Introducing myself

Hello everybody, i am new to this forum, let me introduce myself decently:
My name is Joop 60 years old, live in the Netherlands nearby a lot of water, so have had little and bigger boats since i was 15 years old.
Have had a little wharf during a decade fixing all kinds of steel build yachts
(thats how we build them mostly in Holland) and know how much work it is to maintain steel yachts.
Now we wanted to have another boat, obvious it had to be GRP , by chance we saw a Gulfstar 36 trawler 1972 and where in love ! it has everything we need.
Of course we must do a lot of things , but it doesnt look bad and has had a good owner. made a list of attention points , have read all possible information on the internet about this boat , and are going to inspect the boat tomorrow for the second time , will problaby forget a lot of things and think too easy about fixing them but can do a lot myself, and knowing that no boat is perfect are going to buy it anyway.
There are just a few of these boats in Europe and probably just one or two in the Netherlands.
I will keep you informed of the progress and invite other owners to exchange their experience with me.
Excuse me for my english spelling errors for it is not my birth language.

Welcome! Best of luck with completing the deal on your new boat, whether this one or another, and I look forward to hearing about the work you'll do to make it yours.

Greg

Welcome Joop! Half the fun of owning a boat is solving all the problems that come up. With a boat that age it will almost be a blank canvas and when your through you will know all the systems intimately. I hope the boat is all you expect it to be and that you will enjoy many years of cruising aboard.

Dear Joop,

Send pictures.

Welcome Aboard,

pete

Reply gulfstar3659

Pete Meisinger said:

Dear Joop,

Send pictures.

Welcome Aboard,

pete

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Hello pete thanks for welcoming tried to send pictures but didnt work so it seems have to figure out how it works , am just an old monkey who learned a trick not so good with computers etc sorry

gulfstar3659 said:

Hello pete thanks for welcoming tried to send pictures but didnt work so it seems have to figure out how it works , am just an old monkey who learned a trick not so good with computers etc sorry

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Welcome Joop. Would you generally recommend steel boats over fiberglass boat?

I have often wondered about living and traveling the ICW, on a canal boat.
Because of our geography and weather on the US east coast, at least one A/C would be necessary along with heat. Because there are many out of the way places to visit and anchor, a generator and water maker along with some solar panels would top everything off.
I guess the bilges of the canal boats are fairly shallow to hide all the above.
I also understand, very few if any have duel inside outside helm stations.

Welcome aboard. Gulfstar were a pretty nice boat. Keep us informed as to your progress.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Glad to have you here and to hear your perspective on all sorts of topics.

Thanks

Thanjs

Thanks for welcoming
Do not buy a steel boat on salt water , most private people cannot maintaine them well enough to last long
Do not know what you mean with icw , or canalboat our yachts are mostly heavy built and depending on the type of boat have lots of space in the bulge they mostly sail on lakes and canals and with nice weather on the northsea many of them are seaworthy but the crew is not ( northsea can be very dangerous when the wind picks up )

Gulfstar, sorry I forgot you may not be familiar with the usage in the US.
ICW stands for inter coast waterways. They are basically wide canals constructed to move freight and for military movements, similar to our interstate road system.
For further in-depth information I have provided a URL to Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intracoastal_Waterway

I do hope that clears up any confusion.

Hello Dan
Great waterways you have very long distances too , you asked me what kind of building material i would prefere , well its not easy to answer but for your trip on sweet water its more depending of what you can get for the money you can spend, if you will use the boat on salt water too i would prefere grp it will safe you a lot of work preventing rust
I would take a heavy bulky boat of say about 12 mtr with a single diesel of about 120 hp , cruising with hullspeed will save you a lot of fuel. You need a big fueltank of about 1000 ltr and. 500 ltr drinkingwater we over here have a lot of little steel trawlers but i think you have more grp build ships , for your trip the smallest grandbanks by example would be my choise it will do the job fine

Joop, welcome aboard TF. We all like to see photos of other people's boats.

Welcome aboard. Gulfstars are Florida built boats and were well built. Usually built-in/integrated/GRP fuel, water and holding tanks, and thick GRP hulls. Good luck with the search.

Pictures

GFC said:

Joop, welcome aboard TF. We all like to see photos of other people's boats.

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Hi i made some albums with pictures bought the boat today see my album

Typical dutch steel cruiser

gulfstar3659 said:

Hello Dan
Great waterways you have very long distances too , you asked me what kind of building material i would prefere , well its not easy to answer but for your trip on sweet water its more depending of what you can get for the money you can spend, if you will use the boat on salt water too i would prefere grp it will safe you a lot of work preventing rust
I would take a heavy bulky boat of say about 12 mtr with a single diesel of about 120 hp , cruising with hullspeed will save you a lot of fuel. You need a big fueltank of about 1000 ltr and. 500 ltr drinkingwater we over here have a lot of little steel trawlers but i think you have more grp build ships , for your trip the smallest grandbanks by example would be my choise it will do the job fine

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.

These are pictures of a typical modern dutch steel cruiser ( not the cheapest one ? )

Hello i bought the gulfstar today a bit dirty after 1,5 year not cleaning up due to healthproblems but everything works even the original switchboard some minior problems with leaking window corners and we have to do a paintjob but it has a great cosy interior and we love it already cant wait to get it into the water

See pictures at my album

gulfstar3659 said:

Hello Dan
Great waterways you have very long distances too , you asked me what kind of building material i would prefere , well its not easy to answer but for your trip on sweet water its more depending of what you can get for the money you can spend, if you will use the boat on salt water too i would prefere grp it will safe you a lot of work preventing rust
I would take a heavy bulky boat of say about 12 mtr with a single diesel of about 120 hp , cruising with hullspeed will save you a lot of fuel. You need a big fueltank of about 1000 ltr and. 500 ltr drinkingwater we over here have a lot of little steel trawlers but i think you have more grp build ships , for your trip the smallest grandbanks by example would be my choise it will do the job fine

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My American Tug almost fits the specificities you mentioned.
I carry about 1500 liters of fuel, about 568 liters of fuel, OAL including the swim platform is about 11 meters. I also have a water maker. Guess I am a bit shy on the volume of fuel. It is a fiberglass hull, about 12 tons. At best, one would call it a coastal tug. Empty draft = 1 meter. It has a Cummins QSB 5.9. Advertised: 380 HP at 3000 RPM, top speed of approximately 17 knots.

Submariner too

OldDan1943 said:

My American Tug almost fits the specificities you mentioned.
I carry about 1500 liters of fuel, about 568 liters of fuel, OAL including the swim platform is about 11 meters. I also have a water maker. Guess I am a bit shy on the volume of fuel. It is a fiberglass hull, about 12 tons. At best, one would call it a coastal tug. Empty draft = 1 meter. It has a Cummins QSB 5.9. Advertised: 380 HP at 3000 RPM, top speed of approximately 17 knots.

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He Old Dan perfect boat looks good,and the richt dimensions and weight etc, noticed you have been a submariner , i sailed on them too, dieselboats very silent been on a Guppy once , was in the periode the Britisch had the Oberon class en the russians the Foxtrot , together with my mate ,later we had boats together 25 years and a little wharf.
Succes with your boat.

FoxtrotCharlie said:

Welcome aboard. Gulfstars are Florida built boats and were well built. Usually built-in/integrated/GRP fuel, water and holding tanks, and thick GRP hulls. Good luck with the search.

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Thanks FC, bought one yesterday see my album prictures

gulfstar3659 said:

He Old Dan perfect boat looks good,and the richt dimensions and weight etc, noticed you have been a submariner , i sailed on them too, dieselboats very silent been on a Guppy once , was in the periode the Britisch had the Oberon class en the russians the Foxtrot , together with my mate ,later we had boats together 25 years and a little wharf.
Succes with your boat.

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In the 60s, I was on the SSBN 627 and the SSBBN 630. I was trained in nuclear power main propulsion. Now, I am dummer than a rock. SMIRK
My AT34, to me, fulfills my needs but only if I stop screwing with it. LOL

Welcome aboard!

And go Oranje!

OldDan1943 said:

In the 60s, I was on the SSBN 627 and the SSBBN 630. I was trained in nuclear power main propulsion. Now, I am dummer than a rock. SMIRK
My AT34, to me, fulfills my needs but only if I stop screwing with it. LOL

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Hello old Dan
You are not getting dummer but more or less board of al the dumb things that happen around you, dumb talk of treehuckers and politician etc etc
We have seen it all and just want to be left in peace on our boat , somewhere in a nice corner of the world talking with nice people who have a diesel boat and dont want to argue with us wether we would change our diesel for batteries :lol:

gulfstar3659 said:

Hello old Dan
You are not getting dummer but more or less board of al the dumb things that happen around you, dumb talk of treehuckers and politician etc etc
We have seen it all and just want to be left in peace on our boat , somewhere in a nice corner of the world talking with nice people who have a diesel boat and dont want to argue with us wether we would change our diesel for batteries :lol:

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LOL gotta laugh because after I left the service, I became a professional forester.
I was not a tree hugger but rather, a forest manager.
Personally, I like diesels.... when you hear them running, it is so reassuring. SMIRK
Batteries are meant to keep the lights on in-between running the generator or main engine or hooked to shore power.
Yes, I have a couple of 130watt solar panels with the intent to extend the battery life when all else fails.
Can I fix everything on the boat? Nope, not a chance but, I can call in technicians I can trust. I can watch those technicians I cant trust..... You see, I remember enough "to do" stuff but my body no longer folds nor spindles as when I was younger.

OldDan1943 said:

LOL gotta laugh because after I left the service, I became a professional forester.
I was not a tree hugger but rather, a forest manager.
Personally, I like diesels.... when you hear them running, it is so reassuring. SMIRK
Batteries are meant to keep the lights on in-between running the generator or main engine or hooked to shore power.
Yes, I have a couple of 130watt solar panels with the intent to extend the battery life when all else fails.
Can I fix everything on the boat? Nope, not a chance but, I can call in technicians I can trust. I can watch those technicians I cant trust..... You see, I remember enough "to do" stuff but my body no longer folds nor spindles as when I was younger.

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Thats right Dan, what do you mean by LOL and SMIRK i am not very used to your shortcuts !
OK Treehugger is the right spelling, we call people treehugger if they have not got any notion of how things work and what we have to do to make it work , they just call: make every thing greener, than walk away to Mc Donalds and eat a pound of beef. They are like seagulls they come in screaming, **** over your live and are gone within a second without leaving something usefull. Ha Ha.
Saw some pictures of your SSBN biiiiiig boats , reasuring they are in good hands!

Looked at some information about your boat, sturdy boat good dimensions for a long trip, do you have foto's of the inside / engine ? what is the best way to send foto's to you / any thread. ? so i can send some of my boat and the previous ones.

gulfstar3659 said:

Saw some pictures of your SSBN biiiiiig boats , reasuring they are in good hands!

Looked at some information about your boat, sturdy boat good dimensions for a long trip, do you have foto's of the inside / engine ? what is the best way to send foto's to you / any thread. ? so i can send some of my boat and the previous ones.

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All the Polaris boats from the 60s have long since been scrapped, cut up and recycled.

Per pics of my AT, they all pretty much look the same. If you search for the American Tug home page, you will find LOTS of pictures. There are some used ATs for sale too. They might give you even more pictures.