New members on October 27th

Hello we are brand new to this forum as of today. We are Tim and Diane from Northeast Ohio. We spent the last 14 years Cottaging on Middle Bass Island in Lake Erie and have just sold our Cottage in order 2 find the perfect trawler for us. So as of today we are officially boat hunting. We hope to cruise some on the Great Lakes until retirement in a few years when we hope to do the Great Loop. If anyone has the perfect Loop trawler for us please give us a ring. Happy that we found this site and look forward 2 learning more about trawlers from it. We have eight kids, three dogs, and a love for the outdoors and the water.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard. Eight kids and 3 dogs?

Welcome aboard.

Welcome aboard Tim, Diane and ALL!

A great, grand dream...now to make it happen.

The "perfect" boat is indeed in the eye of the beholder.

So it is budget, how much work can you do?, how new of a vessel, your experience and desire to learn, and just what is beautiful to you!

So look around on this site, on the sites selling boats like yachtworld, look around at marinas and see what catches your eye and what you can afford.

It is always a compromise and even after you buy another boat will catch your eye and you will want her.

So welcome. Have fun.

Tim

Welcome Aboard

It may seem backwards, but you may want to determine what you want to do with the boat, and how many of the family and friends will want to go with you, and for how long, before you start narrowing your range of possible boat types and makes.
I would guess that some of your kids have kids of their own, as well, which makes the superyacht in the GIF above a reasonable idea for a family gathering on the boat for more than a few hours at a time.
It is likely that no boat will satisfy all of your needs, wants, and desires, so sorting your ideas this way may help direct your search.
Yachtworld is a great resource, as is Boat Search 101 on this forum. I found that other sites have had more of the mid to lower priced boats, but as many here have said, pay me now, or pay me later.
Older boats at lower (not low) price points may need expensive work to bring them up to par.
You may want to spend the years until you retire learning the mechanical, electrical, and seamanship skills you may need to be safe and comfortable aboard while cruising.
Chartering likely boats for a weeks vacation can be very helpful in learning more about what you need and want in a boat.
When we searched for out boat, we found the lower priced boats on sites like boats.com, boattrader.com, iboats.com, and Craigslist in boat-heavy cities.
We took road trips to see boats which interested us, to learn the difference between the pictures and the reality and useability of those boats.
Things like engine room size and access, doors, headroom, shower size, kitchen layouts, and boats where I just could not get to the places I would need to be to operate the boat. (Big feet and narrow side decks = no.)
Good luck, JohnS, Cheoy Lee 40 LRC