Trawling is for me

Hello!

I have a question for the forum. I am interested in getting a 30-40ft trawler for 50-150mi+ trips. I read in this thread
Small Full Displacement Cruisers - Cruisers & Sailing Forums
that 32-36ft trawlers could easily be had obtaining in excess of 2mpg economy, assuming using what I was led to believe was an easy to find, single engine design with roughly 100hp, or less.
I am not able to find such a boat. I am looking to spend 15-30k, there are plenty of boats for sale under trawlers in this range, most are twin engine, 165hp and up, most in the 220-300hp range.
As in the above thread, I am looking to cruise at hull speed (~7-8knots) and achieve maximum fuel economy. 3+mpg would be great.

Thank you for any input or just a warm welcome. I do appreciate the help on the opening question.
Jim

Welcome....check out our very own JohnP's vessel in the classified section

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s9/ready-loop-30k-32653.html

Welcome to the forum!

Jim, they are out there, it just takes some searching. It's important to understand that in that price range, they are unlikely to be brokered boats. Most brokers won't realize enough commission to justify their time. Where have you been looking?

Btw, my 45' trawler with a single 135 HP John Deere cruises at 7 knots on 2 GPH (3.5 MPG). The point being that you don't need to be below 100 HP to have great fuel economy.

Ted

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think you will find a FD boat in the 32-36 range that will be that efficient at 7-8 knots. Roughly, a LWL of 36' will give you a hull speed of about 8 knots. 28' LWL is about 7 knots. There is no way you will achieve that type of efficiency running at hull speed. Even so, the LWL of a 32-36 ' boat is what, 28-33'?

Jim you will soon learn that " fuel " is the cheapest thing that will ever go into your boat and fuel will also be the least of your problems .

Here you go!

1979 Californian 30 Sedan Power Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

I averaged 3.8 nmpg last season in my Mainship 34 with a single 210 hp. Average speed underway was 6.4 knots.

Thanks for the input, see you all around

I get over 3 nmpg with my single 80-horsepower engine pushing a 32-foot waterline and 13-foot beam on a 14-ton boat at one knot below (6.3 knots) hull speed (7.3 knots) and less than 2 nmpg at hull speed. Most all double-engine boats were made to exceed hull speed. Eighty horsepower is sufficient to power boats even over 40-feet in length if they're no plans to exceed hull speed. Even speedy single-engine "trawlers" such as Nordic Tugs with 200+ horsepower are designed to move faster than hull speed.

markpierce said:

I get over 3 nmpg with my single 80-horsepower engine pushing a 32-foot waterline and 13-foot beam on a 14-ton boat at one knot below (6.3 knots) hull speed (7.3 knots) and less than 2 nmpg at hull speed.

Click to expand...

That was my point. At 7 knots you aren't nearly as efficient as you are at 6.3. Reduce your LOA to 32-36 and the LWL correspondingly, and it would be even less.

Your other point is a good one. Your boat is a lot more efficient at 7 knots than mine is even though my LWL is a bit over 36'.