Hello all,

We are hoping to have stabilizers on our next boat and have had some
discussions (and advice!) on some of the issues. One person said, "Oh
lord, you don't want all the extra maintenance issues, it's not worth
it!" (On that one we kind of thought it was like someone who doesn't
have radar saying heck no, who needs radar . . .?)
We're wondering about extra care that might be taken when running
through areas of crab or lobster pots. Or when running through shallows
(I'm not talking rocks, here, I'm talking mud, of which there is plenty
on the Chesapeake Bay.)
Would appreciate a discussion of dos and don'ts, advice, warning and raves.

Thanks,
Peggy Bjarno
"Aqua Vitae"
1986 Albin 43
Kent Narrows, Maryland

We have stabilizers or a smooth chine deep draft trawler. We would not
be without them. No real maintenance issues except the 3 year seal
replacement is coming up. They are leaking just a bit at present but
not really a problem.

We went through the Ches and the Maine lobster pot maze - which makes
Ches Bay look easy. No snags no problems.  The PO put a strip of
aluminum on the hull to prevent a line from getting hooked udder the
fins.  Apparently it works.

We grounded in GA with 8 ft tides in mud and sand and the boat lay
supported by the fin for several hours. No apparent damage. Without
the fin we would have been over 60 degrees.

If your boat is the type that potentially rolls a lot and you are a
full time not just fair weather cruiser I would think they would be
indispensable

--
Greg and Susan Han
Allegria Krogen Whaleback #16

Peggy - I don't think you need to worry too much. In 20 years cruising our
trawlers with stabilizers in your home waters, we never had an issue.

Any good installation of stabilizers includes a small fin attached to the
hull just in front of the blades to deflect things like crab/lobster pot
lines and prevent them from catching between the top of the fin and the
hull.

Similarly, no decent installation would result in the fin being deeper in
the water than the bottom of the keel, so your keel will continue to be the
first to know when you glide up on one of our favorite Chesapeake mud
shoals.

Finally, there really is no particular maintenance required. Some makes need
seals seriviced every 2-3 years but this is routine and can be scheduled
when you haul for bottom painting.

There are any number of top quality yards close to you in both MD and VA
waters of the Chesapeake. Each is experienced in one or more brands.

Best regards,

Chuck Wistar
www.celebratecruising.com
www.seleneannapolis.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Peggy Carr [mailto:chesapklady@comcast.net]
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 11:48 PM
To: Trawlers and Trawlering
Subject: T&T: Stabilizer "Issues"

Hello all,

We are hoping to have stabilizers on our next boat and have had some
discussions (and advice!) on some of the issues. One person said, "Oh lord,
you don't want all the extra maintenance issues, it's not worth it!" (On
that one we kind of thought it was like someone who doesn't have radar
saying heck no, who needs radar . . .?) We're wondering about extra care
that might be taken when running through areas of crab or lobster pots. Or
when running through shallows (I'm not talking rocks, here, I'm talking mud,
of which there is plenty on the Chesapeake Bay.) Would appreciate a
discussion of dos and don'ts, advice, warning and raves.

Thanks,
Peggy Bjarno
"Aqua Vitae"
1986 Albin 43
Kent Narrows, Maryland

Peggy,
Skooch is older than most boats and may be I hang around older boats, but my
experience and observation is that stabilizers (I call them flippers)
malfunction quite often.  A case in point, the Atlantic Rally where all but
one Nordy had some type of flipper failure.
Also, we have never caught a crab trap after 5 seasons on the Chesapeake
bay. I did have a 4 inch by 1 foot stick caught between the Stb flipper and
the hull which would have dislodged had the flippers actually been working.
The maintenance schedule may not be too bad but the failure rate is far
higher than most systems.
Just my observations. Skooch has 1990 version Niaads.
David
Skooch Hatteras LRC
Worton Creek MD

-----Original Message-----
From: trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces@lists.samurai.com
[mailto:trawlers-and-trawlering-bounces@lists.samurai.com] On Behalf Of
Peggy Carr
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 11:48 PM
To: Trawlers and Trawlering
Subject: T&T: Stabilizer "Issues"

Hello all,

We are hoping to have stabilizers on our next boat and have had some
discussions (and advice!) on some of the issues. One person said, "Oh
lord, you don't want all the extra maintenance issues, it's not worth
it!" (On that one we kind of thought it was like someone who doesn't
have radar saying heck no, who needs radar . . .?)
We're wondering about extra care that might be taken when running
through areas of crab or lobster pots. Or when running through shallows
(I'm not talking rocks, here, I'm talking mud, of which there is plenty
on the Chesapeake Bay.)
Would appreciate a discussion of dos and don'ts, advice, warning and raves.

Thanks,
Peggy Bjarno
"Aqua Vitae"
1986 Albin 43
Kent Narrows, Maryland

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Peggy,

An interesting question would be: How often do you use your Naiads?

Actually, I leave mine off about 85% of the time, which I guess limits the
wear to the seals at the hull. I do center the fins when docking...reversing
seems to be affected by flopping fins. I have had no mechanical issues other
than adjusting for the chatter which occasionally develops. (I did have to
replace a ram after I broke it by getting a wrench stuck in its
grasp...cracked very quietly and started oozing ATF...a bad day...) I have
put 2700 hrs on MARY KATHRYN since purchasing her in early 2001, but again,
only a fraction of that time were the fins active.

Crab pots lines have hung up in the fins twice. I have no protective device
between the fin and hull, but that's a great idea. I find that a keyhole saw
is the best tool for line removal, a knife is almost useless.

One other issue to consider is hull type. I believe fins are much more
effective on true displacement hulls than semi-displacement or hard chime
hulls. The snap-back type roll of hard chime hulls is much harder to
eliminate than the more leisurely roll of chime-less hull. Most trawlers are
hard chime: GBs, MTs, Albins, K&Hs, Fleming, Offshore, Ocean Alexander,
Cheoy Lees have both, etc.

Bob

Robert Calhoun Smith Jr
M/V MARY KATHRYN
Hatteras 58 LRC
South River
Annapolis, MD

I have to wonder if the Naiads on those boats weren't under-specified. There
are significant price break-points in the Naiad line and there is a
temptation to get one size too small. Hard to believe that cost would be an
issue on a Nordhavn - but. Further, as Jeffrey suggests, this was continuous
duty. Again, were these stabilizer models beefy enough for those conditions?
Naiad was the prevalent brand, but I think that an AmeriTrac unit had a
problem as well.

When that many boats from the same manufacturer have problems with the same
product, your diagnostic decision tree has to have a "fork" in it which asks
the question: stabilizer manufacturer quality or builder specification? My
assumption is that the factory installations are perfect.

Ron Rogers

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeffrey Siegel" jeffrey.siegel@activecenter.com

| > case in point, the Atlantic Rally where all but
| > one Nordy had some type of flipper failure.
|
| I'm not sure that the Nordhavn rally is a good indicator of Naiad
| reliability unless you plan on crossing the Atlantic.  From my
| understanding of the problems, they involved the stabilizers being engaged
| for days at a time.  That isn't how most of us would ever use them.