Howdy,
Warning upfront, but my apologies for the long-winded intro...
A Newbie here who is beginning the search for a trawler/tug type of cruiser. Beyond a dozen years at sea on multiple Navy ships (PCs to CVNs), my recreational boating experience is limited kayaks and to short coastal cruising (overnights) and daysailing on a variety of sailboats while stationed on the East coast. We relocated to Puget Sound two years ago and plan to settle down here when I retire from the Navy in the summer of '17.
We have a 4 year old, so with school and my wife's career (as well as whatever I decide to do when I grow up), our cruising plans will be limited to weekends and longer summer trips within Puget Sound, as well as a big Inside Passage trip upon retirement in June-Sep 2017.
We've own four different Sailboats in the past (two Cape Dories, a Morgan, and a CT41) and our original thoughts were a Sailboat. However, after watching the water up here over the past few years I think a trawler / tug make a little more sense in the PacNW.
I would like to get a boat sometime in the next 18-mos in order to get some experience under our belts prior to our '17 trip. So, with that goal we're planning on checking out local boat shows in order to start thinking through things and getting ideas. Also, I've been lurking on Yachtworld for the last year or so...We will probably start actively looking via brokers this winter.
I know everyone has an opinion and there is no "one size fits all" boat out there, but I'm interested what people consider the best option(s) for our needs and plans.
Plans/Needs/Wants:
- Weekend and longer coastal cruising in/around Puget Sound, SJDF, San Juans, Strait of Georgia, and coastal BC. Inside Passage to Alaska once or twice.
- Economical fuel consumption
- Max used price of $200k
- Prefer something "salty" looking, but I don't want to be a slave to a LOT of brightwork
- Reliability (to me, this seems like twin diesels for redundancy, but I may be too conservative here)
- Fishing / crabbing possibility--I would like the ability to mount a downrigger or two for Salmon, but not a deal breaker...I enjoy fishing (fly fishing is my passion), but that is NOT the primary purpose here and I understand this is going to be difficult in a cruiser
Thanks in advance for any assistance / thoughts...looking forward to the journey!
SeaRun
Warning upfront, but my apologies for the long-winded intro...
A Newbie here who is beginning the search for a trawler/tug type of cruiser. Beyond a dozen years at sea on multiple Navy ships (PCs to CVNs), my recreational boating experience is limited kayaks and to short coastal cruising (overnights) and daysailing on a variety of sailboats while stationed on the East coast. We relocated to Puget Sound two years ago and plan to settle down here when I retire from the Navy in the summer of '17.
We have a 4 year old, so with school and my wife's career (as well as whatever I decide to do when I grow up), our cruising plans will be limited to weekends and longer summer trips within Puget Sound, as well as a big Inside Passage trip upon retirement in June-Sep 2017.
We've own four different Sailboats in the past (two Cape Dories, a Morgan, and a CT41) and our original thoughts were a Sailboat. However, after watching the water up here over the past few years I think a trawler / tug make a little more sense in the PacNW.
I would like to get a boat sometime in the next 18-mos in order to get some experience under our belts prior to our '17 trip. So, with that goal we're planning on checking out local boat shows in order to start thinking through things and getting ideas. Also, I've been lurking on Yachtworld for the last year or so...We will probably start actively looking via brokers this winter.
I know everyone has an opinion and there is no "one size fits all" boat out there, but I'm interested what people consider the best option(s) for our needs and plans.
Plans/Needs/Wants:
- Weekend and longer coastal cruising in/around Puget Sound, SJDF, San Juans, Strait of Georgia, and coastal BC. Inside Passage to Alaska once or twice.
- Economical fuel consumption
- Max used price of $200k
- Prefer something "salty" looking, but I don't want to be a slave to a LOT of brightwork
- Reliability (to me, this seems like twin diesels for redundancy, but I may be too conservative here)
- Fishing / crabbing possibility--I would like the ability to mount a downrigger or two for Salmon, but not a deal breaker...I enjoy fishing (fly fishing is my passion), but that is NOT the primary purpose here and I understand this is going to be difficult in a cruiser
Thanks in advance for any assistance / thoughts...looking forward to the journey!
SeaRun