Bringing her home Sunday

Well, we sold our Bayliner and purchased a 43 foot LaBelle this week. It going to be a big step, going from a 32 footer to a 43 that is actually 47 LOA. My last two boats had twins, first one had mercs and the second had Hino`s so Ive handled twins before. I cruised our last one usually at 9 or 10 knots and that took some getting used to, instead of high teens and low 20` knots from our previous boat with twin 305 gas engines. The LaBelle has twin Volvo`s 147 hp and the engine room is spotless. It has lots of teak but the decks are in great shape but I know I will have more maintenance on this one as compared to the all glass hulls/decks of a bayliner. This our sixth boat in 13 years as I try to do my share in keeping the economy going.

So I guess I`m done with the bayliner forum for now.

Congrats on the new boat.

Congrats!

Good job moving up to the new boat. You're gonna love it!

Brought her down from Seattle to Olympia this past Sunday. Had sunshine all the way and smooth water mostly. Cruised at high 8`s mph and 2100 rpm. Hit 13.2 mph in the narrows since we were riding a flood tide. Volvos ran great.

Congrats! I bet the longer length is not an issue to handle??

Congrats on the upgrade. However, you need to recalibrate your speed read-out to knots now Cappy. In trawlers we do knots - sounds less then mph, but in knots, less is more, as they say...

Peter,, yes I know...The GPS we were using was set up for mph so for the trip it was just easier. I couldn't get the Raymarine gps to work at all, which was set up for knots, so we used my friends GPS and my IPhone. But it was still fun to watch the numbers vary with the currents. I remember this past summer when cruising through the Tacoma Narrows in my Bayliner, my GPS going from 13 knots to 7 knots in less than a hundred feet, it felt like hitting a wall.
Anyway,, we both enjoyed the cruise and it was interesting learning all the subsystems on the boat.

And it does handle different than my 32 so another learning curve to be had.

Congrats. The Labelle is a lot of boat for the money. I have a 1985 40 foot and the engines are TAMD40B'S at 165 HP each. If you have any questions about the MT Bestway Labelle just ask.

obthomas said:

Congrats. The Labelle is a lot of boat for the money. I have a 1985 40 foot and the engines are TAMD40B'S at 165 HP each. If you have any questions about the MT Bestway Labelle just ask.

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I too have a Labelle. 1984 43' sundeck with twin Volvo 165's. Cruises all day long at a comfortable 10 knots in any reasonable seas.

Followed a similar path - sold the express cruiser and moved to a trawler. Biggest adjustment is back to having to plan for currents in the passages (of which there are a lot around the PNW). Just like sailing again!
Enjoy the extra space, the more relaxed navigation as deadheads don't sneak up on you so quickly, and passing by the fuel dock without having to stop.
Cheers

I`ve been enjoying getting used to the boat`s systems. Finding out what breakers control what, chasing water lines, replacing leaky faucets, new brass lamps in v-berth, new water filters, some new electrical outlets, and replacing those 12 volt outlets that look like an old 120 volt outlet.
I had a canvas guy come out and see about getting the sundeck enclosed.
and of course the wife is getting it decorated.

haha ya writing those checks is a lot of fun. Did new shafts and cutlass bearings this year. Some new batteries too. Hoping that does it for a while.

Also had a Bayliner 32. Wishing you the best of everything on your new boat.