Yacht selection: Carver or Navigator or Trawler

Very nice first post, well stated!

GREAT first post Juan! Welcome to YF!!

Check out an Elling. Rated for Beaufort 8. Positive stability. Read the review here on YF.

For me Carvers are really poor quality boat and I don't know about Navigator.
After all depending to your budget, what is your fork budget ?

Hugues

My Dad and I have delivered several Diesel Ducks from the builder in Turkey to customers as far south as Cape Town. They are sturdy, well designed, built for rough water. The new ones coming from pandaland are fibreglas and will not hold up as well as the steel and/or alum IMHO. And, we have delivered several powercats from RSA back up to the USofA. They're not bad, a bit overpowered by comparison to the equivalent in sailing cats.

Hello Juan
For years Im been looking for advice from a Navigator owner. In the east coast, there only opinions from folks who never seen or operated one.

My wife and I chartered a 2007 51 and were highly impressed with everything. We are on the market for a 54-55 range of a 2007-9 vintage. My questions are:

1. You chose Cummings over volvo , Are volvo's a big liability?
2. Are there any systemic issues to look for? ie. Leaky windows, Imposible to reach service items, under powered Thrusters. ect.
3. Since you are familiar the the manufacturer, I noticed a marked difference in dry weight in boats made after 2005. Why the change, and is it for the good ?
4. Few if any are stabilized. Is that due to its inherent stability or cost prohibitive?
5. How difficult was to ship the boat to the east coast?
6. What was your optimal cruising speed and range?

Thanks in advance. We are traveling to Miami after the holidays to look at one that really seem to meet our live aboard needs.

1. I'd prefer Cummins over Volvo. Nothing wrong with Volvo, just higher parts cost and harder to get service, and parts availability.
5. Shipping to the East coast is easy. Several very reputable carriers such as Seven Star, DYT, and others routinely have a ship going this way.....you may get delayed a month or so, but it will safely get shipped here.

Here are some answers:
1. Volvo's are more expensive to maintain but can be very good engines. In my case, I wanted higher horsepower and at the time, Cummins was 450 & Volvo 428hp;
2. Not really, however, frameless windows will always leak less than framed windows. Check fuel tanks to be free of salt air/marks. They are aluminum and taken care of should last for a long time but would be difficult to replace, if damaged. If bow thruster is Wesmar, it is very good-no problems[replaced batteries & charger but never any problems with thruster itself]. Preferably, boat should have dual Racors fuel filters. If not, you may want to add RCI Fuel purifiers as I did on my 52' West Bay Sonship[currently for sale].
3. Do not know but they may have gone to a cored hull which is fine if properly done & with right material[preferably core cell/divynicell/similar];
4. Mostly due to cost & type of cruising. Navigators run fine at cruising speed but if you are planning to go slow, I would add stabilizers as their beam is narrow[15'];
5. Mine was shipped by dealer from California factory to Illinois on his own truck, so I do not know about shipping to East Coast[much cheaper to ship to Texas and then bring to Florida & East Coast on her own hull];
6. Typically cruise at 18-19 knots and burn 40 gallons per hour. At slower cruise she would do near 1 mpg at 8-10 knots, which is fine for ICW but not in rough seas unless you have stabilizers. She is a hard chine so she has a harder roll at trawler speeds than a round-chined hull. We did a trip form Miami to St John's River[Sanford, FL] & return mostly at 8-10 knots, and it was fine!

If your budget can reach $400K, my 52' West Bay SonShip would be a better boat for you[they have been taken to Caribbean regularly]. They are much more seaworthy and 17' beam which makes it a more comfortable live-aboard and she has a much higher bow for slow cruising[much less expensive]. BTW, I do not recommend a trawler as I have seen too many of them cruising through a thunderstorm when I could get ahead of it with a faster speed, or wait and catch up with faster speed. My 52' is listed on Yachtworld and has been completely updated in 2015/2018. Come look at it when you are in Miami - no obligation!

Hope my answers to your questions, help!

A nice feature of Navigators is that their fuel tanks are all aft under the cockpit, designed to be easily lifted out. Navigator made their own tanks, and I’ve yet to hear of any failures, but what a great feature. Tells me, they were thinking ahead. Not all Navigators had Volvos. Navigator would build you a bespoke vessel. Solid glass contruction.

Incorrect! The cockpit must be cut open in order to lift a tank out. I have owned vessels[Bertram] were cockpit was designed to be unscrewed and lifted out. Navigator's is not. Yes, tanks in cockpit are easier to get out than in engine room, but cutting into fiberglass cockpit and redoing it is an expensive job.
Also, Navigator tanks were not painted as they are in higher quality vessels for protection which is why I cited the concern!

Correct but they will occasionally leak!! Had a 44' Southern Cross SF[great design by Tom Fexas & very fast] and sealed a couple of small leaks with 3M's 5200[fortunately they were at top of tank]!!

I thought the topic “Carver or Navigator, old trawlers” . For a price boat, the Navigators are pretty good.

Well, in Pascal's defense, you were making it sound like being able to pull a tank easily was a design feature when in reality, the design feature should have been tanks that'd never need to be removed. I'll agree that Navigators are nice and definitely not at the bottom of the pile, but they're a long way from the top, too. To give an anecdotal analogue, I'd rather have a car that was a pain in the ass to change spark plugs on, but only required them every 60k miles vs. a car that fouls the plugs every 10k miles but makes them super easy to replace.

Dear Juan
Again thank for your knowledge . We are also fans of the West Bay Boats. Specially their beam. ( Never stepped foot one though). My wife seem to have some reservation at the (Pickle wood vintage) interior finish. But that is a cosmetic issue that could be addressed. We will definitely put her on our list. We plan to return to FLA after the Traditional Thanksgiving Pig Roast to continue our dock research for our next BOATT . Once again, Thank you and we look forward to more education from your hands on experience.

Thank for the information. What specific maintenance/repair did you have to do on your Volvo's and what was the cost?

What would you estimate the cost to move a 51-54 boat from Seattle to Great lakes or LA to TX?

I manage many different yachts. You’d have to call a few shipping companies and ask as that isn’t a normal stop. Typically Victoria (close to Seattle) to south Florida is a normal route