Trawler Vs. Motoryacht

Exactly but maybe it is a way to combine the best of two worlds (displacement / trawler and semi displacement) and not a way to create a "neither nor". Additional tricks like the hull vane or advanced propulsion systems may be even more helpfull.

The interesting part on the article is the effectiveness of the bulbous bow for semi displacement hulls.

That fast displacement hull story is not half a s new as they try to sell it. Just look back to the old commuter boats of the 1920s and 1930s or at the Lürssen-built S-boats in WW II.
I have a concept for a considerably smaller one of those on my drawingboard right now as well and I don´t believe that they re-invented the wheel.

Maybe I can add some real time experience as an owner of all three options. Furthermore, I had the chance to try them back to back once again during last week, so can relay the fresh experience.

I have a fast displacement hull m/y"Nilo" built by Moonen. She has a keel and can cruise up to 27 knots, but most comfortable at 12 knots, with a range of 2500 miles at 10 knots of speed. Her hull has been shaped by Willem&Stolk and Servogear for the propellor pockets for maximum efficiency after long tank testing. She also has fixed interceptors around propellor pockets to reduce bow lift. I have extensively cruised her in the past. She was always a delight. Easy to handle and very agile. Very stable in heavy seas and has proved that going slow comfortably in a fast boat is possible; or vice verse.

I also have a full displacement hull boat, the explorer m/y"Moonen 100"; designed by Vripack, based on their Doggerbank designs and the hull has been reworked, because I insisted to have a bulbous bow, by Van Oossanen which according to findings has a 17% improvement in ideal conditions on fuel savings over the previous Doggersbank hulls.

And lastly, I have a traditional Jongert, which I am taking around the world. Well, this post is not about what I have, but to share the biased experience I have to let some light on the discussions.

Last week I had the chance to use all the boats back to back. I had been sailing on the Jongert all summer, I sailed her from Turkey to Palma de Mallorco and expecting to take her to the Caribbean this winter. She has a pilothouse, so has a very nice protected area while sailing. She is steel hull and sails very comfortably even in heavy seas. Not fast, but sure footed. I am very happy with the life style. She has good space for guest accommodation and also for crew, however feels very cozy. When we are moving the boat, people has to stay around me in the cockpit area and this is great for socializing. No bulwarks, so when at anchor feels closer to the water and have a more open feeling. During long passages I do not get bored, because you have the sails to play all the time, though you need more time for passages.

During the weekend I cruised on the m/y"Moonen 100" from Palma to Sanremo where she will winter. As she was for sale; I have changed plans during the built and moved to the sailboat for the world cruising I was planing; I have not cruised on her previously for long distance. I joined as a crew member to the trip to keep watches and to have the experience of handling her in the harbors. I am hoping that you will read more about her at the yachtforum in near future, so I will abstain from technical comments, but she has performed indeed as she was aimed for, very quite and stable for long passages and very economical as well. After 40 hours I have spent, I am glad with the results and happy to see that efforts put in her have resulted as it was aimed for. The space compared to the sailboat is huge, but she feels cosy due to the way she was designed. She was very easy to handle in port, no unexpected behaviors, feels very comfortable to maneuver. She is a real liveabord, has several different open air areas to spend the time and have privacy as one may require.

Then I had the chance to use m/y"Nilo" to move her from a nearby marina which was 10 miles away to her winter berth. She was at Cannes boat show, so was already in the area. We just need to move her to Sanremo. She was a complete different experience in a way. I have used her for 5 years and I know sailing her at 10-12 knots is very comfortable, but to speed her to 24 knots was also a very different feeling. Doing this without any efforts, because the hull is so smooth gives a different satisfaction. I have to add I played a little bit and performed the crash stop. She can go up to 20 knots of speed in 20 seconds and have a crash stop at 2 boats length because of the pitch propellors of Servogear system. We were next to some other yachts cruising in the area and had some attention while doing these moves!

To make the long story short. Each hull type has its own attractive offerings. I am glad at this stage of my life for choosing the sailing, because learning new things and gaining different experiences is what life is about. However, the preference to choose one very much boils down to the owners lifestyle or expectations from life for that moment or portion of his/her life. What is more important is to have a boat that will give more satisfaction and less trouble, so how she is build is of top importance.

I enjoyed your informative post very much. as you mentioned, there are plenty of different boats that have pretty diffrerent characteristics. and it´s all about what you enjoy most. Of course your possibilitiy to chose between different yachts you have availeablejust according to what you enjoy most at the moment makes me a little jealous.

I went through this for a long time before I finally figured out what would work best for us. True I found many motor yachts had a beautiful and roomy interior and could get a planing hull and get more top end out of it over most trawlers.

I looked over many so called fast trawlers and found the same things as the M.Y's offered. However for the most part you have to bring in higher fuel burn with those speeds and trim tabs perhaps and of course stabilisers and or ballast as well. Shew tooo much for our cruising desires.

To make a long story short.....I went back to basic needs and desires...
I talked to many and I do mean many owners of the boats I had desided were a serious contender......all the while one kept ending up in my thinking and I had thrown it out many times....Now we have figured it out.....It's the best one for us and the moment we saw the inside during a walkthrough,(well the entire trawler) we KNEW THAT WE KNEW ITS HOME !!! Oh and NO simply the looks are not what sold us on this trawler..... It's everything about this boat, the draft, how it handles in the wind and rougher sea's and well everything.....
Jim

Jim...So it's a trawler. What brand and length? After seven pages of discussion, you're not going to clue us in?? That's just wrong on so many levels!

Neo56 so you caught that did ya ? Yea I knew I would get called on this but did not want to hi-jack this thread for I Figured I would get some replies about my choice. Not that it would bother me.....just did not want to take some ones thread in a different direction.

So here we are......lol
We are not sure if we will be able to do this as soon as we want but we sure are going to be believing that we can !!
)))47 foot Great Harbour N47((( It simply works for us....I ended up doing some very deep research and learned that most of the stuff I was told about this boat was so wrong !!

Well, you'll surely find out.