Trawler Recomendations

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DavidM said:
Make sure you really want to cruise the Caribbean before limiting your choices to those discussed above. You definitely don’t need stabilizers for coastal cruising in US waters.

David
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David, having done all of our cruising in the States and Canada, including the Great Loop, I can assure you that having stabilizers was of great benefit in all of our "coastal cruising".
 
Here is a great argument that many seem to forget for those on a budget....

To me, stabilization would be heads above a thruster or two if I spent a lot of time in the ocean.

I can dock a boat without thrusters, but can't stabilize a boat without some kind of rig.

Been there, done that. Stabilizers can save your life, thrusters at best a rubrail or two unless you really can't dock. :D

Unlimited budget? Sure get it all...but this is one area I won't even remotely debate.
 
psneeld said:
Here is a great argument that many seem to forget for those on a budget....

To me, stabilization would be heads above a thruster or two if I spent a lot of time in the ocean.

I can dock a boat without thrusters, but can't stabilize a boat without some kind of rig.

Been there, done that. Stabilizers can save your life, thrusters at best a rubrail or two unless you really can't dock. :D

Unlimited budget? Sure get it all...but this is one area I won't even remotely debate.
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Agree with you again. Thrusters are nice, but I don't need them. Only thing is that people put on thrusters before they think of stablizers, so chances are that any stabilized boat will also have thrusters. :)
 
I agree with the sailboat comment....If I was headed to the deep Carribean for long term, I would be thinking sail if I couldn't afford a stabilized 50 foot or bigger stabilized trawler.

probably multihull if I could squeeze the budget on one....if not.... something with a broad beam and lot's of deck space.
 
Our paravane stabilisers cost under $3000.

The perfect setup? No
Has it made a difference? Absolutely

And vessel including initial upgrades to make her living away from marinas capable (7 years now) cost less than $150k USD.

Sure, she's a unicorn, but they are out there apparently.
 
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Don L said:
easy to find boats if you go over budgets
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This boat already had 1 price reduction, there is no interest, think that you may be able to get it for 150.000 USD if you simply say: 'here is the cash'.
 
PierreR said:
How would you get the boat back to the USA?
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Well, first of all I would enjoy the Med for a while, which means Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Corsica, Mallorca, then mainland Spain, Gibraltar, along the coast of Portugal through gulf of Biscaye, UK, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada to the US.
Basically it is tracing the steps of Venture (Tony Fleming) back to the US.:)
 
Mambo42 said:
Well, first of all I would enjoy the Med for a while, which means Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Corsica, Mallorca, then mainland Spain, Gibraltar, along the coast of Portugal through gulf of Biscaye, UK, Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, Canada to the US.
Basically it is tracing the steps of Venture (Tony Fleming) back to the US.:)
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Are you insane?
Use a boat for actual boating ;)
 
We own a Kadey Krogen 42 without stabilizers. I purposely bought without stabilizers. I wanted the lowest maintenance boat I could have. Our plan was to cruise the Great Loop then ad paravanes to head to the Caribbean. We’ve cruised the Bahamas and learned the hard way to pick our travel days carefully. Once we learned our go/no go criteria we had nothing but nice trips. We are in contact for a different kk42 and will be selling our current boat very soon very close the the op price range and it’s not a project boat. Welcome to message me. Sorry if that little plug is against the rules. Hard to keep tract of what allowed on different sites. Admin please remove if against policy.
 
Bashing into 7 or 8 foot head seas, on a trawler, in the dark, with the Admiral sitting on the floor praying - as there is no other comfortable place to sit - for hours and hours - will cause the passage of time to become so agonizingly slow that one night will last a lifetime. Several days of this and rational, coherent thought becomes difficult if not impossible.

Those of us who have done this are not exaggerating.

Rent a trawler and go out in rough seas and then buy an old, heavy, full keel sailboat, they handle these conditions much better.

Unless you have stabilized KK, Defever, or Nordhavn sized budget and are comfortable spending tens of thousands with Marine Mechanics because you’re 5,000 miles from home and don’t have the right tools when it breaks.

Or you and the Admiral are tougher than we are!


Alan & Darina on Sea Moose
You Tube:The Adventures of Yorksie and Me
 
SeaMoose said:
Bashing into 7 or 8 foot head seas, on a trawler, in the dark, with the Admiral sitting on the floor praying - as there is no other comfortable place to sit - for hours and hours - will cause the passage of time to become so agonizingly slow that one night will last a lifetime. Several days of this and rational, coherent thought becomes difficult if not impossible.

Those of us who have done this are not exaggerating.
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You are right, that is indeed horrible and it is exactly the reason why I decided to install stabilizers. The admiral and our dogs would be hanging over the railing, feeling absolutely miserable when I would try to steer away from the heavy seas. Bashing straight into the waves is not an option, the whole boat shudders and vibrates when it hits a wave. So i try to get an angle on the waves of about 45 degrees, but as a result the rolling starts and the admiral cannot handle that. It takes the pleasure out of boating real quick, it is not what she signed up for.
Stabilizers will solve that problem and that way you don't need to bash straight into a heavy sea. It will take you a bit longer since you are tacking basically, but nobody gets seasick anymore and that is important to me.

I know the Caribbean like that back of my hand, I know how conditions can be overthere, not a place where you want to be without stabilizers. Waves of 8 to 10' are basically standard, but don't be surprised to find them to be even higher.
 
My stabilized N46 was nice in heavy weather. Green water sheeting on pilot house windows as it plunged into the waves. It did not roll but a little bit.
 
Best decision I made to install stabilizers on my NP 45. Wife will not allow them to be off!! Would never buy another without, they make such a difference.
 
mvweebles said:
If I were in the market for a larger boat, I would own this one. Fiberglass tanks. Stabilizers. Transocean pedigree.

3-weeks to get this boat to SoCal.

Peter
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If you would for a fee oversee an extensive renovation/restoration, I would get it! ;)
 
bowball said:
If you would for a fee oversee an extensive renovation/restoration, I would get it! ;)
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My track record of working within a budget isn't great. :)

Seriously, if any boat needs more than cosmetics and some modest upgrades, it's probably not the right boat for you (or me). I over improved Weebles because I own a slip that can fit no more than a 36 foot boat. If I owned a larger boat, I would have to slip it somewhere else for several hundred dollars a month.

That said, I'd be happy to offer an guidance on a refit. No fee for guidance.

Peter
 
While I agree with some of the previous posts that it's a bit of a challenge to find a really good boat for $150,000 or less, I'm here to tell you that it can be done so don't give up. You may need to look at a number of boats though in the process. I had a previous 38' tricabin trawler that I was working on when I accidentally stumbled across the Cheoy Lee 46' LRC trawler that I currently have (and yes I'm working on it to make it just the way I want it). And while I'm on the Pacific Coast I have dreams of grandure of possibly making the trip to through the canal to Florida, doing the Great Loop and then living out my days in the Carribean. Who knows, maybe....

I'm refitting my boat to make it a full time liveaboard and that being said, I mean to live aboard the boat not merely go camping on a boat. So I want a lot of the "creature comforts". And I consider one of the creature comforts to be "not being thrown around in my own boat", i.e. I'm going to add stabilization.

Yes, stabilizers can be as expensive or as inexpensive as you'd like.

$100,000 for active fin or maybe half that for the gyro (spinning wheel) type. Or perhaps $5,000 to $10,000 for complete and proper mast, boom, stabilzer poles and paravanes (of fish as they are often called).

And once you've got the stabilizer poles then you use the flopper stoppers while at anchor as well.

I will probably be adding stabilzer poles because I'm putting on a larger mast and boom so I can fly dinghies and maybe a motorcycle up on top my large bridge deck. It's not much more to add the stabilzer poles once you've got the proper mast and boom.

That being said, BEFORE I add the stabilizer poles I'm adding "bilge keels" to the bottom of the boat at the next haul out. Bilge keels are simple fixed fins fiberglassed to the bottom of the boat and they alone can be very effective. I just happen to have all of the materials to do this so it won't be too difficult or expensive for me.

Once last thought. See if you can get a crew job on a boat or two in the Carribean so you can "get out in their water" to see what you think of it.

And as far as the seasick thing, a quick story. My father was the proverbial world's biggest fan of salmon and halibut fishing and he had various boats over the years, including a 38' trawler that he and I built (he bought a Rawson hull brand new with a new Cat 3160 and we built the rest of the boat). Anyway, he had a best friend who he hunted and fished with all the time. The best friend also worked for my dad. The best friend loved fishing but he would often get seasick. Never stopped him from fishing except for the moments when he was "feeding the fishes". So, the best friend finally bought his own boat. From that day forward he never got seasick. As my father told him, it's often a mind over matter thing and when you're the skipper of your own boat there's too many things to worry about and that are going on at one time for you to have time to let your mind wander and then get seasick. Anyway, just a thought to consider.

Good luck in your search. It can be done. I bought my current boat for far less than your $150,000 budget but then I am putting some money into it to make it just the way I want it.
 
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psneeld said:
...I also heard/believe heave is more responsible for seasickness than roll.
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Does anyone think it would be a good idea to have a "dictionary" section here* ?

There are SO MANY terms!!!! Is heave front to back motion, ie: bow and stern going up and down ...like 90 degrees off a beam sea ?

* when the topic is stability and boat design, not only are the terms confusing, but then you add the acronyms. I look up the acronyms to get the words, and still don't know what's going on. A/B B/L AVS......alphabet soup !!
 
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DieselTrawlerGuy said:
And while I'm on the Pacific Coast I have dreams of grandure of possibly making the trip to through the canal to Florida, doing the Great Loop and then living out my days in the Carribean. Who knows, maybe....
George, we're doing exactly that! Except the loop part, this boat is a little tall to do a lot of the loop, and yours will be too if you add mast and outriggers for paravanes. We just turned the corner of Cape Flattery this last Tuesday on our way to San Diego, then Mexico, Sea of Cortez for the Winter, then down to Panama and through the Panama Canal, on to Florida in a roundabout way, then Bahamas . . . Probably up the East Coast following the temperature:thumb:and then back down East Coast, once again following the temp, then to the Bahamas again for Winter . . . rinse and repeat . . . :dance:


I'm refitting my boat to make it a full time liveaboard and that being said, I mean to live aboard the boat not merely go camping on a boat. So I want a lot of the "creature comforts". And I consider one of the creature comforts to be "not being thrown around in my own boat", i.e. I'm going to add stabilization.

And once you've got the stabilizer poles then you use the flopper stoppers while at anchor as well.
Click to expand...


VERY effective at anchor, even just using the existing underway fish. Would be even better if we ever detached the fish and put the flopper stoppers on we've been carrying around for three years. . .
 
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