Recommend Fuel Efficient Trawler

I'm shopping for a trawler to do the Great Loop. I know I want a single screw diesel in the 32 to 36' range. Fuel economy is very important to me. I know there are a boat-load of variables involved, but can anyone recommend a boat make & model and engine combination is is likely to cruise at trawler speed for less than 2 miles per gallon of diesel fuel?

Sue:
Many (displacement) single screw trawlers will achieve better than 2nmpg, especially when you are traveling slow in canals etc on the Gt. Loop route. For example we have a 65,000 lb 50ft trawler with a 280HP engine that does about 3nmpg at 7.5kt.
I would focus on all the other factors that are important to you. Also, my experience is that fuel does not actually end up being such a major component of ownership/cruising costs

Any trawler will do better than 2 nmpg. My lobster boat, which loves to go faster, will get a little over 2 nmpg at eight knots. Or I can go nuts and run 18 knots at 1/2 nmpg. I prefer fifteen knots at 1 nmpg, but am traveling at 8 knots a lot these days.

Now, if you are looking for 2 gallons per hour or less, then that's a whole different ball game.

Get a small full disp boat w a small engine in it. Two MPG is easy to do. My 30' Willard gets 6 mpg.

Almost any single engine with an engine "rated" at about 100hp,

The style is more important to your comfort, and the outfitting is the big key to no headache cruising.

If your wallet is thick tieing up every night can be done.

On a budget anchoring out is the key , and how to find a refrigeration system you can live with is the hard part.

There are loads of choices , most suck , but a few work, tho they are seldom the low cost version.

FF

Camano, Mainship, Grand Banks, Great Harbor, Krogen... to name a few. Budget number helps a lot to make informed suggestion.

On our 2003 Monk 36,with a 22hp Cummins we are getting about 2.4 NM per gallon cruising @ 7k
Older models with smaller engines will get higher
Steve W.

My 34' marine trader with a 120 hp had a fuel burn of 1.75 gph at 8mph

Doesn't Steve's fuel burn seem kind of high??

Chrisjs said:

Doesn't Steve's fuel burn seem kind of high??

Click to expand...

For 22 HP it does.

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your comments. People say finding a trawler with < 2 nmpg is easy, then go on to specify that theirs gets a higher mileage. As FF says "most options suck." Steve's boat must be 220 HP, not 22 HP.

It seems the key is to find an engine with 100 HP or less. Many of the Kadey Krogen Manatees fit this criteria, but I haven't found other trawlers that do. The 34' Mainships (2004 & newer) appear to have a 370 HP engines standard. Island Gypsy 32 's have 220 HP, Mainship 350's have 300 HP.

We want the trawler to do the great Loop & prefer to stay under $120K. So, that limits us also. Any specific recommendations out there??

Typo, as slow as I like to cruise I could probably get by with 22HP, but then probably not up the Mississippi at New Orleans.
Steve W.

Sue Freeman said:

Hi everyone,
Thanks for your comments. People say finding a trawler with < 2 nmpg is easy, then go on to specify that theirs gets a higher mileage. As FF says "most options suck." Steve's boat must be 220 HP, not 22 HP.

It seems the key is to find an engine with 100 HP or less. Many of the Kadey Krogen Manatees fit this criteria, but I haven't found other trawlers that do. The 34' Mainships (2004 & newer) appear to have a 370 HP engines standard. Island Gypsy 32 's have 220 HP, Mainship 350's have 300 HP.

We want the trawler to do the great Loop & prefer to stay under $120K. So, that limits us also. Any specific recommendations out there??

Click to expand...

You don't have to have 100 hp or less....EVERY trawler with a 50-500 hp engine in your range will get better than 2.0 NMPG if youkeep your speed down in the 6-7 knot range (unless the trawler is some weird hybrid/remodel).

Heck my 37 silverton sportfish with twin 320HP Cats would get 2NMPG if I shut one down and ran the other at a little less than 1000rpm and she would do around 6 knots.

So you see that a 36 or so boat with any engine that will throttle back enough will give you what yu are asking...but I think what you would prefer is a trawler that gets 4 NMPG or so..I sure would if I was doing the loop. Again, just about any 36 foot or so trawler with up to a 300hp engine (but anything above a 75-100 hp is a waste unless it's also a fast trawler) will get you near 4NMPG if you are willing to stay in that 6 knot speed range.

Before everyone thows out examples better or worse...I know...too many variables but 4 NMPG is certainly achievable in a typical 36 ft trawler willing to travel at 6 or so knots...

Hi psneeld,
Thank you - I had it backward. Thanks for clarifying that for me. Your explanation helped.

Sue,
If you can deal w a smaller boat the Albin 25 is one of the best boats I've ever known. It is a bit small but many make the trip to Alaska including my old Albin. Typically they burn .6 gph at 6 knots and will cruise 8.5 knots nicely at about .8 gph. VERY user friendly boat and numerous ladies own them. The trailerable feature may be of benefit to you too.
I know a west coast couple that trailered their Albin to the headwaters of the Miss .... Did the loop counterclockwise and returned through the big lakes. They were 84 at the time. I think they had a blog on the Albin web site.

Ohh, an Albin 25 would be really small. Besides me & my husband, we're taking 2 cats with us. Even a 32' Island Gypsy will be a squeeze. Nice gas mileage though in the Albin 25. I'd like to find that in a 32-36' trawler.

Sue:
I guess by now you understand that you have a large range of options regarding the fuel question. You should really focus on what other considerations are important. As I mentioned earlier, fuel is not going to be a major component of your overall costs. For example, one consideration if you plan to do the Great Loop is the boat's air draft. Will it fit under the low (fixed) bridges that you will encounter. Our boat will not unless I lower the mast which then means that apart from the difficulty of lowering and raising (3 men!!), and the amount of space taken up on the fly-bridge, I am unable to use my boom winch to launch my dinghy!! We do not plan to do the GL any time soon!!

Hi Chrisjs,
Yes, thanks. I'm aware of the other Loop criteria. And I'm aware that the longer the boat the higher the costs such as dockage & insurance. As I make a decision on which trawler to buy I want to try to keep my overall expenses as low as possible. Any other specific cost reduction ideas you have as I consider which trawler to buy? I'm in the process of reading Skipper Bob's book Cruising Comfortably on a Budget.

Sue Freeman said:

I'm shopping for a trawler to do the Great Loop. I know I want a single screw diesel in the 32 to 36' range. Fuel economy is very important to me. I know there are a boat-load of variables involved, but can anyone recommend a boat make & model and engine combination is is likely to cruise at trawler speed for less than 2 miles per gallon of diesel fuel?

Click to expand...

You want more, not less than 2 MPG, right?

Probably every single screw diesel trawler in the 32 to 36' range will get over 2 MPG at hull speed.

Given that, there are many more things to consider, especially for what may turn out to be a cruise lasting a year or more. Comfort, ease of handling, overall cost, etc.


There are several books and a web forum on the subject of cruising the great loop. I suggest further reading on the sublect.

Sue,
A sailboat would do it.

The original, so-called "trawler" concept was for a boat that by its very nature is economical to operate. Whether it has a displacent hull or a semi-planing hull, the boats were intended for relatively slow, fuel-minimizing cruising. A semi-planing hull like a Grand Banks, CHB, etc has some inerhent characteristics that some people view as desirable even at slow speeds like 8 knots or so. The fact these hulls can be driven much faster with the application of a lot more power is also a benefit to some buyers but it doesn't mean the boat has to be operated that way.

But displacement or semi-planing, the true diesel cruiser concept is a very economical boat--- be it a single-engine, displacement Willard or a twin engine semi-planing GB--- when compared to boats that are intended to be run at higher speeds like the big Bayliners, Sea Rays, Eastbays, etc.

So if it was me and I was considering the acquisiton of a boat to spend a lot of time cruising in, be it coastal or inland or a combination of the two, I would be more focused on things like accomodations, configuration, equipment, and what it would be like to operate and maneuver and relax and eat and sleep on board--- things that have a much greater affect on my interaction with the boat than fuel economy.

While the difference of a mile or fraction thereof per gallon can indeed add up over time, given the other expenses associated with cruising the fuel cost differences between the typical, economical diesel cruisers on the market isn't going to be all that signficant to my way of thinking.

I have no idea what our fuel burn is. I know it's "about" five gallons an hour as that's what GB36s with a pair of FL1120s tend to get. We carry 400 gallons of fuel in five tanks with sight gauges so we are well aware of how much we have on board at any given time.

So as long as we determine we have enough on board to do what we want to do, that's as far as our fuel thinking goes. We're not going to back off a few hundred rpm and run at 6 knots to save a few gallons because running at 6 knots in the currents around here can be the equivelent of staying home.

If the differences between 2.2567491 nmpg and 3.1849073 nmpg was that significant, we wouldn't have taken up boating in the first place.

Steve said:

On our 2003 Monk 36,with a 22hp Cummins we are getting about 2.4 NM per gallon cruising @ 7k
Older models with smaller engines will get higher
Steve W.

Click to expand...

Steve
Did you mean 2.4 gph?

manyboats said:

Sue,
A sailboat would do it.

Click to expand...

"Manyanchors," don't give her the idea!

Sue
I had a 390 1997 mainship that I lost to Sandy, that said she had a 300 hp cat that at 1200 rpm would give us 6.5 k and use approx 1 to 11/2 gal per hour. She was a great boat that I brought in fl and kept in ny, my travel took me up the hudson to canada and up to R I and boston area. it was a great boat for along the coast

Clay's DeFever 38 listed in the classified would be a perfect fit.

Sue bought a boat.

But I spent a few minutes on Yacht World to get some ideas for her and in case others are looking for a regular trawler with low fuel burn high on their agenda I'll pass on my observations.

Full disp is of course always best for fuel efficiency but there are just not enough to specifically look for them.

My pics are;

1 Sundowner Tugs
2 Nordic Tug 32
3 Gulfstar 36
4 CHB 34
5 Cape Dory
6 Monterey Clipper.

There are quite a few Gulfstars at good prices. I saw an interesting GB. A 32 w/o the FB and w Cummins power.
Sometimes it's fun to browse YW

Chrisjs said:

Sue:
Many (displacement) single screw trawlers will achieve better than 2nmpg, especially when you are traveling slow in canals etc on the Gt. Loop route. For example we have a 65,000 lb 50ft trawler with a 280HP engine that does about 3nmpg at 7.5kt.
I would focus on all the other factors that are important to you. Also, my experience is that fuel does not actually end up being such a major component of ownership/cruising costs

Click to expand...

what type of trawler do you have?

Hi Sgoren:
No longer have the vessel. New owners are pretty happy with her, though!!
The trawler is a Selene 47 with 280HP Cummins. Average fuel consumption over many trips was about 2.5gpm at about 7.5kt, equates to 3nmpg.
Chrisjs

To narrow my pics in post #26 ....

1. Gulfstar
2. CHB 34
3. Nordic Tug

I don't think the Cape Dory or Monterey Clipper is available enough to list and the Sundowner has basically a planing hull w a keel attached. Too far from FD. I think they are lighter than most similar boats and from an efficiency point that redeems them to some extent.

Of course FD is best but some FD boats are so heavy that some SD boats will match then for efficiency. For efficiency weight is a very big enemy and trawlers are traditionally heavy. And very few owners are thinking in terms of keeping thier boats light as evidenced by so many insisting on all chain anchor rodes. So it goes something like this ..
WEIGHT,
BEAM and
HULL DESIGN.
But specific boats may re-arrange the list.

What about Hatteras LRC?