Got a few hours on the clock of Solent Warrior now. Does she work out as a 'fishing cruiser'?
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New Haven Sea Warrior, I would suggest, is the link between early privately run small/medium displacement fishing boat . . . if it floated, then it was pushed into service . . . leading to the current, high speed, modern cruiser style plastic offerings. Very nice these new style craft are too. However, there is an undefined something in 'classic old' that, for me, has a draw. Cars, trains, lorries, post war to the eighties they turn heads, nothing vintage, just a draw, character, nostalgia???
So, Solent Warrior is an early eighties model, 28ft x 9.5ft, 34" draft and displacing approx 4 tons. Power is a Ford Mermaid Majestic 6c, IC TC 180hp inboard diesel. She is build to an internal yacht finish. Its very obvious as one looks through the used boat ads, considering the number of NH Sea Warriors built over the years, (they are still in production as the 'Mitchell 28'), the number for sale is very limited and they hold their price. A lot were home finished, to a variable standard, even the 'painted shutter ply' jobies command a surprisingly high asking figure? More evidence of this scarcity is demonstrated to me by a local marina that has an amazing number of Sea Warriors, rarely coming up for sale.
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Why do owners stick to them? The accommodation/fishing area is about 50/50, the saloon/wheel house/galley of the standard layout as per 'Sea Warrior' is adequate for two/three for a weekend. Fishing space, 4 in comfort.
Handling, I have heard a few negative comments, so what have I found? I have not found handling to be a problem, especially in the confines of the marina, she will stear when going astern, she is easy to put onto her berth finger, and is not affected unduly by side winds.
So to sea, the semi displacement hull exhibits the extreme fine entry bow reminiscent of the Nelson type hulls of the era. How close the Sea Warrior hull is to a 'Nelson' form, I'm not sure, but it certainly rides like one, cutting through big seas, putting up a big bow wave, which is thrown well clear. However because the water moved is large, beam on wind will blow spray into the cockpit, I dont find this a problem as any boat will be wet at speed with beam on wind!
She is capable of 17kts, however, is very happy at river speeds 6 to 8kts, has a sweet spot at 9.5kts and cruses at 11 to 12kts with 1,900rpm on the engine, that returns a very acceptable 1.75gls ph. Fast cruise is 12 to 13.5kts at about 2,100rpm.
We have been working on Solent Warrior since December, generally tidying, improving, removing redundant wiring looms! A job I am most pleased with is the 'self launching' anchor that didn't self launch! Tweaking of geometry and adjusting anchor and effective chain weight, gravity launch and winch retrieve is now achieved totally from the safe confines of the cockpit, and we still have 9 metres of 7mm chain to 100m of 14mm warp.
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A fishing platform? Round style semi displacement, narrow (by modern standards) beam. As per any mono hull there is a roll at anchor with a beam on sea, but its of a motion and speed that I find acceptable. She sits to wind and tide better than any boat I have owned previously, especially as I have a canvas type awning cover that extends back over the cockpit almost 6ft, makes a great rain/spray/wind shelter, but the down side is, it should create negative windage? So why does it not seem to affect the way she lays at anchor? Discussing these ideas with my regular boat partner yesterday, we came to the conclusion that the ratio and shape of whats below/above the waterline is a perfect compromise? To prove the windage theory we rolled the canvas sides up, no change.
So personally, I have thumbs up for an old design, not quite as fast as the new breed of craft. I have a 'traditional' style of boat that I find pleasing to the eye, nothing fancy in the repair and maintenance that a spanner and screwdriver cant fix. The engine uses old style, non synthetic oils, which are cheaper by 30%? A full oil/fuel filter set including a Racor 500 cost £13.
She was originally purchased as a stop gap boat, I'm beginning to think the stop gap period may extend somewhat. There is one boat that is better, similar vintage, but a tad bigger which means more fuel and higher berthing fees. As one gets older do I want to go through the rebuild process again?
One negative point, Sea Warriors seem to be sensitive to weight distribution when underway at slow speed, weight distribution in terms of where crew stand when maneuvering. Three crew on one side and she heels, wow **!!!**. Does not seem to be a problem at anchor? I can live with a mark of 9 out of 10:clap2:
The above is a personal view, bassed on my need for weekend type accomodation for myself and my partner. The fact that I am a bit of a retro 60's-70's (Life on Mars) freak, prefering every thing from cars to music of that era. Undesputed fact, modern machinery is better when functioning, but more redaly fails and is expensive, dificult, if not imposible to repair, 'throw it away and get a new one', how green is that? These days I have 3 large wheely bins!! in the 60's I had one that was half the size of one wheely bin and it was more than adequate?
Flower power rules:notworthy :laugh: :wheelchai
ET's OPO
New Haven Sea Warrior, I would suggest, is the link between early privately run small/medium displacement fishing boat . . . if it floated, then it was pushed into service . . . leading to the current, high speed, modern cruiser style plastic offerings. Very nice these new style craft are too. However, there is an undefined something in 'classic old' that, for me, has a draw. Cars, trains, lorries, post war to the eighties they turn heads, nothing vintage, just a draw, character, nostalgia???
So, Solent Warrior is an early eighties model, 28ft x 9.5ft, 34" draft and displacing approx 4 tons. Power is a Ford Mermaid Majestic 6c, IC TC 180hp inboard diesel. She is build to an internal yacht finish. Its very obvious as one looks through the used boat ads, considering the number of NH Sea Warriors built over the years, (they are still in production as the 'Mitchell 28'), the number for sale is very limited and they hold their price. A lot were home finished, to a variable standard, even the 'painted shutter ply' jobies command a surprisingly high asking figure? More evidence of this scarcity is demonstrated to me by a local marina that has an amazing number of Sea Warriors, rarely coming up for sale.
Why do owners stick to them? The accommodation/fishing area is about 50/50, the saloon/wheel house/galley of the standard layout as per 'Sea Warrior' is adequate for two/three for a weekend. Fishing space, 4 in comfort.
Handling, I have heard a few negative comments, so what have I found? I have not found handling to be a problem, especially in the confines of the marina, she will stear when going astern, she is easy to put onto her berth finger, and is not affected unduly by side winds.
So to sea, the semi displacement hull exhibits the extreme fine entry bow reminiscent of the Nelson type hulls of the era. How close the Sea Warrior hull is to a 'Nelson' form, I'm not sure, but it certainly rides like one, cutting through big seas, putting up a big bow wave, which is thrown well clear. However because the water moved is large, beam on wind will blow spray into the cockpit, I dont find this a problem as any boat will be wet at speed with beam on wind!
She is capable of 17kts, however, is very happy at river speeds 6 to 8kts, has a sweet spot at 9.5kts and cruses at 11 to 12kts with 1,900rpm on the engine, that returns a very acceptable 1.75gls ph. Fast cruise is 12 to 13.5kts at about 2,100rpm.
We have been working on Solent Warrior since December, generally tidying, improving, removing redundant wiring looms! A job I am most pleased with is the 'self launching' anchor that didn't self launch! Tweaking of geometry and adjusting anchor and effective chain weight, gravity launch and winch retrieve is now achieved totally from the safe confines of the cockpit, and we still have 9 metres of 7mm chain to 100m of 14mm warp.
A fishing platform? Round style semi displacement, narrow (by modern standards) beam. As per any mono hull there is a roll at anchor with a beam on sea, but its of a motion and speed that I find acceptable. She sits to wind and tide better than any boat I have owned previously, especially as I have a canvas type awning cover that extends back over the cockpit almost 6ft, makes a great rain/spray/wind shelter, but the down side is, it should create negative windage? So why does it not seem to affect the way she lays at anchor? Discussing these ideas with my regular boat partner yesterday, we came to the conclusion that the ratio and shape of whats below/above the waterline is a perfect compromise? To prove the windage theory we rolled the canvas sides up, no change.
So personally, I have thumbs up for an old design, not quite as fast as the new breed of craft. I have a 'traditional' style of boat that I find pleasing to the eye, nothing fancy in the repair and maintenance that a spanner and screwdriver cant fix. The engine uses old style, non synthetic oils, which are cheaper by 30%? A full oil/fuel filter set including a Racor 500 cost £13.
She was originally purchased as a stop gap boat, I'm beginning to think the stop gap period may extend somewhat. There is one boat that is better, similar vintage, but a tad bigger which means more fuel and higher berthing fees. As one gets older do I want to go through the rebuild process again?
One negative point, Sea Warriors seem to be sensitive to weight distribution when underway at slow speed, weight distribution in terms of where crew stand when maneuvering. Three crew on one side and she heels, wow **!!!**. Does not seem to be a problem at anchor? I can live with a mark of 9 out of 10:clap2:
The above is a personal view, bassed on my need for weekend type accomodation for myself and my partner. The fact that I am a bit of a retro 60's-70's (Life on Mars) freak, prefering every thing from cars to music of that era. Undesputed fact, modern machinery is better when functioning, but more redaly fails and is expensive, dificult, if not imposible to repair, 'throw it away and get a new one', how green is that? These days I have 3 large wheely bins!! in the 60's I had one that was half the size of one wheely bin and it was more than adequate?
Flower power rules:notworthy :laugh: :wheelchai
ET's OPO
