Why a (steel) trawler?

Several reasons. As John deCaro states on his very informative website BuyExploreryachts.com:

"Steel, aluminum, fiberglass and all of its derivatives all have advantages and disadvantages. In my opinion, a steel hull offers the best all-round qualities. Low cost of construction, excellent abrasion resistance, ease of repair (newly developed coatings greatly decrease maintenance), durability, and high resistance to impact damage are only a few of these qualities."

I agree.

And I wanted a full displacement vessel. Quoting John again:

"Why is this important, what is the difference from a semi displacement vessel and is one better then the other? Both types of vessels are equally GOOD for their intended use. If you intend to travel only in protected and semi protected waters “coastwise” and want to go faster then what the water line length will allow, semi displacement is for you. If, however you want a long-range offshore vessel designed to handle demanding conditions then full displacement is the only choice. "

North Sea trawlers are some of most seaworthy vessels around, designed to be at sea even if the weather is not for cruising! These pictures show what you cannot do with 'tupperware' :-).

And, with proper maintaince and professionally done paint job, steel ships will outlast fiberglass.

My advisors

To make this all happen I rely on several people. And I'm sure this list will grow.

Right now, Willem Kramer, at Herman Jansen BV, the original design bureau of this and many other beautiful and very seaworthy trawlers are helping me put my ideas on paper or better, AutoCAD or similar.

I've also had a lot of help from Leun van Koppen of Maaskant shipyards, the ship's builder. This gentleman knows the ship inside out. I've thrown so many questions at him, he's still digesting them. And, I'm eternally greatful to him helping me find this ship (my wife clearly has a different opinion :-) ) and closing the deal.

On the engine front I've received a lot of help and 'education' from Richard Cuperus at Wartsila/Deutz, the engine manufacturer. He help me refresh what I had learned once about prop demand. They will take back the current 9 cyl. engine and get me a smaller 6 cylinder version.

I've also spend a great day and will surely be more in touch with Wim van Rij of Freetechnics. They make great stuff to keep an eye on anything on board. Check them out!

Jan Klumpenaar at Victron Energy, makers of the very versatle MultiPlus system, thanks for answering my many e-mails and helping me find my way to Asea Power frequency converters, helping me save lots of $$ so I can still built a power system that we want.

Lars Bo Anderson from CJC filters in Denmark, thanks for answering my many questions, sending me lots of info and setting up a great, very informative website; an example for other manufacturers.

I also want to mention Eric Vonk and Karin Schippers, proud owners of another, 44 m. Maaskant trawler. They living near Tampa, Florida and are traveling up and down to see the progress on their Scintilla Maris. They should start a blog too!

General data

Here's some general data:

l.o.a.: 40.19 m / 131.86 ft

l.w.l.: 37.04 m / 121.52 ft

beam: 9 m / 29.53 ft

draft: 4.75 m / 15.6 ft
D/L ratio: 0.13

estimated max. cruise speed: 11.5 kn

economical cruise speed: 9 kn

range: 10.000 nm (economy speed, no reserve)



berths: 28

current prop. diameter: 3.6 m


current main engine: 2000 hp

A/B ratio: low !

Displacemet (yacht load): 720 tons

Location

Right now, my vessel is in The Netherlands at

Maaskant Shipyard, Stellendam.

For address, contact info and route description, click here.

Our contact at the yard: Mr. Leun van Koppen.

Why this blog

Being a marine mechanical engineer by education and having worked few years in the merchant marine, I've always been drawn to the sea. Through one of those odd things in life, I became an entrepeneur in Costa Rica but after moving to Panama just over a year ago, the 'itch' came back.
I've been subscribed to Passage Maker Magazine for years. I never thought about buying 'plastic'. I wanted a very seaworthy vessel, built to withstand a beating by nature, total piece of mind and well, I didn't have $ 2 million in the bank either. So I was always on the lookout for a steel trawler and this year I got my hands on one.

This blog is about the process of converting it into a private expedition vessel. The deliberations, the related technical issues, the equipment and eventually - how it's behaving at sea!

Maybe it will help you if you plan a similar conversion project. And if just like to read about trawlers and related technical issues, enjoy! I will for sure.

Thorwald Westmaas

owner