Hi all,
I'm an experienced sailor. I've lived on boats full time for 8 years and have well over 20k miles under my keels. I've lived on a small sailboat and traveled extensively through the Caribe and now live on a mid sized sailing catamaran. Hi from the Exumas. :wave:
I'm at a point where I can finish "refitting" my catamaran and dumping another 100k into her to get her exactly how I want, or I can pick something else.
I'm working while cruising now. Previously I took a sabbatical and I could just go when the weather allowed. Now I find I have to hope a weather window lines up with a weekend or spend my vacation to go when it is time. This isn't ideal and many times it ends with me motoring a lot.
I figure if I'm constrained by time and weather and that results in motoring, I might as well have a boat suited to that. So I've been considering a trawler, I've also considered them in the past.
I come here for advise on which brands to seek out given my preferences.
My price range is probably around 500k. Would prefer less but can go more for the right boat. I'm hoping something between 40-50ft range. I'd like a boat optimized for comfort as a coastal cruiser but something that I can take as far as the San Blas islands (hopping down from US east coast). I'm intrigued by the possibility of "home" furniture instead of built ins when it comes to trawlers. My sailboats have always been less than comfortable due to the built in furniture. And I'd like something that has a nice outdoor space and a lot of room for solar.
I've been looking at Nordhavns, older ones like the N46. I love the ruggedness but I realize these are not setup for comfort given what I want to accomplish with a boat.
It will be a couple's boat with occasional visits by another couple. We both work onboard so two discrete comfy areas of a boat to sit with a laptop would be great.
My "holes" in knowledge when it comes to trawlers comes down to lack of knowledge about brands and quality. Also I don't know anything about stabilizers/paravanes beyond basic concepts. I'm also not that knowledgeable about fuel burn on big engines and how that impacts voyaging. I would also like to learn about how weather effects trawler passagemaking. I'm assuming the "best" is flat calm, but what type of conditions can different boats tolerate within reason.
Insights and advise greatly appreciated.
I'm an experienced sailor. I've lived on boats full time for 8 years and have well over 20k miles under my keels. I've lived on a small sailboat and traveled extensively through the Caribe and now live on a mid sized sailing catamaran. Hi from the Exumas. :wave:
I'm at a point where I can finish "refitting" my catamaran and dumping another 100k into her to get her exactly how I want, or I can pick something else.
I'm working while cruising now. Previously I took a sabbatical and I could just go when the weather allowed. Now I find I have to hope a weather window lines up with a weekend or spend my vacation to go when it is time. This isn't ideal and many times it ends with me motoring a lot.
I figure if I'm constrained by time and weather and that results in motoring, I might as well have a boat suited to that. So I've been considering a trawler, I've also considered them in the past.
I come here for advise on which brands to seek out given my preferences.
My price range is probably around 500k. Would prefer less but can go more for the right boat. I'm hoping something between 40-50ft range. I'd like a boat optimized for comfort as a coastal cruiser but something that I can take as far as the San Blas islands (hopping down from US east coast). I'm intrigued by the possibility of "home" furniture instead of built ins when it comes to trawlers. My sailboats have always been less than comfortable due to the built in furniture. And I'd like something that has a nice outdoor space and a lot of room for solar.
I've been looking at Nordhavns, older ones like the N46. I love the ruggedness but I realize these are not setup for comfort given what I want to accomplish with a boat.
It will be a couple's boat with occasional visits by another couple. We both work onboard so two discrete comfy areas of a boat to sit with a laptop would be great.
My "holes" in knowledge when it comes to trawlers comes down to lack of knowledge about brands and quality. Also I don't know anything about stabilizers/paravanes beyond basic concepts. I'm also not that knowledgeable about fuel burn on big engines and how that impacts voyaging. I would also like to learn about how weather effects trawler passagemaking. I'm assuming the "best" is flat calm, but what type of conditions can different boats tolerate within reason.
Insights and advise greatly appreciated.