T&T: Gulfstar Trawlers and Dave Pasco

[Elliott Bray]

As someone recently said. "Now your talking about my momma!!".

I think we will have to dig a little deeper here and pose a question WE
can't answer.

David's 'review' of the Gulfstar 43 Trawler is at the very least six years
old. I read it in 2002 when I was looking for a boat.
He said   "For a lot of years us surveyors made fun of  Gulfstars, but if
this boat is kept up as well as she has been, she's easily good for another
20 years. For someone looking for a project boat, we'd say this is a very
good choice, and at this age you can certainly find some clunkers out there.
If you can find a good one like this, so much the better. Its definitely a
solid boat worthy of consideration, no matter how many other crummy boats
Gulfstar built."  He has no reviews of any other Gulfstar power boats.

Pascoe's book, "Mid Size Power Boats", was last published in 2003. None of
us (unless Pascoe is a listee) knows when he last updated the section on
Gulfstars.  There were several more models with significant changes and
whole lot of boats built after the "...round bilge trawlers ...", the last
of which was the '43 built in '77.

	         Production    Hull Type	Len	Engines
                    Years
36 Trawler	      1972-76   Semi-Disp   36      80hp Perkins
43 Trawler	      1972-77   Semi-Disp   43.3    ? Probably Perkins
53 Trawler	      1975-76   Full Disp   53	160 Perkins

44 Motor Cruiser  1978-80   Full Disp   44.5    130, 165 Perkins
38 Motor Cruiser  1980-84   Semi-Disp   38      115hp, 200 Perkins

48 Motor Yacht    1981-83   Modified-V  49      290hp 6-71N, 390hp 6-71TI
49 Motor Yacht    1984-87   Modified-V  49      350hp Perkins, 432 6-71, 375
Cat, 6V92TA
44 Motor Yacht    1985-86   Modified-V  43.75   300hp Cat
44 Widebody MY    1986-88   Modified-V  43.75   375hp Cat
(data from the 2002 PowerBoat Guide)

Possibly since I own one, I think the 44 Motor Cruiser is the best loop-boat
of the bunch. It has a deep keel protecting the gear and can't go fast
enough to tempt me to burn lots of fuel. I cruise at 9 mph at 4 gph. And, it
fits the  "...solid boat..." category rather than having  "...deteriorated
to the point of no return."
You can see that the Motor Yachts are a significantly different boat.

****************
Elliott Bray, wintering in Austin,TX
M/V Letitia - Gulfstar 44 MC
In heated storage in Whitehall, Michigan
www.loopcruiser.com
****************



> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 2 May 2008 00:43:51 -0400
> From: "Adam Trachtenberg" <amtberg at bellsouth.net>
> Subject: T&T: Gulfstar Trawlers and Dave Pasco
> To: <trawlers-and-trawlering at lists.samurai.com>
> Message-ID: <000001c8ac0f$1efe5350$0202fea9 at glowysteel>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>
> I know nothing about the boats, but as someone quoted Pascoe
> in support of them I think I should mention what he said
> about them in his book, "Mid Size Power Boats":
>
> "Gulfstar
>
> This long defunct company started up in St. Petersburg,
> Florida in 1971 and produced a very large number of sailboats
> and low price round bilge trawlers from 36 to 53 feet.
> Unfortunately, their hulls were fraught with problems, often
> of a serious nature.  Since I know these boats well, I can
> say that I know of no rhyme or reason why some go bad and
> others don't.  Large numbers of them have deteriorated to the
> point of no return.  At this point in time, I wouldn't
> suggest these boats as a viable option to all but the most
> desperate to own a larger boat. Caveat emptor."