for fans of Willard Marine's production trawlers, 1961-2003
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Hello all, I just signed up in order to knowledge mine you all! I've always been interested in Willards, particularly thirty footers. Tried to buy one a few years ago but missed it though. Looking at another one now, a 30/4 in Seattle. It has been re-powered.with a 4-108. I wonder what would have been factory power for that boat. Fifty horsepower seems a bit much for that hull. I would think 30-40 Hp would do nicely, however this is coming from a long time sailboat guy with zero time on a motorboat larger than 25 feet! Thanks for the help!
I have a 30 ft Nomad formerly the Beluga. I am completely re making this boat but I wanted to keep the original power plant. The reason for this is I have a the original sales slip on the boat and the serial # on the motor matches the boat. It is in fact a 50 HP Perkins diesel 4-108. Rick
Thanks Rick. This boat may well be stock then. I didn't know they were made with V-drives. The only ones I have seen have had great long shafts.
Now as to the v drive you would have to get a post from some one that knows about that. My boat has a shaft that is about 11.5 ft. Mt boat is the nomad version. Perhaps some of the other models are set up with a v drive. But I think that they all had the 50 hp Perkins. Rick
Yeah, all of the Nomads had straight shafts. But some of the 30/4's I think had vee-drives. There was some discussion about this recently on the Willard Yahoo list.
As for engine HP, yes the 50 hp Perkins 4-108 is way more than enough, but it's economical enough that it's not overloaded. Plus you have some reserve if you want to waste fuel for a bit and push hull speed. If you were going for maximum range, you could probably use an engine about half the size and run at about 5 knots.
I like the Perkins just fine -- I think it's a good match for the boat.
Great long shafts with pillow blocks. This boat can't get out of the slip without help right now, I understand it to have a broken transmission. The owner is meant to tend to it but he won't say when! I truly don't know how seriously the vessel is for sale. Anyway, I'll keep at it. D.
It seems the owner has gotten going on repairing the transmission. Broker tells me that there are a few people waiting to take it out once it is fit to go.