Hull 2 Progress

We are getting ready to deliver hull 2, a beautiful pale yellow color. This boat is headed for Annapolis, MD next month on Yacht Path. They will deliver it in Port Everglades, FL and Robert Noyce, our Mid-Atlantic representative will ferry it up the coast.
The radar arch is being installed prior to sea trial launch.
With the travel lift in place, she will make the short trip to the ramp and then into the water.
The sea trial went very smoothly with no issues. We still have a couple of weeks worth of work to finish her up but that will be completed with the boat in the water. Here she sits at the dock at the conclusion of the sea trial
A word about the bow thruster:
This is the ABT (American Bow Thruster) unit. It is the most powerful thruster I have used on a boat of this size. It is a 24 volt unit with its own dedicated battery bank of 2 8D batteries. The great thing about it is the fact that it won't overheat and shut down like most electric thrusters. ABT tells us that you can run it until the batteries go dead (about 4-5 minutes of continuous running) and it will keep on thrusting the entire time. I don't think you can ever say that your bow thruster is too powerful. In strong winds, it gives you a lot of confidence when docking.
The owner of this boat opted for the 5 blade prop, smooth as silk. The acceleration and top speed is higher than Nor'wester, but that is due primarily to the absence of stabilizers and a lighter boat (no hydraulics, watermaker, extra fuel, etc.).

Hull 3 is coming along nicely though I don't have any pictures to post yet. I will when I can.

Catching Up...........

I am sorry that I am so tardy in posting an update. Since we returned with the boat from Nanaimo, we have been busy getting ready for the Seattle Boats Afloat Show on Lake Union and working hard to finish hull 2.

Jan and I took Nor'wester down to Seattle a couple of weeks ago in preparation for the show. The weather was clear, cold and quite windy but the winds were from the North so the trip was smooth and uneventful. On the way down, while sitting in the sun filled, toasty warm pilothouse we chuckled as we remembered why we now love trawlers. We reminisced about the decision to move to trawlers that was made on our trip back from Princess Louisa back in 2001. I still remember how cold and miserable we were.

We had no sooner positioned Nor'wester for the show when both Jan and I started to come down with the flu. The Monday and Tuesday prior to the show's Thursday opening found me wishing someone would just shoot me. I don't think I have felt that bad in many years. We managed to survive but as I write this, I still have a lingering cough.

Our slot at the show could not have been better. We were on a corner where people could see the boat from all angles.
The weather this year at the show was horrid. The cold wind blew so hard that the docks started to come apart. The boat show crew was great but they had to constantly monitor the situation so that no boats got damaged or people injured. I think that some days the winds blew more than 30knots. We had rain wind and snow. Below is a picture taken shortly before the show opened one morning.
This was certainly a far cry from La Paz. (take me back.....please)

While attendance was off by over 20% compared to last year, we were very busy. At times we had more than a dozen people aboard to see Nor'wester. I spent most of the show on the boat and I don't think there was any time during the day that there wasn't someone aboard. We now have our fingers crossed that the enthusiasm showed by our visitors will turn into boat sales. The economy is not good right now, but our clients don't seem to be too affected. Ten days is a long boat show and while I do enjoy shows, it was great to get home and unwind.