Referring to your boat?

I have a Mainship 36 Aft Cabin boat. After coming from sailboats, I had a hard time describing to the non-boating public what I bought.
Mainship refers to it as a motoryacht. To me, the word 'yacht' linked to anything is too presumptuous, so that's out for me. It is not a trawler, besides some people here on the coast automatically think 'shrimpboat' when they hear 'trawler'.
It seems like if I use a somewhat antiquated term like 'cabin cruiser', everyone knows what I mean.
How do you refer to your boat to the non-boating public?

Here too if you tell someone you have a trawler they'll say something like "how's the shrimp running" or ask the price of 20- 30s.
I usually say I have a "cruising boat".

Tony B,
It's kinda "antiquated" to call a house a house or a man a man but that's what they are called.
I think it's stupid to call a car a "ride". It's a car and that's that.
People tend to call things unique names to be part of a special group. If you call someone a "Dude" they may say "your'e too old to use that word". Teenagers are the best at this "cool" behavior. Gotta be what's "trending" now.
Old is old and to be pushed aside as undesirable but I'll admit I'm getting old and I wish I could push that aside.

Your boat is a cruiser. Not a heavy cruiser ... the boats people call trawlers are heavy cruisers. But most cruisers are lighter than yours so if one was in the need to be very specific I'd say you have a semi-heavy cruiser. But in most conversation I'd just say cruiser .. or wish I could. The word trawler has been used so much now we all use it even though it's not quite proper.

But if you want to be a little (or a lot) cool or trending you'd call your boat a semi-trawler or perhaps a light trawler. If it's styled like a trawler but light like a typical cruiser (think Camano Troll or Ranger) then I'd say light or very light trawler. You see I'm using the word trawler as it's so well intrenched it is probably very usable and lots of people that don't know much about boats at all know basically what a trawler is now.

But it's really a cruiser.

And it's also a yacht. A yacht is a pleasure boat. But many here are really put off by the word yacht and trawler being in the same sentence. It's the social status thing .. the pretentious thing. You want to be identified as part of a group .... tough knowledgable sea men. NOT the likes of Rodger Dangerfield in Catty Shack. But we are in that group too. To some people the most important reason they have a boat is to be part of a group. Very pretentious but to some degree we all are. There are some here (myself included) that would be very happy w what most think of as a yacht if someone else would buy the fuel. Up to a point. I can truthfully say arriving at Petersburg AK or any other port w a strong commercial presence I would rather be seen arriving w a trawler/heavy cruiser that a slick yacht.

But all that said Tony you basically have a trawler. If I saw more than your avatar I may change my mind though.

Tony B said:

How do you refer to your boat to the non-boating public?

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I always refer to it as the "boat."

Boat.

You guys aren't very chatty this morning.

Usually when folks ask me what kind of boat I have, all they care about is whether she is power or sail. And how big. But any attempt to further categorize her just results in a glazed look.

Oldfishboat

When asked I say "a 35-foot, 14-ton motorboat with a maximum speed of 8 (statute) miles an hour." The next question is "do you fish?" Answer: "no."

"Sundeck Trawler."

"Sundeck Trawler."

Is there really such a thing?

Mark I really think the "14 ton" part carries the most weight (pun intended).

Conrad,
"power or sail" ... that's the most important part. Your'e right for most folks ... and size is all they really need or want to know.

A recreational trawler...why yes, I do fish recreationally.

I call it a boat or cabin cruiser if a more complete explanation is called for. When asked I might answer "we took the boat out this weekend" or "went to the boat".

I have a rather large circle of friends that are non boaters. Most of them call it a "yacht" or "motor-yacht". I have found that most non boaters generally tend to refer to anything more than a cuddy cabin as a yacht, unless it is a houseboat or commercial boat of some sort.

When they go out on my boat they get excited to be "yachting". I agree that it is a pretentious term for what we do and would never use the term myself, but frankly correcting it to boating doesn't seem to work and only serves to make me appear pedant. When I do protest the yachting term they insist it is what we are doing regardless of vessel size.

manyboats said:

You guys aren't very chatty this morning.

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If they inquire more, I'll usually tell them blue motor boat. I mean, come on, they're non-boaters, right?

I'm not a horse guy. If you tell me you have a fourteen hand high Appaloosa thoroughbred. I want to know is it brown or does it have spots and can it pull a wagon or do you ride it.

Lobster work boat is my answer.

Power boat. And, most will ask about the length as they're interested in the size. That's about all they're going to understand or care about. For the non boating public, weight wouldn't mean anything as they have no idea how to translate that into size.

Trawler and weight = head scratching and maybe more questions, which is what some owners want.

If "Sundeck Trawler" is good enough for the United States Coast Guard it's good enough for me.

Nsail said:

... For the non boating public, weight wouldn't mean anything as they have no idea how to translate that into size.

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Fourteen tons is equal to about 4 mature hippopotamuses, or about 1.5 African bull elephants, or about six Ford F-150 pickup trucks.

Now that, they would understand. Maybe.

"I had a hard time describing to the non-boating public what I bought."

To the non-boating public there are only two kinds of boats- sailboats and powerboats. I tell 'em I've got a powerboat. Next question is "how big?", but only boaters or at least those who would like to be boaters go on to ask what type.

I'm like most, "Boat" and go from there depending on the response or questions asked.

I like the answer, "powerboat". When people ask me what kind of boat I have I'm not sure what to say, because I'm thinking like a boater, not like a non-boater. My boat doesn't really fit cleanly into a category. Probably for the majority of non-boaters, "powerboat" suffices.

Over here, powerboat or cruiser. Yacht normally refers to what USA calls a sailboat. Very upmarket powerboats may be called "super yachts", with operational and hospitality crew.

Tony B said:

I have a Mainship 36 Aft Cabin boat. After coming from sailboats, I had a hard time describing to the non-boating public what I bought.
Mainship refers to it as a motoryacht. To me, the word 'yacht' linked to anything is too presumptuous, so that's out for me. It is not a trawler, besides some people here on the coast automatically think 'shrimpboat' when they hear 'trawler'.
It seems like if I use a somewhat antiquated term like 'cabin cruiser', everyone knows what I mean.
How do you refer to your boat to the non-boating public?

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Trawler style coastal cruiser, works for me.

SPOT ON Peter B.

Ancora I expected a lot more flack from my comment about the sundeck variation. On second thought I realized that there are quite a few trawler style coastal cruisers that have the sundeck variation. That variation I don't consider a "trawler" variation or feature .... more like a yachty cruiser addition.

But realistically there are more than a few "trawlers" or "trawler style coastal cruisers" that although having the sundeck feature are definitely more classifiable as trawlers than anything else. Owners of these boats simply have inside living space as a very high priority. But not as great as those w a Great Harbor ..... cruiser.

Most of my friends are boaters, so I use accurate terms when identifying my 44' trawler. For those others, I have found no satisfactory way to communicate an accurate idea of what my boat is about, that is easily understood, so I usually don't bother with an explanation. It is just " a 44 footer". Many have a preconceived notion that is totally inaccurate, so I frequently hear things from such folks that suggest they "know all about" my boat, but when they ask about my trips, I usually hear things like " how was your sailing trip?", "can you sleep on it?", "can you go to Mexico?", "how far offshore do you go?". The only proper way to educate such folks is to bring them down to the boat and show them. They have to be very special before that will happen.

SeaHorse II said:

I always refer to it as the "boat."

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Ditto

Northern Spy said:

Boat.

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