RF's?

New to group. Any Rosborough owners out there?

Not a Rossie owner, but it is on my short list of boats I am looking at. I want a trailerable affordable pocket trawler. How long have you had the boat, how do you like it?

Bil

This will be our 3rd season; downsized from a 32 Albin Sportfish. Love the Rossi; had to get used to smaller spaces;l but it has plenty of storage. The trick is to put things away and not leave them lying around. It is a perfect 2 person boat, with room for a couple of kids. Limited space for entertain ing. Very good rough water boat; but at hull speed, you bounce around a lot. Get up on plane and it cuts right through without pounding. All in all a very sound and solid boat. I would stay away from the I/O. Diesel is OK but it takes up too much cockpit space.

Hi Bil,

Another you might want on your short list is C-Dory. Their 22-26-foot cruisers are some of the best designed and most affordable pocket cruisers around - especially when you consider operating costs.

CDory is anher boat we looked at. 2 advantages of the Rosborough over the CDory are: better in rough water. CDory pounds more. Also, the sliding doors on both sides of the RF give great ventilation and ease in docking. Another nice pocket cruiser, but harder to find, is a Caledon. They are finished "yacht" style as opposed to either Cdory and Rossi; and much more expensive.

Looking a the Cdory pic; where are you located? Looks like some pretty big boats in the background...either commercial vessels or sailboats?

That pic was in Port Hardy on Vancouver Island. Lots of commercial fishing boats in the background. We're in Utah, but most of our cruising is in BC and SE Alaska.

BTW, the C-Dory pounds if you go fast in a chop, but it's superbly seaworthy in big waves, in which you have to slow down anyway.

We would slow our CD22 to 12-14 knots in a chop, and the ride would improve, but certainly not be as nice as 18 knots in our current heavy V-bottom 26-footer (we pay in fuel costs for that comfort). The CD22's fairly flat bottom and its light weight are key to its fuel economy at planing speeds. CD's 25-26 footers are enough heavier that they crush through a chop quite a bit better.

We do lots of miles every summer, and find that cruising at 6 knots is quieter, more relaxing, better for gawking, and vastly less expensive (3X fuel economy vs 18 knots).

Richard: I agree, 6 kts. is better all around than 18...unless it's rough. Then we like to get up and go. We are the south shore of Long Island Ny; the Great South Bay is fairly large; but not very deep. So when the winds blows, it gets really choppy with steep, close waves. Our RF slides right through it. Takes some spray; but that's OK. We belong to a cruising club with mostly sailboats. When we travel with them; they leave at the crack of dawn. We have a leisurely breakfast; read the paper, than leave. By the time they arrive, we're having our cocktail!

Your answer confirms our impressions. The I/O sell for a pittance of the outboard powered versions, so I take that as a sign. Is your Rossie a HSV or LSV? We are looking at the lower end of the price range, so a LSV is most likely what we will end up with. I haven't seen a sea dory in person, but it seems to be more of a planing hull rather than a semi displacement, which is what we think we want. The Caledon is a beautiful boat, there is one listed, either B/W or Y/T, but they are looking for $72K, out of my range.
Just for reference, our last boat, sold a year or so ago was a 21' Ribcraft. Great boat, now we want something totally different.

Ours is a 99 LSV repowered in 07 with twin Suzuki 90 HP outboards. Wed paid in the low 40's 2 years ago; but had to buy a new trailer as the old one was a POS. Have good experiences with a transport company and a trailer guy; if and when you need some info. Agree that the Caledon is pretty; a little too much wood for me; and the prices are up there.
Jim

jprohan said:

New to group. Any Rosborough owners out there?

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I am a very late responder to this thread as I am a new member and proud owner of a 2003 Rosborough RF-246 HSV. Our boat is powered by a Honda 250 HP outboard with a 10 HP auxiliary. My wife and I are looking forward to doing the ICW next fall with a side trip to the Bahamas.

Might want to check out the Ranger Tug 23. Seems to be a competitor for the RF-246. The introductory price seems pretty good too.

Ranger Tugs R-23

All small fast boats, even with small (less than eight inch) waves I've observed, pound (heads bounce).

markpierce said:

All small fast boats, even with small (less than eight inch) waves I've observed, pound (heads bounce).

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Probably not if you are moving at "trawler" speeds. These boats go slow when you have to and fast when you can.

Mark,
Trawlers are for people who don't want to be cramed into a small cabin w/o head room bouncing along holding on to their glasses. Fine for awhile but for hours?
They are not trawlers at all. No such thing as OB trawlers but I'd like one now. Trailer boats are wonderful. And I'm glad some are here on TF just because I like them.

2003 HSV with hard top. Twin 115 Suzuki's on a full width bracket.
I am alone most of the time but I can single hand it.
Trailer capable is very important to me. I tow with a 3/4 ton diesel truck
The side sliding doors are a nice feature.
Flush toilet is good especially with guests onboard
Well made and durable.
Max speed is 20MPH at 5000 RPM
Best speed is 8 mph
I can run on one engine at 6 to 8 MPH with good fuel economy and less noise
Over all very satisfied but don't be in a hurry to get anywhere

Nomad Willy said:

Mark,
Trawlers are for people who don't want to be cramed into a small cabin w/o head room bouncing along holding on to their glasses. Fine for awhile but for hours?
They are not trawlers at all. No such thing as OB trawlers but I'd like one now. Trailer boats are wonderful. And I'm glad some are here on TF just because I like them.

Click to expand...

Might want to look at this one:

Great Harbour N37 trawler: spacious, stable, unsinkable - Great Harbour Trawlers

I'm seriously lusting after one, if only I had the money....

Adventures on a Rosborough 246 HSV

My wife, Molly, and I left Maine on 10/22 and are now in the Bahamas. Our boat is small but seaworthy and has worked out so well. Thank you, Bob Rosborough, for designing such a great boat.

Bill Webster
Salty Paws

RF's ???
What's the matter with "Rosborough" boats for a title?

ssobol said:

Might want to look at this one:

Great Harbour N37 trawler: spacious, stable, unsinkable - Great Harbour Trawlers

I'm seriously lusting after one, if only I had the money....

Click to expand...

Thanks ssobol but the pounding in even a 3-4' head sea would be ....... and w those long straight and low chines it would probably deliver an award winning snap roll.

I like the beam to length ratio though. And the roof deck. And the OB power.

Bill,
Would you like to explain how you deploy and retrieve your kayak? The picture gives me ideas on how to rig a system for our canoe. I'm think'in you deploy w/o getting up on the roof.

Hi, Eric,

We just got back to Florida after the last month in the Bahamas. Deploying and retrieving the kayak has gotten easier and easier the more we do it. First, I undo all the straps and line ties, and then I pull the kayak forward to the bow (on top of the rail). It then slides right down the port side rail into the water.

In retrieving I am able to pull the kayak up along the cabin and port side rail to the bow. The trick here is now to straighten out the kayak so that it can be slid aft in the rack. While I have done it myself, I usually have my wife hold the kayak in the bow and push it to port while I place and move the stern in to the rack.

Hope that helps!

Bill

JimTid said:

2003 HSV with hard top. Twin 115 Suzuki's on a full width bracket.
I am alone most of the time but I can single hand it.
Trailer capable is very important to me. I tow with a 3/4 ton diesel truck
The side sliding doors are a nice feature.
Flush toilet is good especially with guests onboard
Well made and durable.
Max speed is 20MPH at 5000 RPM
Best speed is 8 mph
I can run on one engine at 6 to 8 MPH with good fuel economy and less noise
Over all very satisfied but don't be in a hurry to get anywhere

Click to expand...

Follow-up to this previous post. I had a motor failure and re-powered with an Evinrude ETEC 300HP G2. At a cost of $28,600 plus $800 for trim tabs. This was not a good fit for this boat. It added 70 more horse power and reduced the weight on the tramsom/swim platform by 500 pounds. I never liked the two stroke motor. It was not smooth at mid range. It would spin the prop from dead stop unless you eased on the throttle. The motor was more fuel efficient but it burned $30 a gallon oil that negated fuel cost savings. I think a single 4 stroke motor in the range of 150 to 200HP is the way to go with a HSV with or without a full width swim platform.

Nomad Willy said:

Thanks ssobol but the pounding in even a 3-4' head sea would be ....... and w those long straight and low chines it would probably deliver an award winning snap roll.

I like the beam to length ratio though. And the roof deck. And the OB power.

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Well Eric it appears you and I and a lonely few others are the anachronistic holdovers from the era of true full displacement trawlers, as god intended them to be.

Salty Paws said:

I am a very late responder to this thread as I am a new member and proud owner of a 2003 Rosborough RF-246 HSV. Our boat is powered by a Honda 250 HP outboard with a 10 HP auxiliary. My wife and I are looking forward to doing the ICW next fall with a side trip to the Bahamas.

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Greetings,
I know this is a older thread but very much would like to hear your thoughts on cruising your 246 -

Salty Paws said:

My wife, Molly, and I left Maine on 10/22 and are now in the Bahamas. Our boat is small but seaworthy and has worked out so well. Thank you, Bob Rosborough, for designing such a great boat.

Bill Webster
Salty Paws

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How was the trip over and back?
We are looking into a 246

We had a Rosborough rendezvous of 27 boats at Caladesi State Park in late March. Bill Webster gave a ~1hr long presentation to the group about his second trip to the Bahamas (as part of his 2019/2020 Great Loop trip) in his Rosborough. It's available on the "RF-246" YouTube channel, look for the "Take your Rosborough to the Bahamas" video on the site.

Carriage Guy said:

We had a Rosborough rendezvous of 27 boats at Caladesi State Park in late March. Bill Webster gave a ~1hr long presentation to the group about his second trip to the Bahamas (as part of his 2019/2020 Great Loop trip) in his Rosborough. It's available on the "RF-246" YouTube channel, look for the "Take your Rosborough to the Bahamas" video on the site.

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Yes we have watched it. Enjoyed it quite a bit.
Thank you