Two Things

What feature, characteristic or capability of your boat do you absolutely, positively LOVE that:

#1 - came from the builder or previous owners

#2 - you’ve done since you owned it.

#1 - Being up on the flybridge: under way, in harbor, at anchor (except today, its really stormy!)

#2 - Added solar panels & converted cooler to 'fridge/freezer. Now I have plenty of grub, chilled pub and amp-hours on board!

1 - It’s smaller and easier to just get aboard and go.

2 - She is outfitted for our style of cruising and I put a heater vent in the head. Warm seat = happy wife!

#1 raised pilot house with ample seating so i'm not piloting alone for hours on end.

#2 new ac electrical system. safe and reliable.

New electronics

Seakeeper

1. Sail, adds greatly to range.
2. Upgraded electronics, electrical, generator upgrades.

1. Retractable Bowthruster.
2. Comfy flybridge seats.




Cheers,
Mrs. Trombley

Docking station (steering, bow thruster, shift and throttle) in the stern at deck level.

Pilothouse with side doors, heating and air conditioning.

Ted

all- Furuno electronics package

Put it in a lift at home rather than a boat barn where I found it. Way better.

1- Nick Jackson / Roskelley Olsen transom mounted davits. I didn’t like the look at first but they are a true pleasure to use.
2- Three way tie. Magnum Energy 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter/charger with remote control, new generator, and full fly bridge enclosure. These 3 make long distance coastal cruising enjoyable.

Greetings,
1) ER is 15' wide, 8' deep and 6' high. Even with twins and a genny, washer and dryer there's room for 4 or 5.

2) Cruised.

Hi 1) The walk around queen berth in the aft cabin-Made cruising a pleasure with more comfortable home like stateroom.

2) I built in a flip up 32" tv in the salon and also added a dish storage locker all in the top of the port dash area. TV folds down and one big flat area is available for charting etc.

1) Raised pilothouse with good viewing and adequate seating.
2) Installed 580 watts of solar. Met all electrical needs from late spring to early fall on most days. Only ran generator if fog or to heat the water.

#1 is a toss up between Portuguese bridge with port and starboard wing stations and walk-in stand up engine room.

#2 Nothing, really, which is as it should be since the boat was semi-custom, so most of "my" upgrades were installed by the builder. My only subsequent improvements have been incremental upgrades, like 110v jacuzzi pumps for bait tank, and Furuno TZT3 MFDs (replacing the Furuno NN3D units which were Furuno's best when commissioned).

#1 Stand up/Walk around Engine Room

#2 Sunscreen on Top deck

On our 50 ft Navy launch the addition of an autopilot was a delight for ICW cruising.

Installing a rotary hand pump made oil changes , after a long days run lots easier.

Oil Xchanger - pump bad oil out, pump clean oil in

walk around aft double berth. Coming from 32 ft. sailboat and a vee-berth, Best ever.

#1 - Layout in general. Not a trawler style, it's a big white tennis shoe cruiser, but I think Mainship hit a home run with the space design. Acres of room and headroom for the length, fantastic view from the helm, spacious upper deck seating, decent sized aft deck, good bow access and walk-arounds, good swimstep -- just a great design in almost every way (well, except engine bay access...)

#2 -- Ripping out the Norcold fridge that never worked well and replacing it with a super efficient LG residential fridge with an inverter. Made a huge difference in our enjoyment, didn't realize. No more bags of ice and dragging coolers, and now we have cold drinks, meals on board, we can store leftovers and I can have fresh ice cubes in my bourbon glass.

Not too much, as I liked the boat as purchased. So most of the upgrades were just upgrades of existing systems. That being said, I would say a couple of add-ons that we really like having and installed myself:

- Increased the house battery bank, installed a inverter and added a solar panel system. All of this met our needs for the length of time we spend on anchor.

- Removed all of the rugs and replaced with FlexiTeek flooring

Had done professionally:

- Installed a bow thruster

The previous owner extended the stern 4 feet making a large "back porch" ideal for entertaining. We added a water maker which is a must for the Caribbean.

1.) The basic design - We wanted Full width master strm, Aft hard top, Large fly bridge, Stand up engine room, and sufficient fuel & water capacity. We got all that.


2.) Probably the electronics upgrades. Also, gotta mention the 5.5 cu.ft. freezer which is damn handy on a 6 month cruise.

New features

Teak removed, deck glassed. Black iron tanks removed, new aluminum tanks installed.

The 350’ of 3/4 inch chain on the windlass


New taller Bimini on fly ridge so my husband can stand without hitting his head

PaintMeRetired said:

What feature, characteristic or capability of your boat do you absolutely, positively LOVE that:

#1 - came from the builder or previous owners

#2 - you’ve done since you owned it.

Click to expand...

#1 from the builder- The large flybridge which gives us a protected cockpit

#2 Improvement by me- I've (We've) personally rebuilt/replaced/improved EVERYTHING on our boat but I'm going with the autopilot. A close 2nd would be a reliable anchor. It (the pilot) gets used every time, even short jaunts across the creek. More than anything else except the engine.

Only 2? If so, dont count
5 cabinets and hyd assist for under the owner's berth, all for storage
water maker
fuel polisher
tank minder for all tanks
piped engine to water heater
Spendide washer/dryer (questionable)
digital gauges to analog
emergency start for the generator from house batteries
lighted range hood with fan on a rheostat
2 more trumpets to the air horn (the big boat have nothing on me)
FogMate
2 new GPSMAP8616 MFD
new RADAR
3 red/white lights on flexible cables for the MDF
all lights changed to LED
9 new stainless hand holds and foot holds (that may seem a lot but, they all make sense to me)
2 130 watt solar panel
1800 watt inverter
added 1 additional 200amp house (3X200)
ER camera

Okay that's 2 items, right?

1. Single screw but she backs straight , no falling off.

2. Boathouse with workshop and enclosed mezzanine

2a. If # 2 doesn’t count then a tossup between the autopilot and the bow thruster

As others have said, the Raised Pilothouse adds another entire room to the design.

Far and away the one thing that I added that most affected lefe aboard is the watermaker.

It is impossible to describe the freedom that provides.

1. Wide opening salon floor hatches.. allowing stand up headroom and good access throughout engine compartment

2. Greatly comfortable layout inside and outside with well placed hand rails everywhere

2a. Exceptionally durable build quality

PaintMeRetired said:

What feature, characteristic or capability of your boat do you absolutely, positively LOVE that:

#1 - came from the builder or previous owners

#2 - you’ve done since you owned it.

Click to expand...

1) Single screw diesel

2) Solar power on my boat. No need for shore power.

Art said:

1. Wide opening salon floor hatches.. allowing stand up headroom and good access throughout engine compartment



2. Greatly comfortable layout inside and outside with well placed hand rails everywhere



2a. Exceptionally durable build quality

Click to expand...

Flying nun?