Trawler market?

Are there trawler shows? Never heard or thought about that before.

Thanks, OB, for a good summary of the trawler buyers and users. I agree Trawlerfest isn't what it used to be, but neither is PassageMaker Magazine that owns the venue. There's a shortage of trawlers at boat shows in large part becasue there's a shortage of trawler manufacturers.

Because there's a shortage of demand for trawlers in general for several reasons. The ICW is a complete mess once you get North of St. Augustine and is all of the way to Adam's Creek. It is filled with lots of very shallow spots, 1 about every 10-20 miles. Between FL and VA, I counted 43 yachts/sailboats hard aground in the channel in the ICW in October 2018. People have figured out that you can run a motoryacht slow when you want to and achieve the same fuel economy with more space and a better ride (not wallowing around), and you can run fast when you want to. Once you get out of South Florida, the inlets are so far in and out to the sea buoy that with a trawler or any boat that does 8 knots or less, you can't take the ocean and make it to the next usable inlet during daylight hours. It's just impossible.

I've run a 60' 8 knot trawler to and from NY a few times, the last trip was in October. I also had a mate. It is by far one of the most challenging trips I've ever done, both from getting grey hairs of constantly having to keep my eyes glued to the depth finder all day, and running 10-12 hours just to make marinas each day because most of them are 20-30 miles apart and to try to get somewhere. It took me 21 days underway, with an average time of somewhere between 11-12 hours a day, to get from Stuart,FL to NY. Some days I did 16-18 hour days to try to make hay while the sun shined in the ocean to make a weather window and came in places like NYH in the dark at 10pm. I could NEVER imagine a retired couple running one of those, and the smaller trawlers are even slower. The same trip in a 60' MY, just about any 60' MY would have been a breeze. Also of all of the sub 65' trawlers I've ever run, aside from Grand Banks, the rest of them.....defeaver, OA, KK had some REALLY ill handling traits in regards to sea keeping. And to be honest, a power cat has twice the fuel economy of a trawler and still has speed and excellent sea keeping. I did 2 long deliveries in a 43'/44' lagoon...…. at 10 knots (blazingly fast compared to a trawler) it got 3 nautical miles per gallon. Slower, even better. And, cruised at 16.5-17 knots when you wanted to.

I think there is a bit of a dreamer aspect for Trawler buyers, crossing oceans, rarely filling fuel tanks, boating on a low budget. Basically the Sailboat crowd crossing over to the "darkside".

I admire the Ocean and Coastal Passagemakers who put a lot of miles on their hulls, but it certainly requires a physical commitment, lots of watch rotations, fatigue at sea, and for the under 8 knot crowd, always a concern of Weather as you can't outrun it. The ability to make a 10 - 16 knot run for cover is hard for me to overlook in my own decision making process.

Sorry for the temporary thread derail.

Capt J: I can't comment on any of your personal experience, but I personally disagree with you on almost every opinioln you stated based on my experiences. But you make authoritative statements like you know what you're talking about in the trawler world. I am not going to tell you where you are wrong in whatever microscopic view of the trawler world you might have. Your stating that people aren't buyng trawlers because there is a strecth of the ICW that is too shallow is just whackadoo.

Do me a favor and please do not respond to my posts. I don't want to get into another ridiculous discussion with you where you are never wrong. You are going to force me to stop posting to avoid your responses. I know that would make you happy, but you are just not worth correcting because you do not want to be educated, you want to be right. I will respond to you no further.

Judy, that "little stretch of the ICW" I was talking about is ALL of it, from N Florida to just below Virginia. It's almost un-navigable, every 10-20 miles there is a major shallow spot/snag the entire way and you have to play the tides in many places just to get through there. I bring this up because your trawler customer doing 8< knots are stuck on the ICW when going North, or doing the great loop.

I accept reality and see the market trends and run everything from Sailboats to trawlers to jet boats to sportfish to motoryachts to Arneson boats to pod boats to outboards and a heck of a lot of new boats before anyone else even has been on board the new model. There is a shortage of trawler manufacturers because they can't stay in business, because there is little demand. Even ones that successfully made trawlers and it was the mainstay of their business have moved out of the trawler market in order to stay in business. Grand Banks, Ocean Alexander, and Cheoy Lee all moved into motoryachts and faster boats, they had to. The original trawler owners are all too old to do it anymore, and the younger ones that are retiring are more into a fast trawler like yacht such as a Fleming/Marlow/swift etc. which technically aren't trawlers. Or they want a power catamaran such as a Leapord or Lagoon, or they simply want a real expedition type yacht. They don't want to be stuck in a storm at 6.5 knots, wallowing around like a stuck pig, they want to outrun the storm. They want the ability to do at least 20 knots if they choose to do so. They want to cruise 6-8 hours a day and not 12-14 hours every single day just to reach the next stop. They don't want to take the entire year, navigating the Great Loop every single day, they want to be able to run, stop for a few days, all along the way and see the towns.

Trawlers such as your pre 1995 <60' trawlers.....like the old ocean alexanders, defeavers, Grand Banks, etc. Don't do anything well, except sip fuel. They're not an ocean going boat for 95% of their owners because they're not fast enough to get from one inlet to the next inlet in daylight hours, and those owners aren't doing overnighters. They don't handle great in the ocean. They're a high maintenance boat with the teak decks and miles of varnish...…..They weren't particularly roomy for their length due to the aesthetic design of most of them. Most don't track straight. And, there are a lot of sailboats that have a faster cruise speed now, I ran a 50' sailboat yesterday and on motor at cruise RPM with zero sails up it did 8 knots at 2 gph. You are stuck here, and the "trawler" market is now Leapord/Swift/Lagoon/Mainship/ Azimut magellans that you see all over and similar that will do 20 knots. Just like a new Hatteras MY is 50% faster than a 1985 Hatteras MY and looks nothing like a 1985 Hatteras MY. The Leapord/Swift/Lagoon/Mainship/Azimut Magellans are your modern day trawler, the problem is that you don't choose to accept that those are what a trawler now is, in 30 years the "trawler" has morphed into a 20 knot boat, that looks modern.

For every 1 trawler buyer, I can find you 30 motoryacht buyers and 15 sportfish buyers. It is what the market is.

I agree w Capt J, almost any My can achieve the fuel efficiency of a trawler. And my god you certainly aren’t going to get any women at the bar. Hey come check out my Trawler. Lol.

It seems to depend on location. There is significant interest in "trawlers" in the PNW. In terms of new entrants, Selene seems to be doing well.

No doubt the trawler segment is small-but not dead. We used to be in the MY camp (59' Queenship) but recently purchased a 52' GB with 3208 NAs (won't do more than 10kn). It is a good match for cruising in the PNW/inside passage with lots of places to duck into. We chartered several trawlers (Willard, Selene, GB) and don't mind the 8-9kn speed at all when up north.

When going up/down the West Coast, it will require a different approach. We used to make the run from the Columbia River bar to Cape Flattery/Neah Bay (150nm) in one day. Just pick good weather and go. The slower boat will require one or two stop overs (Westport, La Push). Some people do overnight runs, but all it takes is one crab pot to get you stranded out there.

We considered a trawler but decided a 15/16 kt minimum cruise would be needed to cover more distance in a day and eliminate overnight cruising between ports, normally we will cruise around 9 kt. Also, wanted twin engines rather than a single with a wing get home. Try to avoid overnight cruising nowadays, including bad weather popping up.

I agree that the word Trawler is morphed into comfortable cruising boats with an ability to run efficiently. I see people using the word to describe anything except a sailboat, megayacht, downeast, or fishing boat. Basically any boat that can hold a couple for multiple weeks and take them to different places along the coast. I recently had an old friend join me on a delivery in S. Florida. It was refreshing to see cruising through the eyes of a novice. Creeping down the waterway through no wake zones was fascinating for him. Likewise, waiting for a weather window or planning a day on the ICW through Georgia to coincide with high tides are what retired people do. Running offshore for long days with someone else paying for fuel is what a delivery captain does. I think that 'trawlers' are where the industry is strongest, even if they go faster than 8kts and don't have acres of varnished teak.

Most cruising couples are likely doing 8/9 kts, much more comfortable and economical regardless of horsepower. Acres of varnished teak definitely looks better on other peoples boats.

Yes, but your traditional trawler won't even cruise at 8 or 9 knots, most won't even cruise at close to that. (displacement hulled 60'<).

True, I was referring to Kapn's description of boats that are not traditional trawler. He had a good point, there are many types of boats(my's, sf's, express) that are being cruised at near hull speed, but can still get on plane. Point being it doesn't require a trawler to go cruising.

Exactly, and most of the loopers I see are doing hull speed or around 8-10 knots and most of the time, in something that will do 20 knots WOT +/-. Lots of aft cabin motoryachts with diesels mainly. I took a 60' Defeaver to NY in October.....I passed EVERYONE heading South on the ICW and at 6-8 knots, well you pay attention to every boat passing you because you have nothing better to do. It was horrid, displacement hull and hull speed is 8 knots. At least half of the time we couldn't do that. If it's shallower water we had to do 6 knots +/- or it would suck bottom and bow steer everywhere. Then if we were against current at least 1/2 of the time we were at 6 knots. We couldn't even plan on making 8 knots like we could with a semi displacement hull or planning hull that the current effects very little.

Bet you were ready for a speed boat when that delivery was finished. I've past a few trawlers in inlets when the current was bad and they were barely making any headway. Had a couple of neighbors that had trawlers...they did a lot of anchoring along the ICW...really enjoyed their boats and didn't need more speed.

24 days, 21 days underway and probably average of 11 hours per day. I was ready to go home and not see another boat for a week. Yes, the inlets can be downright scary in a trawler against a strong current. I've head several without any warning, hit hull speed and do a 180 degree turn in 2 boat lengths. Problem is, anchoring you can't always find a place to anchor......and last thing I want to do is cook dinner after a long day, I like to get OFF of the boat and go to a nice restaurant. LOL The last 2 days I did 16 hours each day underway and got in at 9 or 10 pm just to get the thing there and shave off 3 days of daylight (between the in and out distances to/from sea buoys.