Kinda cool pilothouse trawler

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Kinda cool?? I LOVE that boat! If it was just the two of us, I'd be all over it...
 
Hmmmmm..... It would be interesting to hear what Tad Roberts has to say about the design if he decides to chime in here.

Personally I think the boat has a rather home-made, cobbled together look to it. The hull has a nice shape but the house doesn't work at all for me, neither in placement nor design. It looks like it fell out of the sky and landed on the boat and has stayed where it landed. Very unbalanced look to me.

The boat may be extremely capable and extremely well made. It just looks........ weird.
 
I think it looks ocean going weird tho Marin. It's those wannabe windows that's putting you off I think. That and the fact most of the livin' is down below. Would not be good in the tropics, eg. But very salty in a seaway I would think.
 
I think it looks ocean going weird tho Marin. It's those wannabe windows that's putting you off I think. That and the fact most of the livin' is down below. Would not be good in the tropics, eg. But very salty in a seaway I would think.

No, actually I wasn't looking at the pilothouse windows at all. Like I said, the hull looks okay to my hull-design-ignorant eye. But the pilothouse just doesn't match the hull. It's sheer is different than the hull's, something that's very apparent in the last photo. It's too far aft, and it just has this very "I made this in my backyard" look to it.

I like the basic North Sea trawler design a lot and I've seen a lot of them in England and Scotland. This one just doesn't quite capture the look to me.

The smaller and lower living spaces make sense in this kind of boat--- Nordhavn does it too to a degree. And as I say, it may be a very well made, well found vessel.

I'm just reacting to the aesthetic design I see in the photos and to me, it is sorely lacking given the kind of vessel it aspires to be.

That's why I say it would be very interesting and probably educational to hear what a professional and experienced marine design expert like Tad had to say about the boat. It very well may be there are sensible reasons for the aesthetic decisions that were made.
 
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Fugly, is about right = functional but ugly. One of those things only a mother could love - from the outside. From the inside - great living spaces. It might look better in the flesh (steel). I think it would stack up as seaworthy. Tad....?
 
Conspicuously absent was the draft measurement. At 42' and 80,000 pounds, it can't draw much. :rolleyes:

Ted
 
Bob Smith told me 15,000 hrs. is easy for a Lehman if properly maintained. Mine will easily outlive me.
 
Marin how can you comment on the hull shape when you can't see it?

My little 30' trawler draws 3.5' so 5' draft for this type of boat is quite shallow.

And unless TAD knows this boat he probably won't comment on her hull w/o seeing it or he'd be just guessing at the hull based on the topsides.

I'd much prefer this boat in my boat yard the Susan Gael.
 

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The design is reminiscent of older fishing-boat designs with the pilothouse near the stern and a clear foredeck. With reduced superstructure above deck, there is usually more stability, less wind resistance, and fewer larger windows to be broken. They are more suitable for the open seas than most other recreational boats where volume is maximized for a given length, resulting in "cruise ship" profiles.

img_148236_0_323e5a53e9951b83e0b253b014f90945.jpg
 
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Eric-- When I say hull shape I mean the hull I can see above the waterline. It's an aesthetic judgement.. I am we'll aware that one cannot judge a hull's hydrodynamic shape unless the boat is out of the water or you dive on the hull. This boat has what I think is a nice-looking hull when you look at the boat floating there.

Let me know if I'm still not making myself clear....
 
Yeah, I've seen that trawler here in Stuart, where I happened to be docked at the time. I think Marin is right about the awkward location of the pilothouse, but you all know how I feel about fugly boats anyway. I love 'em.

I was so curious about what Marin noted that I actually photoshopped the pilothouse 4 ft. forward, and the difference was startling. I'm waiting for the OK from the owner (he took the photos) before I can publish them.
 
Always admired Andron.
 

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The listing says 5 feet draft.
Ok, I must be blind. I don't see anywhere in the linked page "5 feet". Under dimensions I only see LOA, Beam, and Displacement.

Ted
 
Ok, here we go. The three examples below show original, 6 ft. forward and 8 ft. forward respectively. Might be too late to grab it, though....under contract.
 

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Boy I wish I had even a fraction of your skill with Photoshop. Both 2 and 3 look much better to me even though I still think the pilothouse design itself is awfully clunky. If I had to pick just one I'd probably go with 3 just because it starting to get a tug look that's another basic design I really like. But that's also drifting away from the North Sea trawler look the original design was trying for. Thanks for doing this.
 
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Sorry, I didn't see that it was under contract on Yachtworld, but the listing loaded funky for me so I might have missed it.

I'm looking for something, off and on, that will make it to the Caribbean when I'm ready to retire in a couple in 2-3 years. If I find something "perfect" I can get it now however.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. Need a guest berth in addition to a master. Like the idea of a get home engine/sail if possible. Need something fairly up to date mechanically-- don't want a project. Like a pilothouse with a berth up there.
 
Of course, we all know what Marin and Eric really appreciate about trawlers.
 

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I'm looking for something, off and on, that will make it to the Caribbean when I'm ready to retire in a couple in 2-3 years. If I find something "perfect" I can get it now however.

Any thoughts or ideas are welcome. Need a guest berth in addition to a master. Like the idea of a get home engine/sail if possible. Need something fairly up to date mechanically-- don't want a project. Like a pilothouse with a berth up there.

Probably a bit too "project boat" for you, but I think this is a great deal. Offer $75K.
1964 American Marine/Grand Banks North Sea Trawler Power Boat For Sale -
 
Probably a bit too "project boat" for you, but I think this is a great deal. Offer $75K.
1964 American Marine/Grand Banks North Sea Trawler Power Boat For Sale -


That's really cool looking, but wood scares me because I don't think I can keep up with the needed maintenance. Better stick to fiberglass or steel.

Plus, I forgot to mention the Bahamas is another destination. We chartered a shallow draft (2'10") Great Harbour a couple of years ago in the Abacos, and it was nice being able to not really worry too much. A 6'6" draft would be a different story I think.
 
We chartered a shallow draft (2'10") Great Harbour a couple of years ago in the Abacos, and it was nice being able to not really worry too much. A 6'6" draft would be a different story I think.


I've thought of chartering a GH on the St. Johns River....just to check it out. Which Great Harbour did you charter? How did you like the boat?
 
Larry, how can you move all that weight around without changing the trim of the boat? Amazing. Just amazing.:D
 
Larry, how can you move all that weight around without changing the trim of the boat? Amazing. Just amazing.:D

Don: You can't see through the hull, otherwise you would see that I utilized cad software to re-engineer the bulkheads and machinery to balance the boat each time.

You know, whenever I do this it is with the understanding that the marine engineers and architects are probably having a good laugh at the fantasy of it all, but I still enjoy it.:)
 
I've thought of chartering a GH on the St. Johns River....just to check it out. Which Great Harbour did you charter? How did you like the boat?

It was the N37

Great Harbor Trawlers

The one with the flybridge.

We really liked it. Sipped fuel. Super shallow draft. Lots of room for 4. Walk in engine room was nice. Galley was like a house setup with full size fridge and glass top elec range. We had to stay at marinas every night due to the generator not working when we got there, so that kind of sucked, but they gave me a decent discount off the rate to cover the cost of the marinas.

Never got the boat in any gnarly water since we were not allowed out of the Abaco Sound as per our charter agreement so I don't know how it would handle any seas. Very flat stern, wide, and shallow draft so maybe not well.

They want around 300K for those boats used however, and that seems way high to me.
 
Have no particular preference of one version over another. ... Gee, that's a powerful-looking bow. ... Still, the boat needs a real mast (not a stump) for some auxiliary sails which would probably work best with the original (rear pilothouse) version.

Please get rid of the flybridge version. Makes the boat toylike. And think of the many thousands of dollars necessary to duplicate electronics and controls of the pilothouse!
 
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Remind me: I like a dark-green hull.
 
Mark Recently you sent me photos of the "Hot Rudder Bum" (H.R.B.) which falls into this category of trawlers. I would think and you would agree, that boat surely falls into the discussion as a fine example of this model. If I could post the photos with out a lot of fuss and knowledge I would. Just a thought.
Al Johnson-Ketchikan
 

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