Roly...
I have a 1987 MT 47 Tradewinds and have several friends who own this model boat.**The early boats were made in the Lien*Hwai (sp?) yard*and were some of the better boats in terms of materials.* *The early boats, including 1987, had a full keel (desirable) and those beginning in 1988 are a totally different boat, without the full keel and with 2 staterooms.* I don't think the 1988 forward is desirable b/c it does not have the full keel to protect the props and running gear.
The best engines are the Ford Lehman - parts are readily available and it was a workhorse engine - a tractor engine.* The parts, for the most part,*are still manufactured and readily available.* Those that are not are usually parts which are easily substituted.*
Every boat model has its quirks... we had a 1990 Albin 40 and worked on it for 4 years, enjoyed it (same Ford engines) and sold it readily.* We wanted a bigger boat and this was affordable.* Most older Taiwanese boats have water leaks and problems b/c someone fell out of love with it.* Water leaks from the front windshield are inevitable - canvas when you are not on the boat keeps out the water.* They are all repairable...we could have bought a newer boat, but found that it was just as affordable to buy an older boat and do work on it to make it just like we wanted... and then we would know what we had.* We had ours in the boat yard for 7 months and are very pleased.
Also, we joined MTOA (it used to be Marine Trader Owners Association but it is now the Marine Trawler Owners Association) 2 years before we bought our first large boat, in order to research what to buy and what not to buy.* The website is
www.mtoa.net** They have a CD Rom that has all their News*Magazines back to 1990 when it started.* You can search by word, like "varnish" or "fuel tank" ... it was worth it.* I learned which boats to avoid* - mostly because of the engine make or transmission (there are some that are destined to fail)...* so, it was worth joining.* MTOA is all volunteer and they don't run fund raisers or sell a bunch of advertising, so all the information is not oriented to selling anything.
I have found, from experience, that the membership (over 2000) are in fact knowledgeable and capable (I am sure that there are exceptions).* The club has 2 national meetings/rendezvous a year and a number of regional rendezvous at which there are seminars on things to make us better boaters - like docking, line handling, navigation, how to put out a fire on the boat, and rescue maneuvers.** Usually about 300 attend the meetings/rendezvous.* Its all about information sharing and making better boaters.* There are sport fishing boats, new trawlers, a few Hatteras yachts, and old trawlers and a few sailboats.*
They do have a listserv, and you do have to join to go on the listserv.* If you want to do the research to see what boat / equipment to get, the real value is in the old News Magazines via the CD Rom.** Considering that it is all volunteer, and what the*cost to buy and maintain a boat, the membership is cheap - $75 or so, not sure, but when you join you get the CD Rom, I think.* But if you join, you need to go to a rendezvous to the seminars.* They are great.*
Good luck and hope to see you join MTOA.** Let me know if you get a 47 Tradewinds.