Which Trawler?

I am looking for a little advise

We are thinking of getting a trawler with the price of fuel and being in need of more space, we really like to style and space most have.

The one thing holding me back is the slow speed which I know is the only way to get great fuel economy, but where would I look to get the best of both worlds?

I would love to find a trawler that would be able to do 15- 20 knots when needed and be able to get decent fuel burn or MPG but don't know where to start.

Not sure if there is such a vessel. anyone?

Thanks
S

You get used to the speed, but you need to be more specific about what you consider "decent" MPG. We get 4 MPG at 8 MPH. We can go all year on one fill-up or less.

Tom-

The new Cutwater 30 will do it.

I think you need to be more specific. For example, you could get a 26' "trawler" with outboard power and it might meet your speed and economy needs, but would it be big enough for you?

Where are you planning on boating? Open ocean? Protected waters? Some boats are suitable for one but not the other.

On our initial search for an economical cruising boat, I also spent a lot of time trying to capture, as you say, "the best of both worlds". There are many semi-displacement hulls out there that are capable of teens and twenties if you need it, albeit at a big jump in consumption. Outside of a long and lean (read skinny) custom built hi-tech wonder, the only practical, affordable alternatives we found were a few of the production power-catamarans. The super-efficient PDQ 34, condo-like Endeavour 36, and the charter-influenced Fontaine Pajot 37 Maryland are honest compromises that boast fuel efficiency into the teens, but larger cat alternatives quickly rise above 300K for pre-owned boats, and then you're back again to the custom built mono-hull alternative.

We would be boating in Long Island Sound mostly.
Hopefuly with some trips up the Hudson and to Block Island
Our home port is Milford CT

For speed and fuel efficiency, i'll add my vote for a power cat. Roomy, fast and fuel efficient but not very pretty.

What is your budget?? For the information you've provided so far I vote for a Fleming 55 or an Outer Reef 60. They both have room, speed and economy when going slow.

sunchaser said:

What is your budget?? For the information you've provided so far I vote for a Fleming 55.......

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In general terms you are looking for a semi displacement hull with enough HP to get the boat up out of the water. A semi displacements also has good miles per gallon at hull speed with reasonable stability. 90% of the pleasure trawler are semi displacement so its more about your choice of size, lay out and price.

I would not get a CAT as finding moorage for them is difficult and I don’t view them having good ultra stability. Great for protected waters!

Studman:

You have told us where you plan to boat, but not the size or number of people on board or your budget.

Lacking those numbers, I too vote for the Flemming 55!!!

David

most of the time it would be the wife and I but we would have friends joins us so I would say 4 on an overnight and up to 8 on a day trip

I really don't want to spend more then 75,000 for now

We had a Bayliner 4087 that could do 24 wide open, and get excellent economy when at trawler speeds, plenty of room, 3 cabins, 2 heads, and reliable Cummins power.

1997 Bayliner 4087 Aft Cabin Motoryacht Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

A more traditional trawler:
1979 Ocean 40+2 Trawler Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Studman:

Ok, with that information I think you are looking at a 30-36' trawler, used of course and for less than $75 it will be 10 or so years old. You want to be able to cruise at 15 kts when you want to get there fast, but slow down to 7 kts or so and use much less fuel. Do I have this right?

So do some browsing on Yachtworld with those parameters. 30-36', $60-90K (boats sell for about 15% less than listing price but you don't want something old and tired so make the lower end $60k), trawler hull type, all of US since you are just browsing.

You will get more than 100 hits. But read some of them. Weed out those without enough power to cruise comfortably at 15 kts. You will need 300 hp for a 30' boat and probably 400+ hp for a 36' boat. Unfortunately Yachtworld doesn't let you use hp as a search criteria. So skip the Grand Banks, Marine Traders, Island Gypsies, etc- they won't go fast enough.

Here are a couple that meet these criteria:

On the low end of your size range, a 30' Mainship Pilot 30 with the 315 Yanmar can be bought for as little as $75K. It will sleep 4 and day cruise 6 or so.

On the upper end there are several Saberline 36s with twin Detroit 8.2s with a total of 500 hp listed for $65-85K.

At the smaller end of the scale you get more modern boats and at the upper end you get older boats.

David

OK...with your new criteria, I'd probably look toward the Bayliner.

A Bayliner or Sea Ray well under $20K would do everything you desire and be easy to sell when moving on.

Take a look at the Searay 370 Aft Cabin. You Should be able to find one under $100k. I was looking at these but the powerplants in these are a lot more expensive to repair, overhaul, or replace than a perkins or lehman. These boats will do close to 20 knots if needed, but the repairs are goin get you eventually.

Most folks can never wear out a diesel in normal operation.

KILL a DIESEL, sure that's easy , no PM , wrong oil, wrong anti-freez no problem.

The big expense on a larger engine is oil in gallons , not quarts and 1 NMPG to 1/2 NMPG underway.

Not much difference having 8 valves adjusted than 6.

Or rebuilding 8 injectors instead of 6.

windmill29130 said:

Take a look at the Searay 370 Aft Cabin. You Should be able to find one under $100k. I was looking at these but the powerplants in these are a lot more expensive to repair, overhaul, or replace than a perkins or lehman. These boats will do close to 20 knots if needed, but the repairs are goin get you eventually.

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Most of these are gas with the 454's which are gas hogs according to a few owners I have spoken to. Usually you have to find a 40'+ to get the Cats. I've seen these from the mid $50's.

beachbum29 said:

Most of these are gas with the 454's which are gas hogs according to a few owners I have spoken to. Usually you have to find a 40'+ to get the Cats. I've seen these from the mid $50's.

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There is an interesting Searay comparison:

• Cat 3116s that are very heavy and all too often overpropped from the factory with resultant very high costs to keep running or
• Nice running and less $$ to buy 454s but with 25% higher fuel burn than a set of diesels

sunchaser said:

There is an interesting Searay comparison:

[*]Cat 3116s that are very heavy and all too often overpropped from the factory with resultant very high costs to keep running or
[*]Nice running and less $$ to buy 454s but with 25% higher fuel burn than a set of diesels

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Repropping should be cheaper in the long run.
The 40-44 aft cabins I've looked at has had the 3208 turbos.

Nice running and less $$ to buy 454s but with 25% higher fuel burn than a set of diesels.

At the common 200 hours a year fuel cost would hardly be a concern.

Remember should an engine get killed the diesel will have 5X the replacement cost,

And "Stuff happens" on used boats from past decisions.

FF said:

Nice running and less $$ to buy 454s but with 25% higher fuel burn than a set of diesels.

At the common 200 hours a year fuel cost would hardly be a concern.

Remember should an engine get killed the diesel will have 5X the replacement cost,

And "Stuff happens" on used boats from past decisions.

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And the expected life of the gas engine is 25%. I'll always take the diesel choice if possible.

Well, there is a bit of misinformation and irrelevant information in the recent posts.

A new Mercruiser or Crusader 8.1 rated at about 400 hp costs about $18,000-20,000 and a new Cummins QSB 380 costs about $30-35,000. So a diesel costs about twice what a gasser costs.

And yes that Cummins will last 5,000+ hours if run at reasonable hp loadings, say 250 or so. Run the gasser at the same loading and it will only go half as many hours.

Running at these high hp loadings is more of an express cruiser thing and owners rarely run them more than 200 hours each year. At 200 hours a year the fuel savings from diesel just about washes out its higher purchase price.

David

At the risk of adding to the perennial argument about the value of gas vs. diesel, I want to offer my main reason for choosing diesel.

Gas simply wasn't available at all the places I wanted to go. Any place there's a fishing fleet, you can get diesel. In many places you can have it delivered by truck even if there's no fuel dock.

Begging a ride to the gas station with half-dozen plastic 6-gallon gas cans in a remote fishing village made me realize I'd have to give up my go-fast express cruiser.

CaptTom said:

At the risk of adding to the perennial argument about the value of gas vs. diesel, I want to offer my main reason for choosing diesel.

Gas simply wasn't available at all the places I wanted to go. Any place there's a fishing fleet, you can get diesel. In many places you can have it delivered by truck even if there's no fuel dock.

Begging a ride to the gas station with half-dozen plastic 6-gallon gas cans in a remote fishing village made me realize I'd have to give up my go-fast express cruiser.

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That's a little strange because a check of the marina or cruising guides will show many have gasoline and not diesel, but few have diesel and not gasoline.

rwidman said:

That's a little strange because a check of the marina or cruising guides will show many have gasoline and not diesel, but few have diesel and not gasoline.

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I don't always go where there are marinas.

http://www.streetsideauto.com/p/che..._content=pla&gclid=CMK41K_FuLUCFc6DQgod90MABg

Thanks to the PO my boat has less than 75 hours on the above motor and new Osco manifolds/exhaust system. If I have a catastrophic failure tomorrow I can change the motor in my berth without a haul out in less than two days and be cruising again quite economically IMO.

I'd like to see a diesel in my engine room eventually but I can't rebuild one for twice that price.

Studman said:

I am looking for a little advise

We are thinking of getting a trawler with the price of fuel and being in need of more space, we really like to style and space most have.

The one thing holding me back is the slow speed which I know is the only way to get great fuel economy, but where would I look to get the best of both worlds?

I would love to find a trawler that would be able to do 15- 20 knots when needed and be able to get decent fuel burn or MPG but don't know where to start.

Not sure if there is such a vessel. anyone?

Thanks
S

Click to expand...

This is not a gas vs diesel thread, it is how can the OP recreational boat around LI for less than $70K and do 15 to 20 knots when desired. LI Sound boaters have already voted, look at all the 33 to 38 foot gas Searays, Bayliners, Silvertons, Luhrs etc that fit the OP's question quite nicely.

A 20 year old diesel vs a 10 year old gasser is about where the choice lies. Plus the gas vessel will be about 1200 to 1500 pounds lighter if you compare 3208 Cats to 454s.

sunchaser said:

This is not a gas vs diesel thread, it is how can the OP recreational boat around LI for less than $70K and do 15 to 20 knots when desired. LI Sound boaters have already voted, look at all the 33 to 38 foot gas Searays, Bayliners, Silvertons, Luhrs etc that fit the OP's question quite nicely.

A 20 year old diesel vs a 10 year old gasser is about where the choice lies. Plus the gas vessel will be about 1200 to 1500 pounds lighter if you compare 3208 Cats to 454s.

Click to expand...

So the conclusion, the OP should not consider a trawler.