Trawler brands with semi-bluewater seaworthiness...

[ddickson]

Hello all,

We are a family of 5 and looking to pick up a trawler in the next year. I have some sailing experience in the Caribbean, around Vancouver Island, and lived aboard a tall ship that went down to the Galapagos islands and then on to Norway. But I don't want to bring my family onto a sailboat.

So we are looking for a trawler!! We like some space, so a 50-65ft vessel is what we have been looking for. I am quite concerned about the seaworthiness of trawlers. I can see that the Nordhavn is a serious boat that could probably go straight across the Atlantic but I don't have the money for one of those today, a couple of pennies short...

We don't want to cross the Atlantic, we want to go down the East Coast into the Caribbean and then possibly down to Brazil and back up again. So it is not exactly blue water cruising but there will be some longer passes that we could attempt. We will spend most of our time diving and snorkelling in the Caribbean islands.

I have been looking at Hatteras, Defever, Grand Banks, Ocean Alexanders, and Kadey-Krogens...It seems like the OA and the KKs are maybe best suited for longer passages but they don't always have much living space or nicely laid out living areas. My kids like to move around so some deck space would be nice and a bit of a swim deck is a 100% must. I was also hoping to be able to get a tender and a jet ski onboard while doing passages (maybe it's a bit of a dream to have both). We need at least 3 cabins as well since we have three kids.

How well suited are these brands for anything other than coastal calmish water cruising? We would probably get something with stabilizers but I don't want to put my family into any super sketchy situations on a boat that's not suited for the Caribbean.

Please, I am not looking for lessons on if I am capable of doing it, if my kids are capable of doing it or if we have any idea what it's like living on a boat...I am just looking for a good conversation on the seaworthiness of these trawler brands and if you have suggestions on other models I should be looking at.

Thank you for reading my post and for all the amazing content on this forum.

 

[DavidM]

The KKs are definitely semi-blue water boats, maybe full blue water with a few mods to put them on par with the Nordhavns. Check Bebe’s book for more info.

Also check out the Selene’s. Similar to the KKs in blue water capabilities.

The others, not so much.

David

 

[mvweebles]

Great post - welcome to TF.

There are a LOT of motoryachts doing signifiant coastal passages. At some point, you'll bump into my travelogue posts about going from Ensenada MX south - currently near Guatemala and will resume this fall to Panama before eventually headed up to Florida. One boat that comes to mind that I met along the way is a family of 5 (three boys 8-14) on a Hatteras 58 LRC. They started up in your neck of the woods in BC and I last saw them in Chiapas where Weebles is currently hauled. They carried a jetski along with their dinghy. Was pretty awkward to watch them launch it from the boat deck.

At 65-feet, you have a lot of options that are very seaworthy (size matters). I think you have keyed-in on one important design aspect - you mention a swim-step but I'll expand that to some sort of cockpit area. Really makes a difference in getting on/off the boat. I recall the wife on the above mentioned Hatt 58 come back from town on a provisioning run. She had boxes and boxes of stuff - tons of fruit juice and sodas; dozens of eggs. I helped her schlep much of it down the dock - I could tell it had been a really, really long day for her. Getting everything hoisted aboard was an effort - I can only imagine the work that followed to get everything stowed.

I'll add that having an engine room that you can maneuver in is pretty dang important for longer passages. If you have to tear-up hatches in the saloon, well, what will you do with the rest of the family?

A couple examples of Cockpit Motoryachts (the Defever 44+5 is more of a trawler with a great engine room, but only two staterooms).

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/2001-defever-49-cockpit-44+5-9174567/

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/1987-hatteras-cockpit-motoryacht-9089944/

Good luck with whatever direction you take - great way to raise a family.

Peter

 

[RT Firefly]

Greetings,
Welcome aboard if I've missed you. Had to chuckle at the title "...semi-bluewater seaworthiness..." You cleared up my confusion with your explanation of how and where you were intending to cruise. Perfect!
Can't help with any information for that type of boating but there are some pretty astute bodies on TF who can advise.
This IS a fun group. There have been meet-ups in Ft. Pierce, Florida although none of late. (A "clandestine" photo of some of the hi-jinks and festivities at said meet-up)

Circumstances have prevented me from attending but, perhaps, someday.

​

..

 

[Comodave]

I was going to suggest the Hatteras 58 LRC and see that Peter beat me to it. They are serious cruisers but getting up there in age.

 

[Insequent]

I suspect the biggest risk areas are large glass areas and down-flooding vir ER air intakes. Both have solutions. As I recall the tHe Hamilton's always fitted the storm shutters on "Dirona's" windows (Nordhavn 52) for ocean passages. There are solutions for the air intakes also. Ideally sealed cross-over's, with the open end in the ER at the opposite side of the boat to the intake vents. I was contemplating bringing my OA50 Mk 1 back to Australia from Seattle on its own keel before I got lucky with a collapse of shipping rates in late 2013, so never completed preparations At the right time of the year it would have been do-able.

Talking to the Hamilton's when they were in Brisbane they said their Pacific crossing was very ver easy on both them and the boat. Mark & Christine crossed to Brisbane from the PNW at about the same time in their Nordhavn 62 "Gray Matter". Most of it was a dream ru, except they got beat-up on the final short hop from New Caledonia to Australia. So, good planning will work most of the time. But you need to be set-up for the times that for one reason or another are unpleasant, or worse.

Stabilisers (active fins or magnus affect) would be mandatory IMO. If you want to put both a tender and a jertski up on deck you would be advised to have some stability assessments completed on the impact of that extra weight up high.

Given your mission one boat on the shortlist would be a Hatteras LRC 58. Other brands could work but one issue is that large semi-displacement boats often come with humungous engines that have much, uch more power than you would use 95% of the time.

PS edit: I see Peter and Dave also noted the Hatt. And David's note of Selene is also a good choice. None of those guys had posted when I started composing my post.....

 

[sunchaser]

Keep your eyes peeled for a 65’ Alaskan (DeFever). The mid 2000s are wonderful in virtually all weather with a great ER and lots of room.

 

[tiltrider1]

Semi-blue water is like being partially pregnant.

Lots of people do lots of things with lots of inadequate boats. A lot more people get in a lot more trouble with perfectly adequate boats.

it will be most likely your skill level that puts you in a sketchy situation, not likely the quality of the boat.

 

[Delta Riverat]

Yeah.

There are tales of my boat (over to the left) crossing the Atlantic...

Which was a positive consideration when I was in the buying phase. Would I do it?

No -

 

[Retriever]

As I recall the tHe Hamilton's always fitted the storm shutters on "Dirona's" windows (Nordhavn 52) for ocean passages. There are solutions for the air intakes also.

I’ve done a few long runs (a week or more) on a powerboat and was grateful to have storm plates on the salon windows in those cases. On the Seattle to Hawaii run, we had bad weather the last few days. No way to know that when departing. We had nowhere to hide. I was on a Northern Marine 77, and we had enough seawater through the leeward ER intake to drown a set of Victron inverters. The windward ER intake was sealed shut because of the weather, but the ER still needs to breathe. I never saw it, but I’m pretty sure we took at least a few breaking waves onto the side of the boat that filled up the cockpit. The ER ventilation is below the bulwarks, so if there’s significant water in the cockpit, it drains into the ER. This was a known weak point so we had a standby set of inverters in another (drier) location.

We didn’t have as bad of weather on the much longer Hawaii to Guam leg, but we did have a few days mid-passage with weather that made me feel safer and more relaxed with storm plates.

On short 2-3 day passages, I’ve not felt the need for storm plates. We pick our weather.

I don’t have storm plates for my own Nordhavn, but will make them if I ever do passages longer than five days. Nordhavn does a good job from the factory designing ER ventilation to keep water out, but keeping the ER cool can be a bit of a challenge.

 

[twistedtree]

They are generally a bit bigger than you are talking about, but I would consider a Delta or Northern Marine.

Range, i.e. fuel carrying capacity is an important thing to look at with all these boats. It's not just about the ability to get from one place to another, but also about convenience. With more fuel, you travels are more about what you want to do, and less about running from one fuel stop to another.

 

[ddickson]

The KKs are definitely semi-blue water boats, maybe full blue water with a few mods to put them on par with the Nordhavns. Check Bebe’s book for more info.

Also check out the Selene’s. Similar to the KKs in blue water capabilities.

The others, not so much.

David

They are so small inside!!! But they do look pretty fuel efficient. The Selene's seem to be a bit out of my budget but do look like some really nice boats. I am still looking for one but they are hard to find online.

 

[ddickson]

Great post - welcome to TF.

There are a LOT of motoryachts doing signifiant coastal passages. At some point, you'll bump into my travelogue posts about going from Ensenada MX south - currently near Guatemala and will resume this fall to Panama before eventually headed up to Florida. One boat that comes to mind that I met along the way is a family of 5 (three boys 8-14) on a Hatteras 58 LRC. They started up in your neck of the woods in BC and I last saw them in Chiapas where Weebles is currently hauled. They carried a jetski along with their dinghy. Was pretty awkward to watch them launch it from the boat deck.

At 65-feet, you have a lot of options that are very seaworthy (size matters). I think you have keyed-in on one important design aspect - you mention a swim-step but I'll expand that to some sort of cockpit area. Really makes a difference in getting on/off the boat. I recall the wife on the above mentioned Hatt 58 come back from town on a provisioning run. She had boxes and boxes of stuff - tons of fruit juice and sodas; dozens of eggs. I helped her schlep much of it down the dock - I could tell it had been a really, really long day for her. Getting everything hoisted aboard was an effort - I can only imagine the work that followed to get everything stowed.

I'll add that having an engine room that you can maneuver in is pretty dang important for longer passages. If you have to tear-up hatches in the saloon, well, what will you do with the rest of the family?

A couple examples of Cockpit Motoryachts (the Defever 44+5 is more of a trawler with a great engine room, but only two staterooms).

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/2001-defever-49-cockpit-44+5-9174567/

https://www.yachtworld.com/yacht/1987-hatteras-cockpit-motoryacht-9089944/

Good luck with whatever direction you take - great way to raise a family.

Peter

That is a good point. I would not want to be crammed into a tiny cockpit. Honestly, a couple day or a full day crossing is probably all we would end up doing unless we went to Brazil. That is I think a 4-5 day passage.

I did see some 44+5's and they do look alright. Great point on the engine room size, would not want to lean over a running engine to do an inspection. I do see some that are 4'4", but have space around the engine. Do you think that would be enough? I'm 5'8.

 

[ddickson]

I was going to suggest the Hatteras 58 LRC and see that Peter beat me to it. They are serious cruisers but getting up there in age.

I have seen a bunch of them, they seem like the more readily available LRC out there. And a decent price.

 

[ddickson]

I suspect the biggest risk areas are large glass areas and down-flooding vir ER air intakes. Both have solutions. As I recall the tHe Hamilton's always fitted the storm shutters on "Dirona's" windows (Nordhavn 52) for ocean passages. There are solutions for the air intakes also. Ideally sealed cross-over's, with the open end in the ER at the opposite side of the boat to the intake vents. I was contemplating bringing my OA50 Mk 1 back to Australia from Seattle on its own keel before I got lucky with a collapse of shipping rates in late 2013, so never completed preparations At the right time of the year it would have been do-able.

Talking to the Hamilton's when they were in Brisbane they said their Pacific crossing was very ver easy on both them and the boat. Mark & Christine crossed to Brisbane from the PNW at about the same time in their Nordhavn 62 "Gray Matter". Most of it was a dream ru, except they got beat-up on the final short hop from New Caledonia to Australia. So, good planning will work most of the time. But you need to be set-up for the times that for one reason or another are unpleasant, or worse.

Stabilisers (active fins or magnus affect) would be mandatory IMO. If you want to put both a tender and a jertski up on deck you would be advised to have some stability assessments completed on the impact of that extra weight up high.

Given your mission one boat on the shortlist would be a Hatteras LRC 58. Other brands could work but one issue is that large semi-displacement boats often come with humungous engines that have much, uch more power than you would use 95% of the time.

PS edit: I see Peter and Dave also noted the Hatt. And David's note of Selene is also a good choice. None of those guys had posted when I started composing my post.....

What about the passive stability roll reduction tanks? How do they compare to fins?

How thick of tempered windows should you have on the boat? I did see someone putting up almost 1" thick plexiglass when they did long crossings.

I would not be crossing any oceans, maybe some 5 days passages but probably not that often, once or twice max.

 

[ddickson]

Keep your eyes peeled for a 65’ Alaskan (DeFever). The mid 2000s are wonderful in virtually all weather with a great ER and lots of room.

They are nice but I think they are usually a bit out of my price range.

 

[ddickson]

Semi-blue water is like being partially pregnant.

Lots of people do lots of things with lots of inadequate boats. A lot more people get in a lot more trouble with perfectly adequate boats.

it will be most likely your skill level that puts you in a sketchy situation, not likely the quality of the boat.

Makes sense. You can now be partially pregnant...lol

 

[ddickson]

Yeah.

There are tales of my boat (over to the left) crossing the Atlantic...

Which was a positive consideration when I was in the buying phase. Would I do it?

No -

I didn't look that hard into the Island Gypsy boats, will take another look though. Thanks. Any specific models I should keep an eye out for?

 

[ddickson]

I’ve done a few long runs (a week or more) on a powerboat and was grateful to have storm plates on the salon windows in those cases. On the Seattle to Hawaii run, we had bad weather the last few days. No way to know that when departing. We had nowhere to hide. I was on a Northern Marine 77, and we had enough seawater through the leeward ER intake to drown a set of Victron inverters. The windward ER intake was sealed shut because of the weather, but the ER still needs to breathe. I never saw it, but I’m pretty sure we took at least a few breaking waves onto the side of the boat that filled up the cockpit. The ER ventilation is below the bulwarks, so if there’s significant water in the cockpit, it drains into the ER. This was a known weak point so we had a standby set of inverters in another (drier) location.

We didn’t have as bad of weather on the much longer Hawaii to Guam leg, but we did have a few days mid-passage with weather that made me feel safer and more relaxed with storm plates.

On short 2-3 day passages, I’ve not felt the need for storm plates. We pick our weather.

I don’t have storm plates for my own Nordhavn, but will make them if I ever do passages longer than five days. Nordhavn does a good job from the factory designing ER ventilation to keep water out, but keeping the ER cool can be a bit of a challenge.

That's a nice boat. I don't have the funds for one of those but it would be nice to cruise in!

Good point on the ER ventilation.

 

[ddickson]

They are generally a bit bigger than you are talking about, but I would consider a Delta or Northern Marine.

Range, i.e. fuel carrying capacity is an important thing to look at with all these boats. It's not just about the ability to get from one place to another, but also about convenience. With more fuel, you travels are more about what you want to do, and less about running from one fuel stop to another.

Yes, I have been thinking of the fuel tank sizes. I don't want to be running to the fuel station all the time. And I have heard that you can order fuel to be delivered at certain places if you order larger quantities. Could save a bit I would assume.

The Delta and Northern Marine look slightly out of my price range, especially the Northern Marine. I'll keep an eye out though.

 

[READY]

I may have missed it but did you share your target price range/budget? I saw a number of your responses indicating boats that were outside of your range so knowing this might help us provide better suggestions?

I have a 48 Hatteras LRC that has probably travelled 30K+ miles over the years (it is a 1976) including 10 years of round trips from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta, MX. It came on its own bottom from North Carolina to CA via Panama Canal. I have done multiple trips between SF and San Diego including a SD-SF trip in June that featured some 8-10 foot breaking waves for multiple hours and about 50 hours with 20-35 kts winds on our nose. Not a lot of fun but boat handled it very well and never felt unsafe or at risk. I would not cross Atlantic or Pacific in it and probably would consider adding stabilizers if I were full time offshore but it is more than capable as is of doing what one would consider as coastal cruising. I would not go far offshore with a stabilized boat unless I was also comfortably safe without stabilizers as they are subject to failure. One comment I hear but cannot personally confirm is the DeFevers are fairly tender if the stabilizers are inop (My boat neighbor is one owner who has told me that and refused to even go San Diego to Catalina (70 miles) while his stabilizers were out of commission).

With a range in excess of 2K miles and 3 cabins either my 48LRC or a sister ship might be something you would want to consider. The Hatteras 58 LRC is "even better" but it is a whole lot more boat, more complex and more expensive to buy and operate. While these are older boats if well maintained and updated they are every bit as capable as much newer boats. Built on incredibly rugged hulls (fiberglass was still relatively new so they just added more to make sure it was strong). If it has newer appliances, toilets, instrumentation and such it can provide for a very economical but highly featured/capable boat.

I am closing next week on a 2011 Greenline 33. Very different boat and use case. Needed to find a boat suitable for San Diego Bay/SoCal/Catalina that could fit in an available slip in our club. Will put the Hatteras on the market soon. Right now (literally starting today!) it is getting 4 new Velair Air Conditioners installed up in the Delta. I know I will never recover the money I am spending but particularly for that region AC is critical. 3 of the 4 original 1976 AC units were still operational but very inefficient and obviously well beyond any reasonable life expectancy.

 

[Mac2]

I would study up on hull shapes first (semi-displacement vs displacement) to understand how the hull shape relates to seaworthiness. Then go to a boat yard and look at the hull shapes of the boats you are interested in. While some boats are great at punching into seas, a lot of them would be horrible in following seas (flat stern and aft sections). Don't pigeon hole a boat brand with a hull shape. I've seen the same brand boat with completely different hull shapes below the water line. Like others have said above, you can fortify the boat above the water line if needed.

 

[rslifkin]

I would study up on hull shapes first (semi-displacement vs displacement) to understand how the hull shape relates to seaworthiness. Then go to a boat yard and look at the hull shapes of the boats you are interested in. While some boats are great at punching into seas, a lot of them would be horrible in following seas (flat stern and aft sections). Don't pigeon hole a boat brand with a hull shape. I've seen the same brand boat with completely different hull shapes below the water line. Like others have said above, you can fortify the boat above the water line if needed.

Another point there is that the whole package of shape matters, not just 1 aspect of it. My boat has a flat stern and fairly flat aft sections plus a deep forefoot, but it's quite good in following seas. But that's because the hull tapers in a bit aft, so the stern is not as wide as the midsection. On top of that, the bow shape is fairly full, so it doesn't try to dig in when the stern gets lifted, which means a wider, flatter stern can be tolerated than with a finer bow. However, the more full bow comes with the downside of a more lively ride in head seas, as the boat pitches significantly more than it would with a finer bow (it wants to go over every wave rather than through them regardless of speed). Relatively large rudders help as well.

In most cases, unless you're willing to accept a pretty narrow hull with a strongly tapered stern (which will limit you to displacement speeds), performance in head seas vs following seas is somewhat of a tradeoff.

 

[Mac2]

rslifkin: I was referring to the modern designs of Selene, Nordhavn , Krogen, etc. I.e. sometimes compromising hull shape (performance) to make more room in the boat for "stuff" (sellability).

 

[mvweebles]

That is a good point. I would not want to be crammed into a tiny cockpit. Honestly, a couple day or a full day crossing is probably all we would end up doing unless we went to Brazil. That is I think a 4-5 day passage.

I did see some 44+5's and they do look alright. Great point on the engine room size, would not want to lean over a running engine to do an inspection. I do see some that are 4'4", but have space around the engine. Do you think that would be enough? I'm 5'8.

The Defever 44 (and 44+5) has a very nice engine room but not quite standing if I recall. I don't think you need full stand-up headroom, but enough room to move around and store tools and such. I guess my point is resist the urge to pick a boat based on living accomodations for a family of 5. That's really important, but if you're going to be living aboard for significant periods, you really need space to service the equipment. Having the saloon torn-up is a big PITA, especially in hot climates.

My other piece of free advice is don't worry too much about being an ultimate passagemaker. WAG, but since you're not planning on crossing an ocean, something like 95% of your underway hours will be on runs of less than 36-hours; 99.0% less than 48-hours; and 99.9% under 72-hours. I'll go one step further - the only reason you'll go more than 72-hours on a single run is because the weather is good and there's no reason to stop! Patience, seasonal passage planning, seamanship/weather skills aquired along the way, and a subscription to PredictWind will really reduce the risk and make the passages a lot of fun.

Buy a well-maintained example of a well constructed boat. That doesn't mean a passage-maker designed boat, but it does mean buying one in good shape. There are a lot of motoryachts out there that would do fine, especially in the 60-foot range. Yes, they have larger engines - if they have Detroits (Hatt's), they can often be de-rated to comfortably run at much lower power bands.

There are a lot of ways to bring this dream together safely and within a reasonable budget.

BTW - what is your budget for purchase?

Peter

 

[ddickson]

I may have missed it but did you share your target price range/budget? I saw a number of your responses indicating boats that were outside of your range so knowing this might help us provide better suggestions?

I have a 48 Hatteras LRC that has probably travelled 30K+ miles over the years (it is a 1976) including 10 years of round trips from San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta, MX. It came on its own bottom from North Carolina to CA via Panama Canal. I have done multiple trips between SF and San Diego including a SD-SF trip in June that featured some 8-10 foot breaking waves for multiple hours and about 50 hours with 20-35 kts winds on our nose. Not a lot of fun but boat handled it very well and never felt unsafe or at risk. I would not cross Atlantic or Pacific in it and probably would consider adding stabilizers if I were full time offshore but it is more than capable as is of doing what one would consider as coastal cruising. I would not go far offshore with a stabilized boat unless I was also comfortably safe without stabilizers as they are subject to failure. One comment I hear but cannot personally confirm is the DeFevers are fairly tender if the stabilizers are inop (My boat neighbor is one owner who has told me that and refused to even go San Diego to Catalina (70 miles) while his stabilizers were out of commission).

With a range in excess of 2K miles and 3 cabins either my 48LRC or a sister ship might be something you would want to consider. The Hatteras 58 LRC is "even better" but it is a whole lot more boat, more complex and more expensive to buy and operate. While these are older boats if well maintained and updated they are every bit as capable as much newer boats. Built on incredibly rugged hulls (fiberglass was still relatively new so they just added more to make sure it was strong). If it has newer appliances, toilets, instrumentation and such it can provide for a very economical but highly featured/capable boat.

I am closing next week on a 2011 Greenline 33. Very different boat and use case. Needed to find a boat suitable for San Diego Bay/SoCal/Catalina that could fit in an available slip in our club. Will put the Hatteras on the market soon. Right now (literally starting today!) it is getting 4 new Velair Air Conditioners installed up in the Delta. I know I will never recover the money I am spending but particularly for that region AC is critical. 3 of the 4 original 1976 AC units were still operational but very inefficient and obviously well beyond any reasonable life expectancy.

I have been checking out some Hatteras.

How much are you looking for yours? Do you have a link or anything?

 

[READY]

@ddickson feel free to reach out with a PM if you would like to chat. Mine is not yet ready to put on the market so early to set a price but happy to have a phone call to discuss the pros and cons in general for Hatteras. I also owned a 58 MY for many years.

 

[ddickson]

The Defever 44 (and 44+5) has a very nice engine room but not quite standing if I recall. I don't think you need full stand-up headroom, but enough room to move around and store tools and such. I guess my point is resist the urge to pick a boat based on living accomodations for a family of 5. That's really important, but if you're going to be living aboard for significant periods, you really need space to service the equipment. Having the saloon torn-up is a big PITA, especially in hot climates.

My other piece of free advice is don't worry too much about being an ultimate passagemaker. WAG, but since you're not planning on crossing an ocean, something like 95% of your underway hours will be on runs of less than 36-hours; 99.0% less than 48-hours; and 99.9% under 72-hours. I'll go one step further - the only reason you'll go more than 72-hours on a single run is because the weather is good and there's no reason to stop! Patience, seasonal passage planning, seamanship/weather skills aquired along the way, and a subscription to PredictWind will really reduce the risk and make the passages a lot of fun.

Buy a well-maintained example of a well constructed boat. That doesn't mean a passage-maker designed boat, but it does mean buying one in good shape. There are a lot of motoryachts out there that would do fine, especially in the 60-foot range. Yes, they have larger engines - if they have Detroits (Hatt's), they can often be de-rated to comfortably run at much lower power bands.

There are a lot of ways to bring this dream together safely and within a reasonable budget.

BTW - what is your budget for purchase?

Peter

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the sound advice. I was thinking that as well. I am not with seasoned sailors, my kids are young. So cruising on nicer days will be the plan. But I also like the idea of a stable boat that's not going to be sketchy in some swell. We have a budget of about 150-200k for the boat. We run an online business so we will work the whole time as well. Starlink has worked great for us travelling so far and will probably keep working great on the boat.

I had not thought of de-rating an engine but could be a good idea.

We will spend 1-3 years almost full time on the boat, maybe a couple months off the boat once a year but the idea is to explore the east coast and the Caribbean. I thought of a smaller boat, 40-50ft range but I am nervous that we will be on each others toes all the time.

 

[Comodave]

Here are the fuel consumption numbers on the Hatteras 58 LRC we looked at.

 

[Mambo42]

Your itinerary is pretty ambitious and especially going against the prevailing winds in the Caribbean is going to be tough. You can hug the coast, but that does not mean those countries are safe hiding places. And with safe I mean 'crime free', nothing to do with the sea state or the winds.
Going north to south along the Caribbean islands can be done with a trawler, but it will be a beam sea all the time in between the islands and the sea will be pretty rough. Perhaps for those circumstances having the ability to go a bit faster might be good, otherwise you will be in that sea for many hours, not exactly fun. You would need stabilizers if you want to do it at a slower speed.
I have a Defever 49, have been in pretty rough seas, but definitely would not take her into weather where the waves break from the side or over the bow. I have sliding doors in the pilot house, they would be gone in an instance and as others stated, the air intakes for the engine room are also uncovered. If a wave would break from the side the ER would be flooded.
Good part of the Caribbean is that the weather is very predictable (outside hurricane season), always around 20 - 25 kts wind from direction 80 - 120. If the boat is slow I would absolutely forget going in hurricane season, you won't be able to get out of the way if you are e.g. near St Maarten and a hurricane is forecasted to arrive in 3 days. You definitely would not want to try to ride out a hurricane, it is just too dangerous.

Although it hurts me to say it, but perhaps a sailing vessel is better for the route you have in mind. Sailing vessels are more capable of handling very rough weather. They are not as comfortable as a trawler, but if you have this route in mind I would find the boat that is most capable of handling nature and not go with something that is more comfortable.
Or............I would change the itinerary and not be that ambitious. A boat, capable of handling all that you are going to encounter, is going to cost much more than your budget allows at this time.