Thompson Trawler info

[Donsan]

Originally Posted by skipperdarrell

The Thompson ship yards are the yellow (I think they're yellowish) just north of the the municipal marina. There's a custom boat builder there now. Nelson was in the barn and shipyard on the south side of the municipal marina.

Now that you have refreshed my memory, I do recall the building and seeing some new boats being worked on there as the bridge coming from north gave a good view of it. But for the life of me, I still can't recall ever seeing or paying attention to the name. But I do remember Fleetwings made in Cocoa. They were much smaller boats.

Originally Posted by janice142

I was privileged to be given a tour of Lily Maria and took tons of pictures. The article about Jean and Colin's boat is here:

Janice142 article Life onboard Lily Maria (Thompson44 M/V)

That's a pretty boat.

Interesting. The beam looks rather narrow. I will look at them some more on YW but Mules comments on the cracks is a little scary as I tend to enjoy rougher waters than most. Thanks for posting the link.

[Mule]

This was on two boats. Do not exclude the pack. Just look on deck and if possible look up from the underside. I just heard from the broker that this was not unsusal.

[ttinchus]

My wife and i just purchased 1 of tbe 100 Thompson 44s. She has twin screws and the motors mentioned in previous threads. Ours is currently named The Margaret Doan

Originally Posted by skipperdarrell

Aha! I am a Thompson Nelson owner myself.
Quick history: Rodney Thompson built comm. fishing boats in Titusville, then got into the rec trawler biz. He built 100 of the 44s, a couple of 36s and 50s. In the early 80s he needed cash for another boat project and sold everything to Craig Nelson, also in Titusville. He built 19 more 44s. That is why you hear them referred to as Thompson Nelson trawlers. According to a former Nelson guy our 44 Nelson, Why Knot, was the last one built.
Attachment 35178

I cant' speak to the engine questions other than to say we have a single CAT 3208 NA without a bow thruster. We've owned her for three years and couldn't be happier with the choice. We have logged just shy of 10,000 miles including the Great Loop, two summers in Chesapeake Bay, and numerous trips up and down the coast.

TNs are very rugged boats and may not be deep blue water passagemakers, but they are very capable coastal cruisers. The boat can take the rough stuff easily, though she does tend to belly flop in heavy seas. Also, since she is a shallow draft vessel (33 inches) and a full keel with skeg, she does tend to roll in cross seas. Trailing seas can also be sloppy. Remember that they are basically glorified fishing boats. Our boat has twin 375 gallon tanks and has a range at 1900 rpm of just shy of 2000 miles.

Ours was a very well maintained boat and was ready to good when we got her.
go to Why Knot On The Great Loop for our story.

They're great boats.