Modifying a sailboat to trawler type cruising

[Fish53]

Ah ha, so you are The Most Interesting Man, in the commercial?

Thank you but I'm afraid the project will prove to be much more interesting than I am. The most common adjective applied to me is "annoying".

 

[Durant F]

If it weren't interesting I wouldn't bother to try.

Sure, a sailboat may be a little more slippery through the water. But the tradeoff is too high in terms of interior room, draft, deck space, weather protection, ride quality, etc. At a gallon and a half an hour at around 7 mph give me a trawler every time.

If you want a sailboat, buy a sailboat. If you want to go fast, buy a "go fast boat". If you want a trawler, buy a trawler.

pete

Yes...
But, most of us with trawlers travel at displacement speeds anyway 95% of the time. Imagine for a moment, a slippery hulled trawler that only burned 3/4 gah at what would maybe only be 1/4 or 1/2 knot less speed? If you wanted fast you wouldn’t have bought a trawler anyway. They are the “journey not the destination” boats. So, again, imagine that they designed a trawler with trawler visibility and comfort with sailboat economy that was only a tad slower, the “loop” would be half the fuel cost. Way more $$ to explore or eat out or see a show or concert, Just saying...

 

[OldDan1943]

Here’s an interesting one w a “raised deck”.

A very clever design IMO. He uses an OB attached to the inside of the boat aft going through the bottom of the hull like a “Sail Drive”.
Once you get over the construction appearance and look at the lines and proportions you see a nice little trawler.

Reduces to water over the bow too.
Time for a new paint job.

 

[Nomad Willy]

RE post #23 ...
He was in the middle of converting. Look at his gunnel. You can see where he cut it off and added to the top of the hull. He even retained the original typical sailboat toerail.
But it was underway under the power of his rather unique propulsion unit. This picturepost was some time ago and by now much more work has been done.

 

[Durant F]

Eric...
Thanks..
Just took a better look and now realize he kept the existing fore deck and cabin..
Brilliant really. Far more headroom below then!
Did that start out as a 24ft shark?
Angle of bow and fore cabin shape sure looks like it!
Intiqued now...

 

[Durant F]

Eric...
Have a peak ...
Angle of bow
Shape of cabin... the round of the cabin top
I’m betting that’s a shark hull
And they were extremely slippery hulls!
Designed in 1959, still raced today!

 

[Nomad Willy]

Frank,
I see one toerail anno’d black and one clear.
I see one cabin sideport w hard corners and one w soft rounded corners.

Yup .. not much difference.
Judging from the pics of yhe bottom of your boat I’d say it could do a reasonable imitation of planing. And planing at probably 8 knots or so. Yes slick is an operative word that can be applied here I think. Keep us posted.

 

[Durant F]

It’s not me... I’m just commenting on the boat you posted the picture of.
I honestly think he started with a shark hull/cabin.
There were several builders of the shark over a 35yr+ span and even with the same builder, things like toe rails and cabin ports changed.
If you see the lad again ask him and get updated pictures!

 

[Nomad Willy]

Frank OK good,
I saw a video of it underway from the aft cockpit. It was moving right along.
Haven’t seen the boat or him for at least a year. It was on “terminal trawler” that was reputed to be about sailboat-trawler conversions but is mostly about other odd boats and the misadventures of an eccentric older man’s odd ramblings about surviving storms in small anchorages in Florida.
Did you get the pics on post #22 from one source or did they come from numerous sources?
In your pics on that post the third one down is hard to look at but it appears to be a very capable sailboat conversion. I could see myself with that old sailboat but it’s probably not near or cheap. Good job but hard on the eyes.
Re your first pic on post #22 is the cover pic for Terminal Trawlers and it looks even better there.

 

[Durant F]

I simply googled “sailboat to trawler conversions” and up they all came ��
I’ll have to check out Terminal Trawlers
If it’s go grumpy, crazy old men in it, well, what can I say ��
Have you got a link to that underway video?
Would love to see that!