Mainship Pilot 30-II Sedan

Mention picnic boat, lobster boat or trawler, and old motorboaters go wobbly at the knees. For boat-proud skippers, these are the perfect craft for commuting in style, doing dressy brunches in your Sunday best, berthing at big city restaurant precincts or passagemaking to nearby grounds.

The pilot boat is another craft in the nostalgic mould. A pilot boat evokes images of running to work in foul weather, tending a ship or helping a vessel negotiate the narrows. While it's far from a workboat, the Mainship Pilot 30-II Sedan certainly tugs at the heart strings.

Imported from America, the classic craft has solicited much attention at this year's Sanctuary Cove and Sydney boat shows. Based on an original workboat, the Pilot 30-II Sedan has a single-screw that won't cost the earth to run. Manoeuvrability is helped by a bowthruster. Away from the dock, the layout lends itself to everything from fishing to long lunches and overnighting after that nautical nosh-up at a waterfront somewhere.

The hardtop that gives the Pilot 30 its "sedan" handle adds another angle as a great conveyance in fair weather and foul. Lots of glass ensures great views as you cruise.

Being American made, the boat comes with ample headroom in the pilothouse and wide companionways throughout. Niceties such as a fully-enclosed head with electric loo, plug-in shorepower and TV and phone conduits add to the comfort factor.

OLD MEETS THE NEW
Mainship is part of the American Luhrs Marine Group, which produces an eclectic line of boats, ranging from spunky Luhrs gamefishers with Carolina flare to Hunter yachts with almost as much volume as a motoryacht. Interestingly, as the company's yacht buyers age, it is moving into trawler-style boats like the Pilot 30-II Sedan.

All of Mainship's trawlers are the result of three generations of boatbuilding experience, harking back to the days of timber construction. But while the classic style has been retained, the Pilot 30-II is very much the product of modern production-boat building techniques, the latest materials and amenities. The 'II' refers to the new hull form and reworked interior. The solid, handlaid GRP hull is bonded and mechanically fastened to the deck, with a moulded rubrail with stainless steel insert completing the join. Stringers are encapsulated in glass; joinery and drawers are fashioned from mainly solid timbers rather than veneers, and deck fittings such as bow and handrails are all 316-grade stainless steel, through-bolted to aluminium backing plates in the hull.

I am led to believe the hull itself is a semi-displacement design based on an original pilot boat. Mainship describes the hull as having a steep plumb bow and gentle flare to cut through head seas, and rounded and deep forward sections to soften the ride. Flat chines and a four-bladed prop in a half-tunnel generate lift in the aft sections. A keel and a skeg protect the running gear and wheel.

The quality of engineering is impressive and reflects a craft that has been made for going places and not just strutting at the dock. There is an Aquamet shaft, fire-extinguisher system, seacocks on all underwater through-hull fittings, a welded aluminium fuel tank and three separate compartments with auto and manual bilge pumps (but no aft watertight bulkhead).

The boat's wiring is colour coded - which helped trace a loose wire momentarily preventing us from using the trim tabs - and there is a galvanic protection unit, water and waste tank gauges, and big boat style AC/DC board with breakers.

The importers, Auspicious Yachts, optioned the Pilot 30-II with a Sports Pack containing dripless shaft log, swim platform, bow thruster, oil-exchange system with pump, 2kW inverter, Muir windlass and four extra 80amp house batteries. Among the things I would consider are the gas stove and heat exchanger, so you can have hot water on tap, and something to power the must-have rail-mounted barbie.

DANCING ON THE DECK
The optional boarding platform is a handy addition for accessing the boat from the marina or taking a dive at anchor. There is a fold-out swim ladder and big trim tabs hanging from the hull. The outward-opening marlin door ensures cockpit space isn't compromised, and the extremely heavy duty hinges look like they have been co-opted from the company's Luhrs gamefisher line.

Luhrs, Hunter Yachts and Mainship rate as some of the best builders in the moulding department. The Pilot 30-II has complex liners and an integrated cabin superstructure. The self-draining cockpit has big scuppers and non-skid where you need it. There is enough room to assemble a portable lunch table for four, or to partake in some serious fishing.

I found a handheld freshwater deck shower and heavy-duty deck gear, including hawsepipes in the transom corners and a terrific one-piece high bowrail. In the cockpit were a manual bilge pump, shorepower connection and TV and phone jacks, too.

A central hatch leads down to the lazarette, which is sound-insulated since it is connected to the engine room ahead.

There is good access to the Seastar hydraulic steering, a handy 53lt waste tank and 151lt water tank, and room for stowing a few fenders.

The Pilot 30-II has full walkaround decks, hand rails on the cabin top, non-skid decking and that big bowrail. Once up front, you will find a flat foredeck on which you can tend mooring lines, take in the sea breeze or sunbake.

The optional Muir windlass will make light work of anchoring, and the boat has a deep chain locker.

INDOOR OUTDOORS
The hardtop isn't just a lid plonked willy-nilly on top of the Express model - it's a fully moulded structure that looks like it belongs. From a practical perspective, it creates an indoor/outdoor living area as well as a pilothouse. There is room to carry a ducky or sea kayak on the roof and optional roll-up clear side windows in place of the excellent safety-glass numbers, which might be better for the tropics.

Although it houses a full-length handrail down the centreline, plus transverse grabrails, the hardtop has loads of headroom. Ventilation is over the top, with hatches above the helm and co-pilot, opening forward hatches above the leading edge of the windscreen, a centre opening windscreen panel, and two 12V fans.

Views from the co-pilot's and skipper's seats were unfettered through the big armourplate glass panels. There are two windscreen wipers and fore-and-aft adjustment on the pedestal seats, plus fold-down footrests. A chart table lies ahead of the co-pilot and consideration has been given to courtesy and task lighting.

But the best is yet to come: the floor space behind the helm seats is flanked by two big longitudinal lounges that double as daybeds and, with the aft curtain scrolled down, create a summer sleep-out. The dinette table from inside the cabin also slots in between the lounges to create a sheltered lunch setting. Dry storage with overboard drains exists below the lounges.

The floor of the pilothouse lifts up on power-assisted struts to reveal the single 240hp four-cylinder Yanmar diesel motor. There is a surfeit of servicing room around the motor and direct access to the fuel taps, big sea strainer and batteries. There is also room to mount a generator in case you require air conditioning.

WEEKENDING AMENITIES
You get plenty of room to move through this boat. Behind a sliding lock-up perspex door are three steps leading down into an open-plan interior. A soft ceiling liner is 1.82m from floor level, and there are neutral furnishings such as camel-coloured upholstery and cherrywood joinery. I'm not too sure about the high-gloss floor finish, though - it was slippery.

Interior room is generous for a 30-footer with such a big helm area and cockpit. You will find the goods for serious weekending away or entertaining in day-cruiser mode. Predominantly off-white moulded walls make this an easy boat to keep clean.

Handy to the pilothouse, the galley to port gains extra headroom from the companionway. Ventilation comes by way of five opening portholes in the boat and an extractor fan in the head. The benchtop has big fiddle rails, cupboards with moulded storage recesses above and below, and a deep moulded sink.

The supplied inverter powers the Origo microwave for reheating home-cooked meals. There is a top-loading 12V fridge and a single-burner electric hob. The JVC sound system is alongside the lift-out stairs, which grant access to batteries in the engine room and the sump pump for the head to port.

The head, a fully-moulded module to port, has an electric loo with a strategically-placed extractor fan, headroom and a skylight, sand-coloured Corian vanity for a sense of class, and a tap over the basin that doubles as a shower. There is a tank gauge, a 240V outlet for the razor or hairdryer, and three storage hatches. There is no opening porthole, however. I noticed mould growing, too.

Now for the clever bit. That seemingly short bed in the bow has an ingenious flip-up base that locks into position to create a full queen-sized bed. I tested out the innerspring mattress and consider it superior to the offset, obtuse double beds seen in the bow of most other 30ft sportscruisers.

I could live with the Pilot 30-II's cabin layout. The U-shaped lounge can seat two couples or a family of four around the removable high-gloss cherrywood dinette. Storage exists under the lounge base and in surround sidepockets. The convertible layout offers indoor/outdoor dining and living areas, and an overnight, too.

PILOT WHALE
Everything is laid out before you at the helm - including drinkholders, a teak ship's steering wheel, a single Morse gearshift and the Sidepower bowthruster joystick. The dash includes VDO gauges, engine and bilge alarms, and switches for lights, horn, wipers and so on.

I noted push-button engine starting, mounting space for a big plotter, and a fold-down panel for easy access to wiring connectors. There was also good access to the wiring behind the circuit breaker board, which is just as well - the trim tab wire had pulled free of its connector and we needed to effect a five-minute repair.

While the boat was quite happy trundling along at 7.2kt and 1500rpm, it took on a lean when we hit planing speeds. The tabs countered the list, but it really required a permanent fix by redistributing the weight of the four extra batteries added to this boat.

As it was, you needed a fair bit of portside tab to counter the list, and the boat ran more bow down than desirable in a following seas. But on the way back home, I recorded 21.2kt flat out, which isn't bad for a single-screw boat.

The wheelhouse kept the cold wind at bay without affecting the views of Sydney Harbour. Noise levels were rather high, however, and at high cruise speeds of 18kt the conversation quickly dropped away.

But as an enthusiast of classic hulls in the lobster, picnic, trawler or pilot style, I'm sure this boat doesn't need a lot of work to be special.

Re-positioning of the big batteries and some extra lead-backed insulation will fix the list and cut back on noise.

As it was, the boat planed keenly at 2200rpm and cruised freely at 14kt and 2500rpm. Most of our inshore and offshore cruising was conducted at 16.5kt at 2800rpm, where the Yanmar motor uses about 30lt/h.

The Pilot 30-II boasts a safe cruising range of more than 325nm and has already proven a useful seaboat on a delivery trip from Sanctuary Cove to Sydney. Cruising inside or out, in style and comfort, at a cost of about $30 an hour sounds like smart motorboating to me.

Highs

Lows