Helmsman Trawlers - 38 Pilothouse

The Northern Lights Lugger engine is built for exceptional reliability and long life. The original owner of the boat selected it carefully based on years of experience owning and operating displacement vessels, including his Grand Banks 32 and his Nordhavn 46. He describes the reasons for this thoroughly-considered selection: "The Lugger engine was selected with several requirements in mind: first and foremost, reliability. I wanted a simple, naturally-aspirated non-electronic diesel for cruising in remote areas. It shouldn’t be dependent on a computer and electronics to run. Second, durability. It should be rugged and have a long lifetime. That makes this engine the last of the naturally-aspirated, non-electronic diesels allowed into the US EPA regulations. A side benefit of this engine configuration is that it is now in the “heavy-duty” classification, rather than the “light duty” classification of most pleasure boat engines. It can be run wide open if desired with no time restrictions as is otherwise the case. It also should go many thousands of hours before needing an overhaul. In the Nordhavn fleet, long-haul ocean-crossing vessels, these long-stroke, slow-turning Luggers typically go twenty thousand to thirty thousand hours before overhaul is needed. This is five to ten times longer than the usual high-speed engines common in recreational boats. When the time does come to overhaul, the wet cylinder liners make the job much easier and less expensive than pulling the whole block from the boat."

"Actual performance is just what I expected from the pre-purchase calculations that were done...when I am making a passage, such as Seattle to Sitka, I cruise at 7.2 knots to extend range. At that speed she burns 2.1 gal/hr, giving a range of about 1250 nautical miles. The log of my first trip to Alaska shows 320 gallons of fuel burned for the thousand-mile trip to Sitka; no fuel stops were made, and we arrived in Sitka with a quarter of our fuel still aboard. The boat cruised at 7.5 knots using 2.3 gal/hr, about 46 HP using our rule of thumb; 7.3 knots at 2.1 gal/hr for 42 HP, and the “left over” horsepower drove the boat to a maximum speed of over 8 knots, well above optimum displacement cruising. Fuel consumption is high, as is the running angle and the wake, all for a 1.5-knot speed increase. If the engine were larger a potential problem would be not pulling enough power from the engine for long periods of time when cruising, which can lead to premature engine wear. Diesels need to be worked. With easy cruising at about two-thirds power and adequate reserves for adverse wind and wave conditions it’s clear that the engine is properly sized for the vessel."

The current owner of this vessel reports the following
8 items that they found to be true:

1. The boat is extremely stable in all sorts of weather.

2. We tended to cruise at 7.2 knots. The engine is very economical at that speed and the boat very comfortable.

3. We were in winds up to 70 knots on dock and up to 40 knots under power. We always had enough power. In the situation where we were running in 40 knots on our head, and significant waves, the boat easily powered through with great comfort to us. At that time, we pulled into Otter Bay and had no problems docking in the stiff winds in a narrow marina.

4. We had situations where we were ostensibly “pinned” to docks by wind where others had difficulty leaving and we were able to get off with no problem.

5. I know that the question for most is "will the boat have power in difficult situations" and think that a larger engine will do that. With this boat we found that the engine had strength and force in these situations. Force was more important than speed and the Lugger engine has sufficient force. It maintains its comfortable speed where other engines would slow down.

7. The engine is amazing economical to run. Any owner will be able to go miles and miles owing to the very minimal consumption of fuel.

8. We found that the engine and its power worked very well for us. We also surprisingly found that many people we met on our two-month cruising vacation last summer
were cruising at the same speed although they had larger engines.

The engine has two alternators - the standard 80 amp for the start battery and a 160 amp to charge only the Rolls house batteries. This supplies a complete back-up electrical system. The renowned Rolls batteries will supply 2 to 3 days of power if you are at anchor.

Inverter/Charger is a Victron Energy / Phoenix Multi Plus 3 KW True Sine Wave system.

Full Bonding System

Bow Thruster is a Vetus with controls at both helm stations

The hot water heater is 11 gallons.

Racor fuel filtering system.

12 volt battery, 3 batteries charged by: engine, shore power

Total LOA stem-to-stern is 40' 6".

This pilothouse trawler is built of hand laid-up fiberglass. Extra glass is installed in the keel and chines (keel and chine doublers). The hull has a full liner bonded in with overlays of galvanized iron for engine mounts. The fuel tanks are fiberglass with stainless steel top access plates. These are included on all tanks. The water tanks are stainless steel and the holding tank is fiberglass.

Doors and windows are manufactured by Manship. The teak and holly floors are solid wood -- not a thin veneer.

The gel coat on this vessel is almost without cracks or separations. This is primarily due the high grade materials used and the detail to which cloth, roving and resin are installed over the gel coat during layup, leaving no voids.

All electrical wire is tinned and labeled at supply and equipment.

Overall construction is of the highest grade.

Bottom paint is still in good condition from last renewal. Boat has been dived upon quarterly last done December 2015 with good report.

This vessel has several features which improve upon the traditional pilothouse trawler interior:
The forward stateroom has a shower compartment entirely separate from the head.
There is a second head (day head) off the saloon/galley.
There are two doors out of the pilothouse to the side decks.
A watertight access door is in the second head to access the engine room.
Because this is a wide body vessel there is a much larger saloon/galley area.
Visibility from the lower station is such that the helmsman can watch any one who is stepping ashore from either side of the swim step.
The pilothouse has a dinette area that easily accommodates three people and converts to a single pilot berth.
The saloon dinette converts to a large double berth and with the extra head aft is effectively a very comfortable convertible guest suite.

"Heat is supplied by a Wallas D40 diesel forced air furnace. This furnace was serviced by a Scan Marine technician in 2015. Mufflers and baffles were added to reduce air flow noise. “

Window coverings are wooden blinds installed by the factory.

3 burner gas cooker/stove