I finally joined the 8 knot club!

This blog is about the restoration of a 1980 Her Shine 37 Trawler. It was built in Kaohsiung, Taiwan by Her Shine Inc.and shipped to Lake Michigan where it has been ever since. Brian Smith at American Diesel http://www.americandieselcorp.com/  , told me that the Her Shine and Albin boats were both made from the same mold and by the same yard. The Her Shines were mostly sold on the west coast, with the Albins being sold on the ease coast. His father Bob Smith visited the yard and sold containers full of Ford Lehmans to the builder. Different stages of construction were handled by different crews/families. Here is a review of the Albin 36 which is almost the exact same dimensions and design. http://www.boatus.com/boatreviews/power/Albin36.asp

Here is a great article about Taiwan Trawlers in general, which also mentions the Albin/Her Shine connection. http://www.baris.net/boats/lf3/pdf/articles/venerable%20taiwanese_trawlers.pdf

Certainly the above deck joinery work far surpassed the construction techniques in the bilge. The construction materials were surprisingly good, copper, teak, mahogany, bronze stainless. The worst parts seem to be the bilge construction, the fuel tank material and the window design.

The main purpose of the blog is a reference to help myself and others restoring this type of boat. I will post by subject for each part of the restoration which hopefully will help me to get the boat back in the water some day soon!

"Tortuga" 1980 Her Shine 37'

I decided to skip the sailboat step in this boating obsession. I always wanted to be able to go places in a boat not sit at the dock. Now in my early 50s I can still handle a sailboat, but in 20 years? I have read both sides of the debate on cost to own a sailboat or trawler. In the end, I just plain prefer a trawler.

"Our Get Away" 1976 Chris Craft Coho 33'

Much like our first boat pictured above "Our Get Away" I stumbled across Tortuga. It had been sitting on the hard at a marina in Illinois on Lake Michigan for several years. The owner was not able to take care of it any more and the harbormaster had ordered it out of the water. Even the sales people told me to stay away, it needed too much work! I crawled all over and took many pictures. I decided to hold off, winter was coming anyway. In the spring, I was back in the marina and saw Tortuga again. Its a long story and a long negotiation but in the end, I decided to save Tortuga. Heres why:

In the final week before I completed the purchase, I was on the way to the marina when I came across a turtle crossing the road, out of the swamp. I got out and helped him to the other side. Go figure, the boats name is Tortuga! It needed saving. I took that as a sign that I should save the boat as well. I did not know what I was in for!

Here is a video of Tortuga being shipped to its new home.