http://sports.webshots.com/album/550708407IeSjaU

WaIIy wrote:
You have a fine boat.

Your thruster project was quite ambitious and there aren't many that
would attempt to make a hole like that in their boat.

Excellent job on that.

Thank you (blush).

One reason why I was willing to saw a big hole in the boat is that
over the past 4 decades, I spent more time & money fixing up old
beater racing-class sailboats to be competitive... including a lot of
fiberglass work making them lighter & stiffer... so I was fairly
confident that at the very worst, I could just fiberglass the hole
shut again.




Wayne.B wrote:
Good points in favor of considering a fuel efficient powerboat. The
original poster did not specify power or sail but there is a cultural
bias towards sail in this forum.

Oh yes!
However some of the other biases have loosened up over the years... I
don't have the time to be as active as I was a few years ago, but it
looks to me like the Crab-Crusher Mafia has lost a lot of their
traction.

One of the "issues" regarding powerboat cruising is that relatively
few people look carefully at the trade-off between speed & fuel
efficiency. Speed is great, we often wish we could make shorter time
of some of the less-pleasant transits; however a lot of fellow Great
Loopers are burning more than 3X the fuel we are, and have to stop
every couple of days to tank up. We go several weeks between fill-
ups!

That said, after 11,000 nautical
miles of experience we are very happy with cruising our Grand Banks
trawler, as are many other people. It has at least twice the interior
volume of a comparable sailboat, a great deal of system redundancy not
found in most sail boats, is faster than any sailboat we have ever
owned, invariably gets compliments on appearance, carries enough fuel
and water to be totally self sufficient for several months if
necessary, very comfortable, and easily handled with one or two
people. Something to consider if you are not intent on crossing
oceans, although there are cruising trawlers that will do that also.


Yep, and even with fuel prices rising, more people are going on power
cruising rallies & flotillas so that many of the challenges are easier
(less intimidating).

Some pictures he

Boat, Dock, Tiki hut, etc. -

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...AaOGTlo0Zt2LlI

Abacos Cruise -

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...AaOGTlo0Zt2LjQ

We checked out the dolphin video... awesome!

BTW I would also like to give Wayne B. and his good wife a public
"thank you" for ensuring we had a great time when we cruised thru
their home town.

DSK