A lot to update

Has it really been 2 months since my last update? I really didn't think I had that much to contribute but as I think back, a lot has happened in these past 2 months.

Steve Seaton Joins Us!!!

We are thrilled that Steve Seaton has joined us to continue the design phases for our current models as well as future models. Steve has over 35 years experience in yacht design. He designed the original Northern Marine series as well as many yachts built at Delta, Cheoy Lee, and other notable yards. His influence is already having a positive effect. More on that later.

Gene Kohlmann Joins Us!!!

We are proud to announce that Gene Kohlmann has been brought aboard as General Manager of Northwest Trawlers. Gene brings over 35 years experience in senior management in the yacht building industry. His contributions to the success of Ericson Yachts, Pacific Seacraft and more recently, Nordhavn are well known in the industry. We are truly excited to have Gene aboard.

Hull 3 is Launched

Hull #3 is nearing completion and we launched her this past week. Here she is just before they lowered here into the water.

Here she is in the water just before we pulled away for the first seatrial.

This boat has an optional John Deere 6125 engine that produces 610 horsepower at 2100 rpm. We observed a 2 way average of 16.75 knots in our initial seatrial. This, of course, was at "lightship" which is without full fuel, water, provisions, or gear. We anticipate that at cruise weight, we will have a 15 knot top speed, which is what we were hoping.

Above is the hand held GPS that we used to measure the speeds. This was the one way run and the other read out at 16.6 knots.

Back at the dock....

Hull 3 will be here for another 3 weeks or so for final commissioning. There still needs to be carpeting, electronics, and a few other interior items completed before we begin the process of delivering her to her new owners.

If you want to see hulls 1 or 3, please give us a call (866-370-5560) to schedule a viewing and a sea trial.

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.