Where are the trawlers in the PNW? Poulsbo

There have been a few recent threads about demographics (with a particular emphasis on GB owners). And every now and then someone pops up and asks where would be a good place in the PNW to home port a trawler.

We're currently in the reciprocal moorage at Poulsbo Yacht Club, which is a little different from other clubs in that the members own the slips and can sell them on the market so it's possible for someone with no seniority to purchase a large slip.

But it was the boats here in this (guessing) 120 slip marina that got my attention - the majority of them trawlers:

8 - Taiwanese Tri-cabin Trawler
7 - Bayliner Motoryacht
6 - Grand Banks (32, 36, 36, 42, 46, 52)
8 - Tollycraft
4 - Taiwanese Motoryacht
4 - Ocean Alexander
3 - Selene
3 - Uniflite
2 - Nordic Tugs
2 - Wood Trawler
1 - Nordhavn
1 - American Tug
1 - Camano
1 - Acapulco Trawler
1 - Chris Craft (Connie?)
1 - Sea Horse
1 - Fleming
1 - American Marine Trawler
1 - Kady Krogen 48
1 - Roughwater
1 - Defever 49
1 - Custom lobster yacht

The only thing that outnumbers the trawlers is the seals on the breakwater:

I thought all our trawlers were in the Carolinas and Gulf states fishing for shrimp. Interesting you found a bunch in Poulsbo. I've never seen one in Bellngham. Only seiners, trollers, crabbers, and combination boats. I always assumed trawlng was an ineffective method of fishing in the coastal waters here but your list proves otherwise.

I look around my harbor in Seward Alaska... Which requires the longest open ocean crossing in the entire North American continent to get to and what do I see.

Not counting sail boats, or commercial boats...

We have a Nordhavn. Yes, one.

No other displacement only boats. None. The harbor is filled with SD boats.

I find that amazing. Did these boats just magically appear? Were they trucked up? Perhaps they came up on a barge?

Nope, nope, nope.

They came here because their owners drove them here.

Hundreds of boats!

and this is again the farthest open ocean crossing necessary on the entire North American continent

Amazing isint it??? Just think if those owners had read TF first, and gotten the skinny on what is necessary first. How would the harbor look then?

Here we go again. Refugio are you saying Fleming, Bayliner, Nordic Tug, Tollycraft and other SD vessels are trawlers? Me thinks not. But marketing 101 can certainly intrude.

So are the other 61 boats sailboats?

ksanders said:

I look around my harbor in Seward Alaska... Which requires the longest open ocean crossing in the entire North American continent to get to and what do I see.

Not counting sail boats, or commercial boats...

We have a Nordhavn. Yes, one.

No other displacement only boats. None. The harbor is filled with SD boats.

I find that amazing. Did these boats just magically appear? Were they trucked up? Perhaps they came up on a barge?

Nope, nope, nope.

They came here because their owners drove them here.

Hundreds of boats!

and this is again the farthest open ocean crossing necessary on the entire North American continent

Amazing isint it??? Just think if those owners had read TF first, and gotten the skinny on what is necessary first. How would the harbor look then?

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Now THAT is a great point!!


Forky
1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Twin Lehman 135's

Can't see where a 7 to 9 knot trawler would be as suitable in AK as something capable of 12to 16 knots. Distances are great and weather moves quickly.

dhmeissner said:

So are the other 61 boats sailboats?

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No

Sail stabilized trawlers

Ah yes, Uniflite.
They have been such high production trawlers.

Most larger marinas have a variety of boats including trawlers. The big yards that can due large trawlers are Delta, Seaview in Seattle, Everett marina, Port Townsend as they have lift big enough and capable to handle the large equipment. One of the reasons we are moored in Everett has a 75 tons lift.

Since most marinas are gate secured best to look go by the water side. Fishermen in Seattle was all commercial at one time also allows pleasure. If want to see and go on trawlers go to a trawler fest in your area put on by Passage Maker Magazine

refugio said:

We're currently in the reciprocal moorage at Poulsbo Yacht Club, .....

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Darn, just saw this and strolled out to the recip but you were gone. Should knocked on the boat, been home all day. Maybe next time you are over.

Marty........................

MartySchwartz said:

Darn, just saw this and strolled out to the recip but you were gone. Should knocked on the boat, been home all day. Maybe next time you are over.



Marty........................

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Dang, I forgot you were there!

ksanders said:

I look around my harbor in Seward Alaska... Which requires the longest open ocean crossing in the entire North American continent to get to and what do I see.

Not counting sail boats, or commercial boats...

We have a Nordhavn. Yes, one.

No other displacement only boats. None. The harbor is filled with SD boats.

I find that amazing. Did these boats just magically appear? Were they trucked up? Perhaps they came up on a barge?

Nope, nope, nope.

They came here because their owners drove them here.

Hundreds of boats!

and this is again the farthest open ocean crossing necessary on the entire North American continent

Amazing isint it??? Just think if those owners had read TF first, and gotten the skinny on what is necessary first. How would the harbor look then?

Click to expand...

And you are generalizing your Seward-based "cruising" to everywhere, and I think that's a mistake. You take calculated dashes between a small number of protected places, but you've also said your primary use of your boat is for fishing - another activity that places a premium on getting to and from the fishing location quickly. You don't have "trawler" types up there because - given a choice - they would all rather be elsewhere. As you yourself are contemplating.

Yes, you can take a SD motoryacht style vessel a surprising number of places if you plan ahead and make allowances. But you can also take a FD vessel the same number - and more - places and do it with greater safety margins. And trawler vessels can have very comfortable accommodations - they just tend to have fewer staterooms, heads, AV systems, and extra ice makers. The elimination of which would seem to align well with a single-hander.

refugio said:

And you are generalizing your Seward-based "cruising" to everywhere, and I think that's a mistake. You take calculated dashes between a small number of protected places, but you've also said your primary use of your boat is for fishing - another activity that places a premium on getting to and from the fishing location quickly. You don't have "trawler" types up there because - given a choice - they would all rather be elsewhere. As you yourself are contemplating.

Yes, you can take a SD motoryacht style vessel a surprising number of places if you plan ahead and make allowances. But you can also take a FD vessel the same number - and more - places and do it with greater safety margins. And trawler vessels can have very comfortable accommodations - they just tend to have fewer staterooms, heads, AV systems, and extra ice makers. The elimination of which would seem to align well with a single-hander.

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I agree with everything in your post except... And you are generalizing your Seward-based "cruising" to everywhere, and I think that's a mistake. But that a minor point.

What I do is maximize the capabilities of my boat style. Just like a guy with a different boat style maximizes his boats capabilities.

What I was trying to point out, and I think that I was successful at doing that, is that a SD boat can be used for Coastal Cruising anywhere along a coastline. If you can make it safely to Seward Alaska, you can make it safely everywhere.

The funny thing is, I hear allot of inferring that you need a FD boat to safely travel in the ocean. This inferring is generally promoted by guys with FD boats btw. The facts just don't prove that theory out. There are advantages and disadvantages of both hull form types, but both are capable.

In general I think most well-designed, well-built boats can take far more than the typical recreational boater can or is willng to. Semi-planng boats are frequently taken up or down the west coast between Seattle/Vancouver and California. A number of the charter fishing boats out of places like Westport have semi-planing hulls.

Several weekends ago we were planning to take our planing-hull fishng boat over to Whidbey Island for a couple of days of crabbing with friends who live on the island. We didn't go. Why? The water was too rough. If our fishing boat had a displacement hull we wouldn't have gone either. Why? The water was too rough.

In each case the boat could have dealt with the water assuming smart boat handling. But in each case it would have been a miserable experience for everyone on the boat.

People have crossed oceans in rafts, in canoes, in rowing boats, you name it. The design of a vessel certainly contributes a lot to the vessel's capabilities. Grand Banks are very poor open-ocean cruising boats for a lot of reasons that have nothing to do with the hull type, which happens to be semi-planing.

I am always leery of generalizations like "X is no good for doing Y with" because almost invariably someone comes along and proves it wrong as Kevin has done on numerous occasions when people have said or implied that the type of boat he has is not suited for what he uses it for.

The success of a boat in the conditions it's used under is far more dependent on the person using it than on its design. A smart user understands the capabilities and limitations of his or her vessel and so uses the vessel safely in whatever environment the boat is used in.

This includes things like not going crabbing in very rough water even if the boat is cabable of dealing with it because other factors would make the endeavour very undesireable with an elevated level of risk. On a different day with the exact same boat in the exact same waters, no problem.

The success of a voyage is ultimately determined by the boater, not the boat.

Marin said:

The success of a voyage is ultimately determined by the boater, not the boat.

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So true!

Refugio-we stayed at the meydenbauer recip for a couple of days around Seafair. What a great spot!

We have stayed in poulsbo many times but I always prefer to anchor and watch the dogfish show at night

Thanks Marin great explanation.

There is a underllying attitude or belief if you will among some boaters that if you do not have a FD boat your boat is not seaworthy enough to be out on the ocean.

That is a wonderful beleif, right up until people actually look at the boats running along coastlines and realize that quite a few of them are just "normal" boats. Bayliners, Carvers, Grand Banks for the more monied up ones, Navigators, all kinds of boats.

It's funny, if you read every one of my posts, I have never knocked anybodies boat or boat type. I just wish that same courtesy were extended in both directions. Not just to me but to all the SD and planing boat owners out there.

Marin nailed it. Not much else to say. Kevin, I feel the same way you do too. Common courtesy goes much farther than theoretical situations and degrading comments.

Apparently I have a wet boat, but my last trip up to the Broughtons and back resulted in 820 miles and 6 weeks of dry decks except for two days, one of rain and the other as we came down the Strait of Georgia in 25-35 knot winds and 3-6' seas. The decks got a bit of spray on them. Not the best weather to be out cruising but the boat did fine and we did too. The winds came up about an hour sooner than forecasted and we had no choice at that point.

Marin said:

In general I think most well-designed, well-built boats can take far more than the typical recreational boater can or is willng to. ...

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I agree! My boat outclasses me in taking rough seas. That's why I take ships to transit oceans.

ksanders said:

Thanks Marin great explanation.

There is a underllying attitude or belief if you will among some boaters that if you do not have a FD boat your boat is not seaworthy enough to be out on the ocean.

That is a wonderful beleif, right up until people actually look at the boats running along coastlines and realize that quite a few of them are just "normal" boats. Bayliners, Carvers, Grand Banks for the more monied up ones, Navigators, all kinds of boats.

It's funny, if you read every one of my posts, I have never knocked anybodies boat or boat type. I just wish that same courtesy were extended in both directions. Not just to me but to all the SD and planing boat owners out there.

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Kevin,
If you study the elements of boat design that are lend seaworthyness to a boat you'll find the FD boat to be way to well ahead of SD types. That is to say that a good FD boat is more seaworthy than a good SD boat. No doubt about it. How much more or less seaworthy varies widely among boats and some SD boats are more seaworthy than some FD boats. And in or on a breaking inlet a SD may be better than a FD. But out in the big water blue or brown I'd put my money on a FD 40' Willard over a 42' GB. And you'll notice that Passagemakers are almost all FD. And those that are a bit SD are full of design features that would be unwelcome on a cruising SD boat.

So ... IMO .. The average SD boat (like most on this forum) are not as seaworthy as most FD boats.

You can make significant jaunts out into the ocean (as you have done) but it's dependant on good weather. In bad weather (30' breaking seas ect) I don't think a SD trawler would last long.

As you gents have noted above several times, Just cause you can, doesn't mean you should.
I'm a wuss when it comes to bad weather, I have no problem watching that nasty weather while at anchor in a protected cove or tied up to the dock.
And my Admiral really appreciates my decision to stay put and wait it out. It's supposed to be fun.

I think it's hilarious that so many knowledgeable people cannot differentiate between two things with the same name. A 787 is an airplane. So is a Cessna. One would never mistake a two seat Cessna for a commercial people mover or argue it is not an airplane so what is the problem with recreational trawlers and fishing trawlers?

manyboats said:

Kevin,
If you study the elements of boat design that are lend seaworthyness to a boat you'll find the FD boat to be way to well ahead of SD types. That is to say that a good FD boat is more seaworthy than a good SD boat. No doubt about it. How much more or less seaworthy varies widely among boats and some SD boats are more seaworthy than some FD boats. And in or on a breaking inlet a SD may be better than a FD. But out in the big water blue or brown I'd put my money on a FD 40' Willard over a 42' GB. And you'll notice that Passagemakers are almost all FD. And those that are a bit SD are full of design features that would be unwelcome on a cruising SD boat.

So ... IMO .. The average SD boat (like most on this forum) are not as seaworthy as most FD boats.

You can make significant jaunts out into the ocean (as you have done) but it's dependant on good weather. In bad weather (30' breaking seas ect) I don't think a SD trawler would last long.

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Agreed!

But if both are seaworthy enough to withstand not only the conditions we choose to venture out in, but the conditions we have all been caught in, then both are suitable for use.

The advantage of a FD passagemakker is they can venture out beyong the reasonable forecast window, not that they are seaworthy while the rest of us in SF boats are better off using them as floating condos.

Kevin,

I think you made your point well and I am surprised that there aren't more FD hulls up there. But then I am a neophyte as far as power boats.

As a non-powerboat boat owner, I am surprised at the level of what appears to be chauvinism and elitism amongst the "trawler" crowd. I shouldn't be surprised however because sailors tend to be the be the same way when they argue how only a full length keel is the only type of "real boat" to consider a "blue-water" boat, production plastic bottles like mine vs "quality" boats. Let alone get them talking about hank-on vs roller furling...

Due to posts such as yours, I have expanded the types of boats that I have been considering.

Fu

Apophyge said:

One would never mistake a two seat Cessna for a commercial people mover or argue it is not an airplane so what is the problem with recreational trawlers and fishing trawlers?

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Both the 787 and Cessna are airplanes. But "trawler" is not like the word "airplane." Trawler defines a very specific type of boat that fishes with trawl gear, which is a very specific type of fishing equipment that is used in a very specific manner for very specific types of fish. It's a dictionary definition.

So calling a recreational boat a "trawler" is akin to calling a Cessna an airliner. Airliner describes a very specific type of airplane, and trawler defines a very specific type of boat.

The reason the word "trawler" is applied to recreational boats today has everything to do with marketing and nothing to do with the type of boat.

This whole "seaworthiness" claim for FD hulls I find a bit amusing. I follow and regularly read many blogs of full time cruisers. The overwhelming majority of which tend to be Nordhavn owners. No idea why and not to cast aspersions but they just seem more needful to document their travels.

None of these folks, not a one, goes out searching for rough seas. None travel if the weather window does not accommodate what Kevin reports routinely taking his Bayliner out in. One blog in particular is of a stabilized N76, in Europe currently, and this couple seems almost anal about waiting for nearly glass flat seas to travel in. I sometimes wonder if many of these high dollar FD boats aren't purchased by the same folks who buy a Hummer to grocery shop in the suburbs?

Marin said:

Both the 787 and Cessna are airplanes. But "trawler" is not like the word "airplane." Trawler defines a very specific type of boat that fishes with trawl gear, which is a very specific type of fishing equipment that is used in a very specific manner for very specific types of fish. It's a dictionary definition.

So calling a recreational boat a "trawler" is akin to calling a Cessna an airliner. Airliner describes a very specific type of airplane, and trawler defines a very specific type of boat.

The reason the word "trawler" is applied to recreational boats today has everything to do with marketing and nothing to do with the type of boat.

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I yield. My boat is a slow pocket cruiser. (Pocket cruiser is the builder's description.)

CPseudonym said:

This whole "seaworthiness" claim for FD hulls I find a bit amusing. I follow and regularly read many blogs of full time cruisers. The overwhelming majority of which tend to be Nordhavn owners. No idea why and not to cast aspersions but they just seem more needful to document their travels.

None of these folks, not a one, goes out searching for rough seas. None travel if the weather window does not accommodate what Kevin reports routinely taking his Bayliner out in. One blog in particular is of a stabilized N76, in Europe currently, and this couple seems almost anal about waiting for nearly glass flat seas to travel in. I sometimes wonder if many of these high dollar FD boats aren't purchased by the same folks who buy a Hummer to grocery shop in the suburbs?

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That actually happened to me!

Not this summer, but last summer I was walking the dock and saw a georgous N58. I stopped like I love to do with visiting boats and chatted up the owner.

He said he was waiting for good weather to cross the gulf.

My wife came down the next morning and we took off across the gulf for a 5 day excursion.