Anyone switched from Sailboat to Powerboat?

[Lepke]

I went back and forth several times, but gave up sailboats because of arthritis. I have twins and 2 generators and don't find the maintenance that time consuming or expensive if you do it yourself. And it's cheap compared to rerigging a sailboat.
I like big power boats and find on the North Pacific, the comfort much better than sailboats. I safely travel in worse weather than I did in sailboats. And you have room for house like appliances, decent galley, large beds, and so on...

[AKA-None]

So basically a trawler is like a house that floats, in essence a floating rv?

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

So basically a trawler is like a house that floats, in essence a floating rv?

Yea, I suppose so. Just like a sailboat, except there's a roof over the driver's seat. And you can drive in the direction you really want to go.

[Bigmarv]

Travelling long distances in a heavy trawler has a CO2 footprint that can't be justified without ignoring science. Be good to see people considering this aspect of the equation.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by Bigmarv

Travelling long distances in a heavy trawler has a CO2 footprint that can't be justified without ignoring science. Be good to see people considering this aspect of the equation.

Good point. Airline travel is crazy-off-the-charts on this so when I was flying a lot, I purchased carbon offsets. Not perfect, but a guy has to make a living. Least I could do. So I did a little research on this too.

My Willard 36 burns around 0.9-1.0 gph at 6.2-kts (top speed is around 7.2 kts - her full displacement, ballasted hull looks a bit like a Westsail), approximately the same as a similarly sized sailboat would (assuming it has a 3-blade fixed prop). When I went from San Francisco to Ensenada 18-months ago, we burned about 80g of diesel, or created about 0.9 tons of carbon emissions. Had we taken a airline flight over the same distance, would have generated around 50% more CO2, or around 1.5 tons of CO2.
Willard 36 burns around 0.9-1.0 gph at 6.2-kts (top speed is around 7.2 kts - her full displacement, ballasted hull looks a bit like a Westsail), approximately the same as a similarly sized sailboat would (assuming it has a 3-blade fixed prop). When I went from San Francisco to Ensenada 18-months ago, we burned about 80g of diesel, or created about 0.9 tons of carbon emissions. Had we taken a airline flight over the same distance, would have generated around 50% more CO2, or around 1.5 tons of CO2.

I timed to trip to coincide with a known seasonal weather window - early October, about the same time many, many WA/OR/CA sailors head south for the Baja Ha Ha. I'll guess most sailors fire-up the engine at under 5-kts, which would have been at least 80% of this trip. Add-in trips in/out of harbors to refuel/re-provision, and I doubt there would be a material difference in carbon emissions between my trawler and a comparable sailboat.

Now, with that said, I have a friend with a beautiful 52-foot Power Cat. If he did the same trip, instead of creating 0.9 tons of CO2, he would have generated over 110 tons, a 125x increase over the same distance. But he would do so at 20-kts. And need to refuel once.

Big difference between displacement speeds and planing speeds. Sail or Power.

Peter

[Hoodsail]

Weebles: driving in the direction you want to go is highly over rated...i prefer to sneak up on my destination through multiple tacks. Sheeting in my genoa keeps me warm in my foulies and tacking enables me to keep one of my eyeglass lens free of the rain for alittle bit..next you'll be lauding the dry seat you have when going to weather, or when there is weather....

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Bigmarv

Travelling long distances in a heavy trawler has a CO2 footprint that can't be justified without ignoring science. Be good to see people considering this aspect of the equation.

I can ignore it just fine as I don't have to buy plastic sails, plastic ropes and smelt aluminium for mast sections.

[daletournier]

It depends on the individual.

I own a long distance sailboat, it is more about the destination for me than the journey, I could easily go power, specially if I was coastal.

Some need to sail, that's fine, I sail alot more than I motor, my engine only has 2000hrs on it and the boats gone around the world BUT I'd take the easiest option possible to get to my destination given the choice.

One of the best boats I've been on was a Selene 47 trawler, I thought it was great.

[Bigmarv]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

I can ignore it just fine as I don't have to buy plastic sails, plastic ropes and smelt aluminium for mast sections.

It's a fair point that there are emissions tied up in those items but have you quantified them? Aluminium smeltering produces a lot of CO2 but the mast produced gets many years/miles. Sails (not carbon fibre) less so until burned. Has anybody done the numbers?

I am ready to believe that there are yachts that use their engine so often that they have an overall footprint to match some efficient motorboats, but that doesn't make their or the motorboat's emissions ok. The correct comparison is not with another excessive burn (including air travel which is patently unsustainable as is) but with what an acceptable personal footprint is. An easy starting point rule of thumb is that we cannot motor long distances for pleasure. It may be that another is we make different sail cloth decisions but there are some obvious bright lines.

[sanddollarsam]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

So basically a trawler is like a house that floats, in essence a floating rv?

well, A trawler most likely will be my move from a sailboat. I did have a house boat that was kinda like a floating RV but no trailer to haul it on so not really like an RV pulled behind my truck. on the other hand.. my sailboat sits upon a trailer that I haul behind my truck & I have slept aboard (camped) in parking lots so it's pretty much like an RV. I also have a RV but it is nothing like a sailboat as I have no barge to float it around on ..yet.


Give me time,

[sanddollarsam]

oops forgot photo of happy camper

[rickrenner]

Well, we were 30 year sailors. We have moved to a 43' trawler and took a great trip from Montreal, the back way thru locks and down Hudson River and back to Portsmouth, NH. However, and at age 72, I was missing the sailing life. My Marine Island Trader--Labelle is back for sale. 72k, a steal. Comfortable and all the amenities. Twin Cat 3208s. Found us sitting too much thinking about diesel. If she doesn't sell, then we will most likely do the ICW this fall. Being on the water in anything is a day well spent

[Seighlor]

Originally Posted by rickrenner

Well, we were 30 year sailors. We have moved to a 43' trawler and took a great trip from Montreal, the back way thru locks and down Hudson River and back to Portsmouth, NH. However, and at age 72, I was missing the sailing life. My Marine Island Trader--Labelle is back for sale. 72k, a steal. Comfortable and all the amenities. Twin Cat 3208s. Found us sitting too much thinking about diesel. If she doesn't sell, then we will most likely do the ICW this fall. Being on the water in anything is a day well spent

No argument here.

[mvweebles]

Originally Posted by rickrenner

Well, we were 30 year sailors. We have moved to a 43' trawler and took a great trip from Montreal, the back way thru locks and down Hudson River and back to Portsmouth, NH. However, and at age 72, I was missing the sailing life. My Marine Island Trader--Labelle is back for sale. 72k, a steal. Comfortable and all the amenities. Twin Cat 3208s. Found us sitting too much thinking about diesel. If she doesn't sell, then we will most likely do the ICW this fall. Being on the water in anything is a day well spent

This is a nice boat at a good price with a full width aft stateroom. In my opinion (though I have no knowledge of this boat or owner), Labelles are an above average example of Taiwan trawler. Cat 3208s is a solid benefit - many of these boats had Volvos which many consider a less desireable engine due to cost of parts.

Best success in returning to sail.

Peter

[notz]

I sailed for 25+ years and converted to a trawler almost a year and a half ago. I wrote up why I was changing here https://seabits.com/sailing-towards-power/ and then a year onwards, wrote up a bit of a summary here https://seabits.com/one-year-after-switching-from-sail/

I definitely miss having sails and the quiet times under sail. I also miss the big hunk of weight below the waterline for while you're at anchor.

The fuel costs are the biggest change, which I knew going in, but are still sometimes limiting.

I love the additional space (OMG) and how much more comfortable I am on the boat, and I have spent a lot more time on the boat as a result, and I think that trend will continue.

Pros and cons to each, none is better than the other.