Hello All ! ! !

Been learning on the forum for some time so I thought it was time I finally registered. My wife and I hail hail from L.I. NY and are looking to get rid of our 38' Egg Harbor and purchase our first trawler to keep in the Naples FL area to vacation to during the colder NY months. We will be using her to cruise all around FL and to the Keys and eventually up and down the ICW and more. I am in the military currently deployed down south (USA) and starting my search in MS, AL and the panhandle of FL. Love the Deferrer but they will all most likely be out of our pride range as we are trying to stay under $70k. Any suggestions/help/guidance would be wonderful and greatly appreciated!

Anyhoo, glad to be a part of the community!

~Cheers

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Welcome!

As for generic boat-buying advice, I guess all I have to say is spend a LOT of time on line, looking at anything that's even close to what you're interested in. Some common themes will begin to emerge, and allow you to get more specific.

On the other hand, an Egg Harbor 38 is a pretty nice platform, and it can certainly be run at "trawler" speeds if fuel economy is the issue. What specifically are you trying to improve upon?

Welcome aboard and Good luck.

Thanks for your reply CaptTom. The major reason we are moving on from our Egg is that she has Chrysler 440 gas engines that are tired. We considered swapping those out and retrofitting diesels in or even more fuel efficient fuel injected motors but the expense of that didn't make sense to us considering we would be spending additional money on the exterior of the boat as well.
We love our Eggs salon and V Birth, but we really are looking for an aft cabin as we will spending more time onboard with our boys and company. We do like the we can cruise upwards of 22 knots with our Egg (at a huge expense $$$$) but are willing to give that up for a more comfortable spacious cruiser.

Welcome on TrawlerForum and best wishes !

Thanks for the nice welcome all. Although I've been computer searching for some time now, I boarded my first trawler "potential purchase" today in Biloxi MS. From the owner, it was in "very good condition" just needing a good scrubbing with a small area on the deck that is soft but just in the top surface. Wow, this boat was a wreck! It was a mid 1980's 42' Present for an asking price of $45. The layout was great and pretty much exactly what we are looking for, just not having to cut out both gunwales and the bow due to water intrusion and rot. lol

GinTime said:

Thanks for the nice welcome all. Although I've been computer searching for some time now, I boarded my first trawler "potential purchase" today in Biloxi MS. From the owner, it was in "very good condition" just needing a good scrubbing with a small area on the deck that is soft but just in the top surface. Wow, this boat was a wreck! It was a mid 1980's 42' Present for an asking price of $45. The layout was great and pretty much exactly what we are looking for, just not having to cut out both gunwales and the bow due to water intrusion and rot. lol

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Keep looking and searching! Anyway - in my opinion and my humble experience- the first seen is never the right one.

I figure I will board many a trawler to find the right one! Thanks OMC

You are welcome. To boarding many until we find the right one is a big part of the fun, and - still in my opinion - a good way to learn

Good luck.

GinTime said:

From the owner, it was in "very good condition" just needing a good scrubbing...Wow, this boat was a wreck!

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I saw a lot like that. Not sure why so many people become more dishonest than a used-car salesman the moment they make the decision to sell their boat.

The story usually goes something like this: Boat was someone's pride and joy. They bought it new, or in Bristol condition, and lovingly maintained it for years.

Age, infirmity, illness or death in the family, or lack of interest eventually eroded their zeal for maintenance. But rather than sell, they kept the boat tied up somewhere as a trophy to what was, or what might have been. All the time letting it die a slow death from deferred maintenance.

When they finally get around to selling, nobody wants to buy it. The seller can't understand why the buyer can't see how beautiful it once was, or why it's not worth what they paid for it in 1990.

It's sad. Sad for the boat, sad for the people and their lost dreams.

Wow, sorry if that was a bit of a downer. Apparently boat buying offered me a window on human nature that affected me more deeply than I thought.

But I think there's a lesson there for all of us. One I do not intend to forget.