As the OP I feel the only thing a motorsailor has going for it is lower fuel use. It really doesn't gain room from a a regular sailboat and in fact for the same size normally loses a lot of space inside from the extra helm, larger engine, and larger fuel tank.
The only reason to have a sailboat to cruise on really is you like to sail. I like to sail and if I got to sail more while cruising in ways that that didn't turn my wife aganist me I would not be asking about trawlers.
Or the opposite side of that coin (sorta)... given that you like to sail... is that you can sail a motorsailor when you're in the mood... at least occasionally while cruising... and when conditions are right, of course.
Can't really do that with a trawler.
Not advocating one way or the other, though. Just an oblique look at the possibilities.
We actually thought our first bigger boat might be a motorsailor, a NorthEast 37 designed by Mark Ellis. The more we sailed, though... with friends and club mates... the more we learned about not being able to deal with significant heeling, partly due to previous injury that I still have to deal with.
Plan B would have been a cat, but the budget issue raised it's ugly head... and we didn't much care for the ones we could afford.
And then... it's just a lot easier for us to go somewhere if much of the major muscle movement is simply turning a key or two.
More recently, we've seen some cats we like that we actually could (maybe) afford... but in the grand scheme of things, and as we age, I doubt I'd fool with the sails often enough to justify the expense.
I plan to continue to costral cruise the US,Bahamas, Caribbean, and probably sometime Mexico etc.. I see no difference between coastal cruising+ Bahamas and the Caribbean being different really. Not looking to do a single cross Pacific journey in a trawler
Reading has suggested getting into the Caribbean is a big step over and above Bahamas.
??
I looked at buying a boat that was in Puerto Rico, did some study on what it would take to bring it home on it's own hull. Some significant distances between hops, which would have made fuel an issue for that particular kind of (power)boat.
Anyway, seems to me including Caribbean and Mexico may well influence the actual brand/model of trawler you might want -- if you pursue it further. Given that not all trawlers -- especially here on the forum
-- are created equal.
-Chris