Anything wrong with CHB trawlers ?

[Bob]

I've just begun a search for a used trawler. I don't want to pay over about
$70,000.00 for one, as I want to be able to pay cash. In looking at boats in
this price range, I seem to see quite a few CHB's, and a few wood Grand Banks,
but not much else. I don't want a wood boat period, so that leaves the CHB's.
I've looked at a couple CHB's, and they seem to be a fairly sturdy boat, if
not somewhat sparse.

I presently own an express cruiser (my third), and live in Northern
California. My normal cruising area presently is the Delta and S.F Bay.
I would like to extend that with a few sojourns out the Golden Gate and
up/down the coast, and I guess a "trawler" is the way to go. Any of you
experts out there feel a CHB is up to the challange, or should I be prepared
to spend more money ( boat payments, groan).

Any helpful comments/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.. Bob Sanders bobsand @earthlink.net

[Ron Wilson]

I wouldn't want to comment on CHBs specifically, but Taiwan-built boats
in general have a reputation of sorts. There are certainly people who
cruise up and down the coast, from Mexico to Alaska, in Taiwanese
trawlers. But there are some issues.
The Taiwanese took to building pleasure boats when the US market became
valuable and US/European labor rates made the traditional yards
uncompetitive for smaller boats. They were very determined, but they
learned the skills necessary to build a fiberglass boat serially: first,
they figured out carpentry. Then make superb teak interiors. Then, they
figured out fiberglass. For quite a while, I'm told, they had a lot of
trouble providing a stable environment for curing the resin. After that,
they learned electrical systems. And they are still working on
metalurgy.
Consequently, the problems you will have with a Taiwanese boat depend on
the vintage. A very early boat may leak around any wooden part, or may
have glass problems. Taiwanese boats in the 1970s had rat's nests where
the electrical systems were supposed to be. Wiring diagrams would be
missing or wrong, wires mislabeled and misrouted, and connections
questionable. And at least throught the late 80s, they were clueless
about metals: leaving dissimilar metals in direct contact where they
could be sitting in salt water, improper welds on stainless, poor
quality of stainless, you name it.
The severity of these problems seems to depend on the yard management
when your particular boat went through. Some boats seem to have been
carefully supervised, and others seem to have been a mess from the
beginning.
All of this doesn't mean that the boat isn't seaworthy, or isn't
enjoyable. You just need a very good survey so you have some idea what
you are getting into, and you need to be prepared for some frustration
when you have to rework things that should have been done differently
the first time. (Come to think of it, having owned a US-built boat as
well, this is more a matter of degree than of kind.) I suppose the
bottom line is that yes, there is a reason why Taiwanese trawlers cost
less than Singaporean Grand Banks boats. But there are a lot of happy
owners out there. I was one for a while.
ron wilson

[sola...@gmail.com]

I have a chb 1981 34 ft tri cabin. Water continues to come into the bilge. Residual 4 to 5 gallons after float switch removes the rest. I have removed the holding tank and am draining the fresh water tank to inspect. Any one have this problem?

[John B.]

On Tue, 21 Feb 2017 10:34:21 -0800 (PST), sola...@gmail.com wrote:

>I have a chb 1981 34 ft tri cabin. Water continues to come into the bilge. Residual 4 to 5 gallons after float switch removes the rest. I have removed the holding tank and am draining the fresh water tank to inspect. Any one have this problem?

4 to 5 gallons seems like a lot but there is always some back flow
after the bilge pump stops running. The amount of water in the pump
plumbing from the pump to the outlet will flow back into the sump.

It may not be your problem but it is a place to start looking.

--
Cheers,

John B.

[Andrew Keene]

I realize I am coming into this conversation years after it was started, but a Google search uncovered it for me. I lived about and sailed a 37 foot ferrocement sloop for 2 years, living up and down the coast of California. I did make it to Hawaii twice, Mexico many times, and Costa Rica once for a prolonged stay. Then I sold the boat and was boatless for about 20 years and have just bought a 38 foot CHB Heritage trawler located in Vallejo, CA. she appears to be a well built boat with a dry bilge and two Volvo-Penta turbocharged diesels as well as a 7.5 KW Onan genset.

Looking to correspond or meet others in the SF Bay area that have similar boats or just boats in general that want to talk boats. I am 72, my wife is 65 and we are both retired and living in Clayton, CA. We have not moved the boat from the slip yet but are loading our necessaries on the boat for a move to discovery Bay shortly. I have never piloted a twin engine boat of this size, my only experience was a river boat in Vietnam many, many years ago. docking was virtually non-existent for us there.

I have what my wife calls common sense but she may be wrong. She is a Nurse Practitioner that now diagnoses me on a daily basis since she no longer cares for Veteran patients at the VA.

Feel free to email me at akee...@gmail.com if you wish to talk about your boat, straighten me out, or just call me crazy for buying another boat.
Andy