Long-Range Trawler / Explorer Yacht Brands

There was one of these that had a battery let go in the engine room and took out the shaft seal and allowed it to flood and capsize, lots of discussion on the topic online.

Yes. Oct 3, 2015. Supposedly an unsecured battery snagged the shaft seal, boat took on water, and sunk in the Chesapeke Bay. OMG, a steel yacht that SANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the unthinkable.

Land Rover 6 x 6 on a steely. Now that's serious.

Unless there were two the Steel Away capsized in a squall in 9/'08 at the mouth of the Magothy River.

The former Billy Joel Coastal Cruiser "Red Head" is owned by the founders of Active Captain. They're apparently still happy and traveling aboard the boat with three largish dogs.

She's one of my favorites. I keep her picture over my desk.

Hello everyone. The main job of a captain: yep, you guessed it, safety of the crew and passengers. Steel hulls are safer than fiberglass. The Timex of hulls can take a beating and keep on ticking. Steel hulls are very forgiving, and in the event of a collision, are difficult to breach. If, in said collision, you do breach the hull, you can go below decks with wood shingles and hammer. There you will find a crease on either side of the hole (most likely), and you can stop a lot of the water flow. If the vessel is going to sink, it will sink much slower than a fiberglass boat. A collision that will sink a steel boat will devastate fiberglass. Steel will buy you precious minutes, with or without the shingles. A collision that will sink a fiberglass boat will not necessarily sink a steel. A collision that will sink a steel boat will always sink a fiberglass boat. Quickly. So yes, any boat can sink. Some faster than others. As far as unsinkable, if you have watertight compartments, double layer of hull steel, you're getting close. In addition, deep draft and lots of weight are a good thing at sea. Maintenance on steel can be debated, but which is easier to detect, rust or rot? Lastly, anyone attempting to cross an ocean, has got it going on and will not attempt this in a non-maintained boat. So if you want to roll the dice, with your family and friends, you can always go fiberglass. And odds are, you'll be fine. It's done all the time. But it's just not as safe as steel.

Good first post. Welcome to YF!

Welcome to YF Cbob. In over 60 years on the water I've yet to collide with anything that did more than bend a prop. So breaching the hull and sinking is of little thought. More likely if it happens it'll be a wave swallowing me whole or rolling me over or a fire. That deep draft that's such a good thing at sea becomes a liability in coastal waters where you're likely to spend most of your time. Not saying you're wrong. Just pointing out that there are a lot of considerations and a lot of options to fill them. The key is to get the right boat for your purpose. Might be steel, plastic, aluminum or even wood or cement. As for "Lastly, anyone attempting to cross an ocean, has got it going on and will not attempt this in a non-maintained boat. " you'd be very surprised what's sailing all around the world. Everything from kayaks 10 miles from shore to 8' boats crossing the Atlantic. Then there's the skippers.

Deep draft is not material specific it is a design attribute usually for displacement yachts and how you want to address the stability goals with your range requirements.

Chris-Craft had a line of production steel motor yachts that are well represented on this forum, nothing deep draft about them.

https://www.**************/boats/1966/chris-craft-rmb-57-2556856/

My 13' Boston Whaler was unsinkable! Fiber reinforced plastic sandwich of foam.
Truly an interesting vibrant post. Again learning a lot here on YF.

Anyway no matter you flavor of boat construction, keep it slow and low that is the tempo, so when you hit something it's more of a bump than a bang. And going slow gives you more time to react in a calm fashion.
Going fast , especially in unknown shallow waters, is just asking for trouble. Or in a debris field etc.

A good post that defines steel vs fiberglass hulls. No doubt steel wins and would be the material of choice for ocean cruising. Seen many floaters(trees, large pilings, large buoys, small boats) that could take a boat out, especially when on plane. Fiberglass works for most recreational boating, but would pick metal if doing long range ocean cruising.

I agree, yet every year one of the most built steel hulls/ships for the bearing sea crab fleet ends up sinking every year. Mostly from capsizing, but also from other sources in rough seas.

Commercial fishing , loading/unloading your catch, icing in awful weather situations, raising your CG and getting caught in a storm, those incidents are most likely stability related not structural.

When’s the last frp Alaskan king crab vessel you have seen active in the big open Bering Seas?

Right, only trawler speeds would be practical. A lot would depend on weather. Rough seas would likely make a collision worse. The most memorable floater we saw was a large water logged 18"piling maybe 30 ft long bobbing vertically in 4 to 6 ft seas. That thing would have holed fiberglass for sure at any speed. Steel is the right choice for long range ocean cruising. Anything less adds a risk factor. Any boat capable for of long range ocean travel in comfort and safety is going to be large and setup for the job, not likely going to be cocktail cruiser.

I wrote a YF review on LeTrawler. On its maiden voyage from France, heading to the Annapolis Powerboat Show, it hit a submerged container midAtlantic. The bang and crunch was so loud the crew was considering a Mayday call until they realized there was no breach. We didn't have time before the show to get her repaired so we proudly displayed her portside to so everyone could see the red scratch and major dent. One of the steel trawler manufacturers I represent has 15 yachts in their fleet and almost every owner has a survival story. I have sold maybe a dozen aluminum boats and several dozen steel trawlers (including one to a Deadliest Catch captain) and I could start a thread on these yachts surviving hurricanes, tsunamis, collisions, allisions, and bad cases of dumb.

Good responses - let's keep this thread moving forward with informational posts.

Judy

Bad cases for dumb - a new boat design spiral entry, thanks Judy

I don’t want to downplay all the successful miles under frp production passagemaker boats, it is a great record well known to all.

My POV is more along the lines of what you could have with on open checkbook.

Thank you for the education PacBlue. I had assumed all Roamers were aluminum. Interesting.