"Good Old Boat" for trawlers

[Bilgewater]

We sold the Hunter 26 sailboat and moved up to a Gulfstar 36 trawler.* Needs some work, mostly cosmetic, but within our capability.* I loved the magazine "Good Old Boat", subtitle "the*sailing magazine*for the*REST of us."* It is all about older production fiberglass sailboats, and how to maintain/upgrade them.* Is there such a publication out there for the trawler world?* I subscribe to Passagemaker, but it really doesn't apply to who we are and where we are financially.* What do you think?

 

[dwhatty]

Now there's an idea! Can one steal it? Or has someone already done it? Hmm. Anyone interested in talking about a collaboration? I'm looking for something to do.

 

[Marin]

Bilgewater wrote:
Is there such a publication out there for the trawler world?* I

Not that I'm aware of, at least not on a national level.* WoodenBoat Magazine (if it's still being published) probably comes the closest in terms of some of its content, but of course it's aimed at wooden boat owners.

There are plenty of books out there, from Rebecca Whitmans' excellent book on brightwork to books on canvas work and everything in between.* So that may be your best bet for obtaining information on maintenance, repairs, and upgrades for a cruiser like the kind most of us own.

Depending on the make, there may be one or more web-based*owners associations where you can ask specific "how do I do this" questions and get answers from people who have done it before on the kind of boat you have.* The Grand Banks owners forum is terrific in this respect as there are shipwrights and former yard owners who participate who have done just about everything there is to be done on a GB, wood or plastic, and can tell you everything from the tools to the techniques, whether your project is removing and refinishing exterior components like grabrails, modifying the seats in the main cabin to be more ergonomic, or repainting the boat.* I'm sure the same sort of knowledge base is available for other makes, too.

If you want information specific to trawlers, I suggest you subscribe to National Fisherman and some of the other publications*aimed at the commercial fishing industry here*and in the UK (unless you can read French, German, Dutch, etc.).* After all, that's what trawlers really are.*


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 16th of January 2012 06:49:49 PM

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

Wooden boat is still being published. They have a very active wooden boat forum, very busy and popular .

 

[Moonfish]

Living Aboard is a cool little publication. Pretty small, only about 10,000 readers. Six issues a year. But, it has a lot of trawler-oriented stories and authors. And it's written by it's readers. It's about 38 years old, though I believe it was not being published for about 5-6 of those years. Anyway, the second to last publisher was getting tired and he didn't want to see it go under, so he literally gave the whole publication/inventory to Bob Bitchin at Latitudes & Attitudes.

Oh, in the spirit of full disclosure, my wife is the Ad Director for Living Aboard. But it's still a very cool magazine that would be the closest to Good Old Boat for trawlers...

 

[Moonfish]

Here's the link in case anyone's interested: http://www.livingaboard.com/

It may look sailing oriented at first glance of the website, but it's not. It actually has more stories written by trawler owners than sailboat owners...

 

[healhustler]

Hmmm. That is a good idea. Heck, you could probably do one for American builds and another for Taiwanese. "This Old Trawler".

 

[Marin]

healhustler wrote:
Hmmm. That is a good idea. Heck, you could probably do one for American builds and another for Taiwanese. "This Old Trawler".

The American version would be a pretty small magazine * Most boats of the type we own have more similarities that dis-similarities.* And the systems--- engines, electronics, refrigeration, plumbing, galley,cabinetry, etc. are all similar since the*components or basic designs are used by all the manufacturers.

Where specific information becomes really needed is when the boat's specific construction or configuration is part of the key to finding a solution.* For example, a recent post on the GB forum had to do with water that was pooling on the main cabin floor under the settee of a member's boat.* A search of windows and the other usual suspects turned up no problems.*

But an experienced fellow on the forum suggested to check the condition of the seal around the fuel fills on the side deck.* The floor of a GB's main cabin is lower than the main deck, and water leaking in around the deck fills can migrate over to pool at the side of the cabin floor under the settee.* Turned out this was what was happening, the cure was to re-bed the deck fill.* Only someone familiar with the construction of a GB would have known this was a probable cause.

 

[chc]

Way back when, Passagemaker used to be more attuned to my old boat world; now, all glitter & big bucks. I once asked the Good Old Boat folks if* they could include old power boats. Nope! I think it would be a great thing. However, for technical info & interesting thinking on a variety of subjects, its hard to beat forums like this one. Cheaper this way as well (not to buy; too produce)

 

[jlamb15]

We like Sea magazine, but its dreamy to look at the boats featured in the articles......1.2-4.0 million is a little out of range....at least for us.....we proudly tinker and putt around on a 1982 38' Californian and would love to see more articles that deal with our "stuff"

 

[Marin]

jlamb15 wrote:
...would love to see more articles that deal with our "stuff"

Problem is "our stuff" doesn't sell ads.* Owning an older boat is about fixing and maintaining what you have, not buying something that you don't have.* But the advertisers are all trying to sell new stuff.

And as I've heard from countless sources, subscriptions do not begin to cover the cost of publishing a magazine (or newspaper).* The ads are what keeps the operation going.* Particularly well-paid ads.* Like from Nordhavn and Caterpillar and Selene and Northern Lights and Grand Banks and so forth.

This is why Passagemaker is the way it is.* And Sea and all the rest of them.

If there was a profit to be made in publishing a magazine for the owners of older boats who wanted to learn about how to keep them up and whatnot, there would be a magazine that did that.* There isn't, and lack of advertiser interest is most likely the reason.

*

 

[7tiger7]

I used to work as the editor of a financial magazine... if some of you are interested in trying to start up a Trawlering magazine, maybe we can give it a whirl.
Maybe something quarterly, and in electronic form at first?

 

[Marin]

The best example of an on-line magazine I've seen, which also happens to be about boating, is this one. http://www.classicyachtmag.com/ It's free to subscribe to and they send you an e-mail notice when a new issue has been released.*

Other than WoodenBoat it's the only boating magazine I've found to date to be*worth subscribing*to.

*


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 16th of January 2012 11:30:48 PM

 

[7tiger7]

Wow nice magazine... I'm surprised we didn't know about it sooner. Beautiful pictures...

 

[Marin]

7tiger7 wrote:
Wow nice magazine... I'm surprised we didn't know about it sooner. Beautiful pictures...

It's been around for a number of years now.* When it first came out I learned about it on the GB owners forum and subscribed at that time.* I don't always look at every issue but one of the cool things about the format is that they can imbed videos in the articles (and ads).

 

[healhustler]

Thanks for that link, Marin. Very nice looking publication. You're probably right about the ad potential of an old Trawler Rag. I started a little mag years ago that died from the same drought of ads. Undertaking something like that would likely be a hobby, rather than a living,......but we can dream.

 

[FF]

Most of the aging TT "trawlers" suffer from identical problems , while a magazine would simply be duplicate articles , a book would be great.

An honest writer would probably be subject to lots of law suits and death threats , trolling boards for their variety of opinions will have to do.

 

[healhustler]

Good point, FF. I've often thought about doing a Coffee Table book on the subject. When we have guests that don't know anything about boating, it would be a great reference to peruse, and not nearly as boring as home movies.

 

[dvd]

MTOA (Marine Trawler Owners Association) does publish a magazine quarterly. A lot of Association news, but also technical articles written by members. It is self-published by volunteers and comes as part of membership (along with a number of other benefits).

MTOA started as a Marine Trader organization but has expanded to include any trawler owner wanting to join. They have a web site, listserv, etc. and are quite active with local chapters. I've been a member less than a year, but find it valuable.

dvd

 

[Eeber]

Marin wrote:

Problem is "our stuff" doesn't sell ads.* Owning an older boat is about fixing and maintaining what you have, not buying something that you don't have.* But the advertisers are all trying to sell new stuff.

And as I've heard from countless sources, subscriptions do not begin to cover the cost of publishing a magazine (or newspaper).* The ads are what keeps the operation going.* Particularly well-paid ads.* Like from Nordhavn and Caterpillar and Selene and Northern Lights and Grand Banks and so forth.

This is why Passagemaker is the way it is.* And Sea and all the rest of them.

If there was a profit to be made in publishing a magazine for the owners of older boats who wanted to learn about how to keep them up and whatnot, there would be a magazine that did that.* There isn't, and lack of advertiser interest is most likely the reason.

*

*Your general assumption is plausible but that's like saying a magazine about draft horse farming wouldn't be profitable without all the big name tractor and equipment ads ( see "Draft Horse Journal", Small Farmer's Journal", "Rural Heritage" for examples of successes).

Granted, it may not be nearly as profitable, but profitable none the less.* These magazines profit on more diversified adds from mutiple angles.

A magazine where I could find advertizing for replacements and upgrades and etc., and a multitude of articles on a million different trawler subjects, would be highly sought after thus drawing more advertizers.

Respectfully-

Kenny

 

[healhustler]

Eeber wrote:
*Your general assumption is plausible but that's like saying a magazine about draft horse farming wouldn't be profitable without all the big name tractor and equipment ads ( see "Draft Horse Journal", Small Farmer's Journal", "Rural Heritage" for examples of successes).

Granted, it may not be nearly as profitable, but profitable none the less.* These magazines profit on more diversified adds from mutiple angles.

A magazine where I could find advertizing for replacements and upgrades and etc., and a multitude of articles on a million different trawler subjects, would be highly sought after thus drawing more advertizers.

Respectfully-

Kenny

**

Interesting subject. *I'd love to see such a publication. *I'd love to do such a publication. *I have actually done such a publication for another vehicular interest group that failed through no fault of its own, but the truth is, it was a dead expense that I tolerated to feed clientele to another related business, and on it's own would probably have failed anyway. *In four issues, it had subscribers in all 50 States and 14 foreign countries, but the ad's couldn't even cover the postage, and that was with a "forever" contract for the inside covers, and outside rear cover. *Add that to FF's mentions about flagrant suits and the liabilities of being honest, and.........? *Then there's the deadline thing. *Thanks to Marin and FF for bringing these things back to mind before I started getting excited about doing another rag. *What was I thinking!?

-- Edited by healhustler on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 10:38:52 AM

 

[Marin]

healhustler wrote:*Thanks to Marin and FF for bringing these things back to mind before I started getting excited about doing another rag. *What was I thinking!?

*If a person loves doing this sort of thing and having the magazine cover the cost or even make a profit, however small, is not a priority then it could be a very beneficial undertaking.* I'm not condemning the idea, just the notion that publishing a magazine on a regular basis is a) a lot of work, b) is expensive, and c) takes a major effort in terms of time.

Unless the income from publishing the magazine makes a, b, and c worthwhile to a person, it's probably not something most people would want to take on.

We have a TF member who knows as much or more about the business of publishing a magazine than probably anyone on the forum, and that's Carey.* For several years now he and his wife and a couple of partners have been publishing an extremely well done monthy magazine highlighting all the events--- entertainment, cullinary, etc.--- coming up in the Bellingham-Mt. Vernon- Anacortes area.

If one wants to know the facts about what it takes--- and what the rewards are-- of publishing a magazine with a fairly specific readership, he's the one to ask.


-- Edited by Marin on Tuesday 17th of January 2012 03:11:13 PM

 

[kolive]

I would love to see a magazine like this.* The Classic Yacht is a great one to be directed to.* Thank You!* How about the idea of* Trawler Forum magazine with various articles by the readers/viewers?* I have no idea what it would take to do anything like that.* I wrote an article for a now defunct magazine from the Bellingham Area about PNW Cruising and enjoyed the process.

*

Keith Olive

Cowiceh, WA

 

[Boydster]

Marin wrote:
The American version would be a pretty small magazine * Most boats of the type we own have more similarities that dis-similarities.* And the systems--- engines, electronics, refrigeration, plumbing, galley,cabinetry, etc. are all similar since the*components or basic designs are used by all the manufacturers.

Where specific information becomes really needed is when the boat's specific construction or configuration is part of the key to finding a solution.* For example, a recent post on the GB forum had to do with water that was pooling on the main cabin floor under the settee of a member's boat.* A search of windows and the other usual suspects turned up no problems.*

But an experienced fellow on the forum suggested to check the condition of the seal around the fuel fills on the side deck.* The floor of a GB's main cabin is lower than the main deck, and water leaking in around the deck fills can migrate over to pool at the side of the cabin floor under the settee.* Turned out this was what was happening, the cure was to re-bed the deck fill.* Only someone familiar with the construction of a GB would have known this was a probable cause.

*Marin, that was me that posted the question on the GB forum.*I used to subscribe to Good Old Boat and found it to be a great "how-to" resource. At the time I was relatively new to boat ownership despite having grown up with a boat always in the family,*and that magazine helped a lot. Personally I'd love to see an equivalent magazine for older trawlers, because Passagemaker just ain't doing it for me. - Boyd