Greetings from Washington DC area

Hi All-
I've been perusing the forums for many weeks now, and I have spent entirely to much time looking at the for sale sites at trawlers. Living just north of Washington, DC we have quick access to the Potomac, and more importantly, the Chesapeake Bay.

I have a small 12' runabout power boat and we have kayaks we use on an almost weekly basis (weather allowing) and we love being out on the water.

With entirely to many years left until retirement, I don't see doing any cruises longer than a week, and the Great Loop or the Caribbean would not be feasible at this time. Financially, I think having something on a trailer would save me slip fees, haul out, and the increased maintenance of keeping a boat in the water.

What I think is reasonable at this time is to have a trailerable trawler from which to launch our kayaks so that we could explore more of the Chesapeake Bay without driving (and not having the go westbound on the Bay Bridge on a weekend would be great!). Also, it would allow us to hit the Potomac, and perhaps drive south to explore areas that may be difficult to get to with time constraints.

I'm more concerned with efficiency than speed. Head is critical, shower would be nice. Comfortable bed would make the Admiral very happy. Outside space is very important to us.

Does anyone have any experience carrying kayaks on a smaller trawler?

I'm hoping to hit TrawlerFest at the Bay Bridge in October and play lookie-lou.

Great forum, lots of great info.

Thanks,
Todd

Welcoming to the forum! There are trailerable trawlers, but spaces start to get small as the boat shrinks and the weight needs to be reduced for trailering. Lots of tradeoffs to consider. Enjoy the search!

Ted

You will have to list your priorities and find a boat that meets as many of them as possible. However, having a boat that is trailerable will limit a lot of the things you mention. Depending on what your towing limits are you are looking at something likely under 30'. A Ranger 27 or 25 would be a good choice, but might be above your towing ability. They are nice, but a bit pricey. The amount of outside space might be more limited than you want, but carrying kayaks would be pretty easy. A Nordic 26 might also work.

The problem with trawlers is that to be efficient, they need to go slow. This may limit your cruising if you are pressed for time (i.e. have a real job).

I live in No. VA and have a 22 C-Dory cruiser. This does not have a proper head, but makes a reasonable cruiser for several days at a time. It is easy to trailer, good on gas, and can go pretty fast when you need/want to. You can still go slow to get max efficiency out of it if you like. We cruise on the Potomac, the bay, area lakes, and the Great Lakes. Being on a trailer makes it easy to try different cruising places, you can tow it from one end of the bay to the other a lot faster than you can cruise the same distance. The trailer makes maintenance easier (I can park it in front of my house when I need to work on it). The C-Dory 25 does have a head with a shower and is a bit bigger all around. The 25 is also quite towable.

Recently we've overnighted at St. Michaels and Tilghman Island.

The C-Dory line has a more utilitarian interior finish than fancier trawlers. Some people may not care for that. However, it makes maintenance soooo much easier.

Welcome to the Trawler Forum!