Marlow

In that this forum is called Marlow -Mainship are there actually any Marlow owners participating. If there are it would be helpful to get input regarding sharing technical differences and improvements.

As far as I can tell there are really no similarities as it seems like Marlow designed their line from scratch and did not use any of the Mainship designs.

My understanding is that Marlow bought the hull design of the Mainship and that's all. Marlow may be missing the market by not building more of these boats. They seem to be in demand in the marketplace.

Jeffrey F. Guttenberger
R Time
Mainship 400

Marlow took the basic hulls of the Pilot 30 and 34 and turned them into something in between an express cruiser and a GB Eastbay. Many on this forum don't consider the original Pilots real trawlers and the new Marlows are even less so.

I doubt if they are selling very well.

David

It is my understanding also that Marlow kept the basic hull of the pilot 30 and 34. However they made some engineering changes such as using a different prop to address vibration and cavation issues. Does anyone know of any such engineering changes that could be used to improve the performance of the original.

I am confused about Marlow. I was at a boat show a few years ago and was speaking to a senior mgmt. guy. It sounded like they just wanted to buy the customer base. I don't understand how? I would have continued to make the pilots and trawlers. But, I didn't buy the company. How does the customer base come into a boat that is nothing like a Mainship? It's sort of like a pilot (at least the 32 foot)

The acquisition was more about sailboats than Mainship. Marlow also acquired Hunter, so now you have Marlow Hunter sailboats.

Marlow Pilot 34

We sold our 2007 Mainship 400 with the thought of downsizing. Last year, Marlow Marine in Palmetto Florida put their 2016 Pilot 31, 2015 Pilot 32 and 2016 Pilot 34 demo boats on the market. The 31 and 34 were open cockpit models and the 32 was enclosed. We sea trialed the 31 which had a single engine, and the 34 which had twins. We ended up purchasing the Pilot 34.

Marlow redesigned the hull incorporating an enclosed strut and shaft. The windshield is a single piece eliminating center columns which enhances visibility. With the 34, the cockpit floor rises providing unobstructed access to all sides of the engines. A single fuel tank and single water tank run across the beam and the anchor chain locker is located below the water line, all to enhance stability.

The quality is what you expect from Marlow. We looked at a Legacy and also sea trialed a Back Cove 32. Our impression was that the Marlow Pilot was very competitive with these boats.

The 34 Pilot we purchased has twin 260 HP Yanmars (the largest engine option available). The boat cruises effortlessly at 15 knots, with a top speed around 23 knots. Combined fuel burn at 15 knots is around 1.4 NM per gal.

It appears Marlow is currently only building the Pilot boats on an as ordered basis.