FU HWA designs

This is a hello to FU HWA owners that I've noticed on the site such as Ruthless (42') and Third-Reef (36'). My FU HWA is an Oceania 35. Comparing layouts, it's interesting what the builders decided to add as the boats were made longer. My boat has the salon being all inclusive of the galley and lounge area. As the length increased by a foot, they added a separate dining and kitchen below. The 42 has a larger lounge? I think. You have hard tops on your sundecks. Are they aftermarket? Are your engine rooms different? Do you have more head room in the ER rather than 4 feet? Mine has a single diesel with a bow thruster, yours have two engines. I guess that makes it tight in the ER? Curious as to where you have the boat name.. stern? Maxwell Nilsson windlass? My boat had the teak decks removed by the PO. Yours?

Our 1984 38' Fu Hwa is what is commonly called a double cabin. It has no hard top on the deck over the aft cabin but I am thinking of adding one for shade and solar panels. We have a single engine, a Perkins 6-354 and the ER sounds like the same as yours as far height. Ours has a Dickinson stern thruster which I believe was OEM. Steering is hydraulic and so is the stern thruster. We have teak decks and haven't removed them yet. It has a radar arch rather than a mast. Our boat is on the market as we just haven't found the time to use it as much as we would like and we are also trying to do a relocation within FL. It is amazing how other things get in the way of boating!

Sounds like the same. My bow thruster is a Vetus and diesel is a Perkins 135 hp. We expect to spend a lot more time on the boat starting this summer. Thanks.



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Somehow I missed this last month...

Here is the beautiful Satori

Ex of Delta Jim and currently under the stewardship of CarlinLA

She is a winner.

34-feet of affordable yacht... good looking too.

What is my favorite duty so far???

I have a couple other threads going on the boat...

Beautiful boat, enjoy


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Capt. Don

Our REVEL is an '84 Fu Hwa 39 'Europa' Sedan Trawler. I have yet to see another like her. Nice interior woodwork. A layout that suits us w/galley up, eat-in counter facing the galley, only a built-in settee - so open floor space for movable furniture, helm w/seat, large covered back porch, small stateroom w/double berth - with some sort of arrangement for an upper single berth, large stateroom w/centerline queen, head w/bathtub(!), large flybridge w/seating and extra space. Twin Perkins 135s and genset. Raymarine electronics - none newer than 2000. Pics in one of my albums.

A little late in posting to this thread but oh well.

We have a 1989 Fu Hwa built boat called a Sea Lord 35 which is just an Oceania 35 with another name. There were a few of these imported into Canada in the late 80's. This is a fairly solid boat however pretty much all of the boats built in this series have the same issues and this one is no exception. I wanted a Monk 36 but my wife loved the sun deck and despite my best efforts to find a reason not to buy it we ended up with this one. We've learned she'll take more than we can handle comfortably which is nice and I'm pleased with our decision.

We bought this one specifically to loop in a few years. She was bare bones and we've been infesting a lot into repairs and outfitting for that purpose.

Nice boat. It does look pretty similar to the Oceania 35. We just last year had our Bimini replaced but were not sure if we wanted and hardstop or softtop, or any top, on the Sundeck. She sure is a great little boat for travelling. We went up the Rideau last summer and plan to go up the Trent Severn and around Georgian Bay next . Do you have any advise about the Sundeck cover?

Ours has the mounts for a hard cover but it's tough to say if it ever had one. All the canvas is new this year including the sun deck. The sundeck can get pretty hot and keeping it shaded helps keep the master cabin cool.

We added supports to the new one to stop swaying. It was a huge improvement and allows us to keep the bimini open safely in windy conditions. I might have a pic of that if you're interested. We're thinking of putting two more on the front as well attached to the arch for even more stability.

All our teak is coming off the sundeck next spring in favor of FG and anti skid.

Thought I'd post a few pics here to for anyone who has an Oceania. We decided to go ahead and replace the teak sundeck with anti skid fiberglass. There was one area of damaged core near the transom gate. This was removed and will be re-cored. Hard to say if the leak developed around some screws or was at the large stanchion bolts. I suspect the latter.

The core was surprisingly solid balsa and oddly enough we discovered the original deck under the teak was molded anti skid. A perfectly sound fiberglass deck was drilled full of holes (grrr).

The ugly sink (I almost didn't buy the boat because of it) has been removed.

Decided to post a few other improvements we've done in the 2 1/2 seasons since purchase. A couple of before pics show the boat right after we got her. She was in rough shape but solid. We got her to loop in a few years and this is what we've done so far in prep.

We had the fly bridge deck re-cored and re-finished. The silly ice box removed (I think it was an icebox) and glassed in. (The area underneath now provides enough room to store all the fenders, a portable generator and a spare anchor, I kid you not.)

A new swim platform was fabricated, a swim ladder and dinghy lift installed. A new anchor roller system was fabricated and all chain rode installed.

New chart plotter, new radio, all new canvas, new ventura, re-upholstered helm chair and side cushions, additional helm chair, dual Racor fuel filter and a 300 watt solar system.

All exterior hatches and doors have been completely stripped and refinished. The aft teak deck has been removed and is in the process of being replaced with non skid fiberglass and the rub rail is being replaced. We've just recently installed a new fridge and hot water tank. There are numerous other improvements such as additional SS hand rails, pumps etc that have also been done. On the list is a custom propane locker, better black water tank, new stove, auto pilot, radar and AIS.

While we could have tried to find one with all this installed we figured we would feel better if we spent the money over several years and installed newer gear. Crazy? Yes but my wife is on side so it's a happy crazy.

Nice work and interesting including that Britany anchor in the cave.
Oh I see it’s a Digger or?

Good question. Not sure what that anchor is. It was on board and we've never used it

So where does everyone store their propane on the Oceania? I really don't like the typical location in the fly bridge eyebrow.

Ours is the typical location in the eyebrow. The tubing comes directly down to the galley via a cutoff relay/valve in the eyebrow. I carry a second/spare 20lb tank up there too. Can't see any problem with it. Hard to imagine enough propane leaking and falling down into the boat. Hard to imagine another place for the tanks.

What I'm thinking of is building a locker inside the eyebrow to get some control over any leak that develops. Problem is a locker is supposed to be top loaded

Yes, an enclosure should be top loaded and vented at the bottom. If it's as vented as an eyebrow is, with its louvered doors and leaks all around the bottom, I'm not so sure more effort is required. The cheepie tanks that we all use are vertical and have anti-tip/leak valves inside. Thus these have to be used vertically and won't fit in a settee which would otherwise be a dandy solution to a sealed-but-thoughtfully-vented enclosure.

Just had the aft deck teak removed and refinished in non skid.

Refinished all the screen frames locker hatches and sliding cabin doors as well.

Fabricated brass corner plates to strengthen the screen frames.

What did you use to finish your wood.

I used Cetol Marine on the doors, frames, exterior hatches and rail.

Beautiful....

Please do some research about propane lockers. It is more than just a top loading locker with a drain. It does not take much of a leak to ruin your day. Follow the ABYC recommendations. Your insurance company will thank you.

BTW, she looks beautiful.

Sea lord 35

Just found this thread and have a couple of questions relative to your aft deck. Just purchased a Oceania 35 and would like to put on bimin and side curtains. Starting the loop in July from Clayton ny. Thanks cliff

The fly bridge is totally enclosed and the aft deck just had the Bimini.

I'll answer any questions I can so fire away. I'm away at the moment however when I get home I'll post some pics of what we did for the solar panels and the stabilizers we added to the structure.

cbouch said:

Just found this thread and have a couple of questions relative to your aft deck. Just purchased a Oceania 35 and would like to put on bimin and side curtains. Starting the loop in July from Clayton ny. Thanks cliff

Click to expand...

The boat had bimini's over the fly bridge and sundeck so we kept the frames and replaced all the canvas, totally enclosing the flybridge. We decided to not enclose the aft deck to reduce windage. The high free board of the sun deck is bad enough.

Both frames were a bit flimsy so we added braces which you can see in the pictures and they really help. We've never felt the need to take down the sun deck top in any wind. With the snaps and braces the fly bridge enclosure is very strong. I've considered adding short ones from the radar arch to the front cross member of the sun deck bimini to make it even stronger but haven't yet.

The fly bridge top supports 3 light weight flexible 100W solar panels. We drilled the edges of each panel to take snaps and had domes attached to flaps on the canvas. We initially had velcro strips in there as well but the glued strips on the panels don't like the heat. Turned out to be overkill in any event so we took off the velcro and just use the snap system now. One mistake we made was to make it too snug a fit for the panels. They need room to expand in the heat or they warp. Next year we're going to leave one end unsnapped to see if that works. We had long canvas pieces made of the same material to wrap around the cables (creating a canvas tube) that keep it all tidy. The straps sewn on the left side are to secure everything and keep the 'tubes' off the panels.

If you look closely in the starboard quarter shot you can see one of the canvas tubes snaking over the edge of the flybridge top. That tucks in behind the canvas joint out of sight and the wires follow down the frame where they then loop up a short ways before entering the boat. The short loop is to allow any water that gets in to run off the wire outside.

If you decide to add panels make sure you allow a way for water to get out from around the panels. You can see the corners are open on the snap flaps. Glad my wife thought of that.

We are very pleased with the installation overall. It's very clean and everyone is surprised to learn the boat even has a solar system.

Thanks very much..the solar panels are a surprise. Might look into those for sometime in the future. Can you tell me your draft and air draft to the top of the radar arch?? Thanks

Might I suggest that if you do put on new canvas it won't cost much to plan a solar addition to the top anyway. We started with two panels but planned for three just in case which turned out to be a good idea. It'll be there if you ever want to go that way.

The draft is 3.5 feet and the air draft is roughly 14 feet (not including our anchor light pole). Not a lot of low bridges in our area so I haven't measured it exactly but that'll be very close.

Ksceviour Beautiful boat and great work looks real good.

It’s so interesting to me to see other owners with so much meticulous passion in regards to there boats, the finish product shows. And all you still at the end of the day still having time to keep everyone posted on the forums, of there daily accomplishments either good or bad $$.
Personally thank you.....

I do not want to high jack your thread of all your hard work, so if you or anyone else can direct me to a thread that’s appropriate.
I am looking at purchasing 1988 Fu Hwa, 36’ Hard Top and of coarse have a few questions. Greatly appreciate any feed back.

Troy

Nice boat Ksceviour. I remember passing you last summer going by King’s Harbour (I think). I was also looking at your boat while visiting Penetang this weekend. I don’t think I will be inviting you to tour my Oceania as I would be too embarrassed after reading all the work you have done.

For cbouch, mine has a hard top and we are quite happy with it. It also makes for a good place to put solar panels or kayaks. I just happened to measure my height and draft before launch this year and have them at 17 ft from top of anchor light and 4.5 ft for draft.

My boat has the ford Lehman 135 hp with 3100 on it and still running well burning about 1.75 gallons at 1750 rpm and getting 6.7 ish in calm winds.