trawler mod.

[brrbear]

Hi I'm chasing info from anyone who has converted a trawler for private use.
I recently purchased a 9.75 m trawler and did a trip from Brisbane to Lake Mac. no serious mishaps so far.

I have generally been cleaning her up & getting familar with her.
My first ? is should I remove the steelwork on top that holds and supports the wings for stability.I presume the wings would not be required once 2 ton of steel goes missing off the top.

My problem is I don't want to remove it to only find out the wings are necessary.
Any advice appreciated but I'm not looking for guesswork more after someone with first hand experience
thanks bear

[finding_time]

Looks great!

I have often thought this would be a great project for later on when my work load drops abit .eg 15 years.

With the stabilizers i guess i depends where your going to do the majoritory of your work. If it's in protected waters i would personally get ride of them, but if you want to do a bit of open ocean stuff well i know other owners of similar vessels that have kept there's and love them when moving up and down the coast.

Ian


Ps. one of the first things they did do was re-prop there boats

Ian

[rat_catcher]

Some years ago my father did exactly what you are planning and ended up with an excellent boat out of it.

One point to consider is the 'roll period' of the boat. If the hull was designed specifically to be a trawler and carry the extra weight aloft, then it will have a different roll period when you remove that weight.

In some cases this can create an uncomfortable boat as the removal of the weight aloft can decrease the roll period and cause the boat to have an unatuarally stiff and fast motion.

I guess the problem is you won't know unless you remove the gear. But at least have a think about this given you know the seakeeping characteristics of the hull as it stands now.

[dec0guy]

Is that the trawler that is often moored off Kingsford Smith drive near the Brekky Ck hotel? Always thought I could do with something like that!

I used to go diving off a boat with similar stabilisers and they do work very well, even if just anchored somewhere at rest. The force on them when the boat is moving is not insignificant (ie enough force to stop a multi ton boat rolling!) so I'd be careful in removing any structural members.

[Marlin_Mike]

Keep the wobbly bars on IMHO. Great for when you'r eoff shore.

Mike

[Noelm]

been down that road, the boat has had those fitted for trawling and are not needed for just "boating" sure they might come in handy at some time, but will not be necessary to retain sea worthiness, just remember that it MAY have been disigned to take into account the weight of winches and so on, and may need some weight added to the rear to compensate (maybe)

[brrbear]

decoguy yeah mate used to be there I sailed her back about 2 months ago.

[Kerry]

So when was the last time that boat was used in fact as a trawler? Did it have any winch gear? That stern awning would prevent nets into the sorting tray? It appears it was converted and had some changes pre this sale as it is?

The stabilizers are really not meant to balance the steel work but more to stop the rock and slop while pulling gear at snail's speed.

I would be leaving it all intact, you might even come to appreciate stabilizers when it's sloppy. There's only one problem with stabilizers when anchored, especially when the stabilizer arms are say 15 feet and the depth is 14 feet :)

[brrbear]

hi kerry not sure when it last trawled, I think its last work was trawling macks around yepoon.No whinch gear.
The problem with the stabliers when at rest is hooking large fish and them running around them, they have cost me at least 2 fish so far also they are not the easy to deploy and retrieve one out.

[blaze]

a lot more maintance if you leave them there
cheers
blaze

[Noelm]

the "wings/stabilisers/birds" are not needed when the boat is not engaged in Trawling or lifting weights from one side, sure it may be of some benefit when anchored, but the small positive is more than cancelled out with all the negatives, like maintenance, space, rattles, and just a general pain to have there.

[Sea-Dog]

I see that your boat is fitted with "solid" stabilizers.

The trawlers I used to work on had the stabilizers attached to the end of the arms via chains and rope to a pulley system.
Easy to pull the stabilizers in when not needed, just by hauling on the rope and the chain wound its way over a pulley. A large shackle that joined the rope thimble to the chain acted as a stopper to prevent the chain pulling right through the pulley. The rope was secured to a cleat on the frame (Gantry) that the arms were mounted on.

We generally only used them when steaming in rough weather, not when working.

They did slow the steaming speed down slightly, but greatly reduced the roll.

I suppose that the solid tubes linking the stabilizers to the arms would have an even greater roll-dampening effect than the chain/rope linked ones that I was used to.

You might want to have a look at other trawlers to see thier stabilizer setups and modify yours to match.

Cheers, Ross