser, should be far harder than you see discussed on these boards. The surveyor David Pascoe was a big proponent of gas over diesels in recreational boats (google him I think his website is still up), and given my experience, I think he was 100% right. The use profile of most non-commercial boaters should push more people toward gas engines than it does.

But, people will have their opinions. To me, I don't understand people who look at my boat - clean, updated, well-maintained, with a 6-year old gas engine - and pass on it to go find a 40-year old boat with a 40-year old diesel engine. Especially if you're shopping at my boat's price point!!

Should be very easy to find a buyer then - GLWS

"Maybe a diesel is a little better, but I doubt it. I also think the guys with diesels on this Mainship run their boat much slower than I do."
Not accurate based on our past 1978 - 34' Maisnhip with a 165 Perkins which we ran out of LI as well.
 
Last edited:
What did you run at with the 165 Perkins? An owner with one told me he typically ran boat at ~9 knots (I tend to run 11-12).
 
I’m all about the gasoline engine ,however diesel at the dock where I am is less money per gallon than gasoline. Regardless, this 5.7 Crusader is an excellent choice and it’s less money to service and repair
 
Before we got a big(ger) boat I heard owners say the price of fuel was a minor consideration and I would do the math in my head for a 300 gallon tank and I'd think they were nuts. Now I get it, the (current) price differential at the pump is trivial -- and always shifting anyway. For me I've always been inclined to gas engines mostly because I know them better -- something goes wrong, I can fix and service at least some things. I can do standard maintenance myself. Diesels on the other hand are a completely foreign territory to me, a different universe. Like doing surgery on a space alien.
 
Last edited:
Selling our 1984 MK III. ...Located in Long Island, NY, Asking $29,900.
https://longisland.craigslist.org/boa/d/sayville-mainship-34-mkiii/7231292893.html

Are those photos at Seymour's Boatyard? We spent an overnight and next day there. Very charming town, great breakfast, good hardware store -- I remember a great Italian restaurant too. Seymour's on the other hand -- ugh, I still have PTSD about docking there. Brutal side winds, badly crowded marina, we got terrible directions on the radio and couldn't find the slip -- I tried to hold the boat sideways for what seemed like hours while boats blasted by and the sun set as we tried to clarify locations. Finally we got blown into what to this day my wife and I, and our boating companions remember as "Mooring Ball Hell" -- a very tight field of mooring balls. It was a gift from God that we didn't wrap a chain around the prop. Kayakers kept leisurely paddling across our bow as if we were invisible, just to make our panic even worse. And my wife was on the swim step trying to fend off the mooring balls with the boat hook which always makes me nervous because she could easily fall off and get diced up in the props, so I kept calling for her so make sure she was still alive and present back there and she wouldn't answer so I got crabby. And our boating companion kept calling out mooring ball locations to me in the gathering darkness which was annoying and pointless because mooring balls were everywhere, it felt like the ball pit at a McDonald's playland. And the marina bathroom was pretty creepy with a six foot ceiling in the basement of what looked like an Alfred Hitchcock house. They finally let us tie off on the gas dock for the night. But other than that, we had a lovely time in Northport. Great hardware store as I recall.
 
Are those photos at Seymour's Boatyard? We spent an overnight and next day there. Very charming town, great breakfast, good hardware store -- I remember a great Italian restaurant too. Seymour's on the other hand -- ugh, I still have PTSD about docking there. Brutal side winds, badly crowded marina, we got terrible directions on the radio and couldn't find the slip -- I tried to hold the boat sideways for what seemed like hours while boats blasted by and the sun set as we tried to clarify locations. Finally we got blown into what to this day my wife and I, and our boating companions remember as "Mooring Ball Hell" -- a very tight field of mooring balls. It was a gift from God that we didn't wrap a chain around the prop. Kayakers kept leisurely paddling across our bow as if we were invisible, just to make our panic even worse. And my wife was on the swim step trying to fend off the mooring balls with the boat hook which always makes me nervous because she could easily fall off and get diced up in the props, so I kept calling for her so make sure she was still alive and present back there and she wouldn't answer so I got crabby. And our boating companion kept calling out mooring ball locations to me in the gathering darkness which was annoying and pointless because mooring balls were everywhere, it felt like the ball pit at a McDonald's playland. And the marina bathroom was pretty creepy with a six foot ceiling in the basement of what looked like an Alfred Hitchcock house. They finally let us tie off on the gas dock for the night. But other than that, we had a lovely time in Northport. Great hardware store as I recall.

"Are those photos at Seymour's Boatyard?"
No - thats not Seymours, we are moored just off of Seymours and that is not them.
"I remember a great Italian restaurant too"
That would be Maroni's.
 
1) I bought the boat with the original 1984 motor. I replaced it in 2014. The original Crusader engine made it 30 years! That's a good run for any engine in salt water.

How many hours did you get on the original engine?
 
Gorgeous! And at steal! Good luck with the sale. We loved our main ship.
 
Mainship

Selling our 1984 MK III. You name it, we've done it - repowered, electronics, autopilot, bow thruster, windlass, charging system and house bank, reconfigured bridge seating, replaced all the wood in the cockpit/steps, replaced swim platform, installed dynamic trim tabs - all in the last 5-6 years. New canvas and (huge) batteries this year, repainted non-skid, putting in new rod/beverage holders in the back . . . Full description and photos can be found on Craigslist. Located in Long Island, NY, Asking $29,900.

https://longisland.craigslist.org/boa/d/sayville-mainship-34-mkiii/7231292893.html

Asking a stupid question. Does this boat have an outdrive or standard inboard/shaft/cutlass bearing setup? Maybe the info says but I didn't see that. Is this boat still available?
 
First I ever heard of a Mainship 34 trawler with a gas engine.
Must not of made very many, at least they are not very common.
 
Asking a stupid question. Does this boat have an outdrive or standard inboard/shaft/cutlass bearing setup? Maybe the info says but I didn't see that. Is this boat still available?

These boats have standard shafts with a cutlass in a skeg - I would contact the OP on the craigslist add or the soundings add he has linked on the first post to see if it is available
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom