Looking to buy a 55' Lien Hwa yacht. Any comments?

Buy new or used and then look for a 1980 boat? That is huge difference and will sure be disappointing then.
Probably the budget is important which is to understand but then look at good build Chinese trawlers like the Selene trawlers. Is even dealer of that in Seattle.
I'm sure that will bring more joy then a 30 years old one.

Good luck.

Hi,

I think you will find that you have discovered one of the nuances of the English Language.

I would say the OP means he is looking at buying a used boat that will be a new one for him as in a replacement for the old one.

In this instance New doesn't mean just built fresh out of the box but something that will be a new encounter for the Poster.

I guess by now you have researched enough to know that it is a Taiwanese built boat out of one of the many yards that produced many trawler style boats of several sizes based on the same hull molds. Lien Wha, as far as I know, didn't build all that many and are still around so it may have been a better yard than those that sprung up to feed the huge American market that sprung up in the early 80s.

The quality varied as widely as the family enterprise that built each boat. For the most part, they are good hulls, and many of them are solid, not cored. The decks are another issue though with cheap plywood (or worse) coring that is penetrated by every screw used to attach the teak decking. The superstructure is also cored and leaks around the windows have lead to rotten cores in many of those boats. The deck rot can be repaired by an owner with a sense of humor and a lot of time, the superstructure problems can be more difficult to deal with.

I have a 48' CHB (Chung Hwa Boatbuilding) CPMY that has soft decks forward. I will get around to repairing them some day. The hull is solid as a rock and since it is a mid 80s boat, doesn't have the blister issues that some earlier boats had. If yours does, don't worry about it, just use it as a bargaining point and fix it yourself. I got a CHB 34 in Seattle for almost nothing because of a case of pox so bad it frightened the boatyard cat. It took me about a week to repair and seal with modern epoxy bottom treatments and to this date, about 8 years later, has no blisters. Look carefully at the fuel tank tops as they are prone to rusting away to nothing from deck leaks around the fills. Check the railing attachment points as they were just screwed into the core and not bedded all that well.

For more information than you can absorb, Google CHB or Taiwanese trawler and you will get a full education.

Good luck, let us know what you find.

That particlar boat (""Well Deserved), is better know as a Marine Trader 49 Pilothouse. It has a Marine Trader HID as well as all of the badging. These were not all fiberglass construction. The house is a glass over wood composite structure, with very little glass and very poor quality plywood. Decks were teak overlay on plywood with wood frames. Fuel tanks are mild steel. Looks as though someone has replaced the teak decks on her, and overall she looks good considering. In Florida that is maybe a $125,000 boat, if anyone would buy it. Most have brought half that in poor shape. Way too much teak to take care of for most, and likely too much dry rot. You could buy a much better boat for the same money. A 53 Hatteras in nice shape can be had for less than that boat. I would suggest looking at some other options. (IMHO)

If the boat you are looking at is Well Deserved in Newport Harbor, I assume you know the history, if not send me a private message.