Questions on a liveboard Roamer

There is no "miracle material".

Aluminum has wastage problems, fiberglass blisters and cracks, and steel rusts. You will end up doing something to any of the three hull types eventually, and probably sooner rather than later if it's an all original Chris-Craft, considering the overall age of the fleet.

If your main concern is maintenance, then just buy fiberglass and be done with it. It's the lowest maintenance material out of the 3 you mentioned, by a decent margin. I know that's blasphemy around these parts, but it's the truth.

If you have some $$$ to play with, though, then buy the Roamer anyway. They're wonderful. I have never owned or cruised in a better-riding boat, in just about any sea condition.

Even if you have a nice 4ft chop going, you can set your...."coffee"....ya, right, "coffee"...that's my story and I'm sticking to it....on the helm and it won't even slosh around in the wine glass...I mean coffee cup. You will also notice a lot less bobbing around at the dock when you're relaxing. Not sure if all this is due to the excessive weight of Roamers compared to their fiberglass counterparts, to hull design, or something else, but it's the most stable platform around.

Can't comment on the stability of Roamers v. anything else because my project is drydocked and won't be floating for at least a year or so, but if my memory of the specs for 47 Commanders vs 46 Roamers is correct, the fiberglass hulls are 8-10,000 lbs heavier.

Where in heck did you get that from? The reverse is true.

Think about it...plastic weighs less than steel. Some of the Aluminum Roamers are probably lighter than their corresponding commander models, depending on the power package, but as a general rule most roamers are heavier by a long shot. The only exception is the 35'/36' sportfish model Commander...that thing is a complete hog, weighing 22,500 lbs. Other than that, though, Roamers are heavier.

Take a peek for yourself:

58' Roamer: 60,000 lbs displacement

http://www.**************/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1715064&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=75036&url=

Vs. 55' Commander: 57,800 lbs displacement

http://www.**************/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1692709&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=21624&url=

46' Roamer: 43,000 lbs displacement

http://www.**************/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1748128&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=21704&url=

Vs. 47' Commander: 35,480 lbs displacement

http://www.**************/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1787729&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=1750&url=

As one final example, my boat, a 38' steel Roamer, weighs 20,500 lbs. Compare that to this:

Vs. 42' Commander: 22,193 lbs displacement

http://www.**************/core/listing/boatFullDetails.jsp?boat_id=1411524&ybw=&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=68151&url=

4 feet longer, and only a 1,600 lb difference.

You get the idea...

Chamberlain41 did you ever find a Roamer or any other boat?

Don't know how I missed this one...

chriswufgator, displacement and net weight are not the same, and yachtworld would not be my first choice for facts.

Our man alloyed2sea provides this: 1968 Roamer Riviera 46 is 38,200 lbs*
*Aluminum hulls RAP-46 and RAQ-46 are 6100 lbs lighter. So, until I splash my 46 and have empirical numbers to go off of, let's say a 46 aluminum Roamer runs somewhere around 16 tons.

Which means that steel Roamers are lots heavier than comparable aluminum ones. But fiberglass Commanders get their strength from LOTS of glass and plastic. A buddy's 1968 47, which has a similar beam, has a hull that's more than an inch thick below the waterline. The aluminum in my Roamer is 1/4" pretty much everywhere. His boat (with 853s, which are lighter and with lighter gears than the 871s that came in most 46s) showed 36,000 pounds or so when he was hauled last, or 18 tons net.

Bottom line: tanklike fiberglass boats like the Commander weigh more than similar aluminum boats like the Roamer. Which is why the aluminum boats are almost always billed as "lightweight."

Chamberlain41, did you check out that aluminum 58 on yachtworld for $100k? That looked like quite the deal.