Mainship 400 Wanted

[Newtrawlerowner]

I ready to buy a new (to me) boat. I just sold a sailboat and have the money. I'm willing to spend $200-$250. I'd like to do the loop. I know I may be dreaming but I want a single engine ( I've read all the comments about 2 engines is better) I want at least a bow thruster, stern as well would be great!! Low hours preferred unless you all can convince me otherwise. Generator, reverse AC/Heat, dingy would be great. I'm willing to update electronics and do some repairs, but in the price range I'm looking, I'd expect almost perfect. Know of one? PM me.

 

[danderer]

Low hours preferred unless you all can convince me otherwise.

In my experience with various types of vehicles, used-regularly-and-well-maintained examples have caused me less problems than low-hours-like-new.

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

I believe it and I've read that. (Maybe here) The big if is can I believe the maintenance records? I guess I can always do an oil analysis.

 

[Seevee]

I ready to buy a new (to me) boat. I just sold a sailboat and have the money. I'm willing to spend $200-$250. I'd like to do the loop. I know I may be dreaming but I want a single engine ( I've read all the comments about 2 engines is better) I want at least a bow thruster, stern as well would be great!! Low hours preferred unless you all can convince me otherwise. Generator, reverse AC/Heat, dingy would be great. I'm willing to update electronics and do some repairs, but in the price range I'm looking, I'd expect almost perfect. Know of one? PM me.

I have exactly what you're looking for. Single, 400 bow and stern thruster, gen, etc...... updated the electronics and it's been a GREAT boat. Plan on keeping it.



Would agree, good condition and well maintained with records is better than low hours. An if the electronics are much older than ~10 years, plan on replacing most of them.

 

[Dougcole]

I believe it and I've read that. (Maybe here) The big if is can I believe the maintenance records? I guess I can always do an oil analysis.

Honestly, I think it would be kind of hard to fake maintenance records. In my experience it's easy to tell a well kept boat. If someone has gone to the trouble of keeping it up to date, clean and organized and they have records showing good maintenance habits they are telling the truth. If the boat looks and feels like a dog and the have records stating otherwise they are most likely lying.


BTW, $250K should get you a very, very nice 400. Ours is super clean, lower (850) hours, tons of updates, perfect maintenance, new electronics, great canvas, and twin engines (twins generally fetch more $ in the market than singles). I'm sure there are nicer 400s out there (like Red Pearl) but not many. My good friend is a busy and well respected broker who sold us the boat in 2013. He stopped by the boat the other day to say hello and have a beer. He said it would sell for about $200 to $215K in today's market if it were for sale, which it is not.

 

[ranger58sb]

I know I may be dreaming but I want a single engine ( I've read all the comments about 2 engines is better) I want at least a bow thruster, stern as well would be great!! ... Generator, reverse AC/Heat, dingy would be great. I'm willing to update electronics and do some repairs, but in the price range I'm looking, I'd expect almost perfect.

Thrusters can be added later on your dime, if you find a single screw candidate that otherwise fits the bill. Ditto dingy, and even genset in a pinch. Reverse AC/heat would likely be a standard offering, given duct work is maybe the more difficult part of that.

If the onboard electronics were installed day before yesterday, they're probably "obsolete" already... but then again, they may still be fine for another 10 years or so. For example, our "absolutely not up to date" electronics suite is 10 years old, and aside from some WiFi stuff, there's not much I could think of to add. And even WiFi is "add-able" if for some reason I wanted to do that. I'd say keep an open mind about the installed electronics, then plan on using whatever's there for a while so you can think about whatever new direction (if any) you might want to go.

-Chris

 

[rgano]

An oil analysis will mean pretty much nothing unless you have previous analyses to perform a trend analysis. Anyway, you can't know how long the oil has been in the engine because without a bypass filter, some engines (like my former Ford Lehmans) will turn the oil black in a few hours while others like my Yanmar 315 HP seem to have relatively good looking oil for longer periods.

Good, believable maintenance records can come in more than one form, but a pile of receipts without some form of record entry, be it handwritten entries in a spiral bound notebook or an electronic form like the Excel spreadsheet I prefer shows an interest on the P.O.'s part in recording the boat's history (NOT just the engine) in order to keep all system current.

Don't get hung up on electronics being relatively new. Yes, you want a digitally run autopilot unlike the analog system I ran for many years, so it can interface with your chart plotter which only needs to be young enough to accept current charting system updates. You can do the loop without a radar, but with all the other stuff you want on the boat and for the price point you suggest, no boat worth that amount of money would probably come without one. My itty bitty boat has everything you mentioned but a stern thruster including an older (over 15 years old) suite of Furuno electronics to which I only a couple weeks ago added an upgrade circuit card for automated radar tracking - still findable after all this time. I added AIS to it about four years ago. So older electronic is not necessarily a bad idea.

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

Thanks for all the advice. I understand oil analysis without previous reports could be difficult to interpret, but you would see antifreeze leaks and excessive bearing wear. I've gotten a response from an owner that is interested in selling his 400 and it has everything I've mentioned. I'll be taking a look in 2 weeks. Keep the tips and advice coming.

 

[Shrew]

I've read all the comments about 2 engines is better

I can only see two benefits to twin engines over a single:

1) Higher top end speeds
-> This also means a higher fuel burn rate

2) redundancy for 'get home' purposes.
-> If you're coastal cruising, a towing contract will achieve about the same thing at roughly the same speed.

From a handling perspective, twins are certainly easier handling in tight quarters than a single with no bow thruster. However, a single with a bow thruster as compared to twins without a bow thruster are about equal (IMHO). A single with a bow and a stern thruster would have amazing tight quarter handling.

 

[fgarriso]

This may be what you are looking for.

41' Mainship Trawler for Sale | Motor Yachts, Trawlers | Nan Sea D | Curtis Stokes Yacht brokers

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

Thank you for the reply.
I had a sailboat, single Yanmar with bow thruster. Other than the thruster being under powered, I was able to dock easily. I also learned how to make tight turns. (What a learning experience(s) that was). I am a Boat-US Towing member. Single it will be. Really looking at overall running and maintenance cost.

 

[danderer]

I found our sailboats (without thrusters) significantly easier to maneuver around the docks than a single-engine 40' Mainship.

I would still personally buy a single (we did) but don't expect a seamless transition from your past sailing experience.

 

[Cartouche]

I found our sailboats (without thrusters) significantly easier to maneuver around the docks than a single-engine 40' Mainship.

I would still personally buy a single (we did) but don't expect a seamless transition from your past sailing experience.

Yes it is different but really cool, we sailed for 30 plus years up here on Lake Ontario, the transition mistake we made was doing the same things with our trawler that we did on our sail boat, in a sea she does not like a beam reach and following seas, but loves Bow into any wind. last year we figured it out and moved our boating to the islands and the Rideau, what a fabulous change our boat is so comfortable and self sufficient, and it is like starting over which is very refreshing. enjoy the ride. Our surveyor (who was a diesel mechanic) shared with us some wise information, Construction, and condition are much more costly to fix than a worn motor, in a Post 2k boat you probably are never going to have to replace the motor, but could have to re-build at a cost of probably 5-10k but if the stringers are shot or deck is wet it is a lot harder and more costly to fix.

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Get on a couple 40 footers before you buy one. Coming from a sailboat background you might think that a 40 foot sailboat is nearly equal to a 40 foot trawler. Not so. There are very, very few 40 foot sailboats out there so to me it sounds like you are interested in having more room than you had on whatever size sailboat you owned previously.

There are no hardfast rules of thumb but I would guess that if you had a 36 or 38 foot sailboat a 40 foot trawler would offer you about twice the living/storage space.

You didn't say if you were a couple or single handed but 40 feet is a lot of boat in a trawler.

If you have made the size conversion math and want 40 feet, GREAT. More power to you. There are many beautiful 40 footers out there. Everything else in your equation looks great to me. Thrusters are nice but shouldn't be a deal breaker. Newer electronics are also nice but in your price range replacement is only a small percentage. Congratulations on going with a single engine, I believe it is a good choice.

Finally, dig up the old threads on what to offer on a boat listed at $200,000 this time of year you might get a beauty for around half that. Of course you are aware of the Florida salt issue so if you can stand cold weather, even for just a visit, come north and look at fresh water boats. Up here in Wisconsin if anyone has a boat for sale right now, they are anxious for a sale.

Keep us posted and send pics.

pete

 

[Seevee]

A few comments....


I don't believe Mainship made the single engine without a bow thruster, and most of them have both. Adding a stern thruster is significanly easier than adding a bow thruster.


And a thruster is a necessity. Sure, you can do it with out. I'm rebuilding and repainting my blades on the bow, which is a necessary project every now and then, and it operates fine without. But MUCH better with.


And clean thruster blades (and the five blade option) are really nice and make a significant performance difference.



Rich, as for radar, sure you can get along without, but it's so cheap compared to what it can do, it's a no brainer. It only take one time in the fog.


And, yes, a one time oil analysis tells a lot. Major issue will show up like a sore thumb... but, true you won't get trends. And oil analysis is NOT perfect.


fgarriso's post looks like an excellent buy.

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

Yes it is different but really cool, we sailed for 30 plus years up here on Lake Ontario, the transition mistake we made was doing the same things with our trawler that we did on our sail boat, in a sea she does not like a beam reach and following seas, but loves Bow into any wind. last year we figured it out and moved our boating to the islands and the Rideau, what a fabulous change our boat is so comfortable and self sufficient, and it is like starting over which is very refreshing. enjoy the ride. Our surveyor (who was a diesel mechanic) shared with us some wise information, Construction, and condition are much more costly to fix than a worn motor, in a Post 2k boat you probably are never going to have to replace the motor, but could have to re-build at a cost of probably 5-10k but if the stringers are shot or deck is wet it is a lot harder and more costly to fix.

Good information. Thanks

 

[Newtrawlerowner]

This may be what you are looking for.

41' Mainship Trawler for Sale | Motor Yachts, Trawlers | Nan Sea D | Curtis Stokes Yacht brokers

Nit sure if my reply was posted but this boat was under contract when I inquired. Plus its been on the hard for 8+ years, as per a broker that knows this boat.