I am looking seriously at a 72ft houseboat style Trumpy.What beautiful boats!!My concern is that although this configuration suits me perfectly I intend to cruise from Stuart,fl to Cube-Jamaica-South cost of Haiti-Santo Domingo and then on to the Puerto Rico and St.Martin.Can these beauties be considered a relatively safe coastal cruiser as opposed to their usual cruising grounds of the ICW?I intend to fit an extra 500gal. tank and zero speed stabilizers and articulating rudders.I am new to this forum.Any comments positive/negative and suggestions greatly appreciated.
Trumpy made some very pretty boats. I always dreamed one day to cruise the islands in a classic styles Trumpy. However, I'm older now and Like to come back from those island trips. Get a marine engineer involved quick. The weight of fuel can change the characteristics of the hull allot. Stress on the hull from the stabilizers and rudders can really work over a hull adding extra stress not designed in. Did you have a surveyor helping you during purchase? And he knows your offshore intentions? I do not want to upset you or say bad things here, but taking an old wood hull offshore in offshore weather may not be to smart. And then; You may always have smooth seas & never have a problem. That one wave can wait. A smooth sea never made a skillful sailor
Much appreciate your comments.In the early years of Caribbean cruising 1958-62 I sailed with my father on his 52ft.Dutch steel trawler and encountered a 49ft.(?) Trumpy named I believe "Shearwater".I always loved the look of these boats and having many other boats since then I now want a Trumpy before it is too late (now 72)The desire for stabilizers and articulating rudders is an attempt to mitigate the awful tendency for these type of hull shape to broach like crazy in following seas.I guess if it is a woodie I want I shall look at the Huckins.Again thanks for the comments.I suspect youare correct in your assumptions.
I've lusted after both types since seeing many of them in my childhood on Cape Cod. That said… the Trumpy houseboats have a lot of surface above the W/L and are relatively shallow draft. Clearly you'd want to pick your weather window for any offshore passages… I've never been on one offshore but suspect that they are not forgiving insofar as the swells vs. passenger comfort department. I personally love to look at all the brightwork, but would never own one unless I had a trust fund set up for a varnish guy. And Huckins are wonderful but again very light displacement comparatively speaking. My understanding is that once again, any sustained offshore passage is best done during a window of good weather… pounding through swells at speed becomes exhausting, and they're not a displacement style ride at low speed in swells. Plus, their structural integrity (for the older ones) is still from the wooden hull shape/frames, the glass over wood is mostly a maintenance plus… not the same as a true glass hull. Yet for all those shortcomings, they are beautiful classics and need good homes! I'd suggest staying away from modifications, accepting the tradeoffs that come with their designs, and encourage you to check owning a classic off the bucket list! My 2 cents…. Chuck
I cruise the Southern Caribbean often and I always use the site Magic seaweed.com before I venture out of the dock.At this time of the year the sailors are happy with the constant 15/20 kts wind.In a power boat you get bashed around going from Trinidad up to St.Martin but the journey back down south is usually a sleigh ride in a vessel that does not broach.Hatteras on plane without larger rudders and stabilisation are a handful unless you slower down to the speed where you can correct in time.I am now looking at a couple of Broward houseboat style 70/75ft.but I am getting some negatives when mentioning Broward in comparison to Burger.I have a 70ft. go fast all chrome and plastic Italian and cruising at 20kts is not only exhausting but financially untenable at 3gals/mile and $6 a gallon.I need to slower down to at best 1.5 gals a mile and enjoy the voyaging instead of holding on and drinking from straws!!!
