How many lobster or Downeasters are here?

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eyschulman

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So I am curious to see how many Downeasters are on the site. Pictures please if you check in. The avatar is not Moon River but my previous boat Draco-Volans
 
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Well here's my work boat. It's not my trawler but I've probably overnighted on it 100 times in the last 15 years.

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Ted
 
Not sure what you're really asking here...Workboats? Downeast style boats?
There are lots of "Trawler" types, some more downeast than others..

Mine:

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The salty lobstermen over on downeastboatforum scoff at my boat and claim it isn't a downeaster because it was built by Mainship or it wasn't built by one of the good ole Maine boys. But if it looks like a duck.... See my avatar.

Here is another pic:

David
 

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What would you call this?
 

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The quintessential Downeast Lobster Yacht.
 

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Downeast boats just look good and I guess that has something to do with the fact that the cottage was left on the hard rather than plopped on the hull. There is also some rumor that they tend to perform well at a wide range of speeds 6-20K. They might even work as a live aboard for some jack tars but I don't know about the little ladies giving up the cottage.
 
I'm kind of new to all this... What exactly makes a Trawler a "Downeaster" or a "Lobster" style? I think I understand the "Tug" style. Those are the 3 major styles of trawler, right?
 
Everything here is a trawler :) Jeff Foxworthy asked his buddy if he wanted a Coke. His buddy said "yeah, sure" Jeff replied "what kind ?" Now we just need to decide "what kind" of trawlers we have.
 
Ellis 28, Southwest Harbor, Maine
 
One of the first participants in Trawler Forum when it was launched in 2007 is the husband of the couple we cruise with as frequently as our schedules allow. I don't know if he still looks at the forum, but here are a couple of photos I took of his boat. It is a Maine-built commercial lobsterboat hull that was completed out here with the larger cabin and accomodations. Power is a 420hp Cat, cruise speed is about 15 knots although these days he tends to cruise it slower to reduce fuel cost.

He designed the davits on the stern which were fabricated by a machine shop in the Bellingham area. The dinghy is a 10' Bullfrog, made in Bellingham.
 

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One of the first participants in Trawler Forum when it was launched in 2007 is the husband of the couple we cruise with as frequently as our schedules allow. I don't know if he still looks at the forum, but here are a couple of photos I took of his boat. It is a Maine-built commercial lobsterboat hull that was completed out here with the larger cabin and accomodations. Power is a 420hp Cat, cruise speed is about 15 knots although these days he tends to cruise it slower to reduce fuel cost.

He designed the davits on the stern which were fabricated by a machine shop in the Bellingham area. The dinghy is a 10' Bullfrog, made in Bellingham.

That is a beautiful boat. Do you know which yard built the hull?
 
I'm kind of new to all this... What exactly makes a Trawler a "Downeaster" or a "Lobster" style? I think I understand the "Tug" style. Those are the 3 major styles of trawler, right?

The designation of trawler has become so very broad and now would include the DE and lobster boats depending on who you ask. Why is that because there is no real established definition of a trawler and anyone who wishes to call a boat type one is free to do so. As for the DE and lobster boats that definition is also getting a little loose. The purist might say the boat has to be built in main others may say it has to derive from a working lobster design. So what is a GB Eastbay or a lobster boat built in Oregon etc etc. There is a Downeast internet site and now and then posters argue about such things. For me show me the boat and I can tell you what it is not so sure everybody would agree. Rare to find a DE or Lobster type that would qualify as a cottage more often the boat cottage ratio is to the left with the working lobster boats far to the left.
 
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Blue Hills Marine (BHM 36)


He told me, but it was some time ago. But I'm pretty sure it was not Blue Hills Marine. As I recall it was a yard named for a person and the name was somewhat familiar to me. I'll have to ask him again next time we see them.

PS--- Here is the builder info on my friend's boat. I remembered wrong-- the hull maker was not named for a person. I was probably thinking of the designer.

"My lobster boat was built by Flye Point Marine in Brooklin, Maine in 1990. She was layed up and roughed in at the yard in Maine and shipped to Washington State with engine and transmission installed. She is of a Spencer Lincoln design. She was then completed by a local cabinet maker/boat builder."
 
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Ontario Yachts, Great Lakes 33 designed by Ron Ball with a very "down east" style. Photo is from just outside of Glacier Bay in Alaska.

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Well, not really a lobster boat, but built in the Downeast.

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1980 Sisu 30'

This is my boat in Southeast Alaska
 

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I have always found it interesting that lobster and Downeast types have traveled far and wide when it comes to coastal use up and down the East Coast and as a few posts here show up to Alaska. These boats are often superior performers and only give ground to the quintessential trawler in the department of blue water ocean hoppers and cottage on water retirement homes. The spread of the type out of the Northeast has been slow but steady. This is an American type that deserves more credit than it gets.
 
My Jarvis Newman 46....
 

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I've always felt the Hinckley Picnic Boat was a good example of the breed.

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Our boat was a working Maine lobster boat.

The hull is a US Navy 50 ft Uniflight built Utility Boat.Fire retardant resin , milspec construction , full foam flotation.

Power is a 6-71 .3-1 32. SQ 4 blade prop.Backing rudder.

The interior is quite small , painted with a bit of wood trim.

Now has Dickinson oil range and 4 burner /oven propane gymboled range , head shower and Queen bunk fwd.Refrigeration is Propane

With 6 ft for a collision bulkhead and a 15 ft long working aft deck only 30 ft is left for living space.

The 12ft air height is a help on many waterways , the PH is 11ft square and the auto pilot makes cruising very easy.

She is fitted with dry stack and keel cooler , about the only way a boat can work in freezing temps with no work on returning to the dock.

Electronics are Flow Scan, VHF, car radio and Auto pilot. The hand held GPS died will be eventually replaced.

Only sleeps 2 (on purpose) and ran the loop with ease , low cost (no maint but oil changes) ,and works well for shallow water FL cruising.

Not a beach ball, but comfortable enough for 2 old sailors.
 
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