Taking Ownership of a Big Trawler
By Robin Roberts
Tuesday, December 17, 2002
Taking ownership of a new-to-us boat - November 2002We just completed the purchase of our dream boat - a 1988 DeFever 49 Pilothouse trawler. The seller was unwilling to help us after the deal was completed - he simply left the keys with the broker and disappeared. Fortunately, he left a few written instructions on how some of the boat's systems are configured! This is the story of our first few weekends with our new boat - with lots of "firsts" and small accomplishments as we begin the journey of learning about our boat.
Although we've both been boating for about 30 years, this was our first BIG boat (we used to think a 25' boat was big a few years ago...) A well-found trawler like the DeFever has many complex systems that exist in a relatively small space and in a hostile (marine) environment. Whether you purchase a new boat or an older boat - there will be things that don't work right. We decided to set realistic expectations for the first weekend of trawler ownership, and we tried to take things one at a time. The first big event was driving the boat to her new (temporary) slip. Remember, the previous owner was nowhere to be found - we just had a set of keys and some basic instructions. We drove (by car) to the new marina to survey the approach to our new slip (lots of room, thank goodness!), and spent a few hours crawling around the boat just getting familiar with the fuel system, electrical system, and controls. We have both driven single-screw boats for years, but this was our first real experience driving twin-screws. We each had a 5 minute lesson from the previous owner during the pre-purchase survey, and we studied some articles and the boat handling chapter in Chapmans to get familiar with the differences. I backed the boat out of the slip, and eased into the channel - what a thrill! I dreamed of this moment for many years, and it was as sweet (and just a little bit scary!) as I had hoped it would be. The wind was blowing about 12 knots, so we found an open area in the St. Lucie River to practice handling the boat. We oriented the boat in the same direction as our new slip, and made a few trial runs into an imaginary slip. Considering the wind and our inexperience we decided to come into the new slip bow-in for the first time - which worked out just fine. We used our FRS 2-way radios to communicate (the DeFever is big and I can't see some things from the fly bridge); once I got the boat lined up, Jim told me how far to bring her into the slip. I stopped her so he could rig a spring line, and then he had me ease her forward. The bow flares quite dramatically on our boat, and I can't see the dock once I'm very close to it. With good teamwork we succeeded in bringing our new girl into a slip without incident or raised voices. A small success, and a good "first"!
The next day we took the boat out to practice driving some more, and decided that we needed to back her into the slip. We went to an open area in the river and practiced backing into an imaginary slip several times. We were ready to tempt the fates again, so we brought her back to the marina and docked her. Again, I was at the upper helm and Jim handled the lines. I lined her up into the slip, and backed slowly until Jim told me to pause so he could rig the spring. Once the line was set, he had me ease the rest of the way into the slip. Another small success, with no raised voices and no mishaps. Teamwork, trust, and practice were the keys (especially practice)!
The rest of our first weekend on the new boat was relatively uneventful, except for two problems with the fresh water system (in the midst of the Captain's shower - both times!) which resulted in visits to the engine room - wet and naked - to figure out the trouble. Fortunately, the problems were quickly resolved.
As a general note, we've learned that you can't expect the pre-purchase surveyor to find *everything*, and that some things work okay for a bit, then fail in some interesting and unexpected ways! You have to keep your sense of humor about all this - and count the bad things as useful lessons and the good things as luck!
A few weeks later we were back in Florida for another long weekend to practice and learn about our new trawler. We happened to be in Stuart for the annual Holiday Boat Parade. The parade went (quite literally) past our bow, so we had a great view of the 40-odd boats - all shapes and sizes - decorated with lights and other holiday paraphernalia. There were live bands, palm trees, boats with so many lights that you couldn't even tell what kind it was, tiny boats, sail boats, power boats, and even a mega-yacht complete with helicopter hanging off the stern. It was absolutely wonderful!
We added to our list of firsts - getting some fuel, getting the holding tank pumped out, and docking the boat in a wicked cross wind! My planned starboard-to arrival at the fuel dock became a port-side arrival, thanks to the strong wind. It's important to stay flexible! Fortunately, we realized that the wind would force a change in plans early in our approach to the dock, so we just lined her up parallel to the dock and let the wind bring us alongside. Whew! With the heavy wind it was too hard to flip the boat around (and the fuel dock's hoses wouldn't reach), so we took all the fuel in the port side tanks - 250 gallons. Adventures listed to port during our post-fueling boat ride, but we had high hopes that the boat's nifty fuel transfer pump would actually work so we could shift some of the fuel to the starboard tanks when we got back to our dock.
The good news is that the fuel transfer pump works great - we got the boat balanced!
The bad news is that we discovered (late Sunday night) that the holding tank was full. There's an electronic how-full-is-the-tank gauge, and when we pushed the button, it showed "empty". So, we assumed that the boat's tank was empty - given that the boat was cleaned off and in a ready-to-be-sold condition when we bought her a few short flushes ago! It was a fair assumption that the tank would be empty, confirmed by the gauge. In reality, it turns out that the seller left us with his... crap (a lot of it)... AND didn't tell us that the gauge lies. (Did I mention that it's a solid fiberglass tank, so you can't see a level, either.)
So, we found out the um... hard way. And the free come-right-to-your-dock pump-out boat only works on Tuesday through Saturday. It's Sunday night, and we're leaving town early Tuesday morning. And did I mention that it's pouring down rain all day Monday? Oh yeah, and windy. (You should be laughing by now...)
We found the only two marinas with a pump-out in the Stuart area. One was in the lee of the wind, so we chose to go there to minimize the docking excitement. It took a while to get a good seal on the pump-out fitting, requiring one of us to stand on the nozzle for the entire process. The pump was on a 2.5 minute timer, so one of us had to stand by the breaker on the dock, to reset it every time it tripped. It was a slow pump, and we had several clogs that took time to clear - we ended up standing in the pouring rain doing this pump-out for about 90 minutes! I ran through all the possible head-related jokes I could think of, and the dockmaster was doubled over laughing with us. Well, it was pretty funny until we got into the second hour... then we just got tired. But, it was an adventure in the true spirit of adventures, and the good news is that we now have an empty tank and we know the gauge needs fixing. The funky smell was all gone, and the clean-up wasn't as bad as we feared. The final chapter to that adventure was coming back to the dock in the increasing cross-wind. I had to wave-off twice when I was half-way into the slip, but we made it without incident, and we learned more about how to handle the boat in weather that we would not normally go out in.
The adventures have just begun, and we hope people find some enjoyment and/or lessons from the "glamour life" of new trawler owners!
As a general note, we've learned that you can't expect the pre-purchase surveyor to find *everything*, and that some things work okay for a bit, then fail in some interesting and unexpected ways! You have to keep your sense of humor about all this - and count the bad things as useful lessons and the good things as luck!
A few weeks later we were back in Florida for another long weekend to practice and learn about our new trawler. We happened to be in Stuart for the annual Holiday Boat Parade. The parade went (quite literally) past our bow, so we had a great view of the 40-odd boats - all shapes and sizes - decorated with lights and other holiday paraphernalia. There were live bands, palm trees, boats with so many lights that you couldn't even tell what kind it was, tiny boats, sail boats, power boats, and even a mega-yacht complete with helicopter hanging off the stern. It was absolutely wonderful!
We added to our list of firsts - getting some fuel, getting the holding tank pumped out, and docking the boat in a wicked cross wind! My planned starboard-to arrival at the fuel dock became a port-side arrival, thanks to the strong wind. It's important to stay flexible! Fortunately, we realized that the wind would force a change in plans early in our approach to the dock, so we just lined her up parallel to the dock and let the wind bring us alongside. Whew! With the heavy wind it was too hard to flip the boat around (and the fuel dock's hoses wouldn't reach), so we took all the fuel in the port side tanks - 250 gallons. Adventures listed to port during our post-fueling boat ride, but we had high hopes that the boat's nifty fuel transfer pump would actually work so we could shift some of the fuel to the starboard tanks when we got back to our dock.
The good news is that the fuel transfer pump works great - we got the boat balanced!
The bad news is that we discovered (late Sunday night) that the holding tank was full. There's an electronic how-full-is-the-tank gauge, and when we pushed the button, it showed "empty". So, we assumed that the boat's tank was empty - given that the boat was cleaned off and in a ready-to-be-sold condition when we bought her a few short flushes ago! It was a fair assumption that the tank would be empty, confirmed by the gauge. In reality, it turns out that the seller left us with his... crap (a lot of it)... AND didn't tell us that the gauge lies. (Did I mention that it's a solid fiberglass tank, so you can't see a level, either.)
So, we found out the um... hard way. And the free come-right-to-your-dock pump-out boat only works on Tuesday through Saturday. It's Sunday night, and we're leaving town early Tuesday morning. And did I mention that it's pouring down rain all day Monday? Oh yeah, and windy. (You should be laughing by now...)
We found the only two marinas with a pump-out in the Stuart area. One was in the lee of the wind, so we chose to go there to minimize the docking excitement. It took a while to get a good seal on the pump-out fitting, requiring one of us to stand on the nozzle for the entire process. The pump was on a 2.5 minute timer, so one of us had to stand by the breaker on the dock, to reset it every time it tripped. It was a slow pump, and we had several clogs that took time to clear - we ended up standing in the pouring rain doing this pump-out for about 90 minutes! I ran through all the possible head-related jokes I could think of, and the dockmaster was doubled over laughing with us. Well, it was pretty funny until we got into the second hour... then we just got tired. But, it was an adventure in the true spirit of adventures, and the good news is that we now have an empty tank and we know the gauge needs fixing. The funky smell was all gone, and the clean-up wasn't as bad as we feared. The final chapter to that adventure was coming back to the dock in the increasing cross-wind. I had to wave-off twice when I was half-way into the slip, but we made it without incident, and we learned more about how to handle the boat in weather that we would not normally go out in.
The adventures have just begun, and we hope people find some enjoyment and/or lessons from the "glamour life" of new trawler owners!
