We are currently searching for a small trawler in the Pac NW. Use is cruising PNW, including Gulf of Alaska destinations. We'd like a full displacement stabilized hull, preferably with a raised wheelhouse rather than salon and steering station on one level.
A bit of our background: We've been full time cruising and living aboard for past 14 years aboard 2 sailboats...first a 1984 Kelly Peterson 46, sold in Australia, then our current boat, a Boreal 52 we built in France and launched in 2020. (now for sale in Annapolis). So we have a fair bit of experience, 35-40,000 miles in around 40 countries, but this will be our first foray into power boating.
Our budget for this new-to-us boat is around $500k USD. And we'd like to keep size in the low 40' range. A couple of boats that come up are the Nordhavn 40 or the Selene 43. (We spent a week with good friends aboard their Selene 53 in B.C. a couple of years ago, and had a terrific time. We were very impressed with the Selene, but the 53 is too big for us).
We don't see any of the Selene 43's available on the US west coast. But a few Nordhavn 40's are around. We've watched the usual YouTube video tours on the boats, and the little Nordy might work for us. But we are wondering about one aspect of the boat in particular. That has to do with the lack of a walking side deck either port or starboard. Coming from sailboats with wide open decks to run from cockpit to bow and back, especially when short handed docking, we wonder how challenging is it to dock the N40? Obviously you need to go through the cabin, up the stairs to the wheelhouse, and out to the dock side to handle lines. Then you're too high to jump down to the dock, so it seems a challenge to dock without anyone on the dock to catch lines. Especially with no side decks to get back and get to the dock with the lines.
So, especially for any of you who may have cruised a Nordhavn 40 or other trawler with no side decks.....are we making too big a deal of this? Or is it just a perception that an owner simply gets used to once out there? We realize that every boat is a compromise, and one of the reasons the N40 is appealing is it's large living space for it's length. But is the elimination of both side decks too big a compromise? Thanks.
A bit of our background: We've been full time cruising and living aboard for past 14 years aboard 2 sailboats...first a 1984 Kelly Peterson 46, sold in Australia, then our current boat, a Boreal 52 we built in France and launched in 2020. (now for sale in Annapolis). So we have a fair bit of experience, 35-40,000 miles in around 40 countries, but this will be our first foray into power boating.
Our budget for this new-to-us boat is around $500k USD. And we'd like to keep size in the low 40' range. A couple of boats that come up are the Nordhavn 40 or the Selene 43. (We spent a week with good friends aboard their Selene 53 in B.C. a couple of years ago, and had a terrific time. We were very impressed with the Selene, but the 53 is too big for us).
We don't see any of the Selene 43's available on the US west coast. But a few Nordhavn 40's are around. We've watched the usual YouTube video tours on the boats, and the little Nordy might work for us. But we are wondering about one aspect of the boat in particular. That has to do with the lack of a walking side deck either port or starboard. Coming from sailboats with wide open decks to run from cockpit to bow and back, especially when short handed docking, we wonder how challenging is it to dock the N40? Obviously you need to go through the cabin, up the stairs to the wheelhouse, and out to the dock side to handle lines. Then you're too high to jump down to the dock, so it seems a challenge to dock without anyone on the dock to catch lines. Especially with no side decks to get back and get to the dock with the lines.
So, especially for any of you who may have cruised a Nordhavn 40 or other trawler with no side decks.....are we making too big a deal of this? Or is it just a perception that an owner simply gets used to once out there? We realize that every boat is a compromise, and one of the reasons the N40 is appealing is it's large living space for it's length. But is the elimination of both side decks too big a compromise? Thanks.