Hopefully a trawler owner very soon!

[Chris M]

Hi all! I just found this forum while looking for more info on a boat I'm hoping to buy tomorrow (assuming the survey tomorrow doesn't find anything horrendous). She's a 37' 1977 C&L Grand Mariner trawler, and she's lovely!

I grew up on river boats while fishing the Skeena River and surrounding area with my family up in northern British Columbia, but I've never owned one of my own that didn't inflate lol. However, I absolutely love the ocean, and I've wanted to live on a boat for as long as I can remember.

Well, if the survey goes well tomorrow, then in like a year and a half or so, when my youngest finishes high school and heads off to college, I will be moving onto 'My Way'!

--And in a year and a half or so, my turn might come up on one of the moorage waiting lists I'm on in my area, lol! For now, she's going to be stored on the hard for the winter, and then, if I still haven't found a marina for her, I'll probably just anchor her in the harbour (which has the advantage of being free, hooray). I'm leery of doing that over the winter, though, as I'm afraid of her dragging her anchor loose and heading off for a little adventure without me. Hopefully in the summer I'll be able to head over to her often enough that I'll feel more secure about how she's anchored.

For now, though, I've got the survey happening tomorrow afternoon, and if all goes well, I'll be buying her! Then on Monday I'll be heading over to where she is down in Sechelt, and piloting her back up the coast (with some help) to where she'll spend the winter.

I'll let you know how it goes! Wish me luck!!

 

[Delta Riverat]

Good luck and have fun!

 

[Chris M]

WOO I'm buying a boat!!

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard.

 

[Chris M]

Thank you! I'm looking forward to bringing her closer to home on Tuesday Slightly terrified to take her through the Skookumchuck though... We're going to have to time it very carefully!

 

[luna]

Tuesday the 14th of Oct is not a very good day to take a new to you but older boat through Sechelt Rapids as the low slack that occurs about 8:30 am PDT is too early for you from Sechelt unless you leave at about 5:00 am and travel in the dark or you can catch the high slack at 4:30 pm and call it a day at one of the marinas in Egmont. I would not spend the night on the hook in mid Oct. at the mouth of Jervis in an unknown 48 year old boat. Call me chicken.
You won't even get near the rapids miday, as the predictions say that the current will be on your nose at 13+ knots.

Good luck with the purchase. You likely know by now how it went.

 

[Chris M]

Tuesday the 14th of Oct is not a very good day to take a new to you but older boat through Sechelt Rapids...

Yeah, we'll be catching the slack tide at the afternoon high tide. Part of that is that we'll be heading northwest through the Rapids, so if we catch the high slack and the tide starts to move again, it'll be pushing us out, rather than us having to fight against the current.

Plus, it ends up that they'll have the Jervis Inlet and Agamemnon Channel closed to all marine traffic from 08:00 to 18:00 for a few days starting Tuesday, due to them needing to replace the overhead power cables that run across both. So we'll head up as far as we can before we have to sit and wait for them to open it up again, and then we'll just try to make it to Saltery Bay before dark.

I haven't done it before myself, but the boat herself goes through there regularly, and the two more experienced guys who are piloting it with me are familiar with it, and used to vessels of her size, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. We've planned things out very carefully.

I appreciate the concern, though!

Good luck with the purchase. You likely know by now how it went.

Thank you! I do! The survey was good, so I'm going ahead with the purchase. Monday when I meet up with the current owners and hand over the cheque, I'll be her proud new owner!

 

[CaptTom]

Pics. We need pics.

 

[Chris M]

You got it! Happy to show her off!

As of today, I'm officially her new owner! May I present "My Way"!

 

[RedRascal]

Good looking boat, congratulations. If you have time to kill and the weather is settled Hotham Sound could be an option for passing time while you wait for the channels to open up.

 

[Chris M]

Thanks! And good to know! Thanks for the tip!

 

[Comodave]

Congrats on your new boat.

 

[Chris M]

Thanks! I'm pretty stoked ha ha

 

[luna]

That looks like a well kept boat, congratulations on the purchase.

I read that although Jervis is closed starting today, Agamemnon Channel will not be closed until next year when they drop those power lines into the water. This makes some sense as otherwise BC Ferries would have no way to get from Earls to Saltery.

This provides you with certainty, and an open (although longer) route to Pender Harbour for the night.

Have a save passage.

 

[Chris M]

Ah, good to know! Yes, that makes sense; I know they're diverting the ferry around the south end of that big island there (I forget its name and can't be bothered to look it up right now heh); I was wondering how they were going to get through!

We'll see what time we're done with the Skookumchuck, and how we feel. I suspect that the choice of sitting there waiting for six o'clock or going through the Agamemnon is going to be pretty much six of one, half a dozen of the other, so far as time to the other side goes, but we'll see. Good to know that the Channel will still be open, though! That gives us options, never a bad thing.

 

[luna]

My experience with BC Hydro is that they are never early with what they say is going to happen.

 

[Chris M]

That looks like a well kept boat, congratulations on the purchase.

Thanks! Yes, she's been boat-house kept for most of her life, so she's in great condition for her age. She's got a couple of small things to repair or change of course; one of the first things I'm doing is to move the switch for the starter battery up to the dashboard so I don't have to climb down into the engine room every time I want to fire her up, lol!

 

[Chris M]

My experience with BC Hydro is that they are never early with what they say is going to happen.

Very true! Given how soon the light's gone these days it might make sense to go around through the Agamemnon.

 

[luna]

Thanks! Yes, she's been boat-house kept for most of her life, so she's in great condition for her age. She's got a couple of small things to repair or change of course; one of the first things I'm doing is to move the switch for the starter battery up to the dashboard so I don't have to climb down into the engine room every time I want to fire her up, lol!

Depending on the ease and expense of running large conductors up to the helm, I would have a serious look at installing the a Remote Battery Switch. This way all you need is small conductors from the new battery switch to the helm.

Blue Seas, among others makes them.

Remote Battery Switches - Blue Sea Systems

Engineering high quality marine electrical components for safety, reliability and performance

www.bluesea.com

 

[SteveK]

Of course you can do what Luna suggested. I would do that before running heavy cable to/from.
But why does the start battery switch need to be turned off/on every day?

 

[luna]

Nothing wrong with turning off the start battery switch when the boat is not in use as it is likely safer and less likely that a parasitic load is on the battery. Mine are turned off when at the home dock.

In addition ABYC states that the switch must be as close to the battery as practicable and it should be mounted in a readily accessible location. They do not (as far as I know) comment on which room the switch is in, just close to the batteries.

A RBS allows the best of both worlds.

 

[Chris M]

Hi guys! I'm not entirely sure why the starter battery needs to be shut off when it's not in use; I was trying to absorb a lot of info and to be honest that might have been one of a few things her prior owners were told they should or needed to do, without being told why. But to avoid parasitic drain makes sense to me.

Right now the switch is located as close to the battery as it can possibly get; it's been mounted into the side of the battery box. It's on the port side of the engine compartment, near the front, so more or less under the settee, with the helm and its instrument panel on the starboard side of that area, and the electrical panel also on the starboard side of the passage into the V-berth. At a very rough guess, going entirely by memory, to put the switch in the area I want it would be a run of about say 8' total—although honestly, even running it up about 3' and mounting it in the front of the settee's base would be a huge improvement over having to pull back the carpet, and the underlay, and lift out the hatch, and climb down the ladder and crawl across the engine compartment to the bloody switch every time I wanted to fire the engine up—although I must admit, I don't think we bothered shutting it off again during our little two-day jaunt from Sechelt to Lund and nothing exploded or caught fire, so maybe it's something you only do when you're parking it, and as much a security feature as anything else lol; if you didn't know where to look you would never figure out how to start her up even with the key in her!

I'm going to look into those Remote Battery Switches, though; they sound like exactly what I need, thanks!

Meanwhile, we made it safely through the Skookumchuck, and successfully navigated ferry wakes without being swamped, and made it safely to Lund, where she's now being stored on the hard, awaiting moorage on the Island, or spring, whichever comes first!

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks! Yes, she's been boat-house kept for most of her life, so she's in great condition for her age. She's got a couple of small things to repair or change of course; one of the first things I'm doing is to move the switch for the starter battery up to the dashboard so I don't have to climb down into the engine room every time I want to fire her up, lol!

Nothing wrong with turning off the start battery switch when the boat is not in use as it is likely safer and less likely that a parasitic load is on the battery. Mine are turned off when at the home dock.

Hi guys! I'm not entirely sure why the starter battery needs to be shut off when it's not in use; I was trying to absorb a lot of info and to be honest that might have been one of a few things her prior owners were told they should or needed to do, without being told why. But to avoid parasitic drain makes sense to me.

Do you mean literally a battery switch? Or an ignition switch? Or...

We don't routinely turn off our engine batteries, partly since they power the bilge pumps too... and some other stuff... including at least one of what could be called a "parasitic" load (stereo radio memory). Then too, we're connected to shore power while in the slip, so I don't much worry about parasitic loads then. The only time we'd literally turn off our main battery banks is when we're blocked on land and know it'll be for an extended period.

We do turn off our keyed ignition switches...

-Chris

 

[Chris M]

No, the keyed ignition switch, and the push-start and kill switches, are up on the dash. This is literally a huge black and red switch the size of my palm that cuts the starter battery off at the source, with three positions that we use: On, Off, and All, which draws from the starter battery as well as the house batteries for the stuff on the house circuits.

I think they said it would kill or damage the battery if it was just left on all the time, although of course it's kept on when the engine is running (or will be on again soon), so it can be charged, and so the engine can be shut off again, since the cut-off switch requires power to work.

Maybe I can just keep it on when she's not in storage? But my RV's battery, which powers the house stuff as well as its brakes, does die pretty quickly when it's just sitting there, although it gets me through a weekend using the lights and water pump and what just fine. So I'm a bit concerned that if I just leave it turned on for the whole summer, even with regular use, at some point I'll climb aboard and find the battery flat. And I can't even imagine what a giant pain in the ass it would be to jump-start her.

 

[Moonfish]

Congrats and welcome aboard! I'm sure you've already adopted this, but here's your new boat's anthem:

 

[SteveK]

I do not remember any of my boats ever turning off the master battery switch. Starter battery on 24/7/365.

 

[Chris M]

Huh, excellent! I'm perfectly happy to keep it as it is if it's just a matter of turning it off when I put her into storage; that's not a big deal. It's just that crawling down there twice a day when we're traveling is annoying.

 

[Chris M]

Congrats and welcome aboard! I'm sure you've already adopted this, but here's your new boat's anthem:

Lol, absolutely!!

My own personal anthem these past few days has been this one!

 

[ranger58sb]

No, the keyed ignition switch, and the push-start and kill switches, are up on the dash. This is literally a huge black and red switch the size of my palm that cuts the starter battery off at the source, with three positions that we use: On, Off, and All, which draws from the starter battery as well as the house batteries for the stuff on the house circuits.

I think they said it would kill or damage the battery if it was just left on all the time, although of course it's kept on when the engine is running (or will be on again soon), so it can be charged, and so the engine can be shut off again, since the cut-off switch requires power to work.

Got it; rotary switch. If you turn it to ON, does your house bank work? If not, likely the idea is that you can temporarily combine starter and house banks with the ALL position... if for some reason the starter battery isn't juicing up your engine enough.

If you turn it to OFF, see if your bilge pumps work. If they don't... and if you're leaving the boat in the water all the time... battery ON all the time is better than sinking.

I do not remember any of my boats ever turning off the master battery switch. Starter battery on 24/7/365.

Yep.

-Chris

 

[Chris M]

Got it; rotary switch. If you turn it to ON, does your house bank work? If not, likely the idea is that you can temporarily combine starter and house banks with the ALL position... if for some reason the starter battery isn't juicing up your engine enough.

Rotary switch, yes. Yes, the house bank works with the starter battery on or off; it doesn't make a difference. I was told that I had to switch to "All" to draw from both sets, and that would just divert the starter battery juice over to the house battery system. I honestly don't know if it would allow you to use the house batteries as supplementary starter batteries, but I don't see why not. It makes more sense that way anyways. Why would you want to use your starter battery up on your house circuits, unless for the fridge or something?

If you turn it to OFF, see if your bilge pumps work. If they don't... and if you're leaving the boat in the water all the time... battery ON all the time is better than sinking.

Ooh, yes, good point! Yes, if the auto bilge runs off the starter battery, then it's DEFINITELY being kept on!!