Alternative Boats, Not Fuels

Its time to take a look at what is currently available in the way of trawlers. Trawlers? Well, not exactly, for these are all 20+ knot boats, but this is the closest thing still being built today. The basic design of some of these come from the “downeaster” commercial fishing boat style, the hallmark of which is seaworthiness. I’ll start with Mainship because I’ve surveyed a few of these. They are high production, relativelyy low-priced and in my view a fairly okay boat. Overall what I don’t like about them is generally offset by a low price. After all, these aren’t Hinckleys. Not exactly graceful, is it?

The two models offered come with numerous engine options, from single screw to twin. Note that the tops speeds are up to 25 kts. so at best there are “trawler style” boats, not displacement trawlers. As for the later there aren’t any being built (that I know of) . . . but give it a little time. When fuel hits five bucks people will be clammoring for them.

The hulls are essentially warped plane design with a sharp entry that flattens out aft. That’s what allows for the speed. As for cruising at 7-10 knots in anything but calm water . . . ah, well, not so good. However, a shallow keel keeps them more steady than any boat without, plus the center of gravity is fairly low, yet with only a single engine, there’s darn little ballast.

The single engine 34 is advertised at 20 kts top speed but my trials in an empty boat turned up only 18. Even so, it planed at low speed at a low trim angle giving the sense of efficiency. The top photo is the Mainship 34, the top photo the 45. You can judge by the size of the hole in the water the 45 makes, that it is not efficient at that angle. That photo has big gulp written all over it. The 34 skimmed along pretty well and at 18 knots gave a good sense of speed. I cut her back to 12 where the attack angle increased a bit but was still planing well where I would guess that mpg is around 4. Then it falls off to where it can only do about eight before its nose comes up.

As for the 45, looking at the photo while underway indicates that it is making a big hole in the water and is not efficient. This is a fast cruiser, not a trawler. Not much to talk about with this one. Odd, because this is their newest model. One might have thought they’d be thinking about fuel consumption.

The following table is from Mainship’s web site. Sorry, I couldn’t get the columns to align right.

Model Engine(s) Economy Cruise (kts) MPG Range Top Speed (kts)

Pilot30 Yanmar 315 7+ 4+ 660+ 24+

Pilot34 Yanmar 370 7+ 2.5+ 650+ 20+

Pilot34 Twin Yanmar 240s 7+ 2+ 510+ 24+

34 Trawler Yanmar 370 6+ 2+ 550+ 15+

34 Trawler Cummins 380 7+ 4+ 900+ 17+

34 Trawler Twin Yanmar 240s 7+ 2+ 480+ 19+

40 Trawler Yanmar 370 6+ 2+ 650+ 14+

40 Trawler Cummins 380 6+ 3+ 1000+ 15+

40 Trawler Twin Yanmar 240s 7+ 2+ 570+ 19+

43 Aft Cabin Twin Yanmar 370s 8+ 1+ 700+ 20+

Pilot 43 Twin Yanmar 440s 7+ 1+ 900+ 20+

Pilot 43 Twin Yanmar 440s 9+ 1+ 1000+ 23+

Pilot 43 Twin Cummins 540s 8+ 2+ 1600+ 25+

A few others in this class are Legacy, Blue Star and Krogen, Sabre and Albin. Except for Krogen, all of these are deep, high speed hulls that are very sea worthy and suitable for slow cruising and some with single engine options. I was impressed by both the Legacy and the Bluestar as being well built boats and youll find a review of the Legacy over at www.yachtsurvey.com

Legacy 32 latest model

The Bluestar 336 current model

The Bluestar 336 is a fine example of traditional design in a very sea worthy package. A go anywhere, anytime boat that is anything but a condominium. Note the very level ride which indicates high efficiency, quite unlike the huge hole in the water that the Mainship (above) is digging. if anyone knows of others I haven’t thought of, add a comment and let me know.