Operationg Costs of ~50' Trawler or Trawler-Like Boat

[CaptBarry]

NC is over a dollar cheaper at marinas this week compared to southern marinas on way to west palm beach last week

[Tempest245]

Originally Posted by ActiveCaptain

One of the nice things about a trawler is that they generally carry a fair amount of fuel. Our tanks hold 1,000 gallons

Wow! That's over 7,000 lbs of fuel.....

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Sailing-Nut

I'm currently an avid sailboat racer and my wife and I want to retire on a boat.

I haven't found that much difference in operating costs of sail vs power, other than those associated with a longer boat (marina costs and insurance). The maintenance state of the vessel when you buy it will be a factor. Trawlers have more systems, requiring more maintenance and more things to break down. The difference between the durability and cost of ownership of high quality and ho hum quality is pretty big.

Fuel is not the biggest cost of operating a trawler, although it is a clear eyed moment when we have to refuel and bring on 2,400 gallons. The gph you burn will be a function of cruising speed and hull form. Delfin burns 2.7 gph at a little over 7 knots, giving her a 6500 mile range. Increase the speed to 8.25 knots and the burn is 4 gph. At 9 knots, 8 gph. The reason she is fuel efficient has nothing to do with modern design, since she was built in 1965 from a hull first built in the 1860s. She's efficient because the hull was originally powered by sails for service in the herring fishery. An easy test to identify a fuel efficient hull is to run the boat at about 60% hull speed and look at the wake. If there is one, the hull is going to be a diesel sucker. At 6 knots, Delfin leaves less wake than a row boat. At 9.5 knots, you can surf the wake and the fuel consumption shows it.

[Jimnche]

Hi, operating costs of any boat will be higher than you might imagine, and very dependent on how you use her. We own a Seahorse Marine 52, twin-engined trawler in which we have traveled 13,000 miles from San Francisco to Grenada. Fuel is not been our main expense. At 7 knots we get 2-3 nm per gallon depending on sea conditions. We have 800 gallons of fuel.

Most systems need care and maintenance. For example changing engine oil (8 gall) every 250 miles adds up in cost. If you will be at anchor a lot, you will need to run the generator (fuel cost particularly with A/C) and will go through batteries (we have 12 at $350 a pop) more rapidly than if you are on shore power most of the time.

There are so many things that need maintained/replaced it is difficult to enumerate them all. Conservatively $20,000 a year is a reasonable minimum and it could easily go higher. If you are willing to do a lot of basic servicing/cleaning yourself then you will avoid the high labor costs associated with such work.

Please don't be put off by the costs, passage making on a trawler is a wonderful way to live.

Good luck,

James and Charlotte on "Pegasus"

[Capt Phil]

Originally Posted by poplariv

We owned a wooden 50' displacement trawler for 8 years, moorage , insurance, haulout, about 6000.00/ year fuel was 4gals/hr canadian gallons about 5 u.s. that included 8kts, generator about 3 hrs/day plus we ran a Dickenson diesel stove to heat water all the time on low, Beufort model, biggest one they make, great stove we miss it, 21 cu. ft fridge with icemaker, inverter system. Lived like kings and thats averaged out over 2 month trips but still cruising about 1600 miles/ year.
We have just bought another trawler and did a lot of research on fuel, this boat is bigger not by choice it was just a good deal. 57' x 18'8" beam draws 6' 215 hp cat diesel full electric galley, hurricane heat, generators when we need them. Weighs 46 tons canoe stern, aluminum construction. It burns 4.5 USgals/hr plus heat and generator about another 5 gals/day. This is a big boat our last one had a 2 cycle detroit diesel at 9 kts burned 9 CDn gal/hr at 8 it burned 3.5 at 1400 rpm. Get a 4 cycle engine, lot quieter and easier on fuel.
I would only buy a boat with 1 main engine twins will cost you twice as much for maintenence, etc. less room. There are some good deals out there.

Our cruising has so far been done all on the west coast of British Columbia. It took me 1 week to sell our last boat and 4 years to find this one. It helped a lot that are dollar is at par with the U.S. dollar as well plus the economy has made used boats more realistic. When we cruise we always anchor out. Its a lot more relaxing.

Hope this helps

Ditto! Almost exactly the same optg costs and maintenance costs.
In our DeFever 54 we had twin CAT 330's and ran 4 gph at 1600 rpm around 7.6 knots from Cape Flattery to SD#1 off San Diego. Carried 1800 gals of fuel and had over 1/2 tankage left on our trip down. Cheers, Phil

[Delfin]

Originally Posted by Jimnche

Hi, operating costs of any boat will be higher than you might imagine, and very dependent on how you use her. We own a Seahorse Marine 52, twin-engined trawler in which we have traveled 13,000 miles from San Francisco to Grenada. Fuel is not been our main expense. At 7 knots we get 2-3 nm per gallon depending on sea conditions. We have 800 gallons of fuel.

Most systems need care and maintenance. For example changing engine oil (8 gall) every 250 miles adds up in cost. If you will be at anchor a lot, you will need to run the generator (fuel cost particularly with A/C) and will go through batteries (we have 12 at $350 a pop) more rapidly than if you are on shore power most of the time.

There are so many things that need maintained/replaced it is difficult to enumerate them all. Conservatively $20,000 a year is a reasonable minimum and it could easily go higher. If you are willing to do a lot of basic servicing/cleaning yourself then you will avoid the high labor costs associated with such work.

Please don't be put off by the costs, passage making on a trawler is a wonderful way to live.

Good luck,

James and Charlotte on "Pegasus"

Ditto. Good post, James, and accurate.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Jimnche

Hi, operating costs of any boat will be higher than you might imagine, and very dependent on how you use her. We own a Seahorse Marine 52, twin-engined trawler in which we have traveled 13,000 miles from San Francisco to Grenada. Fuel is not been our main expense. At 7 knots we get 2-3 nm per gallon depending on sea conditions. We have 800 gallons of fuel.

Most systems need care and maintenance. For example changing engine oil (8 gall) every 250 miles adds up in cost. If you will be at anchor a lot, you will need to run the generator (fuel cost particularly with A/C) and will go through batteries (we have 12 at $350 a pop) more rapidly than if you are on shore power most of the time.

There are so many things that need maintained/replaced it is difficult to enumerate them all. Conservatively $20,000 a year is a reasonable minimum and it could easily go higher. If you are willing to do a lot of basic servicing/cleaning yourself then you will avoid the high labor costs associated with such work.

Please don't be put off by the costs, passage making on a trawler is a wonderful way to live.

Good luck,

James and Charlotte on "Pegasus"

Do your really change the oil every 250 miles?? At 7 knots, that's less than 40 hours on the engines.

[Jimnche]

Oops, my mistake, I meant every 250 hrs, not 250 miles. Thanks for catching this.

[Lepke]

I have an 83', 80 ton boat that gets between 1 to 2 mpg, but I usually choose 1. On another boat with twins I got 4 mpg @ 7k. Much of your costs are determined on how far you go, how fast, and where you stay. I haven't stayed at a marina in the last 5 years. I carry a shore boat for supplies or do those things at the fuel dock. It's beyond nice having a mote around your castle.
Bigger boats often have medium or heavy duty diesels as opposed to the light duty in most yachts. They last longer and have fewer failures but cost more to fix. My mains haven't needed any repairs in the last 2500 hours. Everything is heavy duty and field repairable. Even sw impellers are still good. Look for non turbo engines if you want to save fuel and trouble.
If you have a plastic boat with little wood, then you care for it like a corvette. If you can maintain your boat and do routine maintenance on the engines your expenses won't be great. No sails or rigging to renew.

[windycityxx]

I know this is an older post.. but since you say you're the ICW expert.. if someone wants to never stay in marina's.. what percentage of the ICW are you able to do this?

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Sounds like Jeff Siegel has the numbers you need. As somewhat of an ICW expert I can tell you that probably your biggest expenditures will be other than fuel. For one thing, the cheapest fuel is available along the ICW in various places like Coinjock, NC, for instance. You will fill up there before heading north or south and save a fortune over New England prices. Also, the general cost of living is cheaper in the Carolinas and Florida. Of course you can easily spend two or three times as much depending on how often you want to stay in marinas, eat out at restaurants, etc. A general rule of thumb is you spend as much as you have, and it is very true! If you anchor out and do most of your own routine maintenance I think the comparable costs between power and sail for snowbirding like you are planning are very similar.

[slug]

Originally Posted by Sailing-Nut

Hi all!

I'm currently an avid sailboat racer and my wife and I want to retire on a boat.

We've looked at power and sail, but for the same size you can't beat power, plus not as much work on a day to day basis to "make it go" ;-)

We've been to a few boat shows and have liked the Elling, DeFever, Kadey-Krogen. (Probably a couple of others that I forgot.)

For space considerations we're looking in the 50 foot range.

Right now we're doing some retirement number crunching and need to figure out what it would cost (in today's dollars) to operate such a boat.

Our plans would be to head to Key West in the winters and up to Annapolis in the summers, possibly up to New England for a bit. We'd also like to have the option of heading to the Caribbean over the winter.

I know I need to calculate fuel costs as one of the biggest items but I have no idea how much fuel these types of boats consume. For other costs I know I need to take into consideration changing oil & etc. I'm planning on doing most of the routine maintenance on my own to keep costs down.

Any and all advice is welcomed!

Obviously fuel

After fuel the characteristic of motor boat is mechanical systems

These systems are expensive, complex and require substantial maintenance

Since you previously sailed regatta boats you know that sailing systems are also very expensive to maintain

In the end a motor boat may be cheaper , it requires no crew and motor boats are spontaneous

Many of my past clients have moved from sail to motor

[windycityxx]

I think you were responded to the original post.. my question was:

As far the ICW from top to bottom. what percentage of it is anchorable and not having to pay for marinas to save on costs?

Originally Posted by slug

Obviously fuel

After fuel the characteristic of motor boat is mechanical systems

These systems are expensive, complex and require substantial maintenance

Since you previously sailed regatta boats you know that sailing systems are also very expensive to maintain

In the end a motor boat may be cheaper , it requires no crew and motor boats are spontaneous

Many of my past clients have moved from sail to motor

[Woodland Hills]

It will depend somewhat on how many miles a day you can make. Some states have lots of places and others not as many and Georgia apparently has none anymore.

[rsn48]

I thought I would give you this link to what size boat for the great loop, it will warn you away from something like 50 feet but will give you reasons why.

https://captainjohn.org/GL-Boat1.html

Also ask this question in the Trawler forum, many more power boat types there and not all of them trawler owners, so you will get a wide gamut of responses:

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/

The one question you have to ask yourself is - will two people be able to operate it safely without a white knuckle experience for one of the two parties.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by rsn48

I thought I would give you this link to what size boat for the great loop, it will warn you away from something like 50 feet but will give you reasons why.

https://captainjohn.org/GL-Boat1.html

Also ask this question in the Trawler forum, many more power boat types there and not all of them trawler owners, so you will get a wide gamut of responses:

https://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/

The one question you have to ask yourself is - will two people be able to operate it safely without a white knuckle experience for one of the two parties.

Well, that's one guys opinion.

We run a 60 fter two up and have not had a white knuckle moment in 4 years of full time cruising.

Lepke who posted above runs an 83fter, from what I can gather much of it single handed and it seems he does OK as well.