The following pages are designed to give potential trawler owners an honest examination of frequently asked trawler questions.

If you have a question that’s not addressed here, please email FAQ@SeleneFlorida.com.

Why a Trawler?

Loyal trawler owners choose trawlers for a variety of reasons:

·       Some trawler owners prefer the classic lines of a trawler.

·       Some trawler owners want a yacht that can comfortably cruise long-distances; most trawlers offer a large fuel capacity.

·       Some trawler owners love the fuel efficiency trawlers offer. At cruising speeds, most trawlers only use 3-9 gallons an hour, depending on size, speed, and conditions.

·       Some trawler owners value the safety offered by trawlers.

·       Some trawler owners love that layouts trawlers offer, which provide lots of storage and make for a great liveaboard options.

·       Some trawler owners love the high-quality, traditional fit and finish most interiors boast.

·       Some trawlers owners love the bulbous bows and deep hulls many trawlers offer, which provide their owners with great sea-keeping abilities in the open ocean.

·       Some trawler owners prefer to operate their yachts personally. The large rudders trawlers offer, along with bow and stern thruster options, make docking very easy.

·       Some trawler owners like owning a vessel that’s typically easy to sell. The trawler market typically has a higher demand than supply.

Why Not a Trawler?

Trawlers are not built for speed. Trawler owners will never be able to get somewhere really, really fast; trawlers typically cruise between 7-11 knots.

Another potential drawback is draft. Long-distance trawlers are built for the open ocean. As a result most trawlers are built with long, deep keels, which help prevent damage to running gear. A few trawler companies, including Selene Yachts, offer full-displacement hulls, and bulbous bows, which provide greater sea-keeping ability, but of course will make these vessels heavier, and deeper.

What are the advantages of a full-displacement hull?

Full-displacement hulls are generally found on ocean-going trawlers.  Full-displacement hulls can carry more payloads due to their design. These hulls are not made to plane. Power is directed to push the hull rather than to raise it.

Full-displacement hulls are rounded which produce a much softer ride.

Many full-displacement trawlers, including Selene models, offer a bulbous bow as an option to owners.

Semi-displacement hulls combine round bottoms forward and flat bottoms aft. As it moves the hulls partially raises out of the water. These hulls give a bit more speed but may sacrifice a soft ride. These hulls are not suitable for blue water crossings.

Should my trawler have a bulbous bow?

In the late 1930’s, research was undertaken to reduce the drag on large cruise ships, in an attempt to improve fuel efficiency. Thanks to years of tank testing and a growing understanding of basic hydrodynamics, the commercial bulbous bow was created.

Cruise ship operators and shipping vessel owners quickly appreciated the improved fuel efficiency the bulbous bow gave their ships, typically a 5% reduction in fuel consumption.

For about 50 years bulbous bows could only be found on large commercial and military applications. Bulbous bows weren’t seen as practical options for smaller, private yachts.

However, once the market for full-displacement long-range cruisers began building, recreational yacht builders began to look for ways to reduce fuel consumption and improve their yacht’s sea-keeping ability. The bulbous bow began to find it’s way onto options list for trawlers and large yachts very quickly, including Selene Yachts.

Bulbous bows continue to prove themselves as a great tool that will give your trawler a smoother ride, and better performance. Depending on the size, and manufacturer, and style of bulbous bow, bulbous bows can actually reduce pitch by 15-20%, and increase fuel efficiency by 12-14 percent. Typically bulbous bows have greater, positive impacts on your trawler’s ride in heavier seas.

It’s important to discuss your cruising habits, cruising expectations, and cruising locations with your Selene representative when making this decision.

All Selene models 53 feet and greater offer the bulbous bow as an option.

What features are do most trawler owners find important?

(As answered by a current Selene Owner): The principal elections we made and are very happy with include twin engines, stabilizers (don't leave the dock without them), the rear stairs from the cockpit to the bridge, and the third stateroom/office instead of an 'alcove' off the master stateroom. These all work just fine for us.

Wing stations were sort of an afterthought because they were part of the base boat we used to 'model' Celebrate as we spec'd her out. We are amazed at how useful they are docking, anchoring, and running locks. Some systems available today are electronic and can control things like you would with a radio-controlled model airplane. Our wing stations are simply extensions of our Hynautic controls plus the bowthruster control. That means we don't have to learn two modalities for controlling things, and I think that is important.

We almost skipped over the watermaker, but added it at the end and cannot imagine cruising in the Bahamas without one.

Similarly, we initially opted for the mast and boom, but changed to the radar arch and have never looked back. The arch handsomely holds the radar and two domes (KVH Tracvision and a dummy that holds GPS receivers). It drops our air draft by about 4'. The choice did force us to install a hydraulic davit for the tender, but that has turned out to be a blessing as well, compared to motorizing the mast and a boom to do the lifting.

Finally, we love the warmth, lightness, and color of our cherry interior.

What can you tell us about generators and using appliances from the genset?

(As answered by a current Selene Owner):  On the subject of power, when we're at a dock we have no problems. However, we spend about 75% of our time on the hook in the style of cruising we have adopted, and have done little to modify our personal behavior. So, it isn't unusual to be making water, running the coldplate freezer, trying to wash or dry some clothes, and Andrea wants to blow dry her hair in the air-conditioned staterooms while dinner is cooking in the electric oven.

Well, it just doesn't all work that way with a 12.5kw genset. We have learned to schedule and balance our consumption, and have no major issues but given another chance we would consider either a larger (15kw) genset or alternatively a second smaller one (4-5kw) to handle light loads and take the pull off the inverter. Additionally, we might think of a couple solar panels on top of the pilothouse (where there is plenty of unused room) to keep the batteries topped up without moving the boat or running the genset.

Let me reiterate, however, all this is nice to have but we have found power management to be a deminimus issue.

We want to do a trans-Atlantic crossing? Will the Selene handle it?

(As answered by a current Selene Owner):  The Selene will handle it. Will you? Respectfully, ocean crossing is a tougher test of crew than of vessel, assuming the boat is well found. We know that Selenes have been delivered on their own bottom non-stop from Hong Kong to Australia and Japan so there is little doubt as to their ocean going capability. But spending hours, and sometimes days, in even 6-8' seas is grueling. It is a romantic notion to make a crossing, but too many have started and done a 180 less than a day out.

Even the runs down the West Coast of the U.S., Mexico, and Central America can be something to contend with. The passages are long, and there are only a fraction of the easily accessible harbors of refuge one finds throughout the East Coast, Bahamas, and Caribbean.

A factor many cruisers sometimes overlook is insurance. Underwriters really want to see a lot of credentials, put down a lot of special requirements, and heavily surcharge those pointing their stern to the mainland. They will often require an owner to hire one or two licensed captains in addition to whatever "crew" the owner recruits.

If you do want to cruise distant shores, there are services like Dockwise that will load the boat on a ship with other yachts and transport it to Europe, the Pacific, from the west coast to the east coast, etc. It saves all the slogging and wear and tear, and you and your boat wind up at the destination you're seeking relaxed and none the worse for wear.

An alternative, considering all the cost involved is to just charter for a month or so in those distant waters that are so alluring. Less expensive, and no wear and tear on the vessel or her crew.

What were some of your initial problems with the boat and how were they solved?

(As answered by a current Selene Owner):  It is no surprise that after commissioning, problems surface that were not detectable in that process. That's what a warranty is for, and in our case Jet Tern Marine stood squarely behind every issue we had. Specifically, it turned out that the stabilizer hydraulic and cooling systems were improperly installed at the factory. The solution was to re-hose the pump, and change the cooling to take water off the engine instead of a separate electric pump.

The other issues were minor and most involved a leak somewhere in the fresh water pressure system, all of which were solved by another quarter turn on a hose clamp. We did have to replace half a dozen teak planks in the deck. Again the manufacturer stood behind us, even shipping the teak so as to get a perfect match.

What are your thoughts on the 2-stateroom versus the 3-stateroom layouts?

(As answered by a current Selene Owner):  The layout of the Master Stateroom with its alcove did not work for us because we really needed an office where I could do my 5am puttering while Andrea stacked some more zzzzs. Also, we had guests aboard from time to time so there was bunk space if there were more than 4 of us, and great suitcase/clothes space on the bunks in the little stateroom if there were only 4. In our boat, the guest head was in the shower compartment, fully covered, and has never been a problem even to the most sensitive tush.

Some owners eliminate the rear spiral staircase from the cockpit to the bridge deck to have more room in the cockpit. Why didn't you?

(As answered by a current Selene Owner):  In our case, the reality is that the staircase to the boat/bridge deck was a major selling point. We used it constantly as a convenience, and when raising or lowering the dinghy. It is an essential safety feature. Absent the stairs we'd have to leave the dink at some stage of hanging while we changed places via the pilothouse/salon route. It would demand two to handle that operation, whereas in most conditions, I could handle it safely alone.

Having said that, we found the cockpit to be more than adequate for all our needs. It's not as though we were entertaining a dozen guests - the bridge is fine for that. //