In looking for a boat that would take us on a 6,500 mile journey around the East Coast and Canada, we had the premise of “getting the smallest boat you can stand to live on”.
Add to that the required size limit of less than 5’ draft and an air draft of 15 feet or less. The bigger the boat the more restrictive your route. We want to travel down all the smaller inland waterways so the smaller the better. The route will have us staying at a marina for two to three nights per week and the ability to pull into small slips at marinas on short notice will make life much easier.
A tricky part of the boat search was the boats ability to be trucked across the country. As you can tell so far, a smaller boat is economically better for every aspect of ownership and route planning/execution.
My two other requirements were; a single diesel engine and sufficient seaworthiness for an ocean passage to cruise the Bahamas. Most of the loop will be in shallow waters and with the single diesel, the propeller is protected from damage by the skeg. Regarding seaworthiness, the Camano is one of the strongest and well built boats made and other owners have put thousands of heavy weather miles on them. As to the argument for the safety of twin engines, my best reply is commercial fishing boats have run on single engines for millions of miles, most diesel problems are fuel related, so bad fuel will stop both motors.
We bought a 2002 Camano Troll, hull #166 (out of 300 built)
LOA 31′ LWL 28′ !! Beam 10’6″ Draft 3’3″
Displacement: 10,000 lbs The hull below the waterline is solid fiberglass with carbon fiber in high stress areas, and cored above the waterline for additional strength and soundproofing. It’s air draft is low enough to be trailered with some modifications and will fit under all the bridges on the loop.
The overall size is summed up as “Six folks for cocktails, four for dinner, two for sleeping”. We knew that we would for the most part, we would never have overnight guests.
The single Volvo-Penta / TAMD41P is a six cylinder diesel which puts out 200 hp through a four blade 20″ propeller.
The boat came equipped with GPS, Radar, auto pilot, diesel heater, and windless. It has an extremely well designed electrical system, consisting of a engine start battery with its own alternator, and a house battery system with its own alternator. The two systems can not be linked so the chances of complete battery failure preventing the boat from starting and running are slim. We have added a 320 watt solar system so we can anchor out for a few days without running the engine and an additional chart plotter but basically the boat is ready for long distance cruising. We plan on adding air conditioning when we get to the east coast.
With full tankage of 100 gal. fuel and 77 gal. water, her max speed is 17 knots at 3400 rpms, with a cruising speed of 7 to 8 knots at 1750 to 2000 rpms . Basically you can outrun a storm at 12 knots or cruise all day at 7 only burning about 1.3 to 1.4 gallons per hour.
I am really satisfied with the fuel burn, we plan on running 40 to 50 miles per each day, so at 7 to 8 knots your looking at 10 to 14 gallons of fuel per day !!
For more Camano information, there are several good articles – Camano Articles
