Trawler VS Express (Space vs Speed)?

[JLD]

So the question to you guys is, how hard is it to go from 25 knot cruise to a 6 or 8 knot cruise? Did it kill you?? Was it an easy transition? A nightmare? Good and bad?

LOL, if you come to a trawler forum, do you think most folks will tell you they don't like to cruise a 6 - 8 knots?

In the end, it doesn't matter what anyone on this forum thinks (myself included.) There is only two opinions that matter in this case, yours and your wife's. You know the old saying, "If mama ain't happy..."

The easiest way to assure you boat by yourself is to boat in conditions that your spouse does not feel comfortable with.

Jim

 

[MYTraveler]

It was an easy transition for us. Our last boat was a sportfisher with racing engines (J&T 892s) that we typically cruised between 20 and 25 knots. Most of the time, at that speed, the ride was too rough and the engines too noisy to easily walk around, or cook, or play a board game or do anything except look out the window and count down the time to arrival. I overheated an engine twice (by sucking in kelp or a baggie), necessitating expensive rebuilds. I could never relax underway, in part because I was always concerned about blowing up an engine.

We run our current boat below 10 knots 95% of the time. It is stabilized and extremely quiet and vibration free so walking around, cooking, watching TV, sleeping and anything else we might choose to do at the dock is easily done under way. And standing at the Portuguese bridge (or up in the tower, or on the flybridge or in the cockpit) watching all the ocean life you miss at 20+ knots is something we now really look forward to. Now we enjoy being underway and don't find ourselves asking "how long until we arrive?"

In short, the transition was very easy for us, even though I was skeptical about my ability to enjoy life in the slow lane.

 

[Birdman]

Carver 564 CPMY, maybe. Or their 450, 530/52 and 570/560 Voyagers.

Sea Ray 480, 52, 560, 550/58 Sedan Bridge, maybe...

Tiara 50/53 Flybridge, maybe.

Bayliner 4788/Meridian 490, 5288/540 and 5788/580...

Ocean Alexander 52 Sedan.

Several Hatteras models (although maybe I'm thinking of the much older models).

Ovation 52 and Silverton 34/36C, 38C, 42C, 45C, 48/50C, maybe.

Some Navigator models.

You can order the Powerboat Guide in PDF format and then keyword search...

-Chris

Thanks, but,.... first off do NOT EVER, mention a "Sea Ray" in my presence, ever again!!!! The people at Sea Ray should be locked up in jail, and throw away the key forever! And all the manufacturers that have copied the clorox bottle designs! I've watched many of my friends replace motor after motor after motor on Searays that have been installed wrong, engineered wrong.... don't get me started. YIKES!~!!!!!!



As for the others listed, I need to stay in the 40' range. I'm in the Great South Bay, on the south shore of Long Island, which is mostly 3' deep channels, and smaller boat slips... 42' probably the biggest I can really go without a hassle. I also would like to keep the expenses down (hauling, storage, slips...), so smaller is better.

My take is, if you are retired, and have plenty of time, then a 6-10 knot speed in pretty much all you need. If you are still working, and need to cram a lot of travel into a small time period (like a weekend) you need speed to do that.

I'd almost reverse this comment. I'm 73 and there is a lot I want to do without being away from home for long periods of time. There's this silly thing called death that guys in there 70's begin to contemplate, not much difference between us and some guy sitting in a Texas death row cell except that guy knows the date better than I do.

As I told my refitter when I first brought the boat to his place, time for me is much like dog years, every one of my years is 7 years for younger guys. So I asked him to "briskly" work on the refit as I wanted time to enjoy it. You'll be happy to know it didn't work. I was 70 when I brought him the boat and 72 when I got the boat back. And in that length of time, I lost a very good buddy to pancreatic cancer, a Chicago roommate (university) who had come up once to cruise my waters, hoped to come again, but didn't make it. In our 70's we are living in dog years.

I've had some guys say well when you are doing 22 knots you just aren't enjoying the scenery, too much happening too fast. I say to them, get in your car and drive from Chicago to Seattle at 25 mph and let me know if the scenery past by too fast.

Boating evolves like everything else. The boat show in the 70's was mostly sailboats, the boat show in the 2020's is definitely more power boats. If I had said to a guy 35 years ago what the boating world really needs is a fast trawler, he would have said, say what? If you have deep pockets, maybe that's what you should be looking at - a fast trawler.

Express cruisers aren't considered as cool as other types of boats so you get the Tugs that plane (what?), Trawlers that go fast (what?). To me the Tugs and trawlers that go fast are really express and sedan cruisers in drag.

Even if a hundred guys here say they made the transition to slow with no problems, you could be the hundred and one guy who didn't like it. As others have suggested you might try a charter, go out for a couple of weeks and see if you and your wife like it.

LOL!! Well done, one of the funniest posts I've read in a long time! And there's a hell of a lot of truth to it all! I'm only 57 and I see the clock ticking quickly!!

That's why we went with a power catamaran. Good for all your requests except perhaps island bed is harder except certain models (some Lagoon 43 are sort-of), bigger boats or non-production (like Domino). I have a list of "long range power catamarans" which may be of interest. I have a longer list of power cats but haven't got around to publishing that anywhere yet...

Cats are nice, but way too big and beamy for where I boat. I'd never find a slip to dock em. Not many "finger" type slips around here to accept a cat. But I'm going to check out your list... thanks!

"So the question to you guys is, how hard is it to go from 25 knot cruise to a 6 or 8 knot cruise? Did it kill you?? Was it an easy transition? A nightmare? Good and bad?"

We are on Long Island cruising grounds for maybe 25+ years now and have had both 'trawlers' and 'faster' boats over the years.
Yes - it killed us only going 8 knots in nuetral seas but that is just us. We made the transition to boats that could go fast or slow early on and did not go back. When we did LI sound or up the Hudson/Ct river etc in an 8 knot boat we could not always time the tides so that 8 knot boat became a 5-6 knot boat or less at times. If you are going to get a slower boat the best advice I can give you is to also get a copy of the "Eldridge Tide book' so you can time the tides especially around the city and up the Hudson.
Good luck whatever you decide

I've been thinking about exactly that, the tides issues... My sailboat buddy brought it up to me. He sailed from NJ to Block Island years ago, and he decided to go up the east river to the sound, he was motoring 4 knots, but the tide was running 5 knots for hours and he was loosing ground! It took him 3 days to arrive. This is always in the back of my mind.

LOL, if you come to a trawler forum, do you think most folks will tell you they don't like to cruise a 6 - 8 knots?

Well, the guy above doesn't like 6-8 knots!

In the end, it doesn't matter what anyone on this forum thinks (myself included.) There is only two opinions that matter in this case, yours and your wife's. You know the old saying, "If mama ain't happy..."

The easiest way to assure you boat by yourself is to boat in conditions that your spouse does not feel comfortable with.

Jim

Understood! And not only that, if I get something she is comfortable and feels safe in, she will certainly want to spend more time cruising... That's a big reason I'm being very careful what I choose.

 

[Birdman]

It was an easy transition for us. Our last boat was a sportfisher with racing engines (J&T 892s) that we typically cruised between 20 and 25 knots. Most of the time, at that speed, the ride was too rough and the engines too noisy to easily walk around, or cook, or play a board game or do anything except look out the window and count down the time to arrival. I overheated an engine twice (by sucking in kelp or a baggie), necessitating expensive rebuilds. I could never relax underway, in part because I was always concerned about blowing up an engine.

We run our current boat below 10 knots 95% of the time. It is stabilized and extremely quiet and vibration free so walking around, cooking, watching TV, sleeping and anything else we might choose to do at the dock is easily done under way. And standing at the Portuguese bridge (or up in the tower, or on the flybridge or in the cockpit) watching all the ocean life you miss at 20+ knots is something we now really look forward to. Now we enjoy being underway and don't find ourselves asking "how long until we arrive?"

In short, the transition was very easy for us, even though I was skeptical about my ability to enjoy life in the slow lane.

Been a while Mytraveler! Hope all is well. As you might recall, I always LOVED your hull, that avatar has always drawn me in! What model do you have, I forget? AND, did you have the boat out here on the East coast a year or 2 ago? I could have sworn I saw it... ?



But that's the slow side of the coin I think I would really like! I'm just not sure my wife would "survive" it.

 

[smitty477]

"I've been thinking about exactly that, the tides issues... My sailboat buddy brought it up to me. He sailed from NJ to Block Island years ago, and he decided to go up the east river to the sound, he was motoring 4 knots, but the tide was running 5 knots for hours and he was loosing ground! It took him 3 days to arrive. This is always in the back of my mind."

We bought our past 1978 34' Mainship single engine trawler in Amityville and needed to get back to our homeport in Northport - that was an 11 hour trip with that boat and tides. No matter how we timed the tides with that route and the speed limitations parts of the trip were greatly affected by tides.
With a faster boat we could more easily play the tides either up the Hudson to Kingston or to Block island both of which are about 100 nmiles from us. Although we could always slow down we preferred to get there earlier and take time making more ports on the way back home. At cruise speed Kingston was about 6.5 hours dock to dock taking some time in 5 mph zones and for the Spyten Dyvil to open.... bit we could miss most of the adverse tides with the faster boat that we could not with our slower boat.
If your in this area and transit these spots with higher currents you will likely need to plan more about the tides than you might think - Eldridge is a great book and rather inexpensive. It will take you a bit to plan a longer/slower trip but well worth the time if your speed limited.

 

[markpierce]

With a sailing history with 28-and-less length sailboats, it was unusual to exceed six knots unless falling off a wave. Thus, watching water pass my trawler at six knots seems fast enough. Which is too fast when heading into square five-foot waves.

 

[Nomad Willy]

Shrew wrote;
“I'm sorry, but 'out run weather' and 'get to a medical attention' are not really reasonable justifications. That is like checking the closet for boogey men.”

This keeps coming around. Out running weather. It happens .. once in awhile. Obviously less likely where there is sudden storms .. perhaps on the gulf coast .. Texas to Florida. Here in the PNW more stable weather allows more time. And if you are running a 50’ SeaRay w lots of power your chances may be quite good.

But for most areas out running weather is not likely at all. But out running it gets more important in small and slow boats and much less likely to be a problem for larger craft. So fortunate for us with a small Willard it’s very seaworthy so we never out run storms and don’t really need to.

But most trawlers don’t go much faster than our Willard so there’s little need to even think about out running weather.

 

[Birdman]

Beautiful looking Willy!

 

[Nomad Willy]

Bird,
You mean the Willard in my avatar?
Thanks if so. In that picture the wood on the lower cabin was actually wood .. little teak boards screwed into/onto the exterior of the FG cabin.

We were about to move to SE Alaska. So we had to take all the wood off, fill the holes and refinish.

 

[Group9]

Shrew wrote;
“I'm sorry, but 'out run weather' and 'get to a medical attention' are not really reasonable justifications. That is like checking the closet for boogey men.”

This keeps coming around. Out running weather. It happens .. once in awhile. Obviously less likely where there is sudden storms .. perhaps on the gulf coast .. Texas to Florida. Here in the PNW more stable weather allows more time. And if you are running a 50’ SeaRay w lots of power your chances may be quite good.

But for most areas out running weather is not likely at all. But out running it gets more important in small and slow boats and much less likely to be a problem for larger craft. So fortunate for us with a small Willard it’s very seaworthy so we never out run storms and don’t really need to.

But most trawlers don’t go much faster than our Willard so there’s little need to even think about out running weather.

It can be hard to out run a storm. The day I always remember was being out in a friend's center console on Chesapeake Bay and seeing a severe storm front approaching. We were going wide open in that boat (about 32 knots), and my friend kept saying, "Don't worry, we're going to make it" over and over again.

Suddenly we were hit with a twenty degree temperature change, and he looked over at me and said, "We're not going to make it."

And, we didn't. We didn't die but I sure got to see a lot of lighting, wind and waves, up close.

 

[Enyar]

Did I miss what your budget was? You and I sound incredibly alike and my short list depending on what's in the retirement account when I get there goes something like this:

From most expensive to least:

Fleming 55, Mikelson 61 (what MYTraveler has above) ,Offshore 54, Elliott, Hatteras 52C, Hatteras 58 YF, and Defever 44+5

Still don't have the experience to accurately predict this but the idea would be 80% of the time I'm at hull speed, the rest cruise up on plane to speed up the process or get through the nasty stuff.

Need a cockpit for fishing, otherwise it'll be a mothership for a small whaler and centerconsole.

 

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow. What a great thread! Tons of well-thought-out responses.

For me, the biggest issue comes down to money. It costs a lot more to go fast.

My very wealthy buddy bought an Egg Harbor Sportfisher years ago. At that time the boat came in 3 versions, Fast, Faster, and Real Fast. The purchase numbers were roughly $1.0, 1.3, and 1.5M for the different power packages.

You SURE gotta pay to play with a boat like that. Initial price, fuel burn, and maint. As we all know, there is no free lunch in Yacht-t-t-t-t-t-ting. His daily fuel burn for a tuna trip out of Oregon Inlet was more than my mortgage payment.

My plan is to buy a big, slow, single-engine traditional trawler and do as much of the maintenance as I can. I think that I can slow down and I currently run a 50knot+ CC.

But if I win the lotto, I'll happily order a brand new Fleming 55 and have the option to haul ass. And with that kind of money, I'll stroke the maintenance checks as well!

 

[bayview]

I had space and speed. 44'X15' Could cruise ar20kts or 8 Kts. No reason to give up space.

 

[Jeff F]

Interesting discussion.

From the opening post:

"So I've been looking at and searching for a 40' Downeast style boat for many years, 38' and 42' Sabre, 40 and 42' Legacy Yachts, Backcove, GB, East Bay.... these are all twins, 20 to 25 knot cruise boats. But they always seem to be missing something for us."

It seems like your use case and tastes point you right back at this group. I have to say that I'd love to have a Sabre 42 HT to cruise around the NE and Mid Atlantic for a few seasons. I really like the MJM 40, but it's more of an express boat, and scarce as a used boat.

It's hard to get it all in one package. I come from the sailing world, and I've heard designers talk about designing from the outside in vs the inside out. It's a tricky balance. I've come to view power boats the same way, and the smaller the boat the more acute the compromise becomes.

Go fast now and get a cruising boat when you're a little older!

 

[rslifkin]

At least in the 35 - 45 foot range, my general gut feel is that once you get into a cruise speed above 20 kts, you start to have to compromise more to get that speed.

 

[Jeff F]

At least in the 35 - 45 foot range, my general gut feel is that once you get into a cruise speed above 20 kts, you start to have to compromise more to get that speed.

Your gut feel is well founded I think. That's where the semi-displacement boats top out. Then you're into planing form boats where weight is far more critical, and low speed utility is usually compromised. Generally a huge jump in $$/sf interior space.

 

[Adopo]

Been dealing with the same questions. If I listed to my wife the 2019 61 Outer Reef would be ours by now as she said lets buy it-it sold. Now looking at a 68 Choey Lee vs 54 Sabre Flybridge. I sat on both boats for a time, trying to envision what it would be like sitting at a dock or anchorage for an extended period as well as under power and I can assure you there is no comparison between those two boats. I think the space, safety and ecomony will win. My perfect solution would be the CL, and hire a captain with Chef-stew while I learn the ropes, as we cruse from Ft Lauderdale to Maine every year. Previous boat was 36 Hatteras, and I know insurance will require a captain for at least two years or so I am told. Decisions decisions...

 

[rslifkin]

Your gut feel is well founded I think. That's where the semi-displacement boats top out. Then you're into planing form boats where weight is far more critical, and low speed utility is usually compromised. Generally a huge jump in $$/sf interior space.

Even in the fully planing boats, the difference in low speed handling, rudder size, weight capacity, size of engines needed, etc is very different between the low deadrise designs with a hint of keel that cruise in the high teens vs the stuff that cruises 25+, often with more deadrise to avoid needing to slow down as soon as there's a breath of wind.

 

[ranger58sb]

Thanks, but,.... first off do NOT EVER, mention a "Sea Ray" in my presence, ever again!!!! The people at Sea Ray should be locked up in jail, and throw away the key forever! And all the manufacturers that have copied the clorox bottle designs! I've watched many of my friends replace motor after motor after motor on Searays that have been installed wrong, engineered wrong.... don't get me started. YIKES!~!!!!!!

So how do you REALLY feel about Sea Ray?

FWIW, and it's not my job to defend boat companies...

Sea Rays in different size ranges and from different manufacturing plants seem to have different reputations, the larger ones being perceived as the better ones (up until the "Fly" models in the most recent years, I guess before they bagged the Merritt Island plant).

Much like Bayliner's large (good) versus small (focused on price point) rep.

What Sea Ray did you (or your friends) have?

-Chris

 

[lwarden]

I had a very similar shopping list when looking for my current boat less the second stateroom. Our Lindell is a very low volume production boat which checked all the boxes but no second stateroom. A close second was a Riviera and they made those with a second stateroom in the 38' and up. The Riviera would probably fit your needs and is a good production boat with nice fit and finish and a decent ride. For us, a flybridge was a necessity since we have such great weather, but we also wanted a helm in the salon. Many Riviera's have this dual helm setup as well. We actually have a third helm in the cockpit, but that wasn't on the list of must-haves.

We run at 20-24 knots when we are in a hurry and get around 1 kpg, but up in the PNW everything is pretty close so we find ourselves running at 8-9 knots getting better than 2 kpg and enjoying the scenery. We bought the boat in WA and are planning to bring it down to San Diego in the summer. The speed is needed down in SoCal to get to Catalina and back for a 4-day weekend (180miles RT). Unfortunately I'm still working so we need to make time getting from place to place.
I would think we will putt around down here if we aren't in a rush generally since fuel costs are so high in SoCal but a turn of speed was mandatory for our needs. I think if we were to stay up in the PNW I would go SD trawler though.

You might want to give Riviera a close look.

 

[MYTraveler]

Been a while Mytraveler! Hope all is well. As you might recall, I always LOVED your hull, that avatar has always drawn me in! What model do you have, I forget? AND, did you have the boat out here on the East coast a year or 2 ago? I could have sworn I saw it... ?



But that's the slow side of the coin I think I would really like! I'm just not sure my wife would "survive" it.

Hello Mr. Bird,
The boat is a Mikelson Nomad, which is semi-custom. About 20 have been built and most are a bit unique. Major differences are stretched or not, Flybridge or not, bow pulpit or not, extra tankage or not, and interior configuration differences, most notably a full beam master with separate stairs down (either way, its midship), or not.

Unfortunately, we have not made it to the east coast yet, but you could have seen me about anywhere from the PNW, So Cal, Baja, Sea of Cortez, or PV and down the Gold Coast.

my short list . . . goes something like this:

From most expensive to least:

Fleming 55, Mikelson 61 (what MYTraveler has above) ,Offshore 54, Elliott, Hatteras 52C, Hatteras 58 YF, and Defever 44+5

I don't think Mikelson has built their 61 model for years (but probably still have the molds and would). Mine is a stretched Nomad, documented length is 64', LOA is 68. At least when I was shopping 10 years ago, Nomads (with a fly bridge option and the other extras that Flemings come with stock) cost a good amount more than a Fleming 55, but a bit less than their 65.

 

[socalrider]

We run at 20-24 knots when we are in a hurry and get around 1 kpg, but up in the PNW everything is pretty close so we find ourselves running at 8-9 knots getting better than 2 kpg and enjoying the scenery. We bought the boat in WA and are planning to bring it down to San Diego in the summer. The speed is needed down in SoCal to get to Catalina and back for a 4-day weekend (180miles RT). Unfortunately I'm still working so we need to make time getting from place to place.
I would think we will putt around down here if we aren't in a rush generally since fuel costs are so high in SoCal but a turn of speed was mandatory for our needs. I think if we were to stay up in the PNW I would go SD trawler though.

That's really helpful. Curious how the ride is at 20-24kts heading from SD to Catalina into the prevailing swell? I like the idea of having the option to turn a 10 hour trip into a 4 hour trip at the cost of 2x the fuel, but it's less appealing of the conditions have to be perfect; getting bashed to pieces for 4 hours isn't any fun! But I've very limited experiences with running larger boats on a plane.

 

[rslifkin]

That's really helpful. Curious how the ride is at 20-24kts heading from SD to Catalina into the prevailing swell? I like the idea of having the option to turn a 10 hour trip into a 4 hour trip at the cost of 2x the fuel, but it's less appealing of the conditions have to be perfect; getting bashed to pieces for 4 hours isn't any fun! But I've very limited experiences with running larger boats on a plane.

If it's long period swell, it's likely pretty comfortable on plane. Hull design will determine how fast you can punch into rough stuff before you have to start slowing down some. But even with my low deadrise hull that won't blast through a head sea like a deep V sport fish, slow down a little to 15 - 16 kts, trim the bow down a bit lower than normal and a 2 - 3 foot chop is fairly comfortable on plane, just a bit wet, especially if you're not perfectly pointed into the wind. Longer wave period (less steep) would increase the comfort at a given wave size.



For the most part, being on plane is a very different ride. The boat kind of punches through the waves rather than pitching up and down over them. Depending on your preference, you may find one more comfortable than the other. And even if being on plane isn't any more comfortable in a given set of conditions, sometimes just not having to deal with the conditions for as long makes a big difference.

 

[lwarden]

That's really helpful. Curious how the ride is at 20-24kts heading from SD to Catalina into the prevailing swell? I like the idea of having the option to turn a 10 hour trip into a 4 hour trip at the cost of 2x the fuel, but it's less appealing of the conditions have to be perfect; getting bashed to pieces for 4 hours isn't any fun! But I've very limited experiences with running larger boats on a plane.

rslifkin's response pretty much covers your question. For the trip to Cat you usually have a long period swell from the NW, although there is shadowing at times from the other islands. Generally we chose to leave very early in the morning to beat the wind coming up which can make for a more uncomfortable ride. Coming home can be a crap shoot and depends on the swell moslty. Boats with moderate deadrise and a sharp entry are pretty comfortable on this route over on most days. Although I haven't done it our our Lindell yet I expect most times we will be able to run 18-20 knots over. Our previous boat was a 26' Shamrock and we typically ran at those speed on most days or faster so I expect to be able to easily do that. As I said in my previous post, this was the main reason for picking the type of boat we did as we go to Catalina pretty often on short trips. We are looking forward to getting the boat down in May to try it out. So far in the roughest stuff we've been in up in the PNW the boat rides through chop very well.

 

[KarmaII]

One word “stability”

We had a 47’ GB Europa cruised comfortably at 18kts or 8 kts but if it was choppy rolling or confused you had to run fast, slow would wreck everything and everyone onboard. Most fast hulls don’t have stabilizers. If you’re going to be cruising 2-6 months (we do 9 - 10) get a hull with stabilization it broadens the options.

Mike on Karma Nordhavn 59CP

 

[rslifkin]

We had a 47’ GB Europa cruised comfortably at 18kts or 8 kts but if it was choppy rolling or confused you had to run fast, slow would wreck everything and everyone onboard. Most fast hulls don’t have stabilizers. If you’re going to be cruising 2-6 months (we do 9 - 10) get a hull with stabilization it broadens the options.

Mike on Karma Nordhavn 59CP

This becomes the big problem with traveling long distances on a faster boat, especially if it's not stabilized. Some conditions (such as beam seas) reach a point where you pretty much just have to speed up a bit to improve the ride. And that becomes a problem when you're going slow to stretch your fuel range. On my own boat, 2 - 3 feet on the beam at 6.5 kts is tolerable, but quite rolly unless it's really long period. The same beam sea at 17 kts is a minor annoyance. The ride goes from rolling to just a series of "tilt, pause, tilt the other way, pause, repeat" and doesn't tilt as far, as the motion is far more damped (so there's no momentum to the rolls).

 

[Capt Ray]

Here is the absolute definitive answer:

Rent a trawler for a week and go cruising. At the end of the week you should have your answer. And yes, there are places that rent trawlers. There's one here in SW FL.

Ted

I agree. Good answer Ted!

Only thing I can add to everyone's comments is this, "Make sure it has Auto Pilot!"

There is one very boring 50 mile straight run we take to get to eastern Long Island. It used to take us less than 2 hours steering one straight course offset from the beach (Fire Island). It now takes us 5 hours.
That is downright painful without Auto Pilot. With AP, not a problem!!!

AP was the first money we spent when we moved up to a trawler last season from an express cruiser. Loving it... and planning to become full time cruisers starting the LOOP in 6 weeks!

 

[Baker]

I think only one person answered the question correctly and another person inferred that he should have listened to that advice. That answer was: LISTEN TO YOUR WIFE!!! If she is not happy with the boat, then you have chosen poorly.

Another point....nothing wrong with Sea Rays. They are perfectly fine boats for what most of us use our boats for.

See my signature. Meridian 411. It meets all of your criteria and your wife might even like it. Most were Cummins 370B power...mine is 450C. B powered ones cruise easily in the upper teens while getting decent mileage at 1mpg...not bad for a 40 foot boat on plane. One or two emotional problems you may have with the boat: 1) It is a Brunswick Company built boat....same as Sea Ray. 2) The relation to Bayliner.

Anyway, I know it is difficult but try to get your emotions out of it. I know you have to like the boat so you can never completely remove emotion. But the more emotion you can get out of it, the more successful your choice will be.

 

[High Wire]

Every boat we owned prior to Irish Lady planed off (>8 knots). Even my 10' jonboat and 4 hp Evinrude would do 10. Speed is important if you still work and have limited time off. But when you retire and think of cruising for weeks and months, so what if you only make 35 miles in a day. Split the trip up, anchor out in a nice quiet cove and enjoy nature. I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard the "need to outrun weather". Most of the big weather is a cold front that stretches for hundreds of miles. The need to outrun it is poor planning IMHO and self imposed.
100 percent in favor of chartering a week. Make sure you get a dinghy with OB too. A real go-nogo, love it or hate it test.

 

[NCheaven]

Trawler with speed

Your question is a great one, and there are several solutions out there in various size ranges. For lots of happy cruisers, the Fleming 55 or Grand Banks seems like a great answer, although swinging two bare props. Several notches down in size there are Nordic Tugs and American Tugs with big iron on semi displacement hulls with keels/skegs to protect the prop. Check out those WOT speeds for get home possibilities, but not very efficient for frequent high speed cruising. The Fast Trawlers like Beneteau seem appealing, too, and might be used more often above hull speed than the tugs.

My Camano is well below the size you want, but it does speak to the benefit of a real trawler, keel/skeg protected prop for reliability, cruising near hull speed, but enough power to run above 14 knots to make up some time, get to port before distant thunder storms arrive, fight an opposing tide in East River, pass a tug/barge in the ICW (after radioing ahead for permission to overtake, of course) or run against tide and current on Delaware Bay to get to Schaffer's before they stop serving dinner. So, what you're looking for is a matter of a trawler with 12-18 kt speed when necessary or cruising somewhat often at speed to simply shorten the hours to a destination. A Nordic or American tug with big iron does the first well enough, but a Beneteau or other Fast Trawler might be a better match for the second. Personal choice - have fun deciding!

Is it spring yet?