Help with new boat

[Deejray]

So... Just got the go ahead to start the process on an upgrade to an offshore aluminum. At least I'm pretty sure I'm sticking with aluminum. I'm looking for some solid input and advice. I plan to do weekend or week long trips with my family of 4 up the inside and trips along the outside as well. While costing is always important, I aim to keep this boat for the next 10 to 15 years so I want to do it right. At the present I am sort of stuck between a Duckworth and North River in the 28' range. Full galley, max sleeping capacity etc. It's a family rig that I will fish in. I've learned from my present boat that the dance floor doesn't need to be 8x10 when fishing with my wife and kids. I just send them to the bow. Thanks in advance for any help and direction I can get.

 

[cj6530]

I know a few dudes who spent a lot of money on family rigs that will fish...and then found out the family wasn't so interested on spending a lot of time on the boat. In a 28ft boat I would be thinking maximum dance floor with a serviceable galley and sleeping capacity. Everything is a compromise....but make sure it fishes well.

 

[Deejray]

Thanks for the response CJ. That is definitely in the back of my mind. Kids grow up pretty quick. In 5 years it will just be my wife and I anyways so the cuddy is all we'd need. She wants a decent galley, as do i, which these all seem to come with. Size of battery bank will be important as well for "off the grid" trips.

 

[trophywife]

Thanks for the response CJ. That is definitely in the back of my mind. Kids grow up pretty quick. In 5 years it will just be my wife and I anyways so the cuddy is all we'd need. She wants a decent galley, as do i, which these all seem to come with. Size of battery bank will be important as well for "off the grid" trips.

get a suitcase generator. i used to keep one on the boat for trips... coffee maker, dvd etc etc..... had a cover for the fishing tray and 2 cots, this was great for sleeping room.
before i owned my boat the last owner went from port orchard to glacier bay,, 2 month trip!!

 

[leftcoast]

I'm guessing you want to be able to trailer it, but if not this is a pretty nice looking family rig a price that is probably a lot less then the boats your talking about. A few of my buddies have the 30ft Commander. Unreal boats and regardless what people tell you they fish well.

https://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rch/bod/6156447848.html

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Renaissance Marine Group makes all three boats, the Duckworth, Weldcraft, and Northwest welded aluminum boats. All three are very similar and top of the line off shore welded aluminum boats. I have a Weldcraft 260 which is a 28' boat to the outside stern edge and 26' to the inside stern fish deck edge and 30' to the outside edge of the motors.
Some manufacturers only measure to the outside stern edge and call their boats 28' when they are actually 26' to the inside usable space. Just something you may want to note when shopping for one. For example Kingfisher measures that other way. They call their boat a 28' when it's really a tad under 26' of inside space.
So when you look at a Duckworth, Weldcraft or Northwest that says it's a 26' it's actually equivalent in size to what Kingfisher calls a 28'. And so on...What Duckworth, Weldcraft, Northwest call 28' are what Kingfisher calls a 30'

Also when shopping you want to pay attention to the boats bow, forward and stern dead rise angles and the chines. Personally I love my boats handling and ride on the water. I had a Kingfisher before and traded it in for the Weldcraft due specifically to the ride and handling in rough water. Very different hull angles. But that is my personal opinion. I know a lot of guys love their Kingfishers too.

You can get a boat with a larger single motor and a kicker, or two larger main motors and no kicker. Having had both set ups I love having the two big mains in case I have one break down off shore but that is all personal preference. Some guys like one big main and the kicker. The Merc Verado's have a super low rpm troll mode that you can troll on your main motor right down to 1 mph if you want to without a risk of a stall. Not sure if other manufactuers larger main motors also have that ability? I just swap my motors back and forth once and awhile that I troll with to keep their hours equal.
Noting that, I also like the two big mains when pulling up prawn traps from the deep abyss in rough water with a hard tide running and wind blowing. The boat acts like a large sail in those situations. The response time to get your prawn rope retrieve angle corrected is very quick with two big mains running against wind, current, and weighted prawn traps and line.

Also as leftcoast pointed out if trailering is a necessity you want to look at the beams of the boat. You can trailer without a permit a boat with a beam under 8'6 . The Renaisannce group of boats are made to be able to be trailered without a permit all the way up to the 30' off shore models with beams of 8' 5". The Kingfisher 28' and the larger ones (what they call a 28 but is really a 26') has a beam of 9'. 5" which is too wide to trailer without a permit.

I own a North River aluminum jet river boat and love it. I've never been in a North River off shore salt boat but they look very similar to the Renaissance group of boats. Not sure how their company is doing these days but you may want to look into how the company has been doing. I bought my North River in 2006 and in 2009 the owner of North River (who is an x cop) shot and killed his girlfriend on a beach in washington with a shotgun in front of a bunch of people. In 2012 he was convicted and sentenced to 88 years in prison.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

And if you wanna check out boats from the USA check out these guys in Alaska. Crazy beautiful custom welded aluminum boats.
http://bayweldboats.com/

 

[Deejray]

Thanks CD for the info. I have a duck right now and love it. That's sort of the reason for sticking with the duck. The north river is a foot wider and I like the offset cabin for the space. I didn't realize the permit was required for the 9'6" beam so that's a bit of an issue as I will be trailering for sure (learned I have separation anxiety from when I moored my present boat for all of a month). I'll have a look at the baywelds too, they do look nice but phone screens don't do any boats real justice.
How is your boat for weekend or week long trips? Saw your other post but looked like you stayed on shore. My hope is to be able to stay off the grid so to speak for at least 2 or 3 days at a time. Thanks for the advice and information!

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

Yup I had my boat moored too for a bit and didn't like it. Was always anxious about weather, mold in the boat, theft, vandalism or any security issues and hated not being by it all the time to be able to do work on it, maintenance, cleaning, tackle maintenance etc..Same with getting ready for trips; had to gather everything up in the truck then lug it to the moored boat and organize it all there then be off. Just didn't like it at all.

My boat is rigged up great for weekend or week long trips. On my trip to Lund I slept two nights on my boat and one in the water front hotel.
I have an invertor/generator wired into my system under one of the bench seats and I also have a gas suitcase 2000 watt genny in case for back up. I have a fridge with small freezer that can run off the inverter/shore power or off 12 volt, fresh water sink, diesel stove, sit down toilet in a separate room, diesel espar heater and my cuddy can sleep 2 adults tightly or two kids easily. I have a few 120 volt outlets in the cabin and lights everywhere. For future trips I'm looking into getting a removable back canvass made for the back fish deck so I can turn that into another closed in sleeping area for my kids when needed. My cabin floor can also sleep one person. I also bought a removable table pole support for the walk way that I can put a table on when needed. I have two air ride seats up at the helm and then two bench seats that seat two people each.

When I'm away from shore power and moored/anchored somewhere and making supper, and using 120 volt power etc just hanging out with the family/friends on the boat, just to be safe I usually fire up my motors just to keep the power to the invertor/generator going in case I draw my batteries down. I have switches on my breaker panel to run off just the 12 volt, shore power, invertor/gen, or both etc.

You should look into how much power can be stored with invertor/generators wired in, and with solar pannels if planning longer off the grid trips. I am looking into that too. I have a friend that keeps a battery bank full of power with solar panels on his sail boat. He has multiple sources of power on the boat. With technology getting better and better the solar panels are getting smaller and more powerful all the time and cheaper. They just had some a few months back at costco for a good price but I wasn't set up yet to buy them.

 

[Chuck]

I am also looking at the same. Upgrade from my Weldcraft Ocean King 260 to something with better sleeping quarters vs tearing apart the cabin and putting up the canvas over the fishing deck and unravelling a cot.
Have been looking at the Kingfisher Destiation 3325, simply for the amount of people can sleep in the v berth and extra bed below. Any of the high production Cuddy's that I've looked at, same as mentioned, seem to have limited sleeping quarters. Small v-berth and pulling down the table to sleep 2-3 guys.
No idea how the KF fishes or handles in big water but design looks it would work very well.
No intention to hijack thread DJ, but very interested in the response from others.
Will keep an eye on this thread or wouldn't mind pickin your brain on this issue DJ. Pm me if interested.

Defiantly not interested in KF offshore but the Destination looks like it will do the trick.
http://www.kingfisherboats.com/ModelDetails.aspx?prod=43

 

[Deejray]

No worries about hijacking, long as we're sharing good info about boats in happy. Any info is helpful.
Everything I've heard about the kingfisher from people I've talked to is that they aren't as deep a V however that was only up to the 30'. Also, when on the water they seem to ride lower than everyone else. The 3325 seems to be a whole different level though than the regular offshore boats.

 

[Deejray]

Yup I had my boat moored too for a bit and didn't like it. Was always anxious about weather, mold in the boat, theft, vandalism or any security issues and hated not being by it all the time to be able to do work on it, maintenance, cleaning, tackle maintenance etc..Same with getting ready for trips; had to gather everything up in the truck then lug it to the moored boat and organize it all there then be off. Just didn't like it at all.

My boat is rigged up great for weekend or week long trips. On my trip to Lund I slept two nights on my boat and one in the water front hotel.
I have an invertor/generator wired into my system under one of the bench seats and I also have a gas suitcase 2000 watt genny in case for back up. I have a fridge with small freezer that can run off the inverter/shore power or off 12 volt, fresh water sink, diesel stove, sit down toilet in a separate room, diesel espar heater and my cuddy can sleep 2 adults tightly or two kids easily. I have a few 120 volt outlets in the cabin and lights everywhere. For future trips I'm looking into getting a removable back canvass made for the back fish deck so I can turn that into another closed in sleeping area for my kids when needed. My cabin floor can also sleep one person. I also bought a removable table pole support for the walk way that I can put a table on when needed. I have two air ride seats up at the helm and then two bench seats that seat two people each.

When I'm away from shore power and moored/anchored somewhere and making supper, and using 120 volt power etc just hanging out with the family/friends on the boat, just to be safe I usually fire up my motors just to keep the power to the invertor/generator going in case I draw my batteries down. I have switches on my breaker panel to run off just the 12 volt, shore power, invertor/gen, or both etc.

You should look into how much power can be stored with invertor/generators wired in, and with solar pannels if planning longer off the grid trips. I am looking into that too. I have a friend that keeps a battery bank full of power with solar panels on his sail boat. He has multiple sources of power on the boat. With technology getting better and better the solar panels are getting smaller and more powerful all the time and cheaper. They just had some a few months back at costco for a good price but I wasn't set up yet to buy them.

For the back cover would you have to put in all the button snaps? That's what kind of turned me off of getting the camper on the boat I have now.
I would definitely look at getting solar power set up, seems only to make sense.

 

[Chasin' Dreams]

No worries about hijacking, long as we're sharing good info about boats in happy. Any info is helpful.
Everything I've heard about the kingfisher from people I've talked to is that they aren't as deep a V however that was only up to the 30'. Also, when on the water they seem to ride lower than everyone else. The 3325 seems to be a whole different level though than the regular offshore boats.

Yes they have a much more shallow rounded hull. They get blown around much easier than the sharper angled deeper v hulled boats. I noticed they are even having bow thruster's on their smaller 26' boats. No need for a bow thruster on a 26 to 28' boat with a sharper v in my opinion. I've never felt the need for one in my boat when docking even in tight spots. But when I had the kingfisher it would quite easily get blown off of it's docking position.

For the back cover would you have to put in all the button snaps? That's what kind of turned me off of getting the camper on the boat I have now.
I would definitely look at getting solar power set up, seems only to make sense.

Ya I'm not sure if they have different attachment tech now for the canvas backs or if it's still the snap system. I used a guy out in Maple Ridge before for a custom one for another boat before. Gonna check out what the options are for that.

 

[trophywife]

Yup I had my boat moored too for a bit and didn't like it. Was always anxious about weather, mold in the boat, theft, vandalism or any security issues and hated not being by it all the time to be able to do work on it, maintenance, cleaning, tackle maintenance etc..Same with getting ready for trips; had to gather everything up in the truck then lug it to the moored boat and organize it all there then be off. Just didn't like it at all.

My boat is rigged up great for weekend or week long trips. On my trip to Lund I slept two nights on my boat and one in the water front hotel.
I have an invertor/generator wired into my system under one of the bench seats and I also have a gas suitcase 2000 watt genny in case for back up. I have a fridge with small freezer that can run off the inverter/shore power or off 12 volt, fresh water sink, diesel stove, sit down toilet in a separate room, diesel espar heater and my cuddy can sleep 2 adults tightly or two kids easily. I have a few 120 volt outlets in the cabin and lights everywhere. For future trips I'm looking into getting a removable back canvass made for the back fish deck so I can turn that into another closed in sleeping area for my kids when needed. My cabin floor can also sleep one person. I also bought a removable table pole support for the walk way that I can put a table on when needed. I have two air ride seats up at the helm and then two bench seats that seat two people each.

When I'm away from shore power and moored/anchored somewhere and making supper, and using 120 volt power etc just hanging out with the family/friends on the boat, just to be safe I usually fire up my motors just to keep the power to the invertor/generator going in case I draw my batteries down. I have switches on my breaker panel to run off just the 12 volt, shore power, invertor/gen, or both etc.

You should look into how much power can be stored with invertor/generators wired in, and with solar pannels if planning longer off the grid trips. I am looking into that too. I have a friend that keeps a battery bank full of power with solar panels on his sail boat. He has multiple sources of power on the boat. With technology getting better and better the solar panels are getting smaller and more powerful all the time and cheaper. They just had some a few months back at costco for a good price but I wasn't set up yet to buy them.

dialed.