My wife and I are ready to give up our sailboat life of the past 35 years and go to a power boat. *A trawler or tug seem to be the logical choice. *(or perhaps a power cat?) Speed isn't important for us but having a reliable, comfortable and seaworthy boat is very important. *Good fuel economy would be nice, also. * We will use the boat cruising the ICW with an occasional trip to the Bahamas. *Boats I have considered are Albin, Krogen, Marine Trader, Monk, Nordic Tug and Pacific Trawler. *We are looking for something 35 to 40 feet and not over $200,000. Any suggestions?
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- Thread starter John J
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Codger2
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Wow! Another convert to the Dark Side.
I'd start at YachtWorld.com, cruisers and/or trawlers, 35-40 feet & plug in your budget before you hit "search." For that kind of money, you should be able to pick up a very nice boat. Don't get hung up on brand until you know what you want. When that happens, come back here and we'll point you to a Grand Banks , etc.
healhustler
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I studied the on-line yacht sales sites for about three years before I got down to the last few boats for the same purpose. *In the end, I decided to go with a production boat rather than a custom build. *The candidates eventually boiled down to PDQ 34 Powercat, Endeavour 44 Trawler Cat, Fontaine Pajot 37 Maryland Trawlercat, and the mono-hulls were Mirage Great Harbor N-37 and GH 37, and 36 Krogen Manatee. *A lot of people ask me how I could have these boats on the same list, but the criteria of:
*shallow draft (38 inches or less), **economy, *stability, *value-holding, **comfort, *and very important to us was to have distinct and separate areas by which to enjoy the water...., fly bridge, pilothouse, boat deck, bow area, veranda, you know....the places you can plop down and be alone or together when one desires to be inside, outside, high, low, screened in, blowing in the wind, whatever.
To various extents, they were all features of these boats. *The cats were all over 200K (some over 300K) and could offer the advantage of roll stability, system redundancy, and the extra speed to the upper teens when necessary. *I also loved mono-hull boats like the Willard 40, Hatteras LRC 42, Monk and DeFeaver designs, but they were just too deep for the type of cruising we wanted to do.
**When it came down to the last three boats, PDQ 34, Endeavour 44, and the 36 Krogen Manatee, I sacrificed the speed of the cats and went with the Krogen, which also ended up being about half the price of the cats. *I loved the PDQ 34, but I'm just too stiff and big to get around in the hulls. *The 44 Endeavour had the full beam forward stateroom and great space, but they just weren't worth twice the price of the Manatee, which cubic-wise, is probably about the same. *
** There's a richness in traditional recreational trawlers, (just take a look at the members album on this site) that was necessarily absent in the cats, outside of the occasional trim piece here and there. *They are too weight sensitive for this kind of feature. *Our '87 Manatee was made when they were still tapping (some say raping) the forests of Indonesia, etc.. *But to step inside is so much of a richness factor over the spartain appearance of the modern cats that, for me, *was liken to the boat having a nautical soul.*
*No matter what you choose, you'll have the good and the not-so-good about any design. *I may still go with the cat one day, but I can assure you that it will be after I figure out a method of bringing more of the trawler richness into that design. *I want to be that practical, but I'm just not. * Best of luck in your search.
*shallow draft (38 inches or less), **economy, *stability, *value-holding, **comfort, *and very important to us was to have distinct and separate areas by which to enjoy the water...., fly bridge, pilothouse, boat deck, bow area, veranda, you know....the places you can plop down and be alone or together when one desires to be inside, outside, high, low, screened in, blowing in the wind, whatever.
To various extents, they were all features of these boats. *The cats were all over 200K (some over 300K) and could offer the advantage of roll stability, system redundancy, and the extra speed to the upper teens when necessary. *I also loved mono-hull boats like the Willard 40, Hatteras LRC 42, Monk and DeFeaver designs, but they were just too deep for the type of cruising we wanted to do.
**When it came down to the last three boats, PDQ 34, Endeavour 44, and the 36 Krogen Manatee, I sacrificed the speed of the cats and went with the Krogen, which also ended up being about half the price of the cats. *I loved the PDQ 34, but I'm just too stiff and big to get around in the hulls. *The 44 Endeavour had the full beam forward stateroom and great space, but they just weren't worth twice the price of the Manatee, which cubic-wise, is probably about the same. *
** There's a richness in traditional recreational trawlers, (just take a look at the members album on this site) that was necessarily absent in the cats, outside of the occasional trim piece here and there. *They are too weight sensitive for this kind of feature. *Our '87 Manatee was made when they were still tapping (some say raping) the forests of Indonesia, etc.. *But to step inside is so much of a richness factor over the spartain appearance of the modern cats that, for me, *was liken to the boat having a nautical soul.*
*No matter what you choose, you'll have the good and the not-so-good about any design. *I may still go with the cat one day, but I can assure you that it will be after I figure out a method of bringing more of the trawler richness into that design. *I want to be that practical, but I'm just not. * Best of luck in your search.
FF
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and seaworthy boat is very important. Good fuel economy would be nice, also. We will use the boat cruising the ICW with an occasional trip to the Bahamas.
Ocean level scantlings are not required for this , so "seaworthy' will cost about 1/3 of a real ocean vessel.
With the Bahamas and ICW the requirements will mostly depend on the interior volume you are comfortable with.
Its a whole new world being up on the water , not down below as on a sail boat.
Weather you will require a noisemaker to run air cond , are experienced enough not to "need " a 400GPD water maker , and how many cabins are all personal Desirements.
40ish FT is really easy for a couple to maintain , and operate and will seen to have 300% more room per foot than a sail hull.
Good hunting,
Ocean level scantlings are not required for this , so "seaworthy' will cost about 1/3 of a real ocean vessel.
With the Bahamas and ICW the requirements will mostly depend on the interior volume you are comfortable with.
Its a whole new world being up on the water , not down below as on a sail boat.
Weather you will require a noisemaker to run air cond , are experienced enough not to "need " a 400GPD water maker , and how many cabins are all personal Desirements.
40ish FT is really easy for a couple to maintain , and operate and will seen to have 300% more room per foot than a sail hull.
Good hunting,
dougd1
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*Thanks for joining! We knew that you would be over here sooner or later!
You will be able to find a lot of boat for that kind of money these days.* Welcome to Trawler Forum!* (Just don't tell all of your old sailor buddies.* We don't want them all rushing over here at the same time!)
skipperdude
Guru
Good idea.**Take your time and remember to question all the answers.
Every body wants a dream boat.
Folks here will give you lots of ideas.
SD
Every body wants a dream boat.
Folks here will give you lots of ideas.
SD
markpierce
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You may want to check out this topic:
http://www.trawlerforum.com/t38805352/what-factors-wereare-critical-in-selecting-your-trawler/?r=496108
http://www.trawlerforum.com/t38805352/what-factors-wereare-critical-in-selecting-your-trawler/?r=496108
