Newbie Trawler Question???

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Galaxy

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Hello all,

Wondering if anyone here can enlighten me a bit about the Trawler fuel economy compared to other MoBos. Are Trawlers really the best on fuel consumption? Are they good on fuel because they move slower? If you buy another type boat and cruise it slowly will you get the same fuel consumption as the Trawler, or not at all because of the design or something?

Are there any other spacious (traveling with kids) long range seaworthy boats that will also give very good fuel consumption?

Thanks for your help. Trying to sort this all out before I make my big move :)
 
Galaxy said:
Are Trawlers really the best on fuel consumption? Are they good on fuel because they move slower? If you buy another type boat and cruise it slowly will you get the same fuel consumption as the Trawler ... ?
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Short answers, yes, yes and yes (almost).
Re. other spacious and fuel efficient mobos, you might wish to look at catamarans.
 
Galaxy said:
I will look at Cats also, but I really do love the decks and such.
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You're saying that as if decks would be limited on a catamaran, but it's actually the other way round.
Don't mistake sailing cats with power cats - for any given size, the latter are typically more spacious both inside and outside, possibly with flybridge, etc. There isn't a choice as wide as with trawlers, though.
 
PCUK said:
A trawler is economical because it is probably 60 or 70 feet on the water-line
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Well, mine has 50 feet or so of LWL, weighs more than 35 tons when loaded, but still burns just 20lph at 8.5 kts.
It doesn't take a ship to make an efficient displacement hull, it's just a matter of how fast (slow) you can accept to cruise... :)
 
Galaxy said:
Hello all,

Wondering if anyone here can enlighten me a bit about the Trawler fuel economy compared to other MoBos. Are Trawlers really the best on fuel consumption? Are they good on fuel because they move slower? If you buy another type boat and cruise it slowly will you get the same fuel consumption as the Trawler, or not at all because of the design or something?

Are there any other spacious (traveling with kids) long range seaworthy boats that will also give very good fuel consumption?

Thanks for your help. Trying to sort this all out before I make my big move :)
Click to expand...

I cruise at 8kts in my Fleming 55 and an getting around 1.8nm to the gallon. Far, far better than my previous planing boats.
 
These figures are very good for a 55' motor yacht - especially when you compare them against (say) a typical American sportsfisherman of the same size, with big GM 2 stroke engines (there are a few of them here), where you are talking about gallons per mile rather than mpg.......

I remember a little while back there was a fierce debate on here about if a planing hull was as efficient as a displacement hull at displacement speeds, and the planing boys put up a good argument in favour of yes....... there is an easy way of seeing how efficient your fine vessel is at displacement (or any) speed - just look at the wake.
The less wake you create (for a given speed), the more efficient you are.

PS - Re power catamarans, they certainly have a lot going for them, especially displacement cats vs planing cats - displacement power cats can return very good fuel economy, while having lots of deck / surface area due to their large beam.
The standard argument against them is that the cabins can be rather cramped, especially if they are in the hulls (with the berths constrained by the hull width), but if the berths are on the bridgedeck, then there is huge scope for more space.

Here is an interesting thread on the Boat Design Forum about Power Cats - http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/boat-design/catamaran-speed-43992.html

And here is a nice example (there are many) of a displacement power cat - http://www.powercats.co.uk/Powercat_1425.html

Here is a link to the range of Fountaine Pajot displacement power cats - they also build sailing cats - http://www.catamarans-trawler.com/en/
 
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Well, I'm going to disagree with everyone here. Trawler yachts, especially full displacement types are considerably heavier and have a far greater volume of hull in the water than planing boats. Because of that they are going to consume more fuel at even displacement speeds than a planing boat. For example my 53ft planing boat is doing 3.5nmpg at 7.7kts and 2.5nmpg at 9kts. There's no way a considerably heavier full displacement trawler yacht like for example, a Nordhavn 52, could get close to those figures. Fundamentally, if you want to minimise consumption, get a light boat preferably with not much hull in the water. Which is a more comfortable sea boat at these speeds is an entirely different discussion of course
 
MapisM said:
US or UK?
If the latter, it's a good result, but if the first, It's outstanding.
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yeah, I agree, either way is amazing. This gives me hope. Lots of great information here. I hadn't realized that the power Cats had different space than the Sail Cats, but I wonder how much fuel a 50 footer would burn.

I am actually thinking of going with a 53' Defever Trawler. Anyone have one of these or any opnions of it? The displacement stuff always confuses me. I'm not even sure what the displacement is on this boat.
 
Rather than comparing heavy displacement trawler yachts with much lighter (relatively) planing hull forms on a length basis, it might perhaps be more effective to compare their displacements.
So then the fuel economy of a 50' monohull trawler could perhaps be compared against (say) a 60' planing hull if they are of similar displacement (?).

Here are some more trawler cats, this time from the USA, but I must admit they are not very pretty, especially in comparison to the Dazcat in the link above :
http://www.endeavourcats.com/

Ted Hood has designed some heavy displacement trawler cats :
http://www.tedhoodyachts.com/Power-Cats

Here is a 55' cat from Trawlercat Marine - although it does look a bit like a siamese twin version of a Nordhavn trawler, they do claim a range of 4,000 miles at 10 knots on a standard tankage of 1,200 gallons :
http://www.trawlercatmarine.com/recreationaldesigns/tmd55.html

And Malcolm Tennant's power cat designs are worth having a look at :
http://www.tennantdesign.co.nz/index.php?page=powercat

Also Kurt Hughes' designs - here is an interesting article by him about displacement cats :
http://multihulldesigns.com/pdf/powercatslt.pdf

Seawind power cats : http://www.seawindcats.com/index.pl?page=4

BTW, I do also like most types of power monohulls (and it doesnt matter if they are displacement, semi or planing) - but I do think there is a bright future for power cats, especially those that are visually attractive - and yes, I know that cat attraction has to be an acquired taste!
 
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Galaxy said:
I am actually thinking of going with a 53' Defever Trawler. Anyone have one of these or any opnions of it? The displacement stuff always confuses me. I'm not even sure what the displacement is on this boat.
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Although I might be seen as a traitor to this forum, this http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/ is a forum dedicated to trawlers.

(I think it uses the same forum s/w as ybw)

Piers
 
Deleted User said:
Sorry LittleShip I don't believe it. What evidence do you have for that?
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Experience......... I have never met anybody who will tell you that their planing boat will do 7knts at 1 1/2gals/hr.

Trawlers are the only boat capable of that scale and that's because they run relatively small engines and I'm talking about true trawlers not the Benni swift type, which are just lookalikes.

Tom
 
LittleShip said:
Experience......... I have never met anybody who will tell you that their planing boat will do 7knts at 1 1/2gals/hr.
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7kts @ 1.5gph is 4.7nmpg. If my 53ft planing boat does 3.5nmpg @ 7.7kts (see above) according to the engine management system, then you can bet that a 32ft planing boat is going to do a whole lot better at the same speed. IMHO there is no justification for your statement. Trawler yachts are usually much heavier and have more hull in the water than a planing boat. I take it you will agree with that? How then can a much lighter planing boat with less hull in the water use more fuel at the same speed?
 
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