Trawler Fest and the Naples Boat Show

Two Boat Shows – Lots to Consider

While in Florida for the Fort Lauderdale and Naples Boat Shows, we had a free afternoon to walk along New River in Fort Lauderdale. As we were strolling the River Walk on this clear sunny day, we came across a rather large yacht named After You and thought the name seemed an appropriate description to the process Lisa and I are going through, as it relates to changing our boating lifestyle from a full-size trawler to a trailerable trawler. (The “after you” reference would, of course, refer to our previous boat, Kismet, a Fathom 40.)

So far, during the boat shows, we’ve been able to tour, inspect, poke and prod our way through the Ranger 27 and 29, an Aspen 26, a 25.5’ C-Dory TomCat, and a Rosborough 25’ Sedan Cruiser. Each boat has features and benefits that are unique to its boat and that’s exactly what we were wanting to investigate. As an example, the Ranger 27 has a nice size cockpit, a nicely thought-out, finished, interior along with a large list of standard equipment. The Aspen, because it has a catamaran-style hull, has the ability to feature a king-size bed in the stateroom and is more stable at the dock or underway. The TomCat, also built with a cat hull, has the same stability benefit going for it along with its reputation for being rugged. We found the Rosborough has the flexibility of several engine configurations along with a long history of making reliable well-built boats, which we were finally able to see with our own two eyes when we boarded it at the trailerable boat show in Naples.

In the meantime, I’d like to state that any one of these boats would make a great trailerable boat. The saying, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”  comes to mind. What Lisa and I desire in our new boat may be altogether different than someone else’s wants and needs. Therefore, whatever we end up deciding on, has more to do with what we personally look for in a boat in order to satisfy our boating requirements.

Our search is not complete yet though, we’re still working on seeing and getting aboard the Northern Pacific 28’ and Nordic Tug 26, which we hope to do within the next couple of weeks. After we’ve accomplished these tours we’ll be able to make a more informed decision on what boat will meet our needs and narrow the list down then it will be on to more decisions of whether we buy new or used, what equipment we will need to add, what kind of trailer and more!