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DBL

DBL

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 12, 2022
Messages
34
I joined recently, and have enjoyed reading the conversations about dreams, boats, travel, insurance, maintenance, brokers and lifestyle. I appreciate the tone and thoughtfulness that seems to be the standard for this forum. Thank you.

I don't currently have a large boat, but have a deep appreciation for full displacement, economically powered and skillfully handled trawlers. As a young man, I was fortunate to run a 50-year old, 61-foot Trumpy for 7 years for a great owner, and to participate deeply in her drydock work. The 25 years after that job were focused on business. Now that I'm retired and still in good health, I'm looking forward to more time on the water.

Thanks for sharing your dreams, ideas and practical experience.
 
Welcome to the forum. Remember, the search for the right boat is part of the fun. Keep us informed. :flowers:
 
DBL said:
As a young man, I was fortunate to run a 50-year old, 61-foot Trumpy for 7 years for a great owner, and to participate deeply in her drydock work.
Click to expand...

Trumpy's are incredible. How fortunate you were. Congratulations, and welcome aboard TrawlerForum.

Pictures are always welcome, especially of the Trumpy. Gosh, I love the looks of those magnificent graceful ladies. They really are special, with the sort of elegance that is (in my opinion) missing in many of the more modern vessels.
 
Welcome. Hopefully, we'll now be treated to some Trumpy tales. :) I am good for battleships, destroyers, and Grand Banks 42s.
 
Welcome aboard TF
Hope to hear more about your experience and always interesting sea stories.
 
Welcome. You sound like a nice gentleman. Something we can always use more of here. Please join in the conversations and let us know more about your current and/or future boating plans. To be retired AND in good health is not someting to be taken for granted so make the best of it!
 
Yes, welcome! Here's a Trumpy 61:


Screen Shot 2022-01-20 at 3.50.08 PM.jpg
 
Welcome aboard

Thats some pedigree. How fortunate you were to be involved in business with such a vessel. Your expertise on matters unique to old vessels will be appreciated.
 
Welcome to the TF. Some years back, the Huckins yard did a major resto on a Trumpy - maybe you caught wind of it when she was here. No doubt you have a keen eye for the marque - there's nothing else on the water exactly like them, is there?
 
Welcome aboard! Lots of info here, are you in the market for a boat? If so, what type, location?
 
Welcome aboard! Like Peter said, talk about anything but anchors!
Do you have any photos of the Trumpy you worked on?
 
Sorry, what's the pancake controversy?
 
backinblue said:
Sorry, what's the pancake controversy?
Click to expand...


I'm sorry. I just went back to delete my post above, but too late! It was probably an unwise post.

There is another TF thread discussing challenges of making pancakes on an induction stove. I made a reference to Aunt Jemima, not knowing that the brand had been discontinued. Then someone provided that bit of information, along with a little bit of history -- and the thread discussion devolved into a bubbling debate that is no longer related to pancakes, really.


I expect that if it goes much further, the Admins will delete thread.
 
A Little Trumpy Information

Several folks have asked for photos of the 1937 Trumpy I ran as a young man. I'm going to try to post a link to a 5 minute video that shows the boat pretty well. I found the video on line. Here's the address for the link.


In 1987, we replaced the entire transom. 1988, we rented a deserted shipyard fabrication shop on the Savannah River to do her structural rebuild. 11 of us put in a total of 23,000 hours.

When you get to the engine room portion of the video, you should try to visualize the space with bare bulkheads, no compressors, no wiring, no plumbing, no fuel tanks and a fuel-tank-sized hole (600 gallons) in the overhead. There was nothing in the space except the two main engines. We cut out the salon floor, lifted out the old tanks, gutted the engine space and removed 100% of the wiring and plumbing throughout the boat.

At that point in the process, we had removed over a thousand fleet of planking, including the garboards for about 40 feet on each side of the keel. (lots of bracing to keep her from losing her shape) The top of the deckhouse had been removed. When the owner came to visit, he could stand beside the keel and see all the way to the underside of the roof in the fab shop... I was thankful when he said "keep going." Every step in the process had to be approved by the USCG.

I still have all the drawings, photos and notebooks from this project. I'm currently writing a series of short stories about my days sailing on passenger ships. When I finish the short stories, I plan to write a book about rebuilding and operating the Flying Lady. I was blessed to work with a mix of talented, interesting people, and I learned a lot from them.

For those of you who'd like to know more about Mr. Trumpy's abilities as a designer or about how the business evolved, you can check out a series of 3 articles in WoodenBoat. Roger Taylor and I wrote these in 1994/1996. They appear in issues 132, 133 and 134. Mr. Trumpy's family and former employees were very generous with their time, construction plans and business documents. My wife, a wonderful lady, drew most of the illustrations for the articles.

This is much more than I had planned to say, but it is a very deep subject, with plenty left for another day.
 
DBL, will look forward to your book about the Flying Lady project. Apparently it was during your late 1980s resto that her hull was C-Flexed - see https://classicyacht.org/boats/flying-lady

C-Flex is a solution for wooden hulls that some like and others distrust. From all that I have heard, the outcome depends on preparation. Would be curious to learn your experience with the technique and results.
 
Yes, the success of the C-Flex / fiberglass process depends on NEVER covering over wood that's in bad shape.

We did all the work to replace any bad floor timbers, ribs and planking, along with replacing all of the transom, before starting the glass process. I worked with a naval architect to develop the lamination schedule, created test panels and put them through destructive lab tests before actually using glass on the hull.

Once all of that was done, we also setup drip trays to catch the stuffing box flow, ensuring that the bilges would always be dry. We set up 16 locations throughout the hull, below the waterline, where we used a moisture content meter to make sure that the moisture content of the planking stayed in control. I spent a few days sailing on her 20 years after we did the work, and was very happy with what I saw.

Cheers!
 
DBL said:
Several folks have asked for photos of the 1937 Trumpy I ran as a young man. I'm going to try to post a link to a 5 minute video that shows the boat pretty well. I found the video on line. Here's the address for the link.
Click to expand...


Stunning yacht and restoration! Thank you for sharing!
 
Welcome. You are in the best place. Which kind of boat you would like ? size ?
 
Things that matter

Sometimes when I've asked a question about a technical matter, whether it be electrical or mechanical, the response has been, "Why don't you contact the manufacturer". Often times I've already contacted the manufacturer, but the response I am looking for is the real time experience of an owner/operator who has done this and mabey made a mistake or has an experience I can learn from instead of making a mistake myself.

The perspective of an owner/operator doing something in a cramped condition for the first, second or hundredth time is different from a trained technician doing the same thing in well heated shop with all the special tools and expertise. And sometimes an unconventional hack is just the thing that's needed.

The collected wisdom on this board is pretty amazing and I have never been disappointed in the points of view expressed. I may not agree with these points of view, and I may shake my head in dumbfounded amazement at just how stupid some people can be. But mistakes are often done in a certain context with a perspective that is unique to the situation.
 
Last edited:
Full Displacement, Single Engine

I was asked: "Which kind of boat you would like ? size ?"

I grew up working on a plumb-stem 60-foot wooden trawler that had been built in 1949 as an oyster buy boat. She had one engine, an old 6-71, with just enough deck house for three bunks, a stove and a place to steer. Something with that quiet, smooth, heavy feel would be like home for me.

The closest thing I've ever seen was the Coastal Queen (as in Anthony Bailey's book "The Inside Passage"). She's out of my reach financially, but makes me smile whenever I see her.

At any rate, full-displacement, single-engine works for me. Minus the fish smell and the need to caulk the seams...
 
DBL said:
I grew up working on a plumb-stem 60-foot wooden trawler that had been built in 1949 as an oyster buy boat. She had one engine, an old 6-71, with just enough deck house for three bunks, a stove and a place to steer. Something with that quiet, smooth, heavy feel would be like home for me.
Click to expand...

Nice image, although no matter how good they sound, I'm not sure that any 6-71 has ever been described as "quiet."
 
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