Welcome to the "Cottonwood" Trawler Page
Kick off your street shoes,
Step aboard and lets go for a cruise to the islands!
"Time is the ultimate currency. We
may talk in terms of dollars but ultimately we trade in hours.
By that measure, life is better. Much better." -
Anonymous
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Welcome to the "Cottonwood" Trawler Page Kick off your street shoes, |
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Lynn and I are back from our 15,000 mile, 2 year cruise! To see our "Chronicles", click the Menu left
The DeFever Design Model - 46 Feet
(49 overall), American Marine, "Alaskan" Trawler Yacht, Designed by
Arthur DeFever Our Cruising will continue after some post-cruise refurbishment. We just can't say enough about our Cottonwood. She has done everything we hoped for and then some! Everywhere we went we had people wanting to buy her, saying what the perfect cruise boat she was. After all, what boat under $200,000 can give you everything we have, a wonderfully looking, seaworthy, coastal worthy, river worthy, true live aboard, that has the warmth and comfort and quiet of a wood hull. We bought a wooden boat because of much research which lent these consistent values: "wooden boats give more value, they are still the best material to build with, maintenance is about the same as with the fiberglass boats, maybe less if you are diligent. A good wood boat will still Increase in value, a wood boat is warmer, dryer, quieter and gives a better sea ride than fiberglass.' Good Ol' Boat' Magazine' The main reason they don't build out of wood today is cost. A wood boat expert valued our boat if built today at over $1,300,000. The new 45' Alaskan replacement, in fiberglass, is around $600,000. Our "Cottonwood" is our
'non-person'
pride and joy in the family. We have now traveled up to San Francisco, up to Sacramento, down through Mexico and Central America, througj the Caribbean to the Eastern U.S., then completed The Great American Loop up to The Great Lakes and back! We are back home in Southern California and we are in the process of cleaning, touch up painting and re-varnishing. To read about our adventures, click Cruising in the Menu
Wooden Boats! DeFever's are well known for quality design, and our was built at the Grand Banks facility, which is known for the highest quality materials and craftsmanship. (Yes, we are proud) See our boat in GBWoodies.com For more information on Wood Boats, see these articles:
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We have really enjoyed our Great American Loop cruise, as well as the route through the Panama Canal and Caribbean to get to the East Coast. The major comment regarding Cottonwood is, "A 4 foot 9 draft boat is a little too much to do the Great Loop with the least trouble. But it is doable with safety and comfort." We touched bottom many times, but everyone we met say they touch bottom many times doing the Loop and transiting the Intra Coastal Waterway up the East Coast of the US . It has been an adventure that we will never forget, and never regret doing. Further, it would not have been possible with a boat with a draft less than ours, traveling the route we wanted to take. We chose a full keel displacement trawler, with ocean stability, in order to travel from Southern California, through the Panama Canal, through the Caribbean, and across the Gulf of Mexico to Florida, in order to make the Great Loop Voyage. A more shallow draft craft would not have been safe to make this voyage. We did research all available boats under $200,000, and this is the ONLY boat that we felt should make the trip. In hindsight, we were very pleased with our choice. A larger boat would have been too big to do the loop easily, and a smaller or less stable boat would not have safely made the passages to get to the East Coast.
"We wish all of you who cruise, fair weather, and may the wind always be at your back. But we know better, and that's just part of the adventure."©
Miscellaneous information for out boat owner friends:
General Info:
Warning from Canadian
Transport, Marine Safety Division: "The use of roll damping paravane systems
(paravane stabilizers)"
