The big girl is looking very small

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Simi 60

Guru
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
5,482
Location
Australia
Vessel Make
Milkraft 60 converted timber prawn trawler

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That's a mighty fine entry you have there.
 
There's always a bigger boat!20211224_130426.jpg
 
...but you, my friend, are the "owner/operator/maintenance" man of your boat. The King of all you survey!" You are, quite frankly a "Knowitall" by comparison and I mean that with the best possible sentiment. The "Owners" of these boats have "Others" "Operate" and "Maintain" them. Typically, they know nothing about their vessels.

And in the anchorage, you all have the same view!

Jim
 
Funny how everything is relative. Every once in a while I'll mention the boat and someone will ask, what do you do with it in the winter, trailer it home? I purposely try to be vague and casual and modest and just say, no, we have the marina take care of it for us. I'm really thinking, "No we don't trailer it home you bonehead, it's 42 feet long and weighs 14 tons and takes an 18-wheeler!" But then I'll boat around Stuart, FL with my dad, or go to the Newport boat show and think, "our boat is a teacup, it's a speck in the water, I need a 65-footer!"
 
Funny how everything is relative. Every once in a while I'll mention the boat and someone will ask, what do you do with it in the winter, trailer it home? I purposely try to be vague and casual and modest and just say, no, we have the marina take care of it for us. I'm really thinking, "No we don't trailer it home you bonehead, it's 42 feet long and weighs 14 tons and takes an 18-wheeler!" But then I'll boat around Stuart, FL with my dad, or go to the Newport boat show and think, "our boat is a teacup, it's a speck in the water, I need a 65-footer!"


I know that feeling! When we first got our boat and brought it up from Long Island Sound to Lake Ontario, quite a few friends asked us things like "why does it take 5 days to drive here from CT?" and "what are you towing it with?" They were all non-boaters and never realized that it could be something larger (very close in size to yours).
 
m/y SURI has a very strange looking bow. She looks like she was perhaps a survey vessel previously. Was she a conversion or a new-build?
 
Someone asked me what I used to trainer my boat. I answered my checkbook. :)
 
Funny how everything is relative. Every once in a while I'll mention the boat and someone will ask, what do you do with it in the winter, trailer it home? I purposely try to be vague and casual and modest and just say, no, we have the marina take care of it for us. I'm really thinking, "No we don't trailer it home you bonehead, it's 42 feet long and weighs 14 tons and takes an 18-wheeler!" But then I'll boat around Stuart, FL with my dad, or go to the Newport boat show and think, "our boat is a teacup, it's a speck in the water, I need a 65-footer!"


Yup, while living on Oahu, we test drove a Honda Odyssey minivan. We had mentioned we wanted it to have a trailer hitch. At the time, we had a 36' Grand Banks. The salesman foolishly pulled into a marina to switch out drivers . . . I spotted a similar boat to ours at the marina, and took off like a flash to check it out . . . the salesman turned to my wife and asked, so it that the boat you want to tow with this?:whistling:
 
As usual, the work list expands somewhat once you peel the skin back and look inside
Previous owners have re applied the bandaids several times without actually addressing the cause.
We started down that path ourselves but after a few hours of investigation decided to cut out the cancer and some and do it right.

Additional timber will be added to frames 0mm outboard to 12mm onboard then new/old planks added so water drains outboard instead of pooling.
Then at least, the new ply decks will have a nice clean surface to attach to.

Feeling better for it, I hate seeing half assed jobs done again and again and again.
 

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So true, Simi, so true. And your vessel is one worth going the extra mile for - whereas mine was not. Yours is a keeper for sure. After all...it's only money...right..?:thumb:
 
As usual, the work list expands somewhat once you peel the skin back and look inside
Previous owners have re applied the bandaids several times without actually addressing the cause.
We started down that path ourselves but after a few hours of investigation decided to cut out the cancer and some and do it right.

Additional timber will be added to frames 0mm outboard to 12mm onboard then new/old planks added so water drains outboard instead of pooling.
Then at least, the new ply decks will have a nice clean surface to attach to.

Feeling better for it, I hate seeing half assed jobs done again and again and again.

you are scaring me now.
 
Believe all boats are too big when you paint the bottom and too small when you’re in the middle of the ocean
 
I don't know enough people to charter SuRi. Anyone wanna go on a cruise?
Dang, where did I put that check book?
 
Believe all boats are too big when you paint the bottom and too small when you’re in the middle of the ocean

Totally disagree.

My 65 footer was a monster in the marina. A joy when floating over 12 foot swells in the Channel Islands. A hopelessly tiny little toy when being passed by an oil tanker in 20+ foot seas off Oregon.

Oops, I guess you're right!

:)
 
So true, Simi, so true. And your vessel is one worth going the extra mile for - whereas mine was not. Yours is a keeper for sure. After all...it's only money...right..?:thumb:

I am thinking it'll be cheaper to do it properly once versus bandaid repairs every 3 years.

The time spent cleaning up soft timber is more than it takes to rip it out
Already sourced the recycled hardwood deck planks, $100

And with the planks now on the same level as the ply deck only a small amount of glue will be needed vs the bucketfulls required before.

A nice layer of 300 GSM double bias tying it into the cabin side and down onto the rub rail will ensure no more water ingress.
 
I would be coating all of the existing wood and new wood with Smith's Penetrating epoxy, thin and watery, seals each cell of the wood against water penetration, and stops rot. Yes, cut out the bad stuff, but you can't see the rot tentacles. Besides big boats, we use it when restoring varnish mahogany runabouts.

Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer
 
Speaking of boats and the idle rich, my favorite example is when I visited a gorgeous Mangusta 80 with Arneson drives, for my employer, Twin Disc, in the mid-90's in Ft Lauderdale.

The 20-something captain and mate, his girlfriend, lived aboard. His sacred duty was to maintain operational readiness for when the owner and party would show up on short notice, usually once every couple of months, for a 4-hour jaunt.

We were told the owner had NEVER been in the master stateroom, just did schmoozing and drinks on the bridge deck lounge. Then all would depart on the private jet and life would return to peace and quiet for the crew.

Nice to have money!
 
...but you, my friend, are the "owner/operator/maintenance" man of your boat. The King of all you survey!" You are, quite frankly a "Knowitall" by comparison and I mean that with the best possible sentiment. The "Owners" of these boats have "Others" "Operate" and "Maintain" them. Typically, they know nothing about their vessels.

And in the anchorage, you all have the same view!

Jim
A well written commentary on a healthy perspective.
 
Our previous boat was a 32 ft sailboat built in 1968. It was a big boat in our neck of the woods at that time.
Couple of years ago we purchased our trawler - same length but huge in every way compared to our previous boat.
On our Loop, just look for the tiny Canadian trawler.
We love it.
 

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