While most of our cruising friends are already retired, my wife Deanna and I are still working to make ends meet. Luckily for both of us, our type of work doesn’t require commuting to an office, but rather, access to internet, phone service and a nearby airport.

Just as the COVID epidemic was kicking in high gear, we happened to be back onboard our Selene 55, Bella Luna. Lockdowns started in the US, but we were safely aboard Bella Luna in Puerto Escondido, Mexico in The Sea of Cortez. We made the decision to stay onboard Bella Luna and work remotely from Baja instead of going back home to Colorado. Well, due to travel restrictions and staying in place mandates, three months later we are still here!

Recently I had a conversation with another boat owner, discussing the benefits of fresh water flushing your main engines and generators after getting back to the dock. The other boaters’ thoughts were that it is a waste of time, that marine engines are designed to operate with sea water running through them. I disagree with him, and here’s why.

I own a Selene 55 with a single Cummins QSL9 engine and a 12kW Northern Lights generator. Both of them are modified with a fresh water flush setup. The previous owner was very proud of this setup and he was “religious” about flushing both of them every time he returned back from the sea. Being a new boat owner and not knowing much about the subject I have continued this practice.

Over the last couple of years, I have done some research into the matter and talked with several marine diesel mechanics. The primary concern experts have is sea water being trapped inside the engine for long periods of time when the boat is not in use. If you are a commercial fisherman, your boat is constantly running so this is not a problem. However, if you are a recreational boat owner, chances are that your boat will be at the dock for days, weeks or even months between trips.

When sea water is trapped inside of an engine for a long period of time, it becomes oxygen deprived and then it becomes acidic. Acidic water is very corrosive and that is when problems can occur. Zincs get chewed up fast and what remains of them can clog up the cooling tubes. Next, your unprotected heat exchangers and coolers are potential victims.

Recently I pulled my heat exchanger and after cooler to get them checked, before our long trip to Mexico. It had been five years since the last time they were inspected and according to my mechanic, thanks to a regular freshwater flush, they still look great.

This method may not work for every boat, so I highly recommend reading this article by Tony Athens on the Seaboard Marine website that covers this subject in detail and also explains how to set up your system:

https://www.sbmar.com/articles/the-benefits-of-fresh-water-flushing-your-marine-diesel-engine/

Every boat is different, so your setup will differ based on your sea water intake installation. In our setup, the top of the sea strainer cap has been modified with the freshwater intake valve that will accept the connection from my freshwater hose. Word of caution; based on my own experience, make sure that you don’t have any kinks in your freshwater hose.  When you start the flush you need to insure you have good water flow.

My procedure follows these key steps:

• Connect water hose to the freshwater inlet valve on top of sea strainer (hose valve closed)
• Turn on freshwater supply and check hose for leaks and kinks (hose pressurized)
• Start engine – check outside for normal cooling water flow out of exhaust port
• Open small freshwater inlet valve connecting hose to top of the sea strainer (sea and fresh water supplied)
• Close the seawater intake through hull valve (only fresh hose water being introduced now)
• Re-confirm normal water flow out of exhaust port
• Run engine in neutral, at idle
• Shut down engine after five minutes (enough time to purge seawater with freshwater)
• Shut small freshwater inlet valve on hose connecting to top of the sea strainer
• It helps if another crew mate is in the pilot house to turn off the engine while you are turning off the fresh water in the engine room. This way the engine is not running without water supply.
• Turn off fresh water supply and disconnect water hose
• Screw on hose adapter cap on top of the sea strainer
• Leave intake through hull valve closed and place a reminder note on engine start panel so you remember to open the valve before next start up

Located a stone’s throw from the ferry stop at Bremerton, the PMM staff found a wonderfully convenient set up. The host hotel, Hampton Inn and Suites, is 100 yards across the court yard to the Kitsap Conference Center (the convention center where the seminars were held) and then down a flight of steps to the Bremerton Marina docks.  Access to the boats on display was through the vendor tents.  I don’t recall attending a TrawlerFest (and I have been to dozens over 17 years) that has such a seamless layout making it easy for attendees and exhibitors alike to get down to business.

Before the boat show portion there was a series of VIP seminars including two that I sat in by Stan and Valerie Creighton, who own an FPB 64 and are building a new FPB 70.  There two outstanding talks were; “How We Went from Knowing Almost Nothing to World Cruising” – and – “Provisioning 202”.

Stan and Valerie owned a Selene 53 which they purchased for adventure after retirement and loved the trawler cruising lifestyle so much that they upgraded to the ultimate long-range trawler, an FPB. Both seminars were well attended and contained a wealth of important information and practical advice.

I was invited to present two seminars and also served as moderator for the Cruisers round table.

Thursday, I spoke to a packed classroom with the latest, updated, “Dialing-In-Your- Trawler” a very popular course which shares dozens of helpful hints and tips to help boaters with all types of trawlers improve their trawlers.

Friday and Saturday, I presented my new course, “Principles of Passagemaking”, which went into a detailed overview of navigating offshore including what you do while standing watch, conducting and engine room check and much more.

Friday afternoon we held the “Cruisers Roundtable”.  PMM’s Peter Swanson had to leave early and asked me to be the moderator. It was informative and fun with a great panel (Bruce Kessler, Steve Zimmerman, John Clayman, Robert Reeder, Dylan Bailey, Mark Bunzel, Devin Zwick, Ken Fickett and Jeff Merrill) propelled by excellent questions from the audience.

The classroom/learning aspect of TrawlerFest is always one of the highlights. PMM does a marvelous job of mixing things up so that there is something for everyone.

The tents above the dock were filled with vendors; everything from water makers to marinas to insurance and finance, it was a welcome collection of interesting products and services.

The trawlers lined up in slips and on display were diverse in size, age and condition and the dock space was sold out with a waiting list of other hopeful participating boats.

Bremerton has a nice downtown area for walking around, it is a fun community with a lot going for it and a lot going on.

My wife Pam, and daughter Elle joined me this year and after landing in Seattle we drove around through picturesque Gig Harbor to reach Bremerton and stayed put throughout the event.  Saturday my longtime friend, Dennis Lawrence, from Kadey-Krogen invited us to cruise back to Seattle on the Krogen 48 Eventide.

Pam and Elle had fun driving the boat and it was beautiful being out on the water taking in a gorgeous spring evening.

On the Sunday after the event closed, we drove up to Port Townsend.  I marveled as the Kadey Krogen 44 that had been on display during the show cruised into the marina on their way north up to Alaska.  This eastern side of the Puget Sound has a lot of great seaport towns and scenic places to visit.

Attendees of my courses can download all of the handouts from the classes below (note: these will be removed from the website soon, so please download quickly).  I have also posted the PowerPoint talk from Dialing in your Trawler (a refresher with new updates if you have previously attended).

My favorite course was the new one, a two-day four-hours each session class, Principles of Passagemaking, which went into great detail about cruising offshore.  This talk is not available for download, but is being refined again and condensed to become a one-day four-hour seminar at the Bay Bridge, MD TrawlerFest in September.

Please also enjoy our Bremerton TrawlerFest photo gallery of the boats on display and people who were around as well as other interesting sights from the event.

The next TrawlerFest will be on the east coast at the Bay Bridge, MD venue – near Baltimore and across the bridge from Annapolis.   I’ll be doing more seminars, joining in on the town hall and will have the Nordhavn 55 Terrapin on display.  Registration is now open for Bay Bridge, you can click on the link below for more details. See you there!

https://www.passagemaker.com/trawlerfest/bay-bridge-2017

The time sensitive information has been removed, but may still be available. Please sign up for the JMYS newsletter to inquire. Or, put “TrawlerFest – Bremerton, WA 2017” in the subject line of your email to Jeff@JMYS.com.

If the first TrawlerFest of 2017 is any indication, we are all in for a spectacular ride (planning at high speeds vs. plodding at full displacement).  The attendance was fantastic, trawler owners and buyers traveled from all over the US and internationally to attend this remarkable event.  Sunny days with a few scattered showers set a warm and friendly tone. The Hutchinson Island Marriott is a true destination resort with pool, golf course and marina facilities.

The PassageMaker magazine team was superbly organized. The ticket lines checked people in swiftly and every land tent exhibitor we spoke with enjoyed a steady flow of trawler aficionados.

Jeff gave two presentations, “Dialing in your Trawler” on Friday and “Underway” on Saturday. The seminar audiences asked great questions and their enthusiasm boiled over through the Q and A at the end with multiple private conversations.  There appears to be a lot of new faces in the market, interested to learn more about the joys of the trawler lifestyle and ready to go cruising on a boat of their own.

Seminars were packed, it’s been awhile since we’ve seen every seat filled with standing room only in the back of the class room.  A great assortment of vendor tents created a natural channel to guide the crowd down to the dock where over 40 trawlers of all sizes on display.

The fixed concrete docks in the marina are sturdy and secure, but boarding some boats at low tide was a little tricky – something that can hopefully be addressed and improved for next time.  We like that PassageMaker moves the venues around to keep things fresh – over ten years ago, Hutchinson Island was the site for TrawlerFest and since then it has been moved to Fort Lauderdale and Riviera Beach – hey, anytime you can hang out in a Florida marina and hop aboard trawlers it’s not a bad place to be.

Jeff had several client appointments and was able to tour most of the trawlers on display.  The brokers with boats for sale were welcoming and friendly – just about everyone we spoke with is extremely busy – buyers are shopping and trawler are selling.  The market activity is as strong as we have seen it since the pre-recession days.

Ray Danet also was around and did several walk throughs on trawlers with our clients.

Whatever the reason, pent up demand, timing in life or the “Trump Bump” it is obvious that a new group of trawler owners has arrived on the scene, excited and eager to join in on the fun and start their own adventures.

Many of the participants in Jeff’s two courses asked for electronic copies of the PowerPoint presentations and handouts, a sure sign that more and more people are doing their homework and getting prepared before making a trawler their home on the water.

The next TrawlerFest event will be in the Pacific Northwest at a new venue, in Bremerton, WA. The dates are May 16 – 20, 2017.  JMYS is hoping to have a trawler or two on display and Jeff has been asked to conduct a new two-day course, “Principles of Passagemaking” as well as his ever popular “Dialing in your Trawler” class.  Registration is now open.  For event details please click on this link:

http://www.passagemaker.com/events/trawlerfest-bremerton-wa-2017/

We look forward to seeing you there.

For those people who attended the Stuart classes, we decided it would be easier to post the PowerPoints and handouts on JMYS.com so the course information is available to download below.

The time sensitive information has been removed, but may still be available. Please sign up for the JMYS newsletter to inquire. Or, put “TrawlerFest Stuart 2017” in the subject line of your email to Jeff@JMYS.com.

The modern trawler world has been popularized by PassageMaker magazine which is based in Annapolis, MD.  This same seafaring city has a rich history and is also famous for the U.S. Naval Academy, national power and sailboat boat shows, a great collection of restaurants, bars and of course the people who live there and visit.  The people who hang out in Annapolis are active cruiser and racers.

Across the Bay Bridge you reach the eastern shore and are two steps removed from city life.  The Chesapeake waters have carved shorelines that blend into numerous inlets and coves, it is a boaters’ paradise.  In 2015, TrawlerFest was moved to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake to the “Bay Bridge Marina” in Stevensville, MD as the venue for their annual mid-Atlantic event.  Previous mid-Atlantic locations have included Solomons, MD and Baltimore, MD and to the credit of the PMM TrawlerFest staff they keep things fresh by moving around.  The 2015 event was a bust, because of hurricane Joaquin, but 2016 was a resounding success.

The 2016 TrawlerFest dates were September 27 – October 1 and there was a wide assortment of trawlers on display, vendors in the tents and a varied selection of seminars to attend.

Jeff Merrill was invited to give two presentations, Bluewater Cruising and Dialing in your Trawler. Jeff also participated in the Cruisers Roundtable presided over by veteran cruiser and circumnavigator, Bruce Kessler.

One of our favorite listings, the custom 73’ Snowbird, Retired Sailor III, was brought over from Deltaville and was the largest trawler in the event.  Since Jeff was spending a good deal of his time in the classroom teaching, Ray Danet flew up from Florida to make sure we had RSIII covered.

Here are the course descriptions for Jeff’s talks:

Bluewater Cruising with Jeff Merrill

Thursday, Sept. 29 10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

This seminar is designed for skippers and crew wanting to make offshore passages to reach distant ports; it’s designed to be both an introduction and a refresher. Jeff Merrill, who has logged more than 15,000 sea miles, much of it training clients, will discuss the essential preparations and fundamental skills. Topics will include weather considerations, route planning, watch standing, engine room checks, navigation/electronics operations, and more. The goal is to help make sure you and your trawler are ready before you depart, knowing what to expect under way and understanding what it is really like to operate your trawler at sea.  Many helpful pointers will help ensure you, your boat and your crew are prepared so your next open water trip is safe, comfortable and successful. A certificate of completion will be issued to all attendees

Dial-In Your Trawler with Jeff Merrill

Friday, Sept. 30 8:30 a.m.  – 10:30 a.m.

Over the years and through his experiences on hundreds of trawlers, yacht broker Jeff Merrill has amassed a collection of “good ideas” and “best practices” that trawler owners are using to better monitor their vessels. These simple and effective techniques apply to most power cruising boats. Tricks of the trade and helpful reminders will help take some of the guesswork out of tracking various systems and equipment on board your trawler. Little details like reference marks for needles on analog gauges, a dry-erase board in your engine room, anchor chain marking and many other common-sense tips make this an engaging and informative seminar that you won’t want to miss. Merrill will share photos of these ideas and also discuss an assortment of products that you should consider using on your trawler that will not only make your life more enjoyable, but may also favorably affect your eventual resale value.

Each TrawlerFest sees a number of familiar faces who stop by to say hello and this year was no exception.   It’s hard to report on each of the dozens of visitors we saw, but we’re going to focus on two that stood out.  Guy Bugbee is an airline captain who we see at trawler events all over the country, he and his wife have a Nordic Tugs 32 which they are selling to move up to a larger, full displacement trawler.  Guy I and I have known each other for many years and when he told me he had the full PassageMaker magazine collection, but was going to throw them away after reading them one more time, I pleaded with him to send them to me, which he graciously did.   Guy is a planner and he has been intrigued by trawlers for at least two decades – you already know that he got on the bandwagon with issue number one of PassageMaker, but he also went to the very first Trawler Fest and has the T-shirt to prove it from 1996!

The other highlight was a visit aboard Retired Sailor III by Bill and Laurene Parlatore, the founders of PassageMaker magazine.  I had an ulterior motive with my invitation, I brought a copy of issue number one (yes, from Guy Bugbee) and was thrilled to have the Parlatore’s sign the cover, now framed and a cherished possession.

TrawlerFest always attracts a cast of regulars and we had several homecoming visits aboard. We had a surprisingly large group of interested trawler people come through Retired Sailor III, including some familiar faces and some new clients.  Bob Senter “Lugger Bob” was in town for the event and enjoyed talking diesels with people aboard the Snowbird 73.  The legendary Bruce Kessler usually makes the rounds and we I enjoyed a nice dinner in town with Ray, Bob and Bruce.

iminishing, the boat builders are seeing a boom in new construction which is good for everyone. Brokers and sellers are seeing (and have been for the last 24 months) a true sellers-market where discounting is not as deep, and boats are changing hands in a shorter time frame. Nothing lasts forever, but as I’ve told many people recently, these are “the good old days and I hope they do stick around for another couple of decades!”

All of us at JMYS look forward to the TrawlerFest events, this was the last one for the year and we are on the schedule to participate in the 2017 program.

For more information on the upcoming events, please go to www.passagemaker.com/trawlerfest we hope to see you at the next one which is scheduled for end of February, early March, 2017 in Stuart, Florida.

The Annapolis area has always been a favorite haunt for sailors.  And we all know that most sailors graduate to trawlers…so if you are looking for a trawler, there will be many on display to board along with tents filled with products and a wide variety of educational seminars.

Here is a link you can click for directions, times, hotels and all of the other important details:

https://www.passagemaker.com/trawlerfest/trawlerfest-bay-bridge-2016

To help preserve your boat buying budget, there is a discount coupon that will save you $10 off seminars.  Use the promo code CRUISING at checkout when you register.

Jeff Merrill has been invited to give two presentations and to participate as a panelist in the cruiser perspectives forum.  Here are the course descriptions and times for Jeff’s talks:

Bluewater Cruising with Jeff Merrill

Thursday, Sept. 29 10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. 

This seminar is designed for skippers and crew wanting to make offshore passages to reach distant ports; it’s designed to be both an introduction and a refresher. Jeff Merrill, who has logged more than 15,000 sea miles, much of it training clients, will discuss the essential preparations and fundamental skills. Topics will include weather considerations, route planning, watch standing, engine room checks, navigation/electronics operations, and more. The goal is to help make sure you and your trawler are ready before you depart, knowing what to expect under way and understanding what it is really like to operate your trawler at sea.  Many helpful pointers will ensure you, your boat and your crew are prepared so your next open water trip is safe, comfortable and successful. A certificate of completion will be issued to all attendees.

Dial-In Your Trawler with Jeff Merrill

Friday, Sept. 30 8:30 a.m.  – 10:30 a.m.

Over the years and through his experiences on hundreds of trawlers, yacht broker Jeff Merrill has amassed a collection of “good ideas” and “best practices” that trawler owners are using to better monitor their vessels. These simple and effective techniques apply to most power cruising boats. Tricks of the trade and helpful reminders will help take some of the guesswork out of tracking various systems and equipment on board your trawler. Little details like reference marks for needles on analog gauges, a dry-erase board in your engine room, anchor chain marking and many other common-sense tips make this an engaging and informative seminar that you won’t want to miss. Merrill will share photos of these ideas and also discuss an assortment of products that you should consider using on your trawler that will not only make your life more enjoyable, but may also favorably affect your eventual resale value.

Cruisers Roundtable 

Friday, Sept. 30 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

With Bruce Kessler, John Clayman, Steve Zimmerman, Chris Parker, Jeff Merrill, Doug Dickinson, & Dylan Bailey

SOLD OUT. ONLY AVAILABLE WITH VIP PACKAGE PURCHASE.

If you are going to attend Trawler Fest, please give Jeff a call and set up a time to meet in person or grab him after one of the classes so you can get together.

See you on the Chesapeake!