and thence to Marathon to look at Veronica, a Willard 40 Pilothouse. Veronica stopped us dead in our tracks. When your wife says "if we don't buy this boat, we'll be kicking ourselves the rest of our lives", you know you've found a keeper. I guess what I am saying is like what mothers tell their teen aged daughters about finding husbands: You'll know when you meet him. But to lay a foundation, you can't beat Beebe's *Passagemaking Under Power. *After reading it, I knew I wanted a full displacement trawler, since coming over to the dark side from sailing, 6 knots seems an OK cruising speed. By all means, your personal requirements, tastes and budget will be a factor. You may decide on a semi-displacement hull. With more power, they will go faster. Whether or not a marginal sacrifice in seaworthiness is worth the speed is a factor only you can decide. All in all, you are off on a great adventure. One word or advice: I think I speak for some or many of us on the list when I say: If you have the money for a trawler, you probably earned that money by working successfully. In that working environment, you had schedules, to do lists, and employees to manage. My advice to you is this: lose the schedule and lose the attitude of being a boss. The sea is no respecter of schedules or bosses. Secondly, do not, ever, ever treat boatyard employees as if you were their boss, even though you pay the bills. Boatyard employees may seem ignorant and seem to go about things in the least efficient ways, but most of them have forgotten more about boats than you will ever know. Treat them with respect and learn everything you can from them. Be willing to pay to have the job done right. Many times you may think you are being screwed. So what. It's the price of admission. Enjoy the ride. Best of luck to you. I am sure some will take exception to my remarks. Maybe I will learn something from them. Bob Salmons Veronica Willard 40 RPH

lly relate to Scotts' answer in that we are looking for 45-50 ft with almost the same criteria that he mentioned. We have discussed the Krogen whaleback, older Northsea, Nordhavn 46 with fly bridge. We think we would rather buy a 5-10 year old boat for less and have the funds to upgrade than to have new finish without the fit. We hope that others (John at Seahorse, Dave (Nancy) at Swan Song, Capt. Mike Maurice and Patrick at Aloha) just to mention a few, would also post as Scott did to help those of us who are attempting to make a life change and get to the water safely. Thanks Nick & Becky, One Horse Motel, West Yellowstone Montana.

isco--a trip which many people have tried and turned back after meeting the average conditions. Or it may mean the Inland Passage to Alaska--all of these being entirely different trips and requiring different boats. Experience is extremely important. I would highly recommend that you get some experience crewing on other's boats, or at the very minimum hiring a good delivary captain for several weeks. Then you can start reading the multiple books, forums and web sites which are available on the subject. The reality and fantisy of cruising are entirely different. I suspect that Scott has a number of different thoughts now than he had 18 months ago--and will have different thoughts after he has been thru the canal and eventually reached the East Coast. There also seems to be a trend that you have to have a million dollars to take ocean voyages. This is far from the truth. There are other boats than the "ideal" 5 which can make excellent passagemakers. We found that folks on smaller budgets had just as good a time--maybe better--than those with large budgets. Start by reading Passagemaking under Power. Read David Gerr's Nature of Boats. Read the two books on anchoring and storm tactics by Earl Hinz. Then read several of the actual accounts of power cruising. I also highly recommend Steve Dashew's site (Setsail.com)--although Steve comes from a sailing background--as I do--he covers a lot of the information which you need to know. Spend some time taking courses from folks who know what they are doing. Then go into the mechanics, and systems maintance and repair--if you have a system on the boat--you will have to repair it--or find someone who can--and that may be unlikely. In our case we had already made a number of coastal passages (Mexico to Cabo and back to S. Calif. Done some races to Mexico and Hawaii, before we took our first 5 month cruise. That changed my wife's idea of what boat we wanted--and we sold the boat we had built and pruchased a larger one. We took 4 years for a 41,000 mile cruise. This was in the early 80's and paid $90,000 for a boat, and spend another $40,000 outfitting it--with a budget of $1000 a month for expenses, including the boat (but no insurance). We were the only one of 20 boats who set off at the same time and reached their goals in the immediate peroid. Two of the boats were lost, there were at least 6 divorces, and most boats were sold in route, or delivared "back home". One of the boats made their goal--25 years later (after having replaced the boat which was lost). Our next cruise, in the 90's we found that we wanted a smaller boat, but the basic concepts and equiptment was the same. Although communication is much easier now, you still have to be free of incumberances "at home". Take small steps at a time. Most folks who are just getting started in boating make huge and expensive mistakes. Think out what you are doing and ask specific questions. Rely on those who are either out cruising, like Dave, or those who have a lot of experience. Good luck--and do lots of "homework". Bob Austin

l others combined" or some such. No doubt the Nordhavn line is among the best, but it is not the panacea. Valiant Yachts did the same sort of thing in the 80s with Bob Perry's classic 40 footer to achieve notoriety; two solo circumnavigations one of which rounded below all five southern capes. The Valiant 40 became "the" boat to buy for the next decade. The passage-making boats I have been privileged to see up close or have been aboard have been mostly one-offs: Beebe's Passagemaker, Teka III, Chartwell, Beebe's Mona-Mona, and our own Seahorse. All of these have attributes peculiar to early passage makers; for instance, all have paravane stabilizers. However we also know folks who have circumnavigated in their Hatteras LRC, sans paravanes. It's so difficult to pick five, because even when narrowed down to Passagemakers, there is more information needed. Where will you cruise? How many aboard and will you want room for guests for portions of passages? Many, many questions, indeed. Instead, I think you'd be wise to research based on your needs and pick five. Then ask the listees to eliminate them one by one. Years ago, while searching for the "right" boat in which to circumnavigate, I posted this same sort of question as subject on the old cruising listserver, which was then populated by some very knowledgeable folks. The fact that this was a sailboat search is not significant. I had already done a lot of research and picked nine boats, based on where I was headed. The subject of my post was "Eliminate a Boat Contest," and I stated my question thus: "Please help us cut this list down, i.e. are there any of these you wouldn't consider for the South Pacific?" This generated a lot of interest and discussion, and eventually narrowed my choice to two boats. However, I ended up buying a boat which wasn't on the list, one which I had never heard of! A friend, and one of my favorite fellow listees, who was prolific on many lists was Rick Kennerly, a.k.a. Rick the Mouseherder. I think that Rick's Rules, as he called them, are good advice when shopping for any boat: "Regardless of which boat you end up with, here are Rick's Rules for buying a cruising/live aboard sailboat: 1. You buy cruising boats by the pound, not the foot. 2. A small boat and a suitcase of money beats a 40 footer tied to the Bank. 3. You gain interior storage by adding beam and draft, not length. 4. It costs three times more to keep up a 40 foot boat than a 30 foot boat. 5. Concentrate on the basicsbbsound hull, rigging, sails, and powerplant. Electronics, tankage, cushions, etc. are all cheap and easy to add/replace. 6. The view of the anchorage or shore from the cockpit of a 30 foot boat is the same as from the cockpit of a 60 foot boat. 7. Go small, go now. 8. Be sure to get a boat in which you will be proud to be seen arriving." Regards, John "Seahorse" ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com

lly relate to Scotts' answer in that we are looking for 45-50 ft with almost the same criteria that he mentioned. We have discussed the Krogen whaleback, older Northsea, Nordhavn 46 with fly bridge. We think we would rather buy a 5-10 year old boat for less and have the funds to upgrade than to have new finish without the fit. We hope that others (John at Seahorse, Dave (Nancy) at Swan Song, Capt. Mike Maurice and Patrick at Aloha) just to mention a few, would also post as Scott did to help those of us who are attempting to make a life change and get to the water safely. Thanks Nick & Becky, One Horse Motel, West Yellowstone Montana.

lard 30' trawler but the extra two feet makes quite a bit of difference. Forrest Myers 36' Willard Vega "Trident" Sunny Ft Lauderdale

assagemaker. I must say that I've never seen one of these vessels first hand but ever since my dad pointed one out in the brokerage section of Yachting Magazine 35+ years ago I've admired them from afar and to this day if someone says "trawler" I get a mental image of a Romsdahl. BTW back in the early 60's a Romsdahl 65 sold for $65,000; last year one was listed locally for $300,000+ (I believe its new owner may be a TWListee) - ___________________________________________________________________________ | This is only temporary... | Alex Hirsekorn | | Unless it works. (R. Green) | alexh@gte.net | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Schroder 43' Gulfstar trawler "Panhandler" docked Jeffersonville IN 812-246-4822 Happy holidays to all

3mpg at 6.5k fully loaded for a 1456 n.m. range on 112 gal. Joseph R. Hooper

ds of moment placed one foot above the CG. The boat was also equipped with stabilizers. Not that they were put on to compensate for the dink. On the other hand, what is a fellow to do if he gets into rough water and has to slow down which lowers the effect of the stabilizers, which is all that is keeping the boat from rolling excessively? Then there was the 120 footer in the Carib last month, that had 10,000 pounds of boats, gym equipment and LIFTING weights placed about 15 feet above the CG. That's 150,000 pounds of moment placed one foot above the CG. It too had stabilizers. Does anyone think that stabilizers are the solution to excess rolling? Any boat set up this way, is not a good candidate for being out in the open in rough conditions or a storm. Then there is the client with the 63' steel trawler, about 25 years old. It rolls excessively and has NO stabilizers. Over the years the boat has been modified repeatededly. Most likely without benefit of a naval architect analysing the effect of all the changes of mass and it's effect on the CG. The list of these kinds of problems is almost endless. Take a good look at your own situation. Bet you haven't thought about this creeping kind of problem on your boat, recently. If you get to sea in a big storm, I bet you will before you get to safety. Regards, Mike Capt. Mike Maurice Near Portland Oregon.