The cost of fuel is relative to time.
Trawlers are not really that expensive to operate if you are on a 'perpetual cruise'. Its the same way with RVing. If for example, you take one week to make a 150 mile trip and return. You have now traveled 300 miles in one week. To simplify things, lets say you average 3 miles per gallon. Again this is a simplification of converting gph to actual miles traveled to come up with a hypothetical fig, of the 3 mpg. Anyway, you traveled a total of 300 miles that week at 3mpg which means you burned 100 gals at $3/gal or a total of $300 that week. To some people, this may be a lot of money. Now in this example, we are 'perpetual cruisers' which means no homes, cars etc.and time doesnt mean a damned thing because you are cruising for the rest of your life. So instead of making a 300 mile round trip, the 'perpetual cruiser' makes a 300 mile trip total. This may take him as long as a month since he has no schedules to meet.He stops along the way to smell the roses, or whatever. In any case, he burned the same 100 gals at the same $300 cost. The difference being that it took him a full month to burn the $300 dollars. Putting things in normal perspective, $300 / month in fuel bills, is really cheap by most standards. So, fuel costs of a trawler should not be considered as a major determining factor. I think with a motor sailor, you are kidding yourself as to what you will be able to do with it and at the same time limiting your cruising grounds by mast height. At one point or another in our lives we will be confronted with the decision of do I want to, or can I continue to sail, or do I swing over to power boating or give up the boating life altogether. Like I said earlier, in MOST instances, a motor sailer is the worst of both worlds. Someone mentioned that a trawler tends to roll in rough seas. This may be true, but in most cases of a sailor converting to a power boat, its usually due to age or physical limitations. In these cases, they tend to stay in more protected waters anyway. I dont care how young you are, if you started today, you will never be able to see all of the spectacular waterways in the U.S. Once i convert to a trawler, I will be an inland kinda guy. It opens up all new worlds that tall masts have kept you out of.
