We have owned the boat for seven months and I still have not seen her (don’t worry, Rob has, several times). When I was six months pregnant we began dreaming about this epic adventure. We had seen a 1982, 36’ Albin in Petersburg, Alaska. The owners had been nice enough to give us a tour. I stole this from the internet but it sums up what we saw aboard the Albin, “A delightful and efficient two cabin trawler. She has a large salon with a galley up, making her an ideal yacht for entertaining and conversing with the captain. She has a guest stateroom forward in the V-berth. There is a guest head located there as well. The large master stateroom is aft of the salon and down 3 steps, with a private head with a tub & shower.”
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| The Albin we saw in Petersburg, Alaska. |
We loved that boat so we started surfing internet for an Albin for sale. Much to our disappointment, there were very few for sale and none that we liked on the west coast. After further research we learned that an Albin is a “Taiwanese Trawler”. In Taiwan the fiberglass mold and blueprints for the type of boat we wanted, were shared among boat yards through families and friends. This meant that the same, or very similar, boats were exported from Taiwan with different make and model names. Once we inputted all the different names for Taiwanese Trawlers for sale on the west coast, into the internet, we found lots of boats that we liked.
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| This is the first picture of our boat that I saw. |
After a thorough engine inspection (called a survey), haul-out and complete boat survey, we purchased our boat online, through a broker, on September 16, 2011. Now we owned the boat of our dreams but it was in San Francisco, California. We really wanted her in Petersburg, Alaska but I was nine months pregnant and Rob didn’t want to leave me to pilot the boat north. We thought about hiring a skipper to take our boat by water but we discovered that the weather changes in September making the trek north by ocean dangerous and expensive. We settled for trucking her up to Tacoma, Washington where she has spent the winter.
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| She looks different because we took down the mast and upper railing so she could fit under overpasses. I like that she makes the semi-truck look tiny. |
We named her Mia Terra which loosely translates to “my world”. She is a 38’ Fu Hwa that was built in 1984. I am slowly learning “boat lingo” but I will give you the non-nautical, basic information first. She has a single diesel motor that has a top speed of twelve miles per hour but gets the best fuel economy going five to seven. She has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and fiberglass hull and decks. You can pilot her from inside the cabin or from the flybridge (top deck above the cabin). The flybridge can easily accommodate 7 people and has a 360 degree view that is great for navigating thru logs and icebergs or whale watching. : )
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| Flybridge aboard the Mia Terra. |
We have a lot of planning and organizing to do to transform our boat from the posh weekend cruiser that she is, into a robust well stocked and equipped vessel that we need for our epic adventure. She is beautiful but she is lacking the day to day necessities like a dinghy, crab pot hauler, crab pot, shrimp pot, survival suits, large ice chest, deep freezer, barbecue (the other one got lost during shipping), fishing poles, spot light... I have a feeling that a lot of these items will be purchased off of craigslist when we are in Seattle.
Everything I know about the Mia Terra is from Rob or information from the internet. Here are her specs from the broker’s web site:
Dimensions
Beam: 12 ft 10 in
LWL: 33 ft 6 in
Maximum Draft: 3 ft 6 in
Displacement: 24000 lbs
Engines
Engine Brand: Perkins
Engine(s) Total Power: 135 HP
Engine Model: 6-354
Engine Type: Inboard
Drive Type: Direct Drive
Cruising Speed: 8 knots
Maximum Speed: 10 knots
Engine Hours: 2570
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| Beautiful, clean Engine Room! |
Tanks
Fresh Water Tanks: (200 Gallons)
Fuel Tanks: (200 Gallons)
Holding Tanks: (40 Gallons)
Electrical Equipment
Electrical Circuit: 12V
Outside Equipment/Extras
Electric windlass
Galley
Full size Norcold Refrigerator / Freeze
Magic Chef 3 burner propane stove and oven
Microwave Oven
Double Stainless Steel sinks with storage below
8 storage drawers
Glass Stemware hanging storage rack
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| Galley and Salon. The polished teak is so beautiful! |
Salon
L-Shaped settee
New custom upholstery (3/2011)
New custom wooden plantation blinds (3/2011)
Clock and barometer
Storage cabinet and drawers
Sliding windows for ventilation
Drapes
Lamps
Fold-out expandable table
New Helm Chair with pop up bolster
West Marine CD player
Teak Parquet sole
Grab Rail down center of salon
Stereo system with speakers throughout vessel including the Flybridge
Flat Screen TV, with digital antennae and reception
Lower Helm
Raymarine SL70C Radar with Chart Plotter
New Raymarine Auto pilot (4/2010)
Hummingbird TX depth finder
Uniden Oceanus VHF radio
Saturn 5" Compass
Dickerson Stern Thruster controls
Instrument panel with RPM, Oil, Temp, Amp and fuel gauges
Horn
Standard Horizon Eclipse VHF radio
Ray Jefferson 314 Hailer with Fog Tones
New Helm Chair with bolster
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| Lower Helm |
Flybridge
West Marine VHF radio
New Raymarine Auto Pilot (4/2010)
Hummingbird Depth finder
Saturn compass
Stern Thruster controls
Bimini Top
Radar mast
Igloo cooler
Instrument panel with RPM, Oil, Temp, Amp and fuel gauges
Horn
Standard Horizon Eclipse Hailer
Speakers
New Helm Chair (5/2011)
Bench seating on port and starboard
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| Flybridge Helm. |
Accommodations
Number of single berths: 1
Number of double berths: 2
Number of cabins: 2
Number of heads: 2
Master Stateroom
Queen Island berth
New custom upholstery (3/2011)
New custom wooden plantation blinds (3/2011)
2 hanging lockers
Countertops with lower storage (both Port and Starboard sides)
Built-in Vanity on Port side
Teak Parquet sole
Sliding windows for ventilation
Hatch over berth
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| Master Stateroom |
Master Head
Shower stall with Tub
Manual Jabsco head
Sink with pull-out upgraded faucet
Towel hooks
Port light
Mirror
Storage under sink
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| Master Head with tub. |
Guest Stateroom
V-Berth with storage under
New custom upholstery (3/2011)
New Bowmar hatch (5/2010)
Hanging locker
Storage shelves
Hatch overhead
Teak parquet sole
Anchor locker
Reading lights
2 port lights
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| Guest Stateroom |
Guest Head
Jabsco manual head
Storage under sink
Port light
Sink with pull-out shower head
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| Guest Head |
Deck & Equipment
Fiberglass decks through out
Bench on rear deck
High quality folding seating on aft deck
Teak cap rails and hand rails
Lewmar Electric windlass 12 volt with Remote at helm (new 4/2010)
45lb CQR Anchor on 200 feet 5/16" chain
Swim platform
Swim Ladder
Throw ring
Magma BBQ
Dickerson Hydraulic Stern Thruster
New Espar D-5 forced air diesel furnace (4/2011)
New Bowmar hatch for Forward guest cabin (5/2010)
New hydraulic steering pumps (5/2011)
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| Back Deck- when I see this picture, I imagine fishing (and a huge Salmon flopping around on this deck) |
Engine Room & Electrical
Single Perkins Diesel Engine
50 amp Professional Mariner battery charger
Xantrex Freedom 2000 watt inverter (rebuilt 12/2010)
New Dual Racor 500 Secondary fuel filters (4/2010)
2 Fuel tanks
Diamond decking throughout engine room
4) Golf Cart 12 volt house batteries
2) Golf Cart 12 volt start batteries
New Dripless shaft seals (4/2010)
Rebuilt Velvet Drive transmission (4/2010)
Rewired battery banks and engine start circuit, plus new starter (4/2010)
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| Looking down from Galley into the Engine Room. |
Additional
Three year bottom paint applied (4/2010)
Waxed hull and topsides (4/2010)
Machined rudder shafts and repacked (4/2010)
Dripless shaft seals installed (4/2010)
All new rubber hoses and lines throughout vessel (4/2010)
New bilge pumps forward and mid cabin (4/2010)
Steam cleaned bilge (4/2010)
Fuel Tanks polished (4/2010)
Equipment not usually found on similar vessels
New Espar D5 forced air diesel furnace
Large invertor with large battery bank
Dickerson hydraulic stern thruster
Although I have never seen our boat I feel like I know her very well and I sure have learned a lot about being a boat owner. More about the issue’s of boat ownership another time...
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