2001 Luhrs 34 Convertible

2001 34' Luhrs Convertible w/ 350 hp twin Yanmar 6LYA-STE diesels engines, 680 hrs

Outriggers

Live well

Huge inside mechanical room under stairs

Padded cockpit combings

New interior sofa cushions , backs, and mattress

Salon aft curtain

Salon ceiling contains a large fishing rod storage locker

Additional rod storage behind starboard sofa

Port and starboard SCUBA tank racks in cockpit

Fully enclosed bridge w/ Bimini soft op 

AC's

Kohler 8KW generator w/ 752 hrs

Swim Step (missing ladder

Transom door

Upgraded raw water strainers

Anchor pulpit, Anchor and electric Anchor Windless

Starboard  salon sofa pulls out to make a large bed

Sofa back can be raised up w/ straps and makes another bed!

Note: Nav electronics need to be replaced. All tun on but screens need replacing

The Luhrs 340 fishing machine offers a beamy, full-bodied footprint and a lofty layout to go with it. Moreover, the 340 incorporates advances in construction and engineering that point to the next level of boatbuilding for Luhrs.

The hull bottom is solid glass, and the hull sides, decks, soles, and superstructure are cored with Baltek AL600/10 balsa. Longitudinal and transverse hull stiffeners are of glass-encapsulated marine ply, secondarily bonded. ISO-NPG resins are used throughout the laminates, with woven and some knitted fabrics. The hull-to-deck joint is secured with screws and tenacious 3M 5200 adhesive. While none of this is exactly groundbreaking technology, another feature of the 340’s construction is something of an envelope-pusher—the extensive use of nonstructural, thermoform parts.

Thermoforming is an increasingly popular manufacturing technique, whereby thin, flat sheets of ABS plastic are placed over heated, male molds and drawn into place via numerous vacuum ports. When cool, the parts are pulled from their molds, trimmed, and usually used in cosmetic, semistructural applications like glove-box interiors and dashboard moldings. They are typically strong, resilient, good-looking, less bulky than fiberglass, and a lot lighter. In fact, Luhrs estimates that the use of thermoform components in the 340 reduced her displacement by a whopping 1,000 pounds.

Accounting for most of the weight savings are stowage bins and locker interiors in the master stateroom as well as in the practical “split head” just abaft it, a feature that allows one person to use the MSD while the other takes a shower in an entirely separate compartment. Luhrs introduced the split head in the late ‘80s on its 3400 Flybridge Motoryacht. Additional weight savings accrue in the saloon/galley area, where there’s a large, thermoformed overhead rod-stowage locker (with a capacity for seven big rods or 11 smaller ones) and an attractive thermoformed valance system that keeps the window blinds from dangling and tangling. A multipurpose cabinet at the rear of the saloon on the starboard side also showcases the versatility of the technique. Inside, a complicated, elegantly molded thermoformed part protects and secures the nether regions of a whole raft of equipage, including a Paneltronics electrical panel, a set of Perko battery switches, a Black & Decker Space Saver coffee maker, and an optional Raritan icemaker.

ENGINEERING NIFTINESS

Engineering details onboard the 340 are commensurate with manufacturing developments. Up forward is what Luhrs calls a “Utility Room,” an athwartship crawl space accessed by lifting the hinged stairway that connects the saloon and the lower deck hallway. It’s loaded with savvy details, the most impressive being an arsenal of sea strainers, one for the livewell in the port-side cockpit console box, another for the saltwater washdown, and yet another for the Marine Air air conditioning system. Few boats I test these days have fluids systems so thoroughly protected. Other notables here include an extra-high-capacity, 60-amp Sentry battery charger, a dedicated two-way battery switch for the genset, and two-part, compression-type plastic chafe guards wherever wiring passes through holes in bulkheads or timbers.

Further examples of engineering niftiness include electric-fan-actuated, aft-facing, saltwater-resistant, engine room vents recessed into the “BridgeWalk,” an easy-to-use molded-glass stairway between the cockpit and flying bridge. Looped drain hoses with seacocks are fitted to the sinks to prevent water intrusion and CO ingress, and easily removable panels in the saloon sole improve engine access, which is otherwise a bit cramped, with hands-and-knees headroom and a cockpit hatch.

While the 340’s standard welded-aluminum, rocket-launcher-equipped half-tower and molded hardtop (with electronics box) is the most impressive feature about the on-deck layout, the most striking thing about the layout below decks is the high-altitude headroom—6'8"—a feature directly attributable to the raised profile. Beyond that, the joinery is serviceable and features maple and maple veneers.

There’s a mattress in the diagonal berth in the forward cabin as well as two cedar-lined hanging lockers and a vanity with Corian countertop. The stand-up stall shower in the port-side half of the head is huge, roughly 4' x 4'. The standard MSD in the starboard half is an electric PAR.

Drawer sides and bottoms in the port side galley and elsewhere are plywood surfaced with high-pressure laminate, butt-jointed and nailed, with powder-coated steel sliders and positive, pop-out type Lamp latches. The starboard sofa in the saloon pulls out to form a double, and the back of the settee swings up to create a small bunk with two braided-nylon suspension straps.