I give you criteria, you select the Boat!

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Genecop: yep, absolutely, comes from losing all my family suddenly and then living the next 7+ years alone in a cabin in the northern MI woods.
 
Slight thread drift:

The most severe storm / hurricane in USA history was unnamed and is referred to as the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. Highest winds were 185 MPH.

Ted
 
TrawlerMI said:
Genecop: yep, absolutely, comes from losing all my family suddenly and then living the next 7+ years alone in a cabin in the northern MI woods.
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Fair enough, glad you made it through the storm, welcome back:thumb:
 
Do not over look the American Tug.
Check out the 40 ft + will get you 2 staterooms
 
Questions

I have been thinking in the 32 to 38 ft range up to now. I notice numerous suggestions in the 40 plus foot range tho. I know from experience it can be done, But, is it recommended for a 100% single hander to select boats in the 40's, I honestly don't know. I'm surprised no Willards were suggested? I really really like the 38 Diesel Duck suggested, think it may arguably be the best heavy sea boat listed so far but the very high freeboard scares me for full-time single handling. For the exact same mfg, is a 42 significantly better seakeeping that a 32?
Thanks all!
 
I could suggest the Seahorse Marine 35-foot Coot, but there are only seven in the world.
 
Back to your thoughts on Willards...while not familiar with them in personal detail, they are one of my favorites.

Fewhere would not like the looks of the 36 Willard pilothouse.

The problem with the 36 pilothouse is strictly numbers. They made what eight of them, and I think six are still floating.

You also presented a half million dollar fitted out budget, and the willards are at the lower end of that budget.
 
Just checked seahorse marine, their site states they're still building the 35 coot plus an updated 38 coot. Man are they great looking boats!
 
All in all, the Diesel Duck is a strong candidate as they are in production, so you can get one made as you like.

But someone is selling a tough little steel trawler in the "Classified" section of this board. Look for "For Sale 55’ Steel Trawler." I have not seen the boat, but I am enchanted by it.

It is an older boat, so you save on the purchase price. You use that money to outfit her as you like.

Good luck.
 
If your need for seaworthiness is to pit man/boat vs wind/waves, you can do that in any size boat, and it would be easier to find those conditions in a less seaworthy craft. If you truly did find anything safe "up to a named storm", you would never really be challenged until you start going out in "named storms", which would be some combination of irresponsible and foolish.

Perhaps you should consider placing less priority on seaworthiness, and a higher priority on living comfort. A comfortable boat will pay dividends every day you live on her. A boats stoutness will only be needed when conditions approach the abilities of the boat and its skipper, which can be reasonably mitigated with planning and awareness.

You state in the original post that the boat should be able to be single handed, but will spend very few nights in a marina. I think most people think of the difficulties in single handing as getting in and out of a slip. Rearward visibility may not be that important in your case, but side doors on the pilot house probably are. A stern thruster might not be so important, but I transom door might be.

There's lots of 32-38 foot boats that would make great liveaboards if you eased up a little on the required robustness of the boat. You'll have many more choices, and they'll be cheaper as well. That will give you a chance to find a better, more comfortable layout, with options you want, and some budget surplus to make it even better.
 
Sailor of Fortune said:
Oops, I was wrong on the fuel range on the Nordic tug...I stand by my assesment of her not being a sea boat,I don't care what "Boating World" reports.
I'd love to see the BW peeps in a Nordic tug in 5' seas....
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:) Hi, do you have your own experienced NT or just a strong opinion when you think 5 'sea would be a problem?

I am with you disagree ... you can watch YouTube NT 32/34 drive 5 ' sea, nothing extraordinary, at least not for me

NBs
 
If it were me I’d start with the boats mission.

First question is do you need to cross oceans?
If that answer is a yes you’ll be driven to a specific type of boat with 2,000 miles of range or more.

If you do not need to cross oceans then you are coastal cruising.
Coastal Cruising requires a boat as seaworthy as you are willing to subject yourself to as the longest place between ports is arond 400NM in North America and the reliable weather forecast window is around 72 hours.

After that you can narrow your search down based on what style boat you like, and what style boat is most suitable for your cruising area.

Think about how you are going to use the boat. Picture yourself getting on and off the boat with groceries. If you have a dog picture how your dog will get on and off the boat..

It is very easy to say “I want this feature or capability” without really thinking about why you want that feature or capability.

Letting your mission drive the features you need and want in a boat will probably result in a boat that better suits your cruising needs.
 
North Baltic sea said:
:) Hi, do you have your own experienced NT or just a strong opinion when you think 5 'sea would be a problem?

I am with you disagree ... you can watch YouTube NT 32/34 drive 5 ' sea, nothing extraordinary, at least not for me

NBs
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Just my own opinion...I also think "just below named storm" is a lot higher than 13' sea. Nothing against the NT ( it wasn't designed for that) but I would rather be in the Diesel Duck 38 than a Nordic tug in dirty wx.
 
Sailor of Fortune said:
Just my own opinion...I also think "just below named storm" is a lot higher than 13' sea. Nothing against the NT ( it wasn't designed for that) but I would rather be in the Diesel Duck 38 than a Nordic tug in dirty wx.
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We have made quite a lot, appropriately perhaps, of the OP's criteria that the boat be able to handle winds and seas "up to a named storm". NOAA's criteria for naming storms is 34+ kts. Based on my limited coastal 34 kt experience this means 8' seas, not 13+'. OTOH, the Beaufort scale indicates 28-33 kt winds produces 13-19' seas so perhaps far offshore with no land effects the seas build up much higher.


Since we have dedicated so much ink to this question, could the OP tell us how high the winds and seas he is willing to live with? This is somewhat critical as I would never, ever want to be in 19' seas with an un-ballasted semi-displacement hull boat. That would limit the choices to Nordhavns, Krogens, Diesel Ducks and the like.


David
 
I thought Richard's post #5 cut to the essence.
 
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sunchaser said:
I thought Richard's post #5 cut to the essence.
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Yes it did and it was never answered. That is the problem with this type of thread: The OP asks an ambiguous question and we speculate endlessly about what it means. No more from me until he answers it.


David
 
TrawlerMI said:
Didn't mean to denigrate the one, the comment about who named the storm I took as ridicule, sorry.
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Richard is also a certified meteorologist so he knows a thing or two about weather and storm naming 'criteria', too.
 
Yeah, you actually accidentally denigrated the most knowledgeable blue water guy on the board.

[emoji15]
 
answers

David and Sunchaser: my best answers to post #5: age isn't important to me, seaworthiness and reliability are; fuel consumption is very important, I want to severe ties to the land and be able to go Anywhere, definately to the far northern seas so will end up in arctic areas that at trawler speeds can't retreat in time to avoid foul weather (therein lies my need for a long range VERY seaworthy boat); living space for one only (with my best friend with a waggy tail), my post is not a thought experiment only, I really plan on doing this. Thanks for reminding me I left Richard down in answering, I lost track for awhile.
 
I would be looking at steel hull boats for that type adventure. At least 1 deisel duck was constructed for that service.."Ice" was for sale a few years ago but don't know if she sold or what happened to her. That 1 criteria certainly shortens your list....Why didn't you include that from the beginning?
"Idlewild" was another (aluminum) Buehler design that did that treck. Aluminum wouldn't be my choice, but it worked for them..
 
I think there are a couple of 40 Willards on YW now on the west coast. Both have stabilizers. One has a 4-53 Detroit in it. Would a 48 Hatteras LRC be capable?
 
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Pack Mule said:
I think there are a couple of 40 Willards on YW now on the west coast. Both have stabilizers. One has a 4-53 Detroit in it. Would a 48 Hatteras LRC be capable?
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Precisely what I was thinking, Marty. For that kind of criteria and one aboard, here would be my list for production boats:

Nordhavn 40
Willard 36 or 40
Krogen 39 or 42
Diesel Duck 38-42
Hatteras 42 LRC
 
TrawlerMI said:
David and Sunchaser: my best answers to post #5: age isn't important to me, seaworthiness and reliability are; fuel consumption is very important, I want to severe ties to the land and be able to go Anywhere, definately to the far northern seas so will end up in arctic areas that at trawler speeds can't retreat in time to avoid foul weather (therein lies my need for a long range VERY seaworthy boat); living space for one only (with my best friend with a waggy tail), my post is not a thought experiment only, I really plan on doing this. Thanks for reminding me I left Richard down in answering, I lost track for awhile.
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That definitely changes the boats you would be looking for. I'm not familiar with those waters, but I would probably shift my focus away from the coastal cruisers. Not that they couldn't serve, but if that is where you want to go, I'd think a Diesel Duck would be pretty ideal.
 
healhustler said:
For that kind of criteria and one aboard, here would be my list for production boats:



Nordhavn 40

Willard 36 or 40

Krogen 39 or 42

Diesel Duck 38-42

Hatteras 42 LRC
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That sums it up nicely.
There are a few custom built boats that also may fit the requirements.

I don’t mean to offend anyone but the rest are pretenders when the weather gets really ugly.
 
Dont forget to look at the American Tug.
 
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