Sea Trial....

[Piers]

Went out on Saturday on a Trader 54 with Tarquin from Emsworth (Chichester).

What a day - windy, very emotional, upset (angry?) sea just past the bar - but the front had passed, the rain had stopped, and the sun was out. Excellent to see how the boat took it all. And take it she did. Really impressed.

Comments on Traders?

Piers du Pre
MBM Cruising Club enthusiast

 

[ccscott49]

Had a look at one in Dartmouth, 60 odd feet, really nicely put together, the engine room was magnificent an engineers dream! Everything else looked great aswell, some really nice systems, stern controls, for meddy mooring, magic!

 

[Guest]

Big, heavy and slow, will cost afortune in fuel etc, but geat accomodation, build quality so so in some areas, watch out for the dreaded O, a totally different concept to the Princess, are you trading up to something bigger then Piers?.

Paul js.

 

[Guest]

Wouldn't have thought you were old enough for a Trader Piers. Not really an "outrageous" boat are they. Bit slow?

Always look a bit liveboardy type boats. Never been on one though looked through the windows on a couple and they look very mobile homeish.

But it's what you think of it that counts.

 

[Piers]

Hi Colin - Yes, slow, but hugely roomy and that's what we need right now. It's been the lack of space that has limited crusing holidays for the family in the recent past. Huge vessel, feels like ship, and it certainly said boo to the seas on Saturday.



Piers du Pre
MBM Cruising Club enthusiast

 

[Piers]

Paul - yes I'm possily trading up soon(ish) depending on the sale of the company!

A gallon a mile, so I'm told, although no figures to prove this or otherwise.

Piers du Pre
MBM Cruising Club enthusiast

 

[ccscott49]

Gallon a mile for a BIG boat like those, isn't so bad and as you say loadsa' room. Dont sell the company until I get on line Piers!!

 

[david_bagshaw]

What is the installed horse power, as Resolution with 2x 150 and a similar size runs at about 5 gall per hour at cruising revs, but you can double it for an extra 1.75 Kn !! Then of course you have to add generators etc though in reality their consumption is not realy great.



David
www.yachtman.co.uk

 

[Guest]

Who has told you a gallon per mile then, Mr Chappel I presume, forget it think in terms of for eg, Hythe to weymouth about 75 gallons, I know this as we used to own a certain Histar 42 that until last year moored at BERTHONS,now in LYH, the Histar had 2 375 cats in it, was a dead ringer for Trader 41, it would only manage 22 knots with clean bottom, down hill with wind behind etc, after 2 months in the water it was down to about 18 flat out.
The shape of the hull according to TS Bevan was good, it hardly had any sort of keel on it, I would of thought a 50 ft Princess or eq Fairline would be a better bet, there seem to be plenty about at the moment, still thats only my opinion.

Paul js.

 

[Guest]

A mile a gallon
OH MY GOD !!!!
it would be cheaper to get twenty illegal immigrants to row especially with immigration control behind

 

[Piers]

The choice of offered engines is CAT from 435hp to 660hp. The skipper who took us out said a mile a gallon, although I would prefere to take the info from the CAT engine figures! (Tony is on hols in the BVI on one of his charter boats).

Given the boat is designed for a 12 - 14 knot cruise, does one need the extra hp - or is it a modern fad to have the latest & most powerful?

Still, did you enjoy the Histar. What did you like & what didn't you like?

Piers du Pre
MBM Cruising Club enthusiast
www.dupre.co.uk

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

What you need to run a Trader is the following:

A massive wallet for the fuel bills. A gallon a mile! You've got to be joking. Any sort of semi-displacement speed and you're looking at 0.5mpg

An ocean going set of waterproofs to deal with all the spray that the badly designed hull throws over the flybridge

Plenty of sick bags as they roll like pigs in a beam sea

A large pinch of salt when Mr Chappell quotes top speed

An industrial size tin of duraglit for the Taiwanese stainless steel

Go take a cold shower and look at some Fairline/Princess brochures

 

[Guest]

Piers, Deleted User is right, you are nowhere near an old enough git to warrant a pug-ugly trader. And further, for goodness sake, your boat is only just fixed up - in fact, not just "fixed up" more like with engine rebuild on account of slight bit of antifreeze dribble. You are suffering from end of season wallet syndrome, not having unloaded enough money on boat or diesel for some weeks or even months. Organise a large truck to take boat to correct destination, which is South of France or Balearics. Buy a berth, which will cost at least 100k, which will correct the fat wallet syndrome, tho at least you'll get the money back. I would also warn of the environmental damage caused by all those 8' x 4' pieces of mahogany-faced harboard in Trader. If youstill fancy a trader and baltics cruise etc, get a noisy taxi to tow a monster rolly rolly caravan around B&Q carpark with all windows open on rainy day, whilst you eat some cardboard and a pickled herring.

 

[jfm]

Re: Fuel Consump, laws of physics

Piers I have no direct experience of trader but 1mpg sounds astonishingly optimistic. Surely 0.6-0.7mpg more realistic?

 

[Piers]

Re: Fuel Consump, laws of physics

I suspect you are right - my V39 averages 1.4mpg, and I can't believe a semi-dis which weighs over three times as much would only do 1mpg!

Piers du Pre
MBM Cruising Club enthusiast
www.dupre.co.uk

 

[Piers]

What a great reply - loved it, grinned at it, and my PA asked what I was laughing at!

Now, where's B & Q from here....

Piers du Pre
MBM Cruising Club enthusiast
www.dupre.co.uk

 

[kimhollamby]

Re: Fuel Consump, laws of physics

Rule of thumb WOT 4.5-5.0gal/100hp. So pair of 660s = 1320hp = 60-65gal/hr flat out if propped correctly and pulling full rating; very approx half that at cruising speeds mid teens. You can hit 1mpg but not, I suspect, at speeds very much above displacement hull speed.

 

[JohnR]

Re: Fuel Consump, laws of physics

My old GB42 wih Penta 3something or others used to cruise at 1 gpm and when I was mean I could get 1.6 out of her but I never did know what the fuel consumption was when I knocked her up to 22knts once

 

[Guest]

Glad to read others agree with my fuel figures, though it was only me, Histar was a great boat for room, ease of engine acess, bought it as a bit of a project, better than saying it was a wreck, worked on it for 2 years before it was right with my late father, we sold it when he became ill, still it was agood family cruising boat but slow,we used to cruise with faster boats so it had to go, prefer the 388 I have now for ease of use,low maintainance and cost above all, stick with another British built boat you will know what I mean when you come to sell it.

Paul js.

 

[petem]

Piers,

Why not get out to BVA and charter one for a week. Get it out your system. However, I knew someone who did exactly the same thing and was happy to get back back to his Squadron 59.

Pete