Sailboat design for fishing

[Suijin]

You want a skipjack, although finding one under 35' will be tough!



There there is Jimmy Buffet's new surfari boat, which I saw up close and personal no so long ago when it was being delivered:

[Cheechako]

Well... basically a sailboat is not a good fishing platform. Rigging on both sides and both ends makes it hard to fight a fish. A fish running under the boat may tangle the line in the deep rudder etc. Side decks are narrow. Hard to walk around a sailboat with rod in hand. Etc. Still, we do it.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by billknny

If you are serious about fishing from a sailboat, you need to get the book "The Cruiser's Handbook of Fishing" by Scott and Wendy Bannerot. I know internet people tend to poo-poo old fashioned books, but really this is a gold mine. Including an extensive section on boat designs and modifications for fishing.

https://www.amazon.com/Cruisers-Hand...11277ed48aab99

Get it. Read it. Catch more fish.

Beat me too it. I was about to post that. Lots of good info on fishing from a cruising sailboat and outfit specific to monos.

[Seagirt]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

My advice is buy the best condition Boat you can for the money you have, one that ticks all the other boxes you have, you can fish from anything.
Don’t get set on a brand or type of boat, for 30K and a liveaboard, your looking for a deal.
An IP is just brand name of Boat, traditional stern and high freeboard, leaving you the side of the Boat to fish from, which works, just coming from a Sportfishing background isn’t optimal.
If your planning to fish for sustenance, don’t plan on it. It’s called fishing and not catching for a reason, look at as an activity to break up monotony and a good meal occasionally.

Thanks a64pilot. I'm coming from a sportsfishing background, and for the next 5 or 10 years the sailing I'll be doing will be for sustenance fishing as much as for weekend cruising. Therefore, I'll sacrifice some liveaboard options and make fishing more of a priority. Good fishing grounds are at least a few days away so to make it count I need to be able to fish hard for a short time and handle a larger volume of fish, rather than the odd fish here and there while on a passage between ports.

I appreciate the ideas and designs here, things will come together.

[Seagirt]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Well... basically a sailboat is not a good fishing platform. Rigging on both sides and both ends makes it hard to fight a fish. A fish running under the boat may tangle the line in the deep rudder etc. Side decks are narrow. Hard to walk around a sailboat with rod in hand. Etc. Still, we do it.

Ha, that was my conundrum from the start! A sailboat is not a good fishing platform. But some are better than others and the idea is to figure it out the best I can, with your help of course. The rudder and keel shouldn't be any more of an issue than a leg and downrigger lines on boats I normally fish from. There are always exceptions but at least if I lose a fish that way I'll have an excuse. Too many fish get away from me for no apparent reason other than my own ineptitude.

[goat]

I sold my fly rods when I left cruising, thinking it would be hard to cast from the boat. After fishing from the kayak for the last year I wish I'd kept them.
That little Prout Steady linked to is at the next dock from me. Just the Portland pudgy and other additions make the boat a freebie.

IP = Island Packet.

I've dragged many fish aboard but I don't have a bimini or dodger and low freeboard so it's not too hard.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Seagirt

Ha, that was my conundrum from the start! A sailboat is not a good fishing platform. But some are better than others and the idea is to figure it out the best I can, with your help of course. The rudder and keel shouldn't be any more of an issue than a leg and downrigger lines on boats I normally fish from. There are always exceptions but at least if I lose a fish that way I'll have an excuse. Too many fish get away from me for no apparent reason other than my own ineptitude.

Another thought. The next best sailboat for fishing after a cat is a center cockpit with a big aft deck. Ive run several which we did a lot of fishing off of...works out much better than an aft cockpit.

A Tartan Tok is an uncommon boat with an unusual layout and lots of aft deck space.

[SVTatia]

Check out this vlog, they live on the fish they catch, nothing special about the boat. Great channel BTW.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbU...rJ4OZCNH7-gjjQ

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Seagirt

Ha, that was my conundrum from the start! A sailboat is not a good fishing platform. But some are better than others and the idea is to figure it out the best I can, with your help of course. The rudder and keel shouldn't be any more of an issue than a leg and downrigger lines on boats I normally fish from. There are always exceptions but at least if I lose a fish that way I'll have an excuse. Too many fish get away from me for no apparent reason other than my own ineptitude.

Get a Freedom unstayed spar riggingless sailboat! Then you can fight a fish all the way around the boat deck!

[Seagirt]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Another thought. The next best sailboat for fishing after a cat is a center cockpit with a big aft deck. Ive run several which we did a lot of fishing off of...works out much better than an aft cockpit.

A Tartan Tok is an uncommon boat with an unusual layout and lots of aft deck space.

Center cockpit design is definitely on the list. I'll have to take a closer look and think about safety concerns with fishing on an ft deck like that outside the cockpit.

[Seagirt]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Get a Freedom unstayed spar riggingless sailboat! Then you can fight a fish all the way around the boat deck!

Price seems a touch rich for me Anything without rigging near the aft is ideal. But also looking for storage for fish without having to pass them through the living quarters. I expect I'll be modifying whatever boat I get and have to build my own fish boxes to suit.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Seagirt

Center cockpit design is definitely on the list. I'll have to take a closer look and think about safety concerns with fishing on an ft deck like that outside the cockpit.

Google Tartan TOCK (not "TOK").

Its an unusual layout. Sort of like a CC open to the aft deck. Very roomy and easy to move around. Have sailed on, but not fished, from one...should be a very good fishing layout though.

[puffcard]

Setting up a boat to commercially fish is a thing that most fiberglass boat can't do. Look for a steel sailboat with good tankage and a wide stern. With steel you have the strength you need for the waters you'll be in. With steel you can make mods with a torch and a welding rod. I have both commercially fish off a 78ft trawler and even gave long-lining a try off a sailing tug. You need a LOT more experience and resources before modifying a boat to do commercial fishing. Please stop thinking you can take a 30ft fiberglass pleasure sailing yacht and convert it to a commercial boat.



Look at the link and find the sailing fishing boat Akvavit. That's the direction you need to go.

Voyager 532 STEEL AND ALUMINUM KITS plans boatbuilding instructions


Another link
https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/c...ailboat.35470/

[Seagirt]

Whoa Whoa Whoa Whoa!!! This is not a commercial venture! But, I like your enthusiasm! I'm looking at carrying a ton or two of fish and ice at most, no more than that. Having space for a removable fish tote of a cubic meter would be the largest I'd need, or fibreglassing in a couple of smaller fish boxes of only a few hundred liters each. There are plenty of fibreglass commercial vessels that operate up here that are larger than I require and I don't see why I can't modify some existing fibreglass sailboat. 30' is a bit smaller than I was thinking, I agree with you on that.

A wide stern would be favourable for fishing and if steel vessels are more likely to incorporate that in their design than I'll keep an eye out for that. I can run 5 lines off an 8' beam as long as the rigging and other paraphernalia don't get in the way. Landing a fish gets tougher the higher out of the water you have to lift it but most of the tuna here in Canada are under 30lbs and are quite manageable. I won't need gurneys or any sort of hydraulic system, no out riggers, no freezing capability...just handlines, rods, a slush bucket and insulated fish boxes and space to work.

Akvavit is leagues above what I'm looking for, but a scaled down version would do me just fine. Please let me know if she has a little sister! Thanks for the link to that info.

Originally Posted by puffcard

Setting up a boat to commercially fish is a thing that most fiberglass boat can't do. Look for a steel sailboat with good tankage and a wide stern. With steel you have the strength you need for the waters you'll be in. With steel you can make mods with a torch and a welding rod. I have both commercially fish off a 78ft trawler and even gave long-lining a try off a sailing tug. You need a LOT more experience and resources before modifying a boat to do commercial fishing. Please stop thinking you can take a 30ft fiberglass pleasure sailing yacht and convert it to a commercial boat.



Look at the link and find the sailing fishing boat Akvavit. That's the direction you need to go.

Voyager 532 STEEL AND ALUMINUM KITS plans boatbuilding instructions


Another link
https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/c...ailboat.35470/

[Seagirt]

Here's one that suits what I had in mind. I wish the pictures were better... turning the entire cockpit benches into fish boxes is obvious but it looks like they blew out the whole aft cabin to create an icebox and lower the cockpit floor. I'd be happy with a quarter berth on one side and fish box on the other, assuming it didn't cause too much list to one side.

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/van/...667749696.html