Considering Crossing Over to the "Dark Side"

[friz]

As a confirmed believer in the internal combustion engine I suppose I have always dwelt on the dark side. I currently have a 28' Cargile Cutter on a dual axle trailer. The boat weighs about 7K loaded. I live in the middle of Florida. It is an hour drive to th ICW/Atlantic or the Gulf. Last year I was at the public boat ramp to Lake Santa Fe here in Melrose where I saw a quite unusual sight. A 35' trawler on a trailer was being launched. Nothing fancy about the rig. It was pulled by an F-350. It launched easily without fanfare. I spoke with the man who said the boat was a Great Harbor TT 35. Powered by twin Suzuki 60 HP outboards. Their factory is next door in Gainesville.

Great Harbour Trawlers: America's go-anyhere liveaboards.

They claim cruising at 10 knots/2 gph, top speed over 20.

Interesting promo video.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by friz

As a confirmed believer in the internal combustion engine I suppose I have always dwelt on the dark side. I currently have a 28' Cargile Cutter on a dual axle trailer. The boat weighs about 7K loaded. I live in the middle of Florida. It is an hour drive to th ICW/Atlantic or the Gulf. Last year I was at the public boat ramp to Lake Santa Fe here in Melrose where I saw a quite unusual sight. A 35' trawler on a trailer was being launched. Nothing fancy about the rig. It was pulled by an F-350. It launched easily without fanfare. I spoke with the man who said the boat was a Great Harbor TT 35. Powered by twin Suzuki 60 HP outboards. Their factory is next door in Gainesville.

Great Harbour Trawlers: America's go-anyhere liveaboards.

They claim cruising at 10 knots/2 gph, top speed over 20.

Interesting promo video.

Amazing boat. I've long been a fan of the Great Harbours & this may be the coolest one yet. I just read that Yanmar is coming out with a new diesel outboard which would be perfect for this boat.
YANMAR LAUNCHES THE DTORQUE 111 TURBO DIESEL OUTBOARD - Yanmar Marine

[Bruce Beard]

It is always interesting to read a discussion like this one.
We are recent converts to the dark side having purchased an American Tug 395 just this year.
Before this boat my wife and I sailed a Sabre 386, previous boats included an Able Whistler 32 and before that a Bianca 27. We have done 3 double handed Newport to Bermuda races, we’ve each been between the Bahamas and Canada numerous times and my wife has 2 Atlantic crossings and a Pacific crossing on 40 ‘and 50’ sailboats.
We might have made the jump to power earlier if not for my wife holding out.
After a replacement shoulder surgery, she finally relented and we jumped.
In my simple little world, I sum up the differences this way...
For long distance, ocean cruising I like sail. There is something wonderful about the cadence of sailing when you finally get in the groove.
If you live in a place like Downeast Maine and essentially just do a lot of local cruising, a sailboat is a lovely way to go. The many bays offer flat, protected water with a prevailing southwest wind to rely on. Sailboats are always at their best in those conditions and the sailing is delightful.
If like us, you live on the coast of RI and cruise longer distances, sailboats begin to become more tiresome. Getting to Block Island from Newport in a 20 knot southwest wind is not much fun. You end up heading out early before the wind comes up and motoring to just get there.
Our Sabre was a great sailing boat, she could sail inside of 30 degrees apparent and she was a fairly quick cruising boat. We could sail to Block under those conditions and we sometimes did but... we mostly turned on the motor and pushed.
When sailing to Maine, it was always a 20 something hour slog with the engine running the entire time. It was always about the destination and getting dogs ashore in “reasonable” time...
Did I mention that sailboats are not always the best powerboat designs?
Our Sabre under power at 6 knots made more noise than our American Tug does at 12 knots!
At 6.5 knots the sailboat was running at about 2700 rpm’s and burning about 1.5 gallons an hour. At 6 plus knots our Tug uses about 1.7 gallons per hour.
If we drop to 5 knots we are using less than 1 gallons per hour! Of course we don’t spend much time at 5 knots.

Our Tug is by ABYC standards about 1 foot longer than the Sabre 386 we owned. In terms of living space it literally feels like it is 3 times the size. When we came back from a 6 week cruise on the sailboat I was always ready to get off of the boat. We spent 6 months aboard our American Tug this year and it was awesome!

No, we will not take our Tug to Bermuda but, we will cruise to the Bahamas. We will take her down the ICW next year and intend to do some of the Great Loop in the years following.

Block Island in 20 knots is easy now, especially if you use some speed to utilize the form stability the semi-planing hull has. Yes it burns fuel at 12 to 14 knots and it is getting loud but you are there quicker than you know it so the “misery” is short lived.

We look at the transition as a new chapter in life and we both love it!
Bruce

[valhalla360]

With the exception of ocean crossings (and not always then), you will find that the vast majority of cruisers with or without a mast are power boaters better than 75% of the time.

When going from A to B coastal cruising, better than 90% of the sailboats are motoring. It's when out just for a daysail or on a rare magical day when the wind aligns with your destination that you sail.

In terms of practicality, for weekend cruising, a power boat makes so much sense. The ability to reliably cover 100-150 miles in a day, opens up so many destinations and if you are just taking a trip per month and hanging out locally the rest of the time, fuel consumption is a minor cost in the overall picture.

If you are cruising long term, a slower displacement vessel (sail or power) starts to make a lot of sense. You can mitigate with a planing boat to some degree by going slow but they don't tend to ride as nicely at slow speed.

[Wayfarer1008]

As I approach retirement I go back and fourth about picking up a power boat in that many of the trips I want to do are mainly power boat trips like the Inside Passage and the Great Loop. The other big plus is the accommodation layout. Power boats laid out for cruising have a really comfortable layout with much of the area designed for living above the water line. This may sound minor but that Closter phobic feeling of living in a sailboat for 9 months of rain like you find in BC being to be able to sti down and look out the window is a real luxury.

[Bruce Beard]

Originally Posted by Wayfarer1008

As I approach retirement I go back and fourth about picking up a power boat in that many of the trips I want to do are mainly power boat trips like the Inside Passage and the Great Loop. The other big plus is the accommodation layout. Power boats laid out for cruising have a really comfortable layout with much of the area designed for living above the water line. This may sound minor but that Closter phobic feeling of living in a sailboat for 9 months of rain like you find in BC being to be able to sti down and look out the window is a real luxury.

Our tug was designed and built for the conditions you live in. We spent just a month in the Pacific Northwest when we took delivery but it rained every day we were there. The design makes perfect sense when you use it in these (and other) conditions.
By the way, this shot was taken on a day that actually had a little sunshine. It still rained later...
Bruce

[CascadeThumper]

Nice move, they are fine boats and spacious, indeed.

[jsc7]

My perspective is that sailors are people who enjoy sailing and motorboaters are people who want to get somewhere.

The whole point of a motorboat or motoryacht is to get someplace efficiently: an island, a fishing spot, a vacation harbor, the best place to see the fireworks, tour of a rocky coast, place where whales hang out... For a motorboater, the destination is the prize.

For a sailor, the journey is more important than the destination. For example, when it comes to storms, the motorboater thinks "I have a big enough engine, that I can escape any storm and run to port." The sailor thinks "Riding out storms is exciting and hones my seamanship skills."

You kind of need to decide for yourself what your mentality is, however, if you find yourself always wanting to "get somewhere", then you are thinking like a motorboater.

[NewMoon]

Sure there are some motorboaters who are very much destination-oriented, but for many of us who are power boat cruisers, the journey is the destination. We've been doing 6-8 knots for most of the last ~50,000 nm.

[donradcliffe]

Just a word of caution--when I went from sailboat to trawler I gained 20 lbs in two seasons. I have gone back to mostly sailing and it has come off again.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by jsc7

For a sailor, the journey is more important than the destination. For example, when it comes to storms, the motorboater thinks "I have a big enough engine, that I can escape any storm and run to port." The sailor thinks "Riding out storms is exciting and hones my seamanship skills."

You're havin a laugh, of course I want to spend 2 days rolling around to a sea anchor in a storm, it what I dream of when we go to sea

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by jsc7

My perspective is that sailors are people who enjoy sailing and motorboaters are people who want to get somewhere.

The whole point of a motorboat or motoryacht is to get someplace efficiently: an island, a fishing spot, a vacation harbor, the best place to see the fireworks, tour of a rocky coast, place where whales hang out... For a motorboater, the destination is the prize.

For a sailor, the journey is more important than the destination. For example, when it comes to storms, the motorboater thinks "I have a big enough engine, that I can escape any storm and run to port." The sailor thinks "Riding out storms is exciting and hones my seamanship skills."

You kind of need to decide for yourself what your mentality is, however, if you find yourself always wanting to "get somewhere", then you are thinking like a motorboater.

Id say you're thinking like a cruiser instead of a day sailor. Honest sailors will admit that they motor most of the time when they have an actual destination.

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by 4arch

Since this is predominantly a sailing forum, I already have an idea the kinds of answers I’ll get but decided to throw this out there anyway since there doesn’t seem to be an exactly similar powerboat forum.

Trawler Forum is our sister site for those who can't hack the halyards....

[SaucySailoress]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

Id say you're thinking like a cruiser instead of a day sailor. Honest sailors will admit that they motor most of the time when they have an actual destination.

That doesn't make it right - we see that the whole time and simply don't understand it.

We sail if there's wind. End of.

[Bruce Beard]

Originally Posted by SaucySailoress

That doesn't make it right - we see that the whole time and simply don't understand it.

We sail if there's wind. End of.

The reality is that when coastal cruising, if you want to get anywhere you pretty quickly abandon that high horse!
We often had 2000 mike years with our sailboat just cruising around the coast. We sailed a lot...
When we made longer trips, say heading toward Maine from RI, we simply turned the engine on. At some point, you have to get there!
When participating in a Newport to Bermuda race, we obviously sailed the entire way and enjoyed the trip. On the way home? We ran the engine much of the way...
We never moved the boat without first raising the main. We always sailed when conditions were good. We often set spinnakers, both on and off a pole and code zero’s,
We kept good sails on the boat and the boat was a lovely sailing machine!

I’d wager that we put more mileage on our boat than many coastal cruisers cruising our waters and far more under sail than most.
We still ran the engine an awful lot...
Bruce