Outboard Powered Trawlers

They did move to the far side of the channel before opening it up. It was gone in no time but we caught up with it at a dock. Probably had to refuel.


I just wonder what it was supposed to do and why the outboard power.

WesK said:

It's not really a trawler but it's outboard powered:


Seen on the Potomac River near Washington DC. It belongs to the US Army so I guess it doesn't matter how the fuel mileage is.

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OK, yeah, but what do they have for get-home power!

healhustler said:

OK, yeah, but what do they have for get-home power!

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A sister ship to come get them. Remember, it's the US Army. Your tax dollars at work.

Ranger Tugs and Rosborough offer small "trawlers" with outboards. There was a rumor last year that Nordic Tugs was thinking about putting an outboard on the 26 footer, but nothing came out of that (yet).

Rhea 730 french Breton fishing boat style boats with ob's...http://www.rhea-marine.fr/en/portfolio-item/730-timonier-en/

I think the OP is talking about a far bigger boat than the ones above.


There are several <30' trawler style boats out there and have been for years. That's not what the OP is asking.

I almost bought a Rosborough 246 last week. Even laid down a deposit. But after thinking about it some more overnight, I had to bail out. I'll be starting radiation treatment in about 3 weeks, and if that doesn't work, who knows what's next?!

Anyhow, it was a meticulously maintained boat with great owners who took us out for a run on the Susquehanna River. I would have bought it if my medical situation wasn't so TBD.

I have no financial interest in the boat, but of you're looking for a nice Rosborough 246, there's one listed in BoatTrader in Havre deGrace, MD that you should consider.

BaltimoreLurker said:

I almost bought a Rosborough 246 last week. Even laid down a deposit. But after thinking about it some more overnight, I had to bail out. I'll be starting radiation treatment in about 3 weeks, and if that doesn't work, who knows what's next?!

Anyhow, it was a meticulously maintained boat with great owners who took us out for a run on the Susquehanna River. I would have bought it if my medical situation wasn't so TBD.

I have no financial interest in the boat, but of you're looking for a nice Rosborough 246, there's one listed in BoatTrader in Havre deGrace, MD that you should consider.

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Good luck on your treatment. My dad recently went through chemo and radiation and he is currently in remission. My thoughts are with you.

cardude01 said:

Good luck on your treatment. My dad recently went through chemo and radiation and he is currently in remission. My thoughts are with you.

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Thanks, Cardude. I'm "special" and the rules do NOT (edit) apply to me so I'm going with cancer is just a major PITA that is disrupting my plans. But I'll beat it!

Prayers for you BL. Good Luck!!

cardude01 said:

This actually looks pretty cool-- like an aggressive houseboat.
View attachment 50032

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Curious, where did you find that photo? Are there any more.

Google. I couldn't find much additional info.

I was trying to find more info on that other posted photo, and I ran across this:
An outboard powered trailerable trawler: the Great Harbor TT35 http://boating.mg/sisxk6 #boats

Yeah, actually Donsan introduced the Great Harbor outboard version earlier in the thread. One of our members is having one built now. Looks like a winning combo.

Lurker: Best to you on your therapeutic journey toward healing. Remember, along the way you're likely to become the teacher more often than the student.

Here's our new baby - an Acadia 25 built by Atlas Boatworks in FL.



Henry Clews

There is no such thing as an OB trawler.

Putting an OB on an old GB will make a powered barge out of it. And I’m not trying to be critical of it. It would be fine for short local runs on flat water. It would burn four times as much fuel.

It would be easy to maintain and have perhaps better maneuverability. As to it’s noise level it may be required to run the engines very hard like a sailboat bucking some current. But at very low speeds it would be quiet and void of vibration. But w multiple engines there may be some harmonic vibration.

How many engines you employ may have a lot to do w prop blade area tp power ratio. Four or five smaller engines may be more efficient.

So as a harbor party barge I see no problems. But not operated as a trawler. Outboard power is not suitable for a trawler.

I am not sure that outboards on a non trailerable boat really make sense at all.
You might be able to do your oil change with them mounted on the transom, but getting to the oil filters can be difficult. Then think about changing the oil in the lower units- that will require a haul out. Many outboards require dropping the lower unit to change the impellers. So now you have to do a haul out, and find a mobile outboard mechanic to come to your boat etc.
Going from a C Dory 25 with an outboard to our Lindell 36 with twin diesels and a generator I get the complexity issues involved with a larger boat, but really none of the maintenance issues with the diesels are that difficult, and easily done by an owner if you don't mind spending the time and have some mechanical inclination.

Whaler has a 42 footer and Grady White has a 37 footer that are outboard powered. I know they aren't trawlers by any means but obviously some manufacturers think outboards are applicable to off shore, too big to trailer boats.

The Whaler has quad 300 hp engines. At WOT it burns 120 gallons per hour !!!

We saw this in Dinner Key Marina several years ago. The owners weren't around unfortunately. It looks like some thought went into the outboard mounting bracket.

Larry....was that a back up system, or the main propulsion do you think ?? Was there steerage linkage ??

Benthic2 said:

Whaler has a 42 footer and Grady White has a 37 footer that are outboard powered. I know they aren't trawlers by any means but obviously some manufacturers think outboards are applicable to off shore, too big to trailer boats.

The Whaler has quad 300 hp engines. At WOT it burns 120 gallons per hour !!!

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Nearly all builders of center consoles have outboard powered boats up to 42' and there are center consoles up to 53' now.

I had never owned an outboard in my life until a couple of years ago, not even for a dinghy. We bought a 39' Contender with triple Yamaha 300's for the use of our boating and management staff and crew. Maybe part of the reason we have a burning desire for a truly fast boat as our fastest, a Riva only hits 42 knots and the Contender can go flying past us at a gentle cruising speed since it's max is 57 knots.

I believe outboards have a place in trawler type boats, medium sized boats designed for long cruising. There are a few builders such as Rosborough and now Great Harbour with efforts up to 35'. There are others with "pocket trawlers." Sea Ray now has a Sundancer 320 with outboards. It sleeps up to 4 and has triple Mercury 250's. Perfect boat for someone wanting to do overnight cruising on a lake or river. Not really for coastal.

I don't believe we've come close yet to seeing what can potentially be done. We have small, not really seaworthy, trawler types with outboards, with small engines. We have center consoles with very large outboards and quite seaworthy. The Sea Ray Sundancer is somewhere in between. Outboards continue to grow. Now Volvo owns Sevens with up to 627 hp.

I think there are two huge potentials. First is a nice semi-displacement or even planing cruising boat with large outboards and the living platform you'd expect in a 40-50' trawler type cruiser. Second is a full displacement or semi displacement, more a Grand Banks type using outboards, probably a work type outboard design built for torque and thrust not top hp or even a diesel outboard if one shows up that is really marketable.

Outboards have taken over a large segment primarily because of price. By outfitting large center consoles with outboards, we've already seen the impact on the small sportfisherman boats. We've seen it in family boats too. Outboard have taken over where sterndrives once held.

Larry M said:

We saw this in Dinner Key Marina several years ago. The owners weren't around unfortunately. It looks like some thought went into the outboard mounting bracket.

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Lots of people sport 9.9hp outboards on their swim steps up here for salmon trolling, and as a "get home or at least to a safe place" engine. (Several reasons include; no towing services, sometimes don't see another boat for days, and can be out of radio contact up long & twisty mountainous inlets).

Hclews, nice!

Was the Acadia built for an OB engine or was it a retrofit? What HP and cruise speed/fuel numbers?

Benthic2 said:

Larry....was that a back up system, or the main propulsion do you think ?? Was there steerage linkage ??

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I was thinking the OB was the main. It looked like too much work went into the installation to be a get home. And as I remember it there was steering linkage. What they did with the boats rudder? My guess, with the OB, the rudder may have been an extension of the keel if it was locked or some how tied into the main steering?

I can see the concept for a weekend, coastal cruiser vs repowering.

FlyWright said:

Hclews, nice!

Was the Acadia built for an OB engine or was it a retrofit? What HP and cruise speed/fuel numbers?

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Built both ways.

Builder's performance numbers with 200 hp Suzuki.

3000 RPM 12 knots 3.4 GPH
4000 RPM 19 knots 4.6 GPH
4500 RPM 22 knots 7.4 GPH
5000 RPM 25 knots 10 GPH
5500 RPM 30+ knots, no more data shown.

Some of these Kurt Hughes designs would be contenders.
One of the 50ft ferries does 20knots with 30pax and 70hp/side.
Should manage fine with a couple of people and their liveaboard stuff.

Kurt Hughes Multihull Design - Catamarans and Trimarans for Cruising and Charter - Passenger Ferries

Nomad Willy said:

There is no such thing as an OB trawler.

Putting an OB on an old GB will make a powered barge out of it. And I’m not trying to be critical of it. It would be fine for short local runs on flat water. It would burn four times as much fuel.

It would be easy to maintain and have perhaps better maneuverability. As to it’s noise level it may be required to run the engines very hard like a sailboat bucking some current. But at very low speeds it would be quiet and void of vibration. But w multiple engines there may be some harmonic vibration.

How many engines you employ may have a lot to do w prop blade area tp power ratio. Four or five smaller engines may be more efficient.

So as a harbor party barge I see no problems. But not operated as a trawler. Outboard power is not suitable for a trawler.

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Installing outboards on a GB in particular would not only decrease the value of the boat if you put it back up for sale. Or the worse part for me would be the boat would be a pig to handle at slow speeds and around a dock.

The wheels on outboards are so much smaller than conventional inboard engines, and will be biting in turbulent water when you are attempting to turn it around in tight areas.

The plus sides for using an outboard or duel outboards on trawler style hulls is that you can get in more creeks as a rule than most inboard boats unless of course the boat is custom built with a tunnel or tunnels in it.

But also with the new four strokes, they really do not like to be run at slower speeds for long periods of time. They will load up and not be as maintainance free or cheaper to maintain as you would think.

Ben,
I’ll bet he had that engine at home and the diesel went belly up and he couldn’d affort to fix or replace.
We saw pics of this boat underway some time back on another thread about this.
I don’t see any linkage but would like to hear if it did.

Scratch,
First time I’ve heard of a 4s loading up.
As to maneuverability remember the OB throws it’s thrust to the side. Like having a stern thruster. And if you had a bow thruster ?.... BUT it would be nearly impossible to stop or slow down except very slowly. And w a down wind and a spot of current may be impossible.

BandB,
Outboards could be more useful on bigger boats if they started building lower units w space for bigger props and lower gear ratios. Not before IMO.

Nomad Willy said:

...I’ll bet he had that engine at home and the diesel went belly up and he couldn’d affort to fix or replace...

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Eric: Than would be my guess but I like the yankee engineering. Not a bad solution and look at the extra space in the ER assuming they took out the old iron.

What are you think’in Larry re the engine room space? 1200 gallons of gasoline?