Newbie Needs Help

My wife and I plan to do the Great Loop in a few years. I am learning and reading as much as I can now in preparation. I have boated all my life but nothing more than 20' bass boats for personal use and a 30' Sea Ark for work. We are leaning towards a trawler style boat for our journey and I'm new to the trawler lifestyle. I know they have boat shows, trawler schools, trawler events, etc but at this stage I was just hoping I could find someone close my home (Monroe,NC) in NC or SC to "mentor" me a little. I'd like to tour a trawler, learn the pros and cons, learn some maintenance tips, etc. I'm fairly comfortable and competent in navigation and boat handling so we wouldn't even have to take it out. I just want a thorough, hands on, walk-through of an actual trawler. Anyone have a trawler, on the hard or docked, and a free day that would be willing to spend a little one on one time with me. I'm a nice guy and I can buy you lunch or bribe you somehow....
Casey

Wish you were near Pickwick Lake. I’d be happy to spend some time talking boats onboard ours.

If you go to a boat show with the bride , you are dead!

The boat she will like will be close to a house sized boat , a roomeran.

My best advice is to take her on a boating vacation , cruise for a week on the Erie canal.

Their boats are easy to drive narrow boats that should get her used to less than a house space.

Navigation is easy in a canal, and there are no rough motion days.

Erie Canal Low Bridge Charters

www.lowbridgecharters.com/


European Style Bareboat Charters on the Historic Erie Canal.Missing: longboat





Le Boat: River & Canal Boating - Rent a Boat

https://www.leboat.com/





Discover canal boating with Le Boat, Europe's No.1 boating vacation company. Search our canal boat vacation options and book online. No experience required.




Life in the Slow Lane: Navigating the Erie Canal - The New York Times

Life in the Slow Lane: Navigating the Erie Canal - The New York Times





Sep 17, 2009 - ON THE ERIE CANAL, N.Y. — With a hand on the sturdy brass tiller I sighted ahead and steered our boat, the Seneca, down the center of the placid green ribbon that is the modern Erie .... The New York State Canal Corporation lists charter companies with boats for hire on its Web site, nyscanals.gov.

You might consider joining the AGLCA which is the Great Loop cruisers association. They do a spring rendezvous in NC for 3 or 4 days with seminars and boat walk throughs. The seminars are good. For you, the walk throughs may be just the answer for picking a boat. There is also a fall rendezvous in Alabama that I participated in while Looping this year. The walk throughs allow you to look at boats but maybe more importantly talk to the owner(s) about their boat. There were probably 40 different boats at the fall rendezvous.

Ted

Although not what you requested, having navigated a similar scenario, I strongly recommend attendance at a TrawlerFest. There you'll see all sorts of trawlers, meet trawler folk and have the benefit of being able to see their boats and speak with the owners first hand. By being invited on board by the owner, you'll bypass the expectations and sales pitch of boarding a boat with a broker. TrawlerFest was by far our most productive investment of time and money associated with our introduction to cruising full-time.

We spent this past summer transiting the Trent-Severn and exploring Georgian Bay and North Channel. Lots of interesting conversations with wannabe cruisers interested in our cruising lifestyle and vessel. We invited a number of folks aboard and enjoyed sharing our experiences and a tour. Two words that sum up the gist of our sharing:

Just GO.

"You might consider joining the AGLCA which is the Great Loop cruisers association."

While learning thiswould be a great idea.

When you actually do the loop having their sked will allow you to avoid the mob scene of dozens of boats squeezing on to the same dock.

A week in advance , or a week behind will be less stressful and easier to get a table at a local eatery.

FF said:

If you go to a boat show with the bride , you are dead!

The boat she will like will be close to a house sized boat , a roomeran.

My best advice is to take her on a boating vacation , cruise for a week on the Erie canal.

Their boats are easy to drive narrow boats that should get her used to less than a house space.

Navigation is easy in a canal, and there are no rough motion days.

Erie Canal Low Bridge Charters

www.lowbridgecharters.com/


European Style Bareboat Charters on the Historic Erie Canal.Missing: longboat





Le Boat: River & Canal Boating - Rent a Boat

https://www.leboat.com/





Discover canal boating with Le Boat, Europe's No.1 boating vacation company. Search our canal boat vacation options and book online. No experience required.




Life in the Slow Lane: Navigating the Erie Canal - The New York Times

Life in the Slow Lane: Navigating the Erie Canal - The New York Times





Sep 17, 2009 - ON THE ERIE CANAL, N.Y. — With a hand on the sturdy brass tiller I sighted ahead and steered our boat, the Seneca, down the center of the placid green ribbon that is the modern Erie .... The New York State Canal Corporation lists charter companies with boats for hire on its Web site, nyscanals.gov.

Click to expand...

The Erie Canal is great. But don’t let your first experience be on a “Banger” boat!

Maerin said:

Although not what you requested, having navigated a similar scenario, I strongly recommend attendance at a TrawlerFest. There you'll see all sorts of trawlers, meet trawler folk and have the benefit of being able to see their boats and speak with the owners first hand. By being invited on board by the owner, you'll bypass the expectations and sales pitch of boarding a boat with a broker. TrawlerFest was by far our most productive investment of time and money associated with our introduction to cruising full-time.

We spent this past summer transiting the Trent-Severn and exploring Georgian Bay and North Channel. Lots of interesting conversations with wannabe cruisers interested in our cruising lifestyle and vessel. We invited a number of folks aboard and enjoyed sharing our experiences and a tour. Two words that sum up the gist of our sharing:

Just GO.

Click to expand...

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A couple of Things to consider:
How much outside wood do you want to varnish?
How much canvas do you want to keep up?
Two sleeping areas are nice when one gets sick.
How much range/fuel storage
A biggy is easy access to your engine and systems for maintenance.
Money is less important. Most any style of vessel can be found at any price. It’s an issue of how much work you want to do yourself.
Remember bigger is not always better.
The most important part of choosing the right boat for you is to enjoy the journey of discovery. [emoji41]

Thanks

I appreciate all of the helpful replies. Joining AGLCA is definitely on my list as well as completing some of the online and in person seminars on diesel engines, etc. We do plan on attending Trawlerfest this year and the AGLCA Rendezvous at some point in time. Thanks again for all the great info and I hope to meet all of you sometime in the near future.

I would simply find a few of the largest brokers in your area and setup an appointment to meet with them. Tell them what you want to do and let them show you a few different boats. Then you get a feel for comparison of different sizes and types. You may find a large Express Cruiser is more to your liking.

O C Diver said:

You might consider joining the AGLCA which is the Great Loop cruisers association. They do a spring rendezvous in NC for 3 or 4 days with seminars and boat walk throughs. The seminars are good. For you, the walk throughs may be just the answer for picking a boat. There is also a fall rendezvous in Alabama that I participated in while Looping this year. The walk throughs allow you to look at boats but maybe more importantly talk to the owner(s) about their boat. There were probably 40 different boats at the fall rendezvous.

Ted

Click to expand...

Ted, I'm not seeing the Spring rendezvous in NC? I do see them scheduled but not in NC. Am I missing something?