Announcing.....Northwest 49

We have begun our 4th boat, a 50 foot (49' 10")version of the Northwest series. There will be 2 new interior layouts available. Hull #1 has chosen a single stateroom with a large king sized bed. A large master head with a smaller day head make up the forward lower level. The saloon, galley and pilothouse all remain the same as the 45. Here is hull 1 having the extension added.

For the first hull, we have cut the existing 45 hull and inserted a section. This section will be infused so it will be as strong as if it were all done in a single piece infusion.
Here is a picture looking forward. The forward engine room bulkhead can be seen. The cutout is where the stairs go down to go forward.

The new owners came down from British Columbia to visit and see the progress. They are having this boat very well equipped as they plan extensive coastal cruising from Alaska to Mexico. We will be installing a complete hydraulics package including stabilizers, bow thruster, windlass, and the Wesmar APU get home system. The clients have chosen a Cummins QSM11 with 670hp. We anticipate that the top speed should be 15 to 16 knots with this configuration. This will give them the speed they may need when negotiating the "narrows" that we have here in the Northwest. Currents run strong in these areas and the extra "umph" of power is comforting as it is an added safety factor. The good thing is that the new "common rail" engines, when run at lower rpms are just as efficient as a smaller engine would be. This gives the owner the best of both worlds; the speed of a fast trawler and the efficiency of a full displacement boat.
The engine was lowered into place to make sure that it did indeed fit. The transmission is tight, but no problems. As soon as I get some of the layout drawings complete, I will post them here and on our main website.

For those of you in Canada, we are planning on taking Nor'wester over to the Victoria Harbour Floating Boat Show.

Plan to come and see us. If you know you are going to be there, drop me a note at peter@nwtrawlers.com so we can keep an eye out for you.

For more information on the show visit their website at: www.bcmta.com/bcyba/04shows/vicboatshow/

TTFN

We didn't have a lot of time, but we were able to get the two boats out for a photo shoot. This is the only picture that I have so far. It was interesting. Paolo drove the #2 boat and I drove Nor'wester. We found that at top speed, the #2 boat is about a knot faster due to not having stabilizers and it also was not as heavily loaded. Paolo reports that it is very quiet and smooth, even running at full speed.

I wish that we had taken a camera with us. The camera boat, a small Bayliner Trophy of about 20' was driven by Steve Luther with the photographer and David Voetmann (our marketing consultant) aboard. They asked us to come at the camera boat at full speed and pass on either side of it. With the 2 trawlers running at about 12 knots, we really bounced them around when our collective wakes hit them. The second time, they were pretty wide eyed as we went by.

A quick note about Trawlerfest. I just received a list of those displaying. There are about 40 boats it appears and the tent has 37 vendors signed up. This is fantastic. I hear they have had to increase the size of the tent ordered for vendors twice. I also know that the Trawlerfest people have been requesting more slips from the Port of Anacortes as the list of attendees keeps growing. We hope to make the Anacortes Trawlerfest the largest in the country.

And Then There Were Two

A lot has happened since my last update. We launched hull 2 in late February with quite a bit of interior finish work to be completed. The owner and owner's representative came out to visit and were thrilled with what they found.
That's the owner on the left with Robert Noyce, our Annapolis representative. The owner, we'll call him "T" has grand plans for decorating the boat and they are looking forward to cruising the Chesapeake this summer.
Here is the happy skipper at the helm. We couldn't seem to get him to stop smiling.
"Gosh!!! I can see my face in the hull" I have to admit that I was skeptical about doing a boat in yellow, but it really is stunning. I am told that this is one of the "new" colors that is the rage on the East Coast.

Hull #2 (Barb calls it "Big Bird".......she also calls #1 "Kermit", because it is green)is leaves on March 20th aboard Yachtpath. She is scheduled to arrive in Fort Lauderdale about the 11th of April. Those in that area can schedule an inspection with our representative there, Judy Waldman. Just click on her name on the right to get her contact information. If you are in the mid-Atlantic area or Northeast, contact Robert Noyce, also by clicking on his name on the right side of the page.

More Later.......