Sail to Power: Req. wish list: Recommendations?

[Sieben]

Hi there. My girls (my wife and our 5 year old Labrador) and I are looking for a 42-50' boat. Moving from a 42' sailboat to power. Looking to travel from TX up around FL and then up the East coast. Then the loop back down. Were looking for: About 1989-1991 or newer MY in good condition.

In our sailboat we have sailed all up and down the West coast from SF to all points South, down to Mexico and up into the Sea of Cortez. And back. So, we are experienced boaters with a couple of decades of sail under our belts.

We would seriously consider the following in order of preference. 42-50' We are wanting to stay in the $125K-150K or < range depending on the year, condition etc, etc, Boat needs to be on the East side of the Panama Canal in the US. Not wanting to truck a boat or disassemble one to truck it. Purchase in the Gulf coast up to FL or within the Intercostal in order to get down to TX gulf. East coast could be done for the right boat. May have to be in this tough market. Several we wanted to look at were sold but not listed as pending on the sites. A common issue it appears.

To give you a flavor of what were looking for below are some which we like.

Boats we like:
1. Tollycraft 44-45 CPMY. I would love to get the one of these. About 1989 to 1994. This is at the top of the list for satisfying the requirements list and being affordable. Most are on the West coast unfortunately. Caterpillars preferred.
2. Ocean Alexander 44 CPMY.
3. Ocean Alexander 420 Sundeck.
4. Ocean Alexander 450.

Possibly others.
Albin 45-47
2001 Island Gypsy Sundeck
1997 Kong & Halversen Island Gypsy
1992 Hyatt 45 MY
Jefferson
PT Performance Trawlers

Requirements: I stopped at 18.

1. My wife and our female Lab (Murphy 5 yrs.) do not like 6' vertical ladders to get to the sun deck or the fly bridge. All steps need to be 3-6 with handrails.
2. Upper and lower helm stations.
3. Twin engines. 4 stroke Diesel Long range fuel capacity. Cats, Yanmar, John Deere (no Volvos.) Sounds like the Detroit Diesel 8.2 4 strokes would work. Not sure on the DD 2 stroke. 6v53, 6v71 etc.
4. Semi-displacement hull.
5. Cruise 9-10 kts minimum. Ability to get somewhere if we needed to. So, 12-20kts.
6. AC for TX, FL, Intercostal.
7. Galley down with seating to the other side of the galley.
8. Master cabin aft. walk around queen.
9. Guest cabin forward. Two bunks would be ok, or V berth, or walk around queen.
10. Long range fuel capacity.
11. Swim Platform access to get onboard from dock and or dingy.
12. Stern Transom Door.
13. Lower Helm station exit to deck midship.
14. The tender needs to be up on the top deck or the forward deck. Not on davits on the stern or on the swim platform.
16. Some work and or refurbishment is fine. I'm very good with mechanical as well as all general boating repairs. Not looking for rebuild or project boat.
17. We really like the two hard tops on the Tollycraft 44-45. Less canvas and provides shade and a place for the dink.
18. Some exterior teak is ok. Prefer no teak decks. One large teak cap rail to varnish is ok. Plus some trim here or there. Not looking for a sea of exterior teak. The double cap rails on the Grand Banks plus the eyebrow, plus, plus is too much teak.

So fellow Trawler Forum members let me know what vessels may qualify for the bulk of the above. I've been lurking around for about 3 years now.

John

 

[rsn48]

My inclination is to go with the smallest boat that will make you/me happy. I am also slowly becoming a huge power catamaran fan. I have linked to video on a 44 footer but realize 44 feet in a cat is a lot more feet than in a similiar sized mono hull.

One of the reasons I like power cats is there reduced fuel needs, they can be fast and reasonable in fuel consumption.

So without further ado: Aquila 44 Power Cat:

 

[mvweebles]

I have a good friend who used to own a Brewer 46 pilothouse sailboat. We sailed that thing all over the west coast out of San Francisco, and he was a decent singlehander with it. A few years ago, he converted to power and bought a very nice Horizon 52 Power Cat. Very elegant boat. He likes the accommodations, but is not keen on the snappy ride. What really took him over the line back to monohull is he crewed for me on a 3-day run from San Francisco to Mexico aboard my stabilized displacement boat. He definitely preferred the ride to his PC.

One thing of note for recovering sailors: its tempting to compare the speed of a sailboat under power to a displacement trawler. Even displacement trawlers tend to run at the upper end of their S/L ratio - 1.2 on average is common. Sailboats under power have similar potential, but the engines are often slightly undersized, and folding/feathering props are much less efficient. Several years ago I did the Baja Ha Ha on a Willard 40. We one of 4 powerboats in a fleet of 160 boats that averaged around 40-feet in length. We were consistently one of the first 10-boats to arrive at an anchorage, often a half-day ahead of the fastest half of the fleet. We averaged close to 7.5 kts, around 175 nms per day at around 1-1/4 gph. Not bad for an open water run, albeit headed in a favorable direction. My point is you give up a lot of speed with many sailboats under power.

Best regards with whatever you decide.

Peter

 

[LenBuchanan]

We currently have a Jefferson 37 Sundeck and love the room. No 'ladders' straight up to get to the upper helm. We have 3 or 4 steps. There is about 6 steps to get to the swim platform where we store our inflatable.

There is a 42ft Jefferson Sundeck for sale from Curtis Stokes for 79k. I believe it is located in Florida. Radar/enclosed aft deck/ electric winch. Nice looking boat. Has the 6bta5.9 Cummins Diesels, 250 hp, which is what we have on our boat. Great engines.

We went from sail to our jefferson as we were coming to the 'dark side'. Love the walk-around aft bed.
Best of luck with your search