New to the Ranks - Trawler Owners

[TrailerTrash]

Well... I've lurked here for awhile dreaming of one day, when I'd finally own a trawler. That day has finally come as we have finalized on our almost new (1976 - half century!) CHB 34. I've spent the last week working with the yard, scheduling the work she needs to provide us with a reliable cruising platform for the PNW. I lucked out finding a really good mechanic who has helped me plan my mechanical updates and fixes. I love that simple engine and I'm dreaming of my engine room mods and spending time laying down there with the bilge water.

Looking forward to being more involved here.

 

[Comodave]

Welcome aboard. Congratulations on your new boat.

 

[mvweebles]

CHB 34 was the first trawler to catch my eye! Best of luck with her -

Peter

 

[Bacchus]

Kevin
Welcome aboard TF and congrats on your "New" trawler.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard if I've missed you and congrat's. I would strongly advise that you NOT make any major (?) changes to your new mistress for a period of time. Upwards of 6+ months if your using her frequently.
Live with her for a bit. That new shelf/cupboard/locker may not be the best "improvement" in the long run. Enjoy.

 

[TrailerTrash]

Well.... the changes I'm pursuing now are all of the "swap the engine mounts and thru hulls" variety. No shelves are under consideration, although I am looking at building a board in the engine room to mount a diesel pump, a couple Racor filter housings, and plumbing to polish fuel tanks and circulate biocide. A small air compressor will probably get mounted down there because everyone needs pneumatics.

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Mt. TT. Yep. Get her mechanically sound, leak tight (as much as possible) and run with it. You'll have plenty of time to "adjust" her to your liking.

 

[rgano]

Sounds like lots of PHUN coming your way.

 

[porman]

Welcome. That looks like Elliott Bay Marina. We're in Lake Washington. We're always happy to meet and talk to Seattle area trawler owners. PM us if you like.

 

[Slo-Jim]

We bought our ‘79 CHB 34 Puget trawler back in July. Worked on deck leaks, installed all new oil, tranny and water heat exchangers and hoses, exhaust elbow, and changed all fluids and filters. Still haven’t taken it out of Sinclair Inlet! We need to finish complete rebuild of Bowsprit and anchoring system, then we will be ready to cruise! Happy to talk over issues and tips and tricks with you!

 

[TrailerTrash]

Welcome. That looks like Elliott Bay Marina. We're in Lake Washington. We're always happy to meet and talk to Seattle area trawler owners. PM us if you like.

Good eye.... I moved her up to Everett a couple of weeks ago. I've had her out for a couple of short trips but I'm mainly getting necessary stuff done. She has become my new office, I'm there daily almost getting things sorted. Someone, told me that boats are like treehouses for adults. I'd agree with that sentiment, except for possibly the "adult" part.

 

[fractalphreak]

Welcome! Beautiful boat, congratulations! Good on getting to the engine mounts. We didn't know, we found two sheared off (one on each engine) when we took it apart to replace them. They were old and squished down. I'd have done it sooner if I had realized how little was holding the engines in place. The boat was a lot quieter after those were installed.

 

[TrailerTrash]

We bought our ‘79 CHB 34 Puget trawler back in July. Worked on deck leaks, installed all new oil, tranny and water heat exchangers and hoses, exhaust elbow, and changed all fluids and filters. Still haven’t taken it out of Sinclair Inlet! We need to finish complete rebuild of Bowsprit and anchoring system, then we will be ready to cruise! Happy to talk over issues and tips and tricks with you!

Very nice boat. I'm sure I'll be mostly done with things at some point but right now my list of "boat updates" is entirely too long. I think I'll have to learn to deal with the tension of having things "undone" while I use her. I'm planning a trip down to Olympia in early March and that is my first multi-day trek around our waters. Today, I was planning my new air filter mod install trying to figure out where I want to mount it.

 

[Slo-Jim]

Looks like a nice upgrade from the “shopvac” sponge filter that my FL120 has!

 

[TrailerTrash]

Looks like a nice upgrade from the “shopvac” sponge filter that my FL120 has!

I have $250 sunk into it but my Lehman didn't even have the stock filter, just a 3" opening into the engine room. I'm going to route the crankcase vent upstream of the filter to get rid of some of those fumes and I'm running a fresh air intake up to the bow area to pull air from the front cabin. I figure anything that helps air circulation won't hurt and my mechanic said I'd drop 3-6dB of noise by just putting a filter on the intake. The filter I bought is a massive industrial unit so I have WAY more airflow than I need.

 

[SteveK]

If the intake combustion is thru wall to forward cabin then engine room will not inhale outside air. IMO, that would increase standing heat.

 

[TrailerTrash]

If the intake is thru wall to forward cabin then engine room will not inhale outside air. IMO, that would increase standing heat.

The air flow is about 150 cfm at cruise is my estimate. It is far from perfectly sealed so the air between the engine room and the rest of the boat is only minimally decoupled. And heat is good around here.... it is nice to have that big block of cast iron kicking off some warmth.

 

[SteveK]

Another reason not to do that, fumes will enter living space instead of being burnt off.

 

[TrailerTrash]

Another reason not to do that, fumes will enter living space instead of being burnt off.

The fumes are for real. The crankcase is currently vented right into the engine room so I'm taking care of that. The diesel heater pulls makeup from the engine room too so I currently have the joy of sniffing hydrocarbons. You can smoke weed legally here but I'm sure diesel fumes would be frowned upon since those profit big oil.

 

[Slo-Jim]

can’t wait to hear how the sound levels come out. We have the original intake. I’m sure it does nothing to reduce the sound. But I bought a new filter for it so we will go with that for now.

 

[TrailerTrash]

can’t wait to hear how the sound levels come out. We have the original intake. I’m sure it does nothing to reduce the sound. But I bought a new filter for it so we will go with that for now.

I was told the stock intake reduces noise so you should have some benefit. My UOAs show very good silica numbers even though it had no air filter. Evidently, the oil covered engine room controlled all my dust (just joking) but I think the stock one is good enough. I'd keep it.

I ordered all the silicone elbows and such to hook it up. I'm installing engine mounts, replacing the alternator mount (which is cracked), coolant flush & expansion tank installed, valve lash adjustment, injectors tested and some other misc engine stuff. I have the bottom being painted, prop pulled, balanced, coated, rudder & zincs done and the front windows rebedded before then. My hope is that by February most of my work will be done. I have a Garmin AP to hook up, Garmin AIS and Garmin depth transducer to install and at that point, I'm done commissioning for the season.

Next year, I plan to start working my way through the topsides, rebedding stuff, dealing with teak, epoxy and chase potential leaks and painting as I go. I'm going to do most of that stuff while I'm using the boat and just adopt a routine of doing something on the boat daily. Overall, it has been a ton of fun.