Trawler Fest Stuart FL worth while?

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Mragan

Member
Joined
Nov 10, 2016
Messages
19
Location
US
Vessel Name
Steadfast
Vessel Make
Nordic Tug 37
Good Day All.

Looking for some insight on Trawler Fest. The wife and myself are trawler shopping(used). We are still trying to decide on the right style trawler. The hope is to get more exposure to different boats etc. It does not appear that they have that many different boats scheduled to be there.Has anyone been to one of these events. Seminars worth while? How many different vendors etc.

Thanks in advance

Mike
 
Looking for some insight on Trawler Fest. The wife and myself are trawler shopping(used). We are still trying to decide on the right style trawler. The hope is to get more exposure to different boats etc. It does not appear that they have that many different boats scheduled to be there.Has anyone been to one of these events. Seminars worth while? How many different vendors etc.

Went a couple of years ago when it was at Riviera Beach. We didn't attend seminars nor were we interested in vendors but we did notice a few interesting things from the vendors that were there.

Like you, we were concerned there would not be a lot of boats there but many of them don't get listed until the last minute. We thought they had a real nice selection of trawler type boats. A few warnings here. First, even in the winter, FL can get more than a few hot sunny days. We drove down from Vero Beach and were only looking at the boats a single day but climbing all over boats and taking everything in can tire you out real quick. To look at all of them would have taken 2 days or more depending on how much detail you look at. There will be some boats way out of your price point and maybe a few under your price point. Try to pick out the ones that fit your budget and you are really interested in unless you just want to look for the sake of looking.

We went the first day the boat were viewable and the crowds were not that bad. I would have been leery about going on a weekend.

Oh, you will need to take your shoes off prior to boarding some boats. Be careful, new nice looking shoes have been known to disappear. :rofl:
 
Hi Mike

Any boat show is worth it just because of the ideas you pick up. I have been to that show (different venue) and some seminars are great and some not so great depending on your experience and point of view. As far as vendors it is certainly not like Miami of Lauderdale. Go and down the day or days and enjoy yourselves.
 
Hi Mike

Any boat show is worth it just because of the ideas you pick up. I have been to that show (different venue) and some seminars are great and some not so great depending on your experience and point of view. As far as vendors it is certainly not like Miami of Lauderdale. Go and down the day or days and enjoy yourselves.
:thumb:... seminars are always hit or miss ....anywhere. But a much bigger chance of enjoying them and finding them useful if you are relatively inexperienced on the topic.

I have been a presenter awhile back for some of their hands on training with other presenters. Topics like firefighting, survival, damage control, flare demos.

I always heard afterward that even experienced boaters got the most out of them or at least the significant other did. So I would recommend any of those topics.

The other topics that are always well received by experienced boaters are the ones of constant change like offshore medicine (if you need that topic).....but not if it is just another basic first aid course and you get those at work every year.

On top of everything else...sometimes it is just the people you meet there that makes it all worth it. This one is really up to you and how you treat the whole event. Unlike regular "shows" where often you are just part of the carnival mass being swept around, Trawler Fests were designed to be more like a gathering of cruisers who all enjoy the same things (to a point). Haven't been to one lately so I hope the theme hasn't changed much.
 
Good points all.
 
I have been to several TrawlerFests. I agree with the previous commenters. It is not a boat show in the sense of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. It is a gathering of like minded cruisers. There is a lot of good information geared towards trawler owners and the trawler life. The selection of boats varies, and even if you do not see the exact make and model you are looking for, you will meet experts who do know the boat. The seminars cover a wide range of topics and are usually well attended, but some are better than others. The two day diesel seminar at Stuart promises to be exceptional. The audience is all trawler cruisers and like this forum, there are cruisers who are just getting started and cruisers with thousands of underway at sea' hours. This year I will be covering "Cruising the ICW" At Stuart and at Kent Island. If you are at Stuart, stop by and say Hi.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I think we will check it out. The weather has to be better than Upstate NY. I guess what's the worst that could happen? Maybe I learn or see something new.

Thanks again!

Cheers!
 
You will definitely learn something just by observing the other boat on display even if it is what not to do. LOL
 
Mike,
I have attended Trawlerfest events in the past, got rained out of one. If you are starting to consider boats, it's helpful because it's another chance to see a range of boats. If you sign up for the seminars, large blocks of time will be used on the classes.
I would also recommend you look into MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association). They will be holding a spring rendezvous in April 10-12 in St. Augustine Florida. Their events are less focused on buying/selling trawlers but there are lots of boats to visit and many owners to learn from.
Enjoy the search and learning.
 
The Admiral and I will be hanging out over at the Fest from Thurs through Sat. If anyone else is there. We'll be doing some seminars and the dinners, then poking around the vendors & dock candy.
 
"Oh, you will need to take your shoes off prior to boarding some boats. Be careful, new nice looking shoes have been known to disappear. "

This is very true. :confused:
 
I've been to a couple TrawlerFests in Anacortes while shopping for a boat and trying to learn about cruising in that area.

Good experiences each time.
Lectures are tailored for the geographical area and it is centered around "Trawlers" or cruising boats. Unlike a boat show you don't have to walk around runabouts, sailboats, jet skiis, etc.
There are boats brought in by brokers and there are often boats brought in by attendees which you can look at.

If in the shopping phase for a boat to cruise that area I say GO!!
 
When we entered the buying market, in 2012, we attended Trawlerfest Baltimore, and found it very informative.

The seminars were very helpful in sorting out the various cruising styles. Also, the Q&A's in the seminars were really interesting.

By all means, go!
 
we've been to several trawlerfests and yes if you're interested in trawlers, it is in fact the only show that focuses on this type of boat. we've also done several seminars and it is really a small investment when you compare it to the cost of buying the wrong boat.
if you're really novices, the boat-handling seminars are also very useful.
 
If you have the time by all means go, you can learn quite a bit by observing. Seminars are always fun as it gives you the opportunity to ask your questions.

Have fun
 
We went to Trawlerfest in Stuart yesterday and found it a less interesting than last year's show was. Riviera was a better location, with plenty of room for exhibitors booths and parking.

The resort is not designed nor ready for the traffic that the event brought, making us park some distance and use their shuttle to get to the event. Their docks are not floating docks so getting aboard during low tide is HARD! High tide is ok for some boats.

Azmut was there in force with MarineMax but I don't consider them trawlers, although they could easily be cruiser boats. The true trawler style boats were limited. No Selene's were there, limited Nordhavn and plenty of Kadey Krogans since their office is in Stuart...
 
Azmut was there in force with MarineMax but I don't consider them trawlers, although they could easily be cruiser boats. The true trawler style boats were limited. No Selene's were there, limited Nordhavn and plenty of Kadey Krogans since their office is in Stuart...

Not a fan of Azimut or Marine Max, but the Azimut Magellano line is very trawlerish.

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I walked throughout the 66 Magellano and didn't really like it. Ghetto hard chines were slapping with almost no wave motion... would have been hard to sleep the first night, second night you'd be so tired you could probably get some sleep.
 
The Palm Beach show has grown greatly and I understand will have some trawlers like Grand Banks in attendance, since it comes very close date wise I'm sure some manufacturers made the choice to do the much larger show.
 
The Palm Beach show has grown greatly and I understand will have some trawlers like Grand Banks in attendance, since it comes very close date wise I'm sure some manufacturers made the choice to do the much larger show.

2 Grand Banks, a 69' and a 71'.

2 Nordic Tug

1 Fleming

4 Sabre

5 Cheoy Lee, 72'-125'

So some trawler types but not heavy in that regard.

Here you can look up the boats scheduled for Palm Beach. This information does change.

Boat Makes & Brands at Palm Beach International Boat Show 2017
 
Marlow, Krogen, Nordhaven, Outer Reef plus brokerage boats will also be there. A lot depends on your definition of a trawler. No I don't want to hold there. :)
 
Marlow, Krogen, Nordhaven, Outer Reef plus brokerage boats will also be there. A lot depends on your definition of a trawler. No I don't want to hold there. :)

Those listings include the brokerage boats. Krogen Express but no KK, 86' Nordhavn, I don't see Outer Reef but I believe they will be there, 7 Marlow, as they're showing big time.
 
Does anyone have an opinion of Marlow boats?
 
Does anyone have an opinion of Marlow boats?

I do, but I may be swayed by something others are not.

As a used boat first. There are lovers and haters and part of the reason is David Marlow is a bit like a mad scientist and always changing things within existing models. So two boats of the same model may not be the same. Some say they don't ride well, some say they ride great. We would have considered either the 57 or 61 or similar size as a loop boat. Marlow, today, is the nearest you can get to a Grand Banks with the traditional Grand Banks models shrinking.

Now the new boat opinion and this is just one man's view. I can sum it up in one word, Kakawi. As in Kakawi vs. Marlow. The purchasers were unable to get the boat right for months. There was a lot of attempt to dodge as Marlow claimed they were suing the wrong Corporation and it turned out the order was written on a document with a non-existent Corporation. I believed, as did the court, that Marlows actions were indefensible. There were things clearly promised that weren't there such as classification by Veritas. Veritas had not classed it and upon checking it out, would not. This was on a model 97E. Also note that all three 97E's they built hit the used market very quickly so more signs of something amiss. I will also mention they came nothing close to the fuel numbers Marlow showed in their advertising.

It would be easy to say that doesn't impact a 53 or 58 and certainly they haven't had the same problems. However, I only purchase new or would enter into a new build with someone I trusted. Based on reading all the court documents, I could never trust Marlow. Therefore, I will never order a Marlow.

Now, the one factor that would also play a role is the mad scientist. Marlow would call this constant improvement. However, I have a mindset that I'd never want the first build of a model. Well, a lot of Marlow's are first builds in their specifics. The 62 just picks up from the 61 you'd think. However, it's got an extra foot of beam, 200 more gallons of fuel, 4" less draft because of "an innovative design of engine placement", 5% more speed, 10% more economical. Clearly major change, so how does it all work and how will the next boat off the line differ.

So, mine is a resounding "no" to new and a "caveat emptor" on used in terms that ride and extensive sea trial would be critical as the one you're boarding today may be better or worse than the one you were on last month. I would insist on sea trial in both good and bad conditions. I've heard too many very different opinions on the same model from experienced and knowledgeable captains.
 
BandB

We think alike in many ways and thanks for your comments. I researched one case about an owner in Mexico. He had many complaints and some were fixed some not but he seemed as if it was over. We are considering the Marlow 53 to replace our GB but it is fairly new and while I have talked to captains and owners of other Marlows I have found anyone with experience on the 53. Many manufacturers change their models every few years so it's hard to really know if a boat is good or not.

Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated.
 
BandB

We think alike in many ways and thanks for your comments. I researched one case about an owner in Mexico. He had many complaints and some were fixed some not but he seemed as if it was over. We are considering the Marlow 53 to replace our GB but it is fairly new and while I have talked to captains and owners of other Marlows I have found anyone with experience on the 53. Many manufacturers change their models every few years so it's hard to really know if a boat is good or not.

Thanks for your comments. Much appreciated.

Well, I think the only way you can know is to run the boat some, a real good sea trial under mixed conditions. I think the design of the 53 is great, the use of space.
 
We went to Trawlerfest in Stuart yesterday and found it a less interesting than last year's show was. Riviera was a better location, with plenty of room for exhibitors booths and parking.

The resort is not designed nor ready for the traffic that the event brought, making us park some distance and use their shuttle to get to the event. Their docks are not floating docks so getting aboard during low tide is HARD! High tide is ok for some boats.

Azmut was there in force with MarineMax but I don't consider them trawlers, although they could easily be cruiser boats. The true trawler style boats were limited. No Selene's were there, limited Nordhavn and plenty of Kadey Krogans since their office is in Stuart...



Totally agree. I drove 5 hours each way to see some boats and found it extremely difficult to get on and off the majority of the boats due to the very, very high fixed docks. A sore knee certainly didn't help, but I saw lots of folks giving up even trying to board. Poor choice of venue for sure.
 
My wife and I were at the show today. I thought it was meager, at best. If you're interested in the paid seminars, I think you can get some value out of going. I met some of the people doing the higher-end seminars who all said they had a great turn out, selling out some of the classes.

There were maybe about 10 vendor booths. There was nothing that made me skip a step to look at (more boat financing than anything else). It was fun going in and out of a lot of boats - we probably went onto about half of them. It was interesting to meet the Harris' selling their Nordhavn (marinas.com previous owners), and James Knight was there showing some other Nordhavns. James is a fountain of knowledge about Nordhavns and does a lot of commissioning and repairs at Old Port Cove in North Palm Beach.

I gave my first TrawlerFest seminar in 2003 on why smartphones were going to change how we use trawlers (4 years before the iPhone was introduced). Over the years my wife and I gave many talks at many TrawlerFests about cruising Maine to getting better communications while cruising. I think the last time we gave a talk was in Greenport, NY in 2009 and we felt it had changed too much for the worse to spend time doing it any longer.

It's pretty depressing to remember how alive the TrawlerFest scene once was and see how far it has fallen away. Back in the day when West Marine was involved, it was an incredibly fun event with joint meals, many seminars, tents of vendors, and a lot of opportunity to meet many other people. Today there was one seminar on boat defense (guns?) while we were there, no meals, and no feeling of community. I think the typical rendezvous today is a much better way to learn a lot and get good exposure to trawlers (of a particular type). I have a hard time believing TrawlerFest will ever be the wonderful event it once was. I can't imagine going to another one in the future.
 
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