Which boat is best for the Great loop?
AGLCA Blog
SEP16Which Boat is Best for the Loop
By Kim Russo in Looper Boats
“What kind of boat do I need to cruise the Great Loop?”
We hear this question over and over, and, unfortunately, there’s no simple (and no right or wrong) answer.
There are people cruising the Great Loop on vessels as small as personal watercraft and as large as 70-foot yachts. In the end, it comes down to personal preference.
However, if you’re seeking information on suitable Looping boats, telling you that it all comes down to “personal preference” is not really helpful. Boaters new to long distance cruising, struggling to determine a) what type of boat they want, and b) how much it will cost, need more concrete facts.
So, to be of some assistance to those Loopers, here are some tips and stats we’ve gathered over the years:
Your Looping boat must be able to clear a 19.1 foot bridge in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. That’s the lowest, unavoidable fixed object on the Loop (the western part of the Erie Canal has some lower bridges, but they can be avoided by altering your Great Loop route).
In a review of nearly 4,000 boats owned by AGLCA members, the average boat length is 39.5 feet, with 51% of the boats reported as between 35 and 45 feet in length
The most popular type of boat owned by our members is, not surprisingly, a trawler. Popular brands among members include Carver, Defever, Grand Banks, Hattaras, Kadey Krogen, Mainship, Marine Trader, Searay, and Silverton.
A sailboat is a suitable Looping boat if you un-step the mast (for the reason listed in #1). About 9% of AGLCA members own sailboats, while the other 91% own power boats.
Besides length-over-all and type of vessel, there are other considerations, most of which come down, once again, to personal preference. These include:
One engine or two?
Gasoline or diesel?
Optional equipment and features (dinghy, washer/dryer, auto-pilot, ice maker, etc.)?
Ask 10 current Loopers and you’ll get 10 different answers to the above. There are no “right” answers, but you and your first mate (or Admiral, as the case may be), should discuss the options. We’ve seen boats with fireplaces, full size refrigerator/freezers, gyro-stabilizers – all great features for some, but not everyone needs them.
Generally, we recommend doing the Great Loop on the smallest boat you (and the people and pets accompanying you) can comfortably live aboard for an extended period. By traveling in a smaller boat, you can experience all the places along the Loop a larger boat can’t go. Exploring the nooks and crannies along the way is part of the fun! But know yourself and your crew, and if creature comforts are important, make them a priority. You can always dinghy in to get a closer look at those harder-to-reach places.
One current trend we have seen is smaller Looping boats. Some members are opting for trailerable boats, like the “pocket trawlers” offered by American Tug, C-Dory, and Ranger Tug. A trailerable boat gives you maximum flexibility for Looping, especially if your plans call for you to do the Great Loop in smaller segments over a longer period of time with breaks to return home in between.
An ideal place to see and board several types of Looping boats is an AGLCA Rendezvous. Between 40 and 60 vessels typically travel to these events and dock at the facility’s marina. Each day we hold “Looper Crawls” where the members with boats in the marina welcome other attendees aboard to tour their vessels. This is a great opportunity to get a feel for the options available and ask questions of the owners about the pros and cons of their specific boat as they are doing the Loop. Our members-only discussion is another perfect place to ask questions and seek further advice on boats you are considering for your Great Loop cruise.
Perhaps the best advice on selecting your perfect Looping boat comes from one of our members:
“The best boat for doing the Loop is the one that you can pull away from the dock in. We have talked to so many people over the years that have this or that reason for not getting started. ‘We don’t have diesels, it’s too small, it’s too big, we don’t have a generator, we need new electronics’ and on and on. With a couple dozen boats in our past we still haven’t found the perfect boat and probably never will. But we did take the step of pulling away from the dock on the adventure of a lifetime.”
I couldn’t have said it better.