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Fisher 30 (motorsailer)

Built 1971–1981 by Fairways Marine / Northshore Yachts (UK)

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About the Fisher 30 (motorsailer)

Researched from public sources for this model. Any individual boat may have been modified or repowered — confirm before relying on any figure.

Fisher 30 (motorsailer)
Photo: Tonkie at Dutch Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Built
1971–1981
Builder
Fairways Marine / Northshore Yachts (UK)
Designer
Gordon Wyatt / David Freeman
Length
29.99 ft
Waterline
25 ft
Beam
9.25 ft
Draft
4.25 ft
Displacement
14,559 lb
Ballast
7,280 lb
Hull / keel
full keel
Rig
ketch
Propulsion
inboard
Fuel
73 gal
Water
50 gal
Stern thruster
none

Sources disagree on number built — left blank rather than guessed.

Pilothouse ketch motorsailer with long keel, transom-hung rudder and iron ballast. Developed from the sloop-rigged Freeward 30; debuted at the 1971 Southampton Boat Show and was replaced in 1981 by the Fisher 31 (Fisher Owners Association history). Boats without the pilothouse were called the Caribbean 30.

Known problems for this model

No well-sourced problem reports found yet.

Engines & parts

Volvo Penta MD1B / MD2B / MD3B parts: limited

Factory standard engine — you entered “Volvo Penta MD3B”

MD2B production ran 1970–1975 (confirmed by two parts sellers and an owner history page); boats built later sometimes carry leftover MD2Bs. Genuine Volvo Penta parts catalogs still list the MD1B/MD2B/AQD2B/MD3B, and specialists (Parts4Engines, MarineDustrie used parts) supply service and rebuild items, but some parts are discontinued. MD2B is the two-cylinder version (MD1B one, MD3B three).

Parts sources: Parts4Engines (Volvo Penta MD2B), Power Products Systems (genuine Volvo Penta parts), MarineDustrie (used MD1–MD17 parts)

Common problems (1)
  • Raw-water cooling corrosion and blocked passages cooling
    These engines are raw-water cooled, so internal water passages scale up or corrode; owners descale them and check cylinder jackets for corrosion when overheating appears.
    forums.ybw.com · forum.woodenboat.com · forums.sailboatowners.com
Model sources (2)

sailboatdata.com · fisherowners.org

Other Fisher models

Researched from public sources. Spotted an error? The sources are listed above — tell us what they got wrong.