gregarious
Member
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2013
- Messages
- 16
I bought a non-trawler almost a year ago based on price, condition, and quality and I know some of you are going to laugh because it's a 1996 Sea Ray 44 Express Bridge. We had looked for a long time and made several offers on displacement or semi-displacement boats but they were all older and in need of either a lot of TLC or reconditioning. This was $82K and for that it is beautifully equipped. But here's the Trawler part. I found that it runs just great on one engine (Cat 3116) at 1300 rpm, 7.8 knots and 2 gph. And helming from the enclosed flybridge means we hear no engine noise. I do switch engines every 30 minutes to keep the stuffing boxes cool and alternate wear. The auto pilot keeps course just fine although the rudders are about half cranked over but the hull itself crabs almost nil.
When current is very adverse here in tidal Georgia, we do plane at 20 but have to drop occasionally to 8 for small boats because the wake is fearsome. So now we have a year's experience with it and are ready for Savannah to Maine next April but after reading a recent post, it seems that may be a tad early. We do intend to mostly do the ICW but when the sea is smoothish, we can offshore on plane especially where the ICW goes more east-west than N-S
For those looking for newish boats at a way below trawler market price, I think this type is an attractive alternative.
When current is very adverse here in tidal Georgia, we do plane at 20 but have to drop occasionally to 8 for small boats because the wake is fearsome. So now we have a year's experience with it and are ready for Savannah to Maine next April but after reading a recent post, it seems that may be a tad early. We do intend to mostly do the ICW but when the sea is smoothish, we can offshore on plane especially where the ICW goes more east-west than N-S
For those looking for newish boats at a way below trawler market price, I think this type is an attractive alternative.