Troller Yachts

George Buehler är en amerikansk konstruktör som har gjort uttrycket Troller populärt snarare än det mer vanliga Trawler. Båda namnen har grund i hur fiskebåtar från början och mitten av 1900-talet var utformade.

Troller är framförallt en långfärdsmotorbåt och hans konstruktioner har både gått Nordvästpassagen och runt Kap Horn.

George har många tankar om deplacerande båtar som är smala i förhållande till längden och drar lite bränsle med en tämligen liten motor  och hjälpsegel. De får därigenom en mycket lång räckvidd, i Georges konstruktioner (från 38 fot och uppåt) kan de flesta gå över Atlanten på en tank.

Om sina tankar har George skrivit en bok ”The Troller Yacht Book – How to cross oceans without getting wet or going broke” som nu finns i sin andra utgåva. Här finns många intressanta tankar som är intressanta även för oss som fortfarande seglar men ibland funderar på motorbåt …

Boken kan köpas som e-bok för 9 dollar från Booklocker, vilket jag gjorde och läste den på Ipaden i sängen, men datorskärmen fungerar lika bra.

Läs en bit ur boken! (PDF-fil)

Läs mer om Georges båtar ”Dieselducks”

Från bokens baksida:

When yacht designer George Buehler decided he no longer wanted to sit in a cockpit of a sailboat and steer with a stick, he created a line of cruising powerboats that many people could afford and sailors could still love. He called them Troller Yachts. Unlike those fuel guzzling seagoing bulldozers called Trawler Yachts, his new designs were based on the graceful salmon trollers of the Pacific Northwest, among the most fuel efficient, seaworthy, and beautiful powerboats ever built. This wasn’t particularly original because some west coast naval architects had designed boats based on troller types long before Buehler was even born. But Buehler took the idea and gave it a hull form that was inexpensive to build, fuel tankage for transcontinental range, and an interior specifically planned out for a couple to be comfortable full time living aboard as well as long term cruising. Finally, he added a simple sailplan that greatly stabilizes roll, helps fuel economy, and will get you to shore if the engine quits.

He named the first of these new designs DIESEL DUCK. Built of steel in California, powered by a small four cylinder diesel, and just 38 feet long, small for what many people thought an ocean going powerboat should be, she rapidly proved to be seakindly and comfortable to live in. But she did something else that nobody had expected. Wherever she went her rugged, simple, and traditional good looks stood out amidst all the white molded production boats, and soon Buehler was being asked to design more boats of this type. People wanted different lengths, different interiors, and even wood versions, so Buehler started designing variations on the Troller Yacht theme. People started building these new boats, and some of them added wonderful new ideas to the concept. Buehler happily incorporated many of them. Today, DIESEL DUCKS and his other fuel efficient Troller Yacht concepts are being built in various countries and are cruising on many of the world’s oceans.

For example, a 41 footer circumnavigated South America, sending out an email as she rounded Cape Horn. A 44 cruised from her builder’s yard in China, through the Red Sea, to Europe. Another spent two years single handing the South Pacific before ending up in Washington State. Several of the 462s have crossed the Pacific and at least one is in the middle of a circumnavigation. Today, Troller Yachts are quietly out doing their job and more are being built. They are being built by professional builders who turn out beautiful yachts with gorgeous interiors as well as home builders, some with small budgets and smaller skills but big dreams. And that is part of the Troller concept’s appeal; it includes many approaches, all valid and equally welcome.