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Old 08-08-2020, 07:56 PM   #1
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Newbie here

My wife and I are looking to retire within the next 12 months and have been looking at Trawlers for sometime. We have never owned a trawler, but we’ve had several small fishing boats and ski boats. We fell in love with the Grand Banks at a marina in PalmBeach about 15 years ago. We recently took a power boat course and stayed on board a 36 ft GB for 7 days and 6 nights in SWFL. I’ve got a ton of questions but will start off slow. We are located in Florida and initially do travel around Florida and then to the Bahamas.
Looking at KK’s and GB’s and Mainship’s. Suggestions and recommendations???
Thanks
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Old 08-08-2020, 08:07 PM   #2
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Welcome aboard TF
A good place to start is Boat Search 101
https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/...ad.php?t=14905
Start with defining what your cruising style will be.
List Musts, Wants and Dont Wants
Have your other / better half do the same... really.
Then discuss, combine, and compromise (just do it her way)
Then look at as many boats as you can and compare them to your lists.
Walk docks and talk to owners, ask how they use their boat, what they like the most and what they would change if possible.
No ideal boat for everyone and someone else's best may not be for you or your style of use.
Make the search fun vs a chore.(much harder to do in these challenging times)
Consider chartering one or more that you are thinking seriously about to really experience it first hand.
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Old 08-08-2020, 10:37 PM   #3
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Old 08-09-2020, 04:33 AM   #4
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Happy cruising

Cheers!
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Old 08-09-2020, 05:44 AM   #5
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When I first moved to Florida 15 years ago, I thought it was go-fast country and my displacement trawler would be out of place. After spending time on friends' boats and coastal cruising to the Bahamas and such, decided my Willard 36 (which was in San Francisco at the time) would be perfect with a few tweaks. Here's a list of attributes and changes I considered in making the decision.

Full keel is great for skinny water. I have a friend with twins and decent skegs but still managed to tap bottom.... Twice.

No brightwork. I had my caprails encapsulated with fiberglass and LPUd. Unless I drop a toothpick, there is no exterior woodwork.

Air draft. I now live in St Pete and my slip is on the ICW. The mast on the Willard 36 sports a useless steadying sail, but provides hoist for dinghy. I removed the mast and went with a Nick Jackson pip davit crane to reduce air draft by about 10 feet. In addition to clearing most local bridges without waiting for an opening, The Loop is now a possibility for us. If The Loop is in your future, this is critical for you. Otherwise it's mostly a convenience

Stabilization. Our plans are to cruise Bahamas and Central America. Stabilization is not an option to us. Even though the Willard 36 is very low and heavily ballated, we would not cruise a power boat that did not have some form of stabilization both underway and at anchor. We have cruised on a friend's power cat which was luxurious, but frankly we prefer the ride of a stabilized full displacement hull.

Layout. Our days of having a dozen friends aboard are done (fireworks in SF often saw up to 20 aboard). For us, having a Sedan layout is important as the indoor flows to the outdoor. Covered space in Florida's sun is key. Many pilot house boats are also workable, as would a power cat. The so-called Tri-Cabin or trunk cabin trawlers do not have decent covered outdoor space except for the flybridge which is disconnected from the rest of the boat. The Defever 48 is an interesting design in that its essentially a tri cabin with a hard top that flows over the side decks and trunk (greatly reduced head room).

Speed. We enjoy cruising at jogging speed. We have cruised with friends at 15-20 kts and did not like it, especially on the ICW when going through no wake zones and constantly powering up and down. I understand the appeal of speed, but for us, it somehow undermines the relaxing drone of just loping along at 7 kts. People talk of liking speed to bear weather. Maybe we've been lucky in our 10k nms of total cruising (and another 40k nms for me as a delivery captain of mostly ocean-capable trawlers), but weather is what the weather is and it's just something we plan for as part of the trip - for the most part, on passages, fast boats are never as fast as they think they will be. That said, I can think of three instances where speed is nice. First, go make a scheduled bridge opening if needed. Second, to power through strong currents such as those in the PNW. Finally, if you have exposed running gear in Florida, catching a higher tide.

In closing, to my mind, the GB36 is a wonderful boat - the gold standard for a family trawler. Big enough to weekend on small enough to easily manage. They are well designed and incredibly mannerly in close quarters. Despite my admiration, I would not chose one for cruising due to reasons above. If I owned one, I wouldn't sell it, but I wouldn't chose one as a purpose boat for cruising in Florida.

Good luck

Peter
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Old 08-09-2020, 06:39 AM   #6
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An interesting 36 footer (Albin 36 express) posted on another thread. Ticks a lot of boxes for me. Single engine, no brightwork, Sedan layout. More of a planing style but workable. Be a great boat to shoot down to the Dry Tortugas in.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boa...in-...awler-3661262/
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Old 08-09-2020, 07:18 AM   #7
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You need to define your budget a bit more. You mention three makes of boats. KK, very expensive, top of the line. Grand banks, a Great middle of the road boat. Mainship, Cream of the Crap, production boat low priced, generally.

They are NOT interchangeable.

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