MV Intrinsic at anchor in Montague Harbor

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sunday, April 11, 2010



Lesley & Jim at the dock in Chemainus on Vancouver Island a few days after taking delivery. A tight slip to get into, but we'd had plenty of practice using the single screw and "prop walk" in Vagabond our A25. Although about 4 times the mass of the Albin, Intrinsic will still turn 180 degrees in her own length.
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Thursday, December 31, 2009

No More Projects!

Following an extensive restoration and customization of our Albin 25, my wife made it clear that while she'd be happy with a larger vessel, project boats were off the list. Of course, residing in Calgary also made it difficult to undertake a boat restoration on the west coast.

With this in mind, I settled on a heavy displacement diesel trawler, with good sea-keeping and comfortable livaboard conditions. Though I had my heart set on one of those salty little Willard double enders, I was not able to locate one in the pacific northwest in acceptable condition. Thus that I opened my mind, started looking at Grand Banks, and other Taiwan trawlers, and finally settled on the layout of a Lien Hwa Seahorse that I'd been aboard in San Francisco.

I set out to find a pristine version, and looked at boats from Clear Lake Texas, to Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho, Sausalito, & Seattle. I was surprised to find the right vessel sitting in a boathouse in Sidney BC. A little more expensive, but it eliminated the extra cost of transport, duty, GST and refurbishment that accompanied a US vessel. So in July 2008, only a month after Vagabond was delivered to Campbell River, we took posession of Intrinsic.

A little History on the Tung Hwa Clipper

The Clipper 30 model was conceived and began production in the late 70's to compete with American Marine’s successful trawler - the Grand Banks 32.

In my search for a sedan trawler, I personally inspected several virtually identical vessels bearing different manufacturer's names such as:
  • Oceana 30 (post 1986)
  • Tung Hwa Clipper 30
  • Lien Hwa Seahorse 31
  • North Passage 30 (as it was known in the Pacific Northwest)

The North Passage Clipper 30 was imported as a 29'11" hull to qualify for duty exemption on hulls under 30'. By today's standards, she would be known as a 34", as this is the overall length from bowsprit to swimgrid.

Production of these stout little trawlers started in the late 70's and continued up until at least 1991. Although they never achieved the same commercial success as the Grand Banks 32, it remains a quality trawler that has aged very well