Trawler economy at twice the speed

[deckofficer]

I used to live in Valdez.

[boatpoker]

Dave Martin designed, 1984 Trendsetter 40 motoryacht, 1.8gph at 9knots and 8gph at 20knots (light load) 14knots (full load) with a single 235 Volvo TAMD60B

[LaBomba]

Boatpoker, is your boat related to the "Isle of Skye"? They look VERY similar, and nice I might add. Steppen tells me this is the forefather to our Great Lakes 33 which uses 2 gph at 9 knots with a single Volvo TAMD 40.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by LaBomba

Boatpoker, is your boat related to the "Isle of Skye"? They look VERY similar, and nice I might add. Steppen tells me this is the forefather to our Great Lakes 33 which uses 2 gph at 9 knots with a single Volvo TAMD 40.

We owned Isle of Skye for 15 years and ran her from Duluth to the Gulf and through the Bahamas putting 12,000 hours on her. She is quite simply the best coastal cruiser on the water. We averaged 1.2gph with a Perkins HT354. How does that translate to US gallons ? round trip from Toronto to Dry Tortugas and return including the St. Johns south of Palatka, the St.Mary's, the Chesapeake, the Potomac and the Delaware used 779 gallons.

20' seas and never spilled the coffee but she was very small for a 37 footer and we needed more space once the grandkids came along. I'll regret selling her for the rest of my life. We now own a Martin Trendsetter 40 with incredibly low fuel usage but I do miss Skye.

PS Where did you get my photograph ? Thats Skye at anchor in Beaufort NC

[LaBomba]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

We owned Isle of Skye for 15 years and ran her from Duluth to the Gulf and through the Bahamas putting 12,000 hours on her. She is quite simply the best coastal cruiser on the water. We averaged 1.2gph with a Perkins HT354. How does that translate to US gallons ? round trip from Toronto to Dry Tortugas and return including the St. Johns south of Palatka, the St.Mary's, the Chesapeake, the Potomac and the Delaware used 779 gallons.

20' seas and never spilled the coffee but she was very small for a 37 footer and we needed more space once the grandkids came along. I'll regret selling her for the rest of my life. We now own a Martin Trendsetter 40 with incredibly low fuel usage but I do miss Skye.

PS Where did you get my photograph ? Thats Skye at anchor in Beaufort NC

Wow, small world. I got this picture from Steppen as he was explaining the evolution of the Ontario Yachts boats. Thanks for the reply.

[caltexflanc]

I've met them and the new owners in their mulitple visits to NC, though first saw the boat in Ft. Lauderdale. Really cool boat.

Here are some pictures of Windhorse on the hard at Trident Marine for you hull form geeks:

[Nomad Willy]

caltexflanc,
Thanks for posting the pics. That's the thing I like most about the Windhorse boats ... their hull but this is the first time I've seen pics below the WL. In this case my imagination was pretty good. When I think of one for myself of course I think smaller and I don't see how the result could be better that TAD's Yellow Cedar. That boat is 10 X 38' with about 8 tons and is powered w 28hp.

[BruceK]

Is that a Super Sarca on the bow? Go get `em Rex!

[sunchaser]

Bruce

Isn't that a ROCNA??

[BruceK]

Could be, Tom.
Images traveling this far can be compromised. Shank looks straight.

[Marin]

Well, I think the Dashews' boats are good looking given the job they are designed to do. They aren't what I'd want to run around the PNW/BC/SE Alaska in, however. But if I had to zip across the Pacific for a lunch meeting and had to do it by boat, that's what I'd want, and the boat would look good doing it.

I put Nordhavns into two categories--- unbelievably ugly and tolerably ugly. There are only a couple of models in the latter category. But they're very capable and if capability is at the top of the "I need it" list then that can trump aesthetics.

Although capability and aesthetics can be combined in one boat as witness Carl's Delfin. While similar in concept to the bigger Nordhavn's, Delfin makes the Nordhavns look like a stack of boxes that's about to fall over. I've seen Delfin underway, not just in Carl's avatar, so I know of what I speak.

But--- I don't think the Dashew boats and Nordavns are as ugly as the skyscraper box production sundeck boats like Carvers and such. Those things are like the A380-- there is no way with any camera and any lens from any angle to make them look good. We've tried with the A380. Haven't yet with a sundeck Carver or the like.

But beauty is in the eye of the beholder and what looks great to one person can absolutely suck to another. If this wasn't so we'd all have the same kind of boat and that would be really boring.

[Marin]

Originally Posted by sunchaser

Bruce

Isn't that a ROCNA??

The Dashews were among the first to use and endorse the Rocna. In fact it was their testimonials to the effectiveness of the anchor in their cruises-- as well as a lot of others that we read--- that convinced us to give the Rocna a try.

[Boatgm]

I think this Windhorse looks a little fat

[caltexflanc]

It is a Rocna. I don't know if he coined the term or not, but I liked Dashew's phrase:
"You know your anchor's big enough when people at the dock laugh at how big it is".

I think the boat is very sleek and cool looking, so does my wife, who happens to be someone with actual taste. I like the Steve Jobs megayacht too, which in many ways looks like a blown up version of Windhorse.

I have a few more pictures from some other angles if anyone is interested. I thought the most striking feature of the hull bottom was the very short, almost center-board like inverse T shaped "keel". It turns out it is designed mostly to augment the stabilizers, and protect them some, and in concert with the propellor shaft skeg-struts allow the boat to sit on dry land.

[Tom.B]

Originally Posted by Marin

The Dashews were among the first to use and endorse the Rocna. In fact it was their testimonials to the effectiveness of the anchor in their cruises-- as well as a lot of others that we read--- that convinced us to give the Rocna a try.

Actually, that's only half true (we talked about it in Beaufort). They had a Bruce for a while, but the wings made springline departures a problem at dock with tall pylons. They stuck out too far. Moreover, the company that makes Bruce were unwilling to scale-up their anchor on his request. Rocna was ready and willing to make a larger anchor for them, and it also gave them the clearance they needed. He had VERY high praise for it and that 350# Rocna. He only uses 3/8 chain and usually a 2:1 scope is plenty.

Needless to say, many anchor companies courted them for their endorsement. He told me that at least one company let him try one, he used it for a VERY short time (he didn't like it) and sent it back. Nevertheless, they still used their name in an ad as having endorsed their product.

Tom-

[Baker]

Originally Posted by psneeld

Even if I could afford the boat...just the length would kill me on dockage and hauling...

Then you couldn't afford the boat!!!!

[Nomad Willy]

Gonzo wrote;

"He had VERY high praise for it and that 350# Rocna."

You're kidding. 350lbs ???????? That must be extremely over sized. He wants that Rocna because it's (design wise) like his boat. Extreme, ugly and (when he adopted the thing) very unique. Well if he anchors at 2-1 scope w an anchor that does not have good performance at short scope (several anchor testers have attested to that) maybe he needs a 350# anchor. At 2-1 he'd be better off w a SARCA, Manson Supreme or several other anchors. Manson has out a new anchor called the Boss that is (in my opinion) quite likely better at holding power than any other anchor.

He may be just a smart man thinking out of the box and he may be surrounding himself w exotic things to give the impression that he is certifiably smarter than everybody else. I LOVE out of the box stuff so I'm drawn to the Windhorse as others are and am working on a OB boat design that is at least a bit like WH. And the lack of paint may be just another way to stand out from the crowd. As to the windows vertical ones were very popular in 1929 but not for a long time so that could be another way of being different and unique. I'm a bit disgusted by people being different just to draw attention to themselves and I suspect Dashew (and most (or all)of his followers) are at least a mixture of that and being "out of the box" people. So I think Dashew is a mix of two but probably a little more on the "out of the box" side of the equation. But I haven't met the man and he could be 90% just out of the box.

[caltexflanc]

The main difference about the Dashews is they have spent more time doing open ocean cruising than 99.9% of all boaters, under power and especially under sail. They have designed and run and proven boats for each. Windhorse is about as purpose-driven a design as there is and "looks" were about as far down the list of priorities as they can be. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I happen to think the boat looks great.

[Baker]

Originally Posted by caltexflanc

The main difference about the Dashews is they have spent more time doing open ocean cruising than 99.9% of all boaters, under power and especially under sail. They have designed and run and proven boats for each. Windhorse is about as purpose-driven a design as there is and "looks" were about as far down the list of priorities as they can be. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I happen to think the boat looks great.

Amen!!!
And Eric, I don't think it is fair to judge the guy when you have never met him/them. I seriously doubt he/they designed the boat for anything other than what it was meant to be used for....I think that is obvious. Form definitely followed function in this case.

[Nomad Willy]

Hi
caltexflanc,
That's hard to say on an I-pad.

I think ther'e probably a lot more passage making people out there than you think. But the WH is definitely more purpose-designed than most all pleasure craft and the Dashew's have plenty of experience. I'd love to have a WH hull of about 30'.

But the old saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is only partially true. In order for it to be true you'd also be saying artist's and Naval Architect's don't know anything about beauty. I have known a NA that was somewhat lacking w the knowledge of beauty. I know people that know a lot more about beauty than most people. Beauty is not just an opinion or notion. It's a learned discipline taught in schools by others that know and understand the elements of art. But in your defense beauty is like music. Many are talented right out of the box so DNA has a significant influence here and many who aspire to be an artist find out no amount of studying will get them there.

Peoples ability to perceive beauty for what it is usually have the DNA AND training like in art school with a lot of experience. Those w/o experience and exposure and training and lacking art DNA don't have much of a clue and most of us are here and there in-between.