USA Today Trawler Article

Novel Trawler article appeared in USA Today last week. Should straighten out the definition of Trawlers once and for all.

Dream Boats: Trawlers you can buy for $1 million

Thought it was going to be an article on fishing with nets.

Ted

Yeah, well, it's USA Today. For the editors of that "paper," See Spot Run is a pretty tough read.

Yeah, well, it's USA Today. For the editors of that "paper," See Spot Run is a pretty tough read.
How true.

Well I thought the boats were reasonable - darned near any mariner except (ironically) a few on this forum would call those trawlers. The only one that struck me as odd was the Fort Meyer 74 - never heard of that one. Clearly they talked to a couple of brokers and one snuck that one in.

"Trawler pilothouses are the envy of every captain. Part business, part entertainment area, the pilothouse is a climate-controlled gathering spot to watch the view and the action."


Yeah, right, fill the pilothouse with tablets and cellphones for those action packed midnight cruises past Gil Island.

I thought it was a short and interesting article. Can't stand the Fort Meyer, or the flybridge look of the Selene 55 -horrendous. The ceiling of the Fort Meyer even begins to cover the aftmost portlight in the stateroom photo.

$1.2M for a 49' Nordic Tug??? Wow.

Greetings,
Hmmm...Jaunty? Dapper? At least they didn't call the saloon a salon.

OK Larry, let's get to work on a/c and heat for the pilot house. School zone speeds !! I don't think so.

First two sentences were enough to make me stop.

Just slightly more off base than a real boating publication.

Writers writing to make money..not pass along info....

Marin said:

Yeah, well, it's USA Today. For the editors of that "paper," See Spot Run is a pretty tough read.

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Marin....how can you say that about USA today? I was simply trying to provide an "authoritative reference" by which we could confidently rely upon in the future. Kinda like CNN or Fox News or Nancy Grace....

healhustler said:

Marin....how can you say that about USA today? I was simply trying to provide an "authoritative reference" by which we could confidently rely upon in the future. Kinda like CNN or Fox News or Nancy Grace....

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I read it on the internet it must be True

Other than the assertion that million$ boats are comfortable, every statement in that article is wrong. Benny Beneteau did not invent engine powered fishing boats, he put an engine in a tuna boat(not a trawler at all) in 1912, Easthope was installing gas engines in Fraser River gillnetters starting in 1900. Ocean cruising was not the "exclusive purview" of sailing yachts before 1960. Starting in the 1920's there were thousands of cruising powerboats built in the US. In the 1930's there was an annual ocean motorboat race for cruisers from Los Angles to San Francisco, 20-30 entries every year, boats from 40'-70'. Power boat cruises to Bermuda and all over the Caribbean were quite common. And the UK, (not just Britain) dismantled it's near water fishing fleet(as demanded by EU) by chainsaw and backhoe, not by selling off the boats for other use (as was done here in BC).

Boy tough crowd here on TF. Personally I liked the article and if just one person reading the article gets into boating perhaps we'll be welcoming him/her as a new member.
And that will be a good thing because there are many liberals/enviromentalist that would love to restrict boating and some would love to eliminate it all together. Just look at the Florida anchoring mess.

timjet said:

Boy tough crowd here on TF. Personally I liked the article and if just one person reading the article gets into boating perhaps we'll be welcoming him/her as a new member.
And that will be a good thing because there are many liberals/enviromentalist that would love to restrict boating and some would love to eliminate it all together. Just look at the Florida anchoring mess.

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More trawler types?

I just signed the petition to kick all the transients out of the Chesapeake for the season....

Tad Roberts said:

Other than the assertion that million$ boats are comfortable, every statement in that article is wrong...

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there were words? Shoot I just looked at the pictures

My keen senses say that Tad and Marin were not used as information resources on that article, but I can still see that this team of journalists has what it takes to blow the top off the anchor debate.:lol:

I'm with Timjet on this. Why all the negative vibes here fellow boaters? An article is written in a journal with widespread influence that is positive about boating-- why not get on board and support the concept!

Dawdler said:

I'm with Timjet on this. Why all the negative vibes here fellow boaters? An article is written in a journal with widespread influence that is positive about boating-- why not get on board and support the concept!

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Do you think there are more truths than misleadings?

If so...give your support....

Myself and maybe others would rather see things in print we know to be more accurate.

Ok, I read it - hard to do because the link viewed in the TF app pops to an ad that never appears. Copied it to a browser...

So...some of the specifics may be wrong, but the important points - power came to fishing boats, trawlers had trawl nets, fishing boats became pleasure boats, Art Defever was a pioneer - is that really so far off base?

"Today’s oceangoing trawlers draw elements of design from all over the marine landscape — and maritime history. Their efficiency, flexibility and near-universal appeal have been influenced by fishing boats, sailboats and the earliest engine-powered vessels.
Trawlers are the mighty arbiters of the seafaring world, a rare hybrid that appeals to power boaters and sailors alike. It’s hard not to love these jaunty live-aboard ships, dapper to look at and comfortable both underway and at rest."
My point was, what's wrong with the above? The gist of the article is positive about boating--so why not endorse it... If I wanted to be hyper-critical as many on TF seem to be, I'd launch into a discussion about the improper use of reflexive pronouns....
(please forgive that mean spiritedness--I'm really a pretty friendly and forgiving guy...)

psneeld said:

More trawler types?

I just signed the petition to kick all the transients out of the Chesapeake for the season....

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Whats a Jersey Boy care about Chesapeake transients?

Dawdler said:

I'm with Timjet on this. Why all the negative vibes here fellow boaters?

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Because these days as the country gets dumber and dumber anything in print is increasingly seen as being as gospel even though a great deal of it is utter crap. And inaccurate crap at that.

Some people who know better--- fewer and fewer of them it seems--- don't fall for the "if it's in print it must be true" BS. Reminds me of that lady in the snake oil commercial awhile back who says, "If it's free, it must be good."

USA Today, which was created decades ago specifically to hook in the ADHD crowd who did poorly in school, and which probably knows about as much about boats as I know about the ethnic makeup of the suburbs on Mars, is simply pandering to the same reader gullibility as all the publications of its ilk.

Of course if the truth be known, USA Today, like all the popular US media, could give a crap about accuracy or credible information or even the subject matter. All they care about is readership which is how the advertising rates are set. So anything, accurate or not, that will suck in readers is seen as well worth printing. In that regard USA Today is little more than a tabloid in a tuxedo.

So they hatch up an article on expensive boats aka the lifestyle of the rich and famous which is always good for a hefty helping of panting readers, hang a bogus term on them, then chalk up a bunch of "facts" that are anything but, and the majority of their readers swallow it hook, line, and sinker. And USA Today can go to Ford and Budweiser and say, "See?" and charge them an additional $2,000 for their ads.

It's not an article about boats, it's an article designed to suck in the Instagram and selfie crowd.

Fortunately, the folks who know better, the Tad's and psneelds and so forth, aren't shy about calling them on it, not that it will change anything.

Early trawler yacht

Ted

Ted said:

Early trawler yacht

Ted

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Yep

so you're condemning the newspaper for writing to the level of the readership. Criticism is easy. I guess my question would be, "What contribution have you made in your lifetime to raise the level of teaching in our schools or improve the critical thinking in our younger generation?"

Wow....nice pic, Ted!

Dawdler said:

so you're condemning the newspaper for writing to the level of the readership.

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No, I'm condemning the newspaper for contributing to the falling levels of intelligence and increasing levels of ignorance (I suppose that's actually the same thing) in this country.

Criticism is easy. I guess my question would be, "What contribution have you made in your lifetime to raise the level of teaching in our schools or improve the critical thinking in our younger generation?"

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Well, let's see. I've written dozens of magazine articles for national aviation magazines on various aspects of flying a particular type of airplane. I've had six books published on a variety of subjects and am working on a seventh. For my employer I have conceived, written, directed, and edited thousands of films/videos aimed at making the air transportation industry a more successful, safer, efficient and environmentally responsible industry.

I can't say any of my work has been aimed at students in schools per se, although I guess you could say that students graduate, become adults and enter the workforce and so continue to need to learn stuff.

The pic is from a sales listing.
I was on the boat last year,

Ted