We owned our 2006 Beneteau Swift Trawler 42 for 9 years and have traveled over 25,000 miles with it, including two rounds of America’s Great Loop, The Triangle Loop, and lots of trips up and down the Atlantic ICW. The boat has been a perfect fit for these trips, just the right size to get through the canals, easy to dock, and economical for slip fees.
For the past couple of years, we’ve been thinking about upgrading to a slightly larger boat. One we can take offshore a bit more often, and that gives some extra room for entertaining. We still want a Trawler-Style boat, as we love the full walkaround decks and the cockpit area for entertaining. We’ve been looking at boats at the boat shows, and even went to see a few. We’ve kept track of all of the new Beneteau Trawlers, looked at Greenline Hybrid boats, and checked out the larger Krogen Express, Summits, and Flemmings. For most of them, there was either not enough storage, they were set up as weekend boats rather than long-term cruising boats, or they were just too big.
Size Matters
For us, the overall size of a boat matters a lot. Too small, and there is not enough room to stretch out, store stuff, and have folks on board for docktails! Too large, and finding slip space in marinas becomes a challenge and expensive.
We prefer to stay in marinas rather than anchoring. We like the security of being tied to a dock, the convenience of shore power, and the ability to easily explore on shore. So, when choosing a boat, we want a balance of space, docking convenience, and affordability.
Most marinas charge by the foot based on the overall length of the boat. We’ve averaged $2.50 per foot, so at 42 feet, that’s $105 per night. Compare that to a 65-foot boat, and you are looking at $155 per night. Also, 50+ foot slips are in short supply at many marinas.
Beam (width) is also a consideration. Some amazing power catamarans are being built. Many have enough room to hold line dances! However, they are wide. Many are 20 feet and above. Again, this presents challenges in finding marina space. At most marinas, wide boats are limited to the ends of docks, and these are limited. With the popularity of catamaras, both sailing and power, end slips are in demand.
In looking at new boats, we set parameters of under 55 feet in length overall and under 17 feet in width. This also happens to fit in our slip at home!
Liveability
One of the things we like about our Swift Trawler is the liveability. There is plenty of room to stretch out. The galley is big enough to work in. We upgraded the refrigerator to a larger size for longer-term cruising. And, most importantly, there is tons of storage. For entertaining, the salon comfortably holds four and can fit six. If you extend through the sliding doors into the cockpit, you can easily fit eight people, open the flybridge, and get another six! Plenty of room!
There are two heads (bathrooms) and two berths (bedrooms), making sleeping four straightforward, and if you convert the settee into a bed, you can fit another two.
When looking at new boats, we wanted at least two heads and two berths. We also wanted a separate shower in the master head. On our Swift Trawler, we have what are called wet-heads, where the sink, toilet, and shower share the same space. It’s not been a problem. After showering, we squeegee down the walls, and presto, we’ve cleaned the bathroom while showering! But we want more room on our next boat.
Another feature we were looking for was a larger salon and galley. We like to entertain, and while four people fit, six inside is a bit tight. Often, when there are larger groups, we end up on a larger boat, and we’d like to be the ones entertaining.
The other consideration is stairs. We are still (relatively) young and agile. However, we like a boat that is mostly on one or two levels. Going down a few stairs to reach the bedrooms and baths is fine, but we don’t want a boat with many levels. It breaks up the boat, making moving around, especially when docking or locking, a challenge. There are many boats that you have to navigate two or three sets of stairs to move from the stern of the boat to the bow when handling lines.
Driveability
We use our boat a lot! Sitting at a dock for months at a time is not our idea of boating. On our list of must-haves are two helm (steering) positions—one inside where we can operate comfortably during hot, cold, or rainy weather. And a flybridge helm, where we are sitting outside in the fresh air, a little higher over the water to improve our view.
Another must-have is walk-around side decks. We like to cruise canals, and canals mean locks. When locking, you are sometimes on the port side and sometimes on the starboard side. It’s not uncommon to be switched from side to side as you enter a lock, depending on how many other boats are there. Having large walk-around side decks makes it easy (and safer) to move around the boat when locking and docking.
The newer Beneteau models have asymmetrical side decks, wide on the starboard side, and narrow on the port side. This is one of the significant issues that made us not consider the newer Beneteaus. When walking on the port side, you are balancing on a ledge, and bending down to adjust fenders can be challenging.
The Need For Speed
Boats in general fall into two categories: Fast & Slow. Slow boats are those with displacement hulls that top out at 8-10 mph. These boats typically have single engines and have very good fuel economy. With our Beneteau, we frequently run in this speed range for fuel economy, because many areas we travel through, like the canals, have speed restrictions, and finally, it’s pleasure boating, so we’re not in a huge hurry!
That said, when the weather is getting bad, when crossing large stretches of open water, or when trying to get somewhere to spend extra time sightseeing, having the option to go fast is nice. Our Beneteau will do 23 mph if we open it up, and in selecting a new boat, we want the ability to reach at least 18 mph if we want to.
Economy
Our current Beneteau is pretty economical to run. We average about 7 gallons per hour, which works out to be 1.7 miles per gallon. If we run faster, of course, the economy goes down, but on average across 25,000 miles, this was our fuel consumption. Because we are looking at larger boats, we understand that we might not get the same fuel economy, but we don’t want huge engines that will suck down fuel.
Many of the boats we looked at offer engine options. You can select smaller, more economical engines, but you’ll give up some top-end speed. Or you can go with larger, higher-horsepower engines that will push the boat to 30+ mph, but even at lower RPM’s they still consume more fuel. For us, a top speed of 16-18 mph is fine. It gets us where we are going while still providing reasonable fuel economy.
Pods vs Straight Shafts
There are two primary drive systems in today’s modern pleasure boats.
- Traditional propellers are connected to the engine and transmission with straight propeller shafts.
- The newer Pod systems, where the transmission and propellers are attached to the bottom of the boat.
Many newer pleasure boats are equipped with Pods. Pods offer increased performance, fuel economy, and maneuverability. Volvo IPS is the leading brand of pod drives. These feature dual counterrotating propellers facing forward under the boat.
While pods have definite advantages, the issue for us is that they are much more susceptible to impact damage in shallow water. We’ve seen many boats where the pods have been sheared off when hitting underwater obstructions. Also, pods require much more maintenance than traditional shaft drives.
In our style of cruising, where we are in shallower waters like the Intracoastal Waterway, canals, and rivers more often than out in open water, the possibility of touching bottom or encountering floating debris like logs is much more likely. So when looking at boats, our first MUST-HAVE is straight shafts, not pods.
One of the coolest features of pod drives, and one of the driving sales factors, is the ability to dock using a joystick and move the boat sideways. Some pod systems also offer a virtual anchor feature, which keeps you in a fixed position without requiring control input. This can be handy when waiting for drawbridges or preparing to dock.
Newer straight-shaft boats, especially those with both bow and stern thrusters, can have systems added that provide virtually the same functionality. While this is not a must-have, it’s on our nice-to-have list.
Practicality
There are lots of features available on newer boats; some are must-haves, some are nice-to-haves, and some are we’ll-never-use-them! In many cases, the features that are attractive in the sales brochures are not practical in practice, at least for us. For example, the Swift Trawler 47 boasted a flybridge table that could seat 12. Cool! However, it took up so much room you couldn’t get to the helm seats unless you were Twiggy!
Another popular feature is what are called “Bunny Pads.” These are large cushioned areas usually forward of the flybridge helm, or on the bow, where the young and the shapely can lie out in the sun in their bikinis and Speedos. Well, we are past the bikini and Speedo age. Also, these pads are great when new, but they collect water under them, which can cause mold, and eventually the pads become soggy and smelly. Because they are large, they are hard to store out of the elements when not in use.
Another popular feature on many boats is the hydraulic swim platform. This is great if you are carrying your dinghy on the back of your boat and use it often. It makes launch and retrieval quick and easy. Also, if you are using your boat to swim from frequently, it makes a nice portable beach. On the downside, it adds a lot of moving parts and hydraulic cylinders that sit in saltwater, which corrodes them. Also, with a dinghy on the platform, depending on the arrangement, it can be cumbersome to get on and off the back of the boat. You have to shimmy around the dinghy and climb over or crawl under lines.
Is there a “perfect boat”?
Choosing a boat is all about weighing your personal pros and cons, then coming up with a compromise. On our Swift Trawler, we got pretty much everything on our original must-have list. The only exception was a separate shower, which turned out not to be a big deal.
Our new Outback 50 was built to our specs, so we were able to customize many areas of the boat to meet our desires—things like an office instead of a third berth, extra storage space, and specific electronics. The major structural and mechanical features matched our must-have list perfectly. It had full walk-around decks, a large salon and cockpit, a flybridge, and straight-shaft, economical engines. We were able to eliminate the bunny pad and add a washer/dryer.
If you are looking at a pre-owned boat, like we did when we bought our Swift Trawler, you may have to make more compromises. The important thing is to look at lots of boats and make your list of must-haves, nice-to-haves, and don’t-wants. Then take your time and look at lots of boats!
Yes, the perfect boat exists. It’s the one you have and are enjoying!
Thanks For Visiting! – Tom & Brenda
