Roughwater

The friendliest place on the web for anyone who enjoys boating.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

dhmeissner

Guru
Joined
Sep 26, 2012
Messages
1,569
Location
North America
Vessel Name
The Promise
Vessel Make
Roughwater 35
Calling all Roughwater owners! Lets trade lies.

Roughwater Boats, Trawlers, Ed Monk, Monk Design,Boats, Cruisers, Puget Sound, Diesel Trawlers, Trawlers, Roughwater

img_272864_0_3e8647ebfefb01bc78c88a6e984b450f.jpg
 
Rooughwater boats. Never heard of them. How many built and where are they? What's their positives and negatives? Do they live up to their name beyond the flare of the bow?
 
Rooughwater boats. Never heard of them. How many built and where are they? What's their positives and negatives? Do they live up to their name beyond the flare of the bow?


I believe Dave's boat was previously located in San Fransisco bay prior to his purchase.
 
Hi Mark,

Not many people have. We drove The Promise from Brisbane CA to Seattle October 2012. Just over 900 miles. She did just great, didn't really test her ability because we had great weather. Although rounding Cape Mendocino rang the bell a few times.

The headquarters of Roughwater was in Marina del Ray, so you might just see a few in your cruising grounds if you know what to look for.

Rough Water | | PassageMaker

There is a typo right in the beginning of the above article, but the rest is accurate.
 
There sure are quite a few up here in the Pacific NW. I've always admired the lines and look of the Roughwater 41 and 35. Great looking boats for coastal cruising! They made a stout little sailboat, too, IIRC...
 
Great, tough, well built boats. The 41 single is the way to go. I like the 8.2 Detroit as orig. low air draft and huge surfaces for solar.
 
Gee I pick an angle that shows off my CQR prominently and nary a comment. Did I post in the wrong forum?
 
I was raised to just look the other way... If your not going to say something good... We want keep this here not on OTDE...religion, politics, guns anchors....else Ye incurr the dreaded wrath of mods...
 
I was raised to just look the other way... If your not going to say something good... We want keep this here not on OTDE...religion, politics, guns anchors....else Ye incurr the dreaded wrath of mods...

Mod wrath shall only smite thee who breaketh the coveted Community Rules. CQR pics which perhaps breaketh rules of style and good taste :)flowers:), breaketh no Community Rules. :D
 
Holy Anchorage, Batman!! Are you required to hang a CQR from your Roughwater bow?
 
Possibly! CQRs seem to be very popular here in the PNW. Looking down the dock (I live on my Roughwater full time), I'd say somewhere over 70% of the boats are using them, followed by Danforths (I have one as a backup stowed away), and then Rocnas.

2014-04-05%2018.09.19.jpg
 
Last edited:
So about the boat, it is a 1980 or 1981 Roughwater 41... Conflicting documents have stated both years, but purchased for a very fair price with a full 14 layer solid hull, solid decks and cabin tops, with teak and mahogany cabin sides and no problems to speak of, I'm not overly concerned to research it. She's powered by the 185HP turbocharged Perkins, with only just over 2000 hours as the previous owner reported she sat unused, covered, but maintained by a friend for over half her life to date.

I'm currently in the early planning stages of an upgrade from 30 to 50 amp shore power with a revision and minor improvement of the existing 12 volt. I've also re-plumbed the entire fresh water system with PEX, removed the forward mast that usually sits in front of the center pilothouse window and installed an equivalent height but smaller mast on top of said pilothouse, upgraded the solid wood v-berth hatch with a proper modern aluminum and plexi, and made other various minor and sundry improvements.

The pilothouse is almost joyously and entirely free of electronics, with VHF, the original Cetec-Benmar autopilot, an ancient depth sounder that displays using Nixie tubes (a sort of vacuum tube like cathode that could display numbers), and just a handful of gauges for the most important things. I'll eventually add radar, but coming from a sailboat that only had a working compass and as I'm armed with an iPad, GPS, and proper paper charts with a place to put them... what more do you need?
 
Last edited:
Your boat has room for 1000, or easily more watts of solar. At $1 a watt for panels now I would suggest looking hard at upgrading everything to DC so only air conditioning, microwave and perhaps hot water and entertainment is 120. Minimal 120AC. Then 50 amps AC not really needed. I only invert for TV, cable Box and both are off when not used. I can move the plug for the microwave to an inverted circuit if needed, but minimum inversion is very important.

The charts I have seen indicate indicate solar is effective even in Seattle. With all that pilot house and cabin unused deck space you can overcome dim sun Seattle is noted for with more panels, and they are cheap as an upside. You have a whole lot of largely (in most cases) unused exterior deck space, (read envy). When on the cord your battery charger will take over, if needed. Your genset at anchor and engine alternator underweigh finishes the puzzle for added charging.

There is a revolution going on in "battery world" right now, no telling what options will be out there in 5 years so I am thinking golf cart batteries are the way to go now. Cheapest bang for the buck, for now.

I really like the rough waters, I just missed one in Maryland that had been extensivily refit.
 
Last edited:
I really like the 42 Roughwater as the best of the Ed Monk Roughwater designs.
Bill
 
Yeah, great boats Billy, I think the 41,42 is the same, single vs twin is my understanding.
 
The hulls are not the same from what I could tell (but I could be wrong) and the interior arrangements are different. They are beautiful boats (either the 41 or the 42) in my opinion.
+1 on solar charging and having as many components and appliances that run off of DC as practical. My old Mainship had almost 500 watts of solar on a custom hardtop it worked like a charm in South Jersey. My entertainment systems including the TV sets and the KVH Trac Vision M3 also ran on 12vdc as did the water maker.
Bill
 
Last edited:

Beautiful 41 MP. Where are you parked? I'm at the Canal Marina on the Fremont cut.

Billy, the 35 & 41 (the originals from wood, then glass.) And I think the 58' are Monk Sr. From there on Monk Jr. did the 29', 37' & 42'. There was a 33' sailboat from Roughwater that was a Thomas Gillmer design if I'm not mistaken.
 
Last edited:
Recently purchased a '80 Roughwater 41 and fall more in lust each time I go aboard. The boat needs lots of love but am slowly getting things sorted out. These boats are hell for stout and IMHO have a great classical line. Plan to do some serious cruising in the San Juans and points north this summer. With the GB on the Columbia and the RW in the sound I think I might have died and gone to heaven.
 
Last edited:
dhmeissner,
Do you eat at the Salmon Bay Cafe?
Perhaps you're on the other side of the canal.
We're coming through there when we get Willy up and cruising.
Can we anchor just east of the Husky Stadium? What kind of bottom?
 
Eric,

Salmon Bay cafe is my favorite spot for breakfast in fact, we eat there 2 or 3 times a month. I've never anchored off Husky stadium in Union Bay or anywhere in Lake Washington for that matter, I know on the north side of the channel it's very shallow and people do anchor there when there is a husky game, I would imagine it's mud. Supposedly the only place on LW that anchoring is allowed is Andrews Bay near Seward Park.

The Promise lives here:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/C...2!3m1!1s0x549015a617b5d559:0x17d2d9a39e68f075

We also like Voula's Offshore Cafe on Northlake, down the road a bit from Fisheries supply.
 
Last edited:
Beautiful 41 MP. Where are you parked? I'm at the Canal Marina on the Fremont cut.

Billy, the 35 & 41 (the originals from wood, then glass.) And I think the 58' are Monk Sr. From there on Monk Jr. did the 29', 37' & 42'. There was a 33' sailboat from Roughwater that was a Thomas Gillmer design if I'm not mistaken.
You're right Thomas Gilmer designed the sailboat . Sweet little sailboat . I had my eye on a Gilmer 30 ft motor sailor while I was waiting for my sailboat to sale . I like those Roughwaters . We don't see any around here .
 
The Eagle is a Roughwater 58, single 671, 2000+ range. One of only 4 or 5 left. Great live a board. We probably will be selling her in a couple of years. Sister boats have cross the Atlantic and Pacific.
 
You usually see few on Yachtworld. There are two 58's for sale in Hawaii right now. As well as a 33 sailboat. There is also a 33 for sale in the Seattle Craigslist at the moment.

1979 Roughwater Trawler Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

I knew there was one in Hawaii, the Swawn Song. It has the anti rolling tank. There was one in the Panama area, one up in BC Canada, one in California, and the Eagle. I am surprised there are two in Hawaii. Might be one from Panama as he was fitting her for long range as it was converted to a motor sailor, Dorthy June. The 58 was designed for coatal and Pacific northwest cruising.
 
The 58 has an interesting lineage and we will probably never know who designed the original hull.

Hal Paris interview…Below are the actual words Hal Paris gave me on the Roughwater 58.
"I saw the big hull mold lying in a field alongside the Chen Hwa boat yard. I got the plans and sent them to Ed Monk Sr. and asked if he could redesign the hull into a pleasure boat? Monk trimmed her down in the stern and made a nice looking boat. Monk did not design the hull, only the superstructure. Less than 10 of these were built. The original fishing boat was designed to be carried aboard a mother ship and then put in the water for fishing."


Roughwater Boats, Trawlers, Ed Monk, Monk Design,Boats, Cruisers, Puget Sound, Diesel Trawlers, Trawlers, Roughwater
 
Just bought our 37' roughwater sedan. Single diesel, 9000 HP, cruises 45 knots at 2GPH. Hows that for lies?:lol:
 
Roughwater 42 owner

view
I would love to meet up with other roughwater owners in the northwest. Sure like Wine Down. I'm at Shilhole. If you here of any Rendezvous talk, I'm in.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom