Helmsman Trawlers - 38 Pilothouse

The Northern Lights Lugger engine is built for exceptional reliability and long life. The current 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. Since there is no time limitation for max power on this engine you can cruise all day at 8.5 knots if desired, but it’s unlikely you would want to. 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 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 required to be 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 in 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.

All 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, leaving no voids.

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

Overall construction is of the highest grade.

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 foredeck.
A water tight 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 very comfortable convertible guest suite.

Heat is supplied by a Wallas D40 diesel forced air heater.