New Nova Heritage 36 Owner

[nova36]

Hi all, I just picked up a 1987 Nova Heritage 36 Sundeck trawler here in sunny Seattle, WA. I'll be taking short trips around Puget Sound and the San Juans and spending a lot of time enjoying the boat dockside and in Lake Union.

I researched a good amount on here before the purchase and noticed that there are several other Nova 36 owners, so hopefully we can share some tips about these nice boats. I have the usual items to address - small window leaks, replacing the stainless holding tank - but overall the vessel is in reasonable shape. I am a marine engineer by trade (tugs, deep sea, ferries) and can help with questions as well.

A few observations so far:
- I fit a Splendide 2100xc washer/dryer combo in the biggest main cabin locker on the port side. I had to put it in sideways and then rotate it in the locker, but it went surprisingly smoothly. Very easy to run the water and drain lines from here as it backs up to the engine room.

- I cut a hole in the deck for a vent, and to my surprise the deck is foam-cored! Were all of these boats foam-cored? Now I understand how this boat does not have any soft spots on deck after all of these years in a wet climate.

- I have the Volvo TMD41A engines. Will share any tips as I work on these. For any owners, there is a great YouTube series by a guy that is currently overhauling one of these engines (look up "Svend Bjelland"on YouTube).

- There is a huge void space between the bilge and shower sump pans and the actual bottom of the bilge / top of the keel. This was full of maybe 30+ gallons of ancient, gross water that migrated there from holes drilled in the bilge pans to mount bilge pumps, etc. I went ahead and just cut out much of the bilge pans so that the bilge pump can suck from the deepest part of the bilge. I re-routed the shower directly to a sump pump.

-Nick

[Lou_tribal]

Welcome aboard!
Any picture of your vessel?

L.

[BDK]

Hi Nick,
Welcome to the forum.
Like you, I purchased a Nova 36 Sun deck in Seattle last year. Red Sky, twin Volvo pentas. Spent the winter in a boat house doing repairs/mainterance - complete raw water cooling system including strainers, new filters throughout, new radio, chart plotter, sounder, oil pump out system and many minor maintenance items (including removal of miles of old unused wiring including sat tv).

Have met a couple of big sister Nova owners over our cruising this summer in the Gulf Islands. Would love to be part of a Nova group of some sort.

Question re your cut out of bilge area. Red Sky has three bilge areas between the engine bed stringers. Furthes aft is open under the aft cabin stairway and currently houses the battery for the northern lights genset. Mid section is the shower sump for the aft shower. I plan to install a proper self contained sump box this winter so as not to have this gray water sloshing around in the bilge all the time. Forward section is the main bilge pump and the manual bilge pump pick up. I have suspected that there is water in the keel below these area(s) but am reluctant to start drilling/ cutting while in the water in case something unexpected pops up. Would this be the area(s) you refer to? I would love to have access to this keel area for other than gray water storage!

Look forward to further discusssions. You can contact me directly at RedSkyNova36@gmail.com.
Cheers
Bryan

[hfoster]

Welcome Mate.


Cheers.


H.

[Night Watch]

Hi Neighbor!
I realize this is an old post, but I haven't been able to catch you on your boat.
I would really like to hear more about where the 30 gal of water may be located.

The old maintenance log for Night Watch mentions the removal of the "3rd bilge pump" w/o mentioning the location.

My shower drains into the area directly into the bilge that ends up in the bilge (directly below where the heat exchangers are on the engine). There is a bilge pump there that is wired to the "sump pump" breaker, so I manually turn it on to shower. I remember you have better access to this area as I have 4 batteries sitting on the shelf above the bilge.

I also have the auxiliary pump in the stair by the lower helm and main bilge in galley. When I first got the boat one of the dock people mentioned I had water in the keel, but he would not share more information, so I have been looking for where he saw it ever since.

Cheers,