New Member...what have I gotten in to!!!

Just Purchased 1985 Tung Hwa Senatator 31. She needs some minor deck and exterior cosmetic work. But the mechanicals are all there.

Perkins 6.354 range 4 recently overhauled that seems to run excellent
Westerbeke 4.4 that runs and generates but needs a new water pump (leaking out weep hole (just over 400 hours)

Dickson stern thruster that runs GREAT! During the sea trial everyone was amazed at how it threw the little Senator around. Its a hydraulic unit and work very well.

Hull is in excellent shape with no bubbles/delam or impact damage or evidence of water intrusion.

2 new stainless fuel tanks 100 gallons each.

Plumbing for water tanks redone also 100 gallons each

Interior is in pretty good shape


Surveyor had no major findings for seaworthiness to report other than the vent for the propane storage.

But....we have a list as long as your arm for minor repairs. Water intrusion at the side rail stantions that is making its way to the bilge, all the windows need resealing, upper mast has been removed and the repair is not great. All the fwd V berth portlight windows need to be replaced (knobs spin, nuts stuck). 3 soft spots in front deck, still sturdy but will need to be opened up and repaired. All the coaming was painted by a 5 year old with a brush with chocolate brown paint. And several other things. Probably looking at 200+ hours of labor on the exterior. I am thinking 40 hours on mechanicals that I want to do. And anouther 100 on the interior headliner etc.

Luckily we have no teak decks. All fiberglass but again painted by a 5 year old. But that will be easy to remedy.

Cant wait to get started

Welcome aboard!!! Lots to do but not atypical of that type of boat. As you note, what is important is that the expensive stuff- engine, etc works fine.


Have fun with her.


David

Thanks David. I am looking forward to the project.

Just curious, Is there a Trawler owner, or any boat owner for that matter, who does not have at least 10 pictures or videos of his boat in the travel lift?

pete

Welcome to the forum!

Stainless steel fuel tanks? Usually, new fuel tanks are aluminum. Not an issue for a private boat, just unusual. Are the water tanks poly or something else?

Ted

O C Diver said:

Welcome to the forum!

Stainless steel fuel tanks? Usually, new fuel tanks are aluminum. Not an issue for a private boat, just unusual. Are the water tanks poly or something else?

Ted

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Im headed down tomorrow to repair a few items right off the bat and clean out all the previous owners stuff. Ill double check the fuel tanks again but it sure looked like stainless to me. They were recently custom made. The water tanks appear to be aluminum.

Welcome aboard. Congrats on your new boat. When you get to the decks look at Kiwigrip nonskid paint.

Hahahahaha. I really enjoyed your optimism about the hours you intend working to fix all that.

rgano said:

Hahahahaha. I really enjoyed your optimism about the hours you intend working to fix all that.

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True...im overestimating the mechanical portion. The other items will be determined by how far I plan to dig into it. Thanks for the warm welcome.

Comodave said:

Welcome aboard. Congrats on your new boat. When you get to the decks look at Kiwigrip nonskid paint.

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Will do. Thanks for the tip.

Comodave said:

When you get to the decks look at Kiwigrip nonskid paint.

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+1 on the Kiwigrip. Very happy with it on my boat. If you go with it, practice with it before doing your decks. It's easy to work with, but there is a wide range for how modest or aggressive the texturing can be based on quantity and rolling technique.

Ted

Congratulations Barking Sands and Happy Holidays! Your trawler sounds terrific and my own boat owning experience dictates there are several prioritized lists trawler owners develop: the must do, the should do, and would like to do. You'll find your way and optimism and resourcefulness are the best tools to keep handy in your emotional trawler owner toolbox. We sold our similar trawler two weeks ago and in the hours before the buyer arrived I was still detailing the interior of the salon. Your list of need to do's sounds achievable and you will gain confidence in other projects aboard. Again, congrats on your purchase and you will find this forum very helpful as a new (and seasoned) trawler owner. All the best, Mark

Barking Sands said:

True...im overestimating the mechanical portion. The other items will be determined by how far I plan to dig into it. Thanks for the warm welcome.

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You just maybe misconstrued my meaning. Contrary to the tiny number of hours you estimate, you will spend at least one lifetime on it cuz it's a BOAT. I know I did on this one the first summer I had it. But hey, it's a BOAT - did I say that already. ENJOY!:lol:

PARROT ADVENTURE said:

Congratulations Barking Sands and Happy Holidays! Your trawler sounds terrific and my own boat owning experience dictates there are several prioritized lists trawler owners develop: the must do, the should do, and would like to do. You'll find your way and optimism and resourcefulness are the best tools to keep handy in your emotional trawler owner toolbox. We sold our similar trawler two weeks ago and in the hours before the buyer arrived I was still detailing the interior of the salon. Your list of need to do's sounds achievable and you will gain confidence in other projects aboard. Again, congrats on your purchase and you will find this forum very helpful as a new (and seasoned) trawler owner. All the best, Mark

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Thanks Parrot Adventure. Your boat was in our neck of the woods and I was eyeballing it regularly. Looks like it was a fantastic boat that treated you well. Ultimately we chose this less expensive and smaller version for our first trawler. Thanks for the advice on the three lists and I do concur. I have already begun the research, parts ordering and prioritization. Now I have three days of work followed by 4 days off. Im ready to get started and will share the details in the regular forums.

Congrats and welcome aboard. Keep us posted on how the repairs and upgrades progress.

Welcome aboard. As stated, it is a boat - you never run out of things to do - because they need to be done or you want to change something “just because” - not to mention the First Mate’s wishes.
Enjoy your boat.

Travel lift

Pete Meisinger said:

Just curious, Is there a Trawler owner, or any boat owner for that matter, who does not have at least 10 pictures or videos of his boat in the travel lift?

pete

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We had two sailboats as well as our new motorboat in this marina in Italy.
https://www.marinapuntagabbiani.it/en/
It is very common now to have a dry harbour where you can stay on your boat with power and water supply.
They have about 4 travel lifts and it takes only about 15 minutes to get your boat in and out of the water.
I don´t know if you have the same in the US.
It helps at least to keep the underbody of the boat clean when you don´t
use your boat.


Peter

Love the Perkins. My last boat had the range 4. 7800 hours no issues whatsoever.

+1 on the Perkins 6.354. Had the two originals on our 1974 Gulfstar Trawler with about 6,000 miles each. Ran them about 1,700 and they were great for that boat. (Ran them about 2,100 for several hours one day and one of them burned about 2 quarts of oil! Never ran them more than 1,700 again, and oil consumption was less than 1/2 quarter per oil change interval.)

Independence cruiser 39 said:

We had two sailboats as well as our new motorboat in this marina in Italy.
https://www.marinapuntagabbiani.it/en/
It is very common now to have a dry harbour where you can stay on your boat with power and water supply.
They have about 4 travel lifts and it takes only about 15 minutes to get your boat in and out of the water.
I don´t know if you have the same in the US.
It helps at least to keep the underbody of the boat clean when you don´t
use your boat.


Peter

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Wow, what kind of rates does a marina like this run in Italy?

Marina rates

Gmarr said:

Wow, what kind of rates does a marina like this run in Italy?

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Hi Gmarr


This is the link to the dry marina. https://www.marinapuntagabbiani.it/en/dry-marina/

The link to the pricelist is on the left side.
Included is a so-called crane pass which means you can go in and out of the water as often as you like.

Because we have limited space in the harbours the Italian guy who owns the marina came up with the idea to have an harbour on land.
This is followed by many other marinas now.

As I mentioned you have power suply, water as well as a black water pump out at each place.



Peter

Welcome and congrats!!!