About MV Starr

2025 update: Two years and 15,000nm after installation, the Humphree fin stabilizers have proven to be a disaster. The clunking noise and vibration has not been resolved. The main seal has failed at half its expected lifetime, allowing seawater to enter the boat. Factory service is slow and unreliable and third party service doesn't seem to exist. See www.humphreestabilizers.com for more information. A year ago we tore out Starr’s original Naiad hydraulic stabilizers and replaced them...

09 September, 2024 /

Sharry and I have been cruising the South Pacific and more recently Hawaii since 2001.Hawaii has a reputation for challenging cruising since most anchorages are open roadsteads. The Pacific swell is ever-present and stabilization at rest makes many more anchorages available. Last year we cruised 1900nm around the Hawaiian Islands and were at anchor about 90 nights, most of which required flopper stoppers for comfort aboard. We were anchored in Hanalei long enough to have...

23 April, 2019 /

This is Noodle’s daily blog on 4 June. 1200 position 44N 162W, 594 miles south of Kodiak, AlaskaThis morning at 430AM I was jarred awake from a deep sleep by the sound of a smoke alarm. It was coming from Clay’s stateroom, which is next to mine. Clay was on watch at the time, and we all converged on his quarters at the same time where we smelled something electrical burning. It turned out to...

04 June, 2018 /

This is Noodle’s daily blog on 5/31/18The seas continue to moderate as we get further north. The motion is now quite pleasant and less and less spray is pelting the pilot house windows as we punch through the chop. It is getting cooler too. Outside air temperature is down to 65 degrees.After I got off watch this morning Don and I dug into the still not functioning computer system that monitors most of the systems...

31 May, 2018 /

It was relatively pleasant even after we got out of the lee of Oahu yesterday, but as the afternoon wore on the winds and seas increased until it was pretty uncomfortable aboard Starr. The winds are up near 20 knots now, as forecast, but it is the seas that are bothersome. We are headed north, and there is a moderate swell form the north east, no doubt the remnant of wind from that direction a...

29 May, 2018 /

Having run Starr for 18 years, including crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific (we are about to start our 10th Pacific crossing), fixing Starr's steering problem (lack of control) is the single best modification we have made to date.  As I listen to other trawler owners talk about their steering problems and how they might solve them with autopilot adjustments, I wonder if they would be better served by adding flanking rudders or the dual...

10 April, 2018 /

Stabilizing a large yacht at anchor presents many challenges.  With their almost unlimited budgets and full-time engineers, megayachts usually choose an electronic solution such at TRAC’s STAR (STabilization At Rest), and smaller, light-displacement yachts often opt for gyro solutions such as Seakeeper anti-roll gyros.  Both systems are effective, but they’re costly to install, require full-time generator use and varying levels of maintenance, and create noise.  On the other hand, passive stabilization using flopper-stoppers is time-tested,...

29 March, 2018 /

I am going to do a series of blog additions about some of the fun things I have done on Starr.     MV Starr My brother-in-law reminded me of a time when I was about 10 years old. I took a 4x8 sheet of plywood, nailed 2 x 6 sides on it with a slightly raked bow, and then put a five horse Johnson outboard on it and that was my hydroplane. We have now had...

10 July, 2016 /

I am going to do a series of blog additions about some of the fun things I have done on Starr.    MV Starr My brother-in-law reminded me of a time when I was about 10 years old. I took a 4x8 sheet of plywood, nailed 2 x 6 sides on it with a slightly raked bow, and then put a five horse Johnson outboard on it and that was my hydroplane. We...

18 June, 2016 /

I am going to do a series of blog additions about some of the fun things I have done on Starr.    MV Starr My brother-in-law reminded me of a time when I was about 10 years old. I took a 4x8 sheet of plywood, nailed 2 x 6 sides on it with a slightly raked bow, and then put a five horse Johnson outboard on it and that was my hydroplane. We...

18 June, 2016 /
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