Most experienced (older) sailors like a stable sailboat that's easy to own and looks traditional. When I say easy to own, I mean inexpensive to buy. When its time to move to a trawler after having owned a sailboat for years, most sailors will miss their old boat's handling characteristics. Most powerboats are built to go fast and don't feel the same as a sailboat. I can't think of any inexpensive trawler built today with a keel and ballast that can be transported on a trailer. A recycled sailboat may be a sailor's solution to owning a small trawler.

The latest information follows this paragraph and the old stuff is at the bottom of the page.

Our Coastal Packet needed a float test to determine the boot stripe position before bottom painting. We plan on doing several barrier coats and black bottom paint. We also needed to run the engine in the water and check that everything worked. The engine cooling water system failed the test. We had a hose air leak at a pump connection. Our fuel gauge hasn't been installed yet and we ran out of fuel during our water problem testing. We only put a small amount of fuel in the tank because this diesel only uses small amounts of fuel. We didn't consider the additional fuel needed to fill the lines and filters. We added 2 gallons of fuel to the tank, bleed the engine and the engine ran again. A new hose was needed to repair the leak. We need to install that fuel gauge. We liked the boot stripe position in the water. The transom is out of the water and it will be more so as we load the cabin with cargo. The boat is very stable at the dock and that made getting off and on the boat easy. The boat maintains a level position from side to side with one person at the helm position. A seating position close to the boat's centerline and the boat's width and ballast make this possible. Com-Pac recently asked us about our brand of windows. They considered making a trawler several years ago and maybe a Com-Pac Trawler is in the works. We can hope. We think we will make our own forward pulpit. Bending stainless steel tubing is pretty easy and the deck fittings are available pre-made. The pulpit will be big enough to match the anchor system. The handrails for the top of the house can't be installed until we make the top mold. We plan on installing stainless handrails after we build the mold.

The inside steering on our Coastal Packet 20 has been completed. It's mechanical steering and imported from the West Coast. The steering systems that I have used in the past have too much free play in the helm assembly. We also had to install a disconnect between the wheel and tiller. The tiller can't move the wheel or the rudder when they are connected. When they are connected, the tiller will be a flagpole that will wave Old Glory when the wheel is turned. The forward Vetus hatch has been installed and looks good. We are installing a new drain system in the cockpit. The aft seat gutters are very shallow on a Sun Cat. If the boat is on a trailer and leaning too far to one side, the low gutter will fail in a downpour. Adding a drain system should prevent this problem. I plan on showing the system on the DIY Web page soon. Most Trawler people are sailors and installing a mast on CURVES is on our "To Do" list. Many traditional trawlers use a mast and boom to hoist equipment and others use them with a small sail. Sailing our trawler with its longer keel and a tiller should be easy. We will not be the fastest boat on the pond, but sailing the trawler will be fun. The sailing rig will have a mast tender hinge and will be easy to remove. The lower mast stub will be a permanent fixture (cockpit floor to a little higher than the top of the house) and will position the running lights above the house. The stub can be used as a handhold when entering and leaving the house. We need to come up with a price for a used Sun Cat modification. A smaller house, diesel, extended keel and a small sailing rig will work on our older Sun Cats. The extended hull could be optional. Removing the centerboard will be required. The longer keel makes the centerboard unnecessary.

I think the name for the first Coastal Packet 20 will be CURVES. You can see from the picture below that the house roof curve matches the upper transom deck curve. The aft part of the rudder matches the lower transom curve and so on. This Trawler is a bunch of curves. Clark Mills designed the original Sun Cat with a rounded cockpit and a nice curve in the sheer.

The rain test was good. We had 1 little leak and that was easy to fix. The canvas is currently being made. I decided on no windows in the canvas to make it easy to roll up when it's not being used. The new wheel has arrived and we put it in for pictures. The wheel is too pretty to be exposed to dust and dirt during the building process. The table next to the wheel can be bigger. I had planned on a larger wheel, but this one will do just fine. With a larger table, I can install a top mounted control unit for the engine. The small table would have make a side mounted unit mandatory. The head will be mounted behind the helm and out of sight. The passenger seat will be similar to the helm seat, but it will pivot forward for easy access and back again for sleeping room. The last major change to this boat will be a cabin entrance. I like the engine in the middle of the cabin floor for good access and using the area on the port side of engine as an entrance will require cockpit modifications. It going to be fun.

Our Coastal Packet 20 is outside being rain tested. We plan on washing the boat and leaving it outside for the time being to check for topside leaks. We also need our air conditioned shop space for other boats. It has been too hot to work on boats outside. The 20 still needs to have the cabin canvas made and other detail work. You can see in the picture that we are using a piece of plywood as a substitute for the canvas. The engine should work as installed. We still have to bleed the fuel system and I would like to install a fuel gauge before we do our sea trials. The inside is waiting on the wheel. We ordered a wood spoke wheel that's 20 inches in diameter. I could install the inside steering system with that dimension, but I would rather have the wheel in hand first. The location of helm seat depends on where the wheel is located. Arm, leg and foot room needs to be comfortable and well planned.

The Coastal Packet 20 is almost ready on the outside. It seems like we have been working on little details forever. A boat has about two thirds of its building process devoted to details. They have to be done, but it takes a long time to do them all. A big detail was a smooth joint between the house and the existing Sun Cat deck. Connecting the house to the deck was easy and our primary joint is very strong. Making it look like the deck and house was made in one piece requires more time, effort and a little bit of talent. We have one person on our staff that's good with this type of detail work. Look at the joint between the house and cabin in the picture below. The primary console has been built and the engine instrument is in place. The console will have a table on top. We need the engine instrument, the battery and battery switch to test run the engine. All the other engine parts are in place and the engine is wired. We are ready for a test run soon. With the engine ready, we need to also install the windows and the other interior items to get a good weight and balance test with our engine test. The canvas curtain the closes off the entrance to the house has yet to be made. We plan on using a blue canvas with windows. The curve of the house roof on the 20 will prevent us from using standard awning tracks like the one used on the 16. We had a CDI furling tube in stock and that's going to work like an awning track. We will sew a #6 furling stripe to our canvas and that will slide into the furling groove in the tube. The battery switch and the engine shut off cable are located on the panel on the right. They can be reached from the cabin and the cockpit. The panel is a fold down panel with 2 hidden hinges. Ease of maintenance is a primary goal. The little table between that panel and the console will hold small items like pencils. The engine controls in the cabin will be mounted on the vertical teak panel below the table and the panel also hide wiring and cables. The console wheel and the helm seat will be some the last items to be installed.

The top mold for the 16 trawler has been completed and looks good. We think we can sell a laminate for the 16 for about $1K. People building their own boats will have the hard part done. Shipping will be extra. The laminate for our boat will be foam cored and attached permanently to our vertical side panels. We will be painting our 16 soon. The deck will be a cream color and the hull is going to be blue.

Our Coastal Packet 20 is being detailed and the detail work takes lots of time. The inside finish is going to be white Formica with teak trim. We saw a good looking light brown marble Formica at Lowes and we might use that for our table tops. The brown marble tops should reduce the inside glare. We built the console for the helm where the wheel will be centered behind the starboard window. The helm seat is centered behind the console. We will have lots of small storage and a place for an ice chest and a cockpit stove. The inside roof finish will be a grooved panel. We plan on making a laminate using a 4X8 panel from Lowes. The panel has grooves and the panel will be our mold. A thin laminate will be made from the mold and it will be the inside finish. We will cut the laminate to fit and connect it to the top with a filler resin made for that kind of connection. We are currently working on the finish connection between the house and the cockpit. This connection and several others need to be sealed before the boat can live outside in the elements. The boat is really ready for our first test run down the river when the weather gets warm. An hour or two connecting the engine wiring and the boat is ready to roll. The 16 Trawler is waiting on warm weather to paint. We would like to see 50 degrees or more for a night time temperature.

It's been cold outside and working inside has been the only option during the cold months. We did have a nice day yesterday and we decided to do some finish work on the keel. It takes 60 degrees for paint, gel-coat and resin to work. Yesterday was a 70-degree day with some sunshine. We filled the rough spots on the keel and applied several coats of glazing. After the keel was smooth, we had time for 1 coat of gel-coat before quitting time. The bottom gel-coat doesn't have to be perfect because the boat will have a barrier coat and bottom paint at some point. The keel and hull extensions did what I wanted them to do. I had doubts about the boat's appearance until we started the finish work. The boat's design appearance was on the computer and in my mind's eye until we started with the gel-coat. I must have changed the transom angle 3 or 4 times during the building process. Custom boats are built as you go. The control console has been secured inside the house. The console will be what catches your eye when you look inside. Most of the tables and shelves will connect to and be part of that console. To test the engine, the console and its associated components need to be installed. We plan on running the engine soon. Talking about engines, we just installed a new Vetus diesel in a 23 Com-Pac. The glass on the aft edge of the keel was 1 inch thick on this 86 model. We installed the engine in an almost horizontal plane. I think the drive angle will be better than the factory version. We will have do more glasswork on the keel, but I think the horizontal drive angle will be worth the effort.

The first part of the building process was lots of fun. We didn't know for sure how the finished boat was going to look. We are looking forward to our first performance test soon. The boat should be ready by warm weather. We finished the inside design last week. It all came together at one time and we were pleased. A plan for access to the cabin, the sleeping spaces, the head, inside seats for a passenger and the helm has been completed. The inside will be teak and Formica covered birch. The teak will be used for vertical surfaces and the Formica will be used on horizontal surfaces. The main instrument on the steering console will be the engine control panel. The types of seats and how they function will work well. A small boat has to be well designed on the inside if it's going to do everything well.

We found a good link to the Com-Pac 16 Trawler article that was published in Small Carft Advisor. This boat is similar to the current boat, but it has some differences. Our new boat will have bunks and a bench seat inside the house. The house is also a little more aft in our new version. The windows, aft cabin curtain and the top will be the same. We should start painting the new boat soon.

Both Trawlers are in work. The battery box has been installed in the 20 with a storage area under the forward deck. Both installations are in the bow area. The instrument console for the 20 has been put together. We have been using lots of white Formica as a finishing material for inside furniture. You fabricate you structure from plywood or glass and then glue the Formica to the structure with resin and silica. The silica thickens the resin and makes a good glue. We coat both sides and put heavy weights on the top to make a good seal. Formica can be scored along the edge between the panel and Formica and broken on that scored line. We glue the Formica to a panel surface that has a straight edge. Using a box cutter, we scored the Formica along the straight edges. After a few passes with the knife, we bend the Formica a little and it snap's in a straight line. A fast way to make a nice, clean finish. The interior on the 20 will be mostly white with lots of teak trim. Moveable seats, drawers, table, a head, an ice chest with lots of ventilation is on the drawing board. The engine wiring is almost complete and the fuel system is waiting for the fuel supply and return hoses. We should crank the engine soon. The house on the 16 has been glassed in place. We need to finish the finish work before we prime the whole boat. We plan on three coats of primer. Sanding between coats will give us a good base for the AWL-CRAFT finish paint. Painting requires 50 degree temperature days and we are hoping for some heat during January and February. The windows, trailer and motor controls are in stock and ready for installation. We still need to buy the control cables and a fixed motor mount. The mold for the fuel tank installation is almost complete. This installation will provide storage for a portable fuel tank. The tank storage is designed to be vented to the outside and safe from fumes on the inside. This is a good modification for any older Com-Pac 16 with an outboard fuel tank. The tank storage container will be removable for boat maintenance.

We mounted our original plug top on our new 16 trawler and it fits. You can see from the pictures that this new boat will have a different look than the original prototype. The house is more aft on the hull and has a different interior design. The first boat didn't have bunks. I think this boat will have 1 small round port forward on the lower part of the cabin. The fun part of putting it together is about finished and the hard work of doing the finish work has started. All the joints have to be filled and rounded and the boat has to be painted. The boat will have several coats of primer and a fine finish coat of Awlcraft Marine paint. A long bow pulpit from the Com-Pac Legacy will be part of our standard equipment and is going to look good on this boat.

We have cut the deck and installed the house on our current Com-Pac 16 Trawler. This boat will be similar to our first trawler 16, but it will have some additional features (bunks and a head). We also hope to reduce the cost of construction and make a better boat with better materials. The boat on the trailer will still go through a 7-foot garage door and will have the good looks of the original boat. We think this boat is going to have a blue hull with a cream colored top. With a new trailer and engine controls, it should sell for about $12K

We had a nice day and it was time to put our Coastal Packet 20 in the water for a balance test. That test needed to be completed before we made some of our final design decisions. We started off with 45 pounds of lead in the stern to simulate fuel weight. The plan was to take extra lead and make fine balance adjustments when the boat was in the water. That didn't happen because we ran out of time and the parking lot was some distance from the ramp. It would have been too far to carry lead. You can see from the pictures that the bow needs to come down about 4 inches. The cabin was empty in the test and we plan on adding bunks, a battery and a bulkhead as far forward as possible. The steering console and seats will add additional weight forward, but not as far as those other components. We are happy with the results so far and plan on doing some fancy inside work without the worry of too much weight forward.

A mockup of the 16 console has been completed. It will house the wheel, controls and a few other odds and ends. The inside of hull has been refurbished and looks good. The boat will have sleeping for two, storage and a head. That's a bunch of stuff for a 16-foot boat. A hatch on the house, bow pulpit and ladder will be available options. We are going to put the deck back on the hull and we plan on cutting the deck next. The house will be temporarily put in place to mark the cut lines for the deck. When the deck has been cut, we will glass the house panels in place. We are currently building a mold for the top of the house. This one feature alone gives this boat's it unique character. Some people call it cute.

We finished with the interior paint on the 16 and we have fabricated the teak floor for the forward self. The house has been cut from 1/2-inch "COOSA" and glassed on 1 side. We will put glass on the both sides before it’s installed. The deck is currently upside down after painting the interior. The plan is put 3 coats of primer on all the exterior surfaces. The deck and house will be a light cream color to compliment a dark green hull. I voted for a red hull, but I didn't have the votes when everyone else wanted a green hull. We have the windows for the house, the motor mount and the trailer is in stock. The Coastal Packet (Com-Pac Sun Cat) is on its new trailer and just about ready for a float test. I plan on using 50 pounds of lead in the cabin to simulate the windows that I haven't installed and another 25 pounds of will take the place of diesel fuel that's also not in the boat. We almost made it to the water last week, but it turned cold and blew a gale. They forecast warm weather for this coming week.

New Trawler I'm going to change the subject a little bit. We started a new trawler project on a 1977 Com-Pac 16. These boats were built like tanks back in those good old days and this boat is a good example. The hull is extra heavy and well made. This boat has been a dry boat and the inside is excellent. It had the standard deck core problems associated with those early years, but we will be replacing the bad part with the a new house. The boat will have a 5HP Honda as power with a vented fuel compartment. The motor will have remote controls mounted inside the cabin on a console with a wood wheel. We are currently using a textured paint on the inside with excellent results. The bunks will be covered with a textured material like the material used on the new Legacy. The inside will have lots of teak trim with and an off white background. It's going to be a pretty boat. The boat is going to have 2 bunks, a place for a toilet, the looks of a trawler and will go under a 7 foot garage door. A really "compact" package.

Chapter 2 Most of the major construction items are completed. The rudder and the rear hatch are still being built, but that's about all that has to be done on the outside. The hatch is going to have a Com-Pac 27 seat hatch cover. It's large and I can go through the hole. The fuel tank, steering and other components are in the stern and will need attention from time to time. The fuel tank can be removed through that hatch. I was sitting back there the other day and it felt like I was in the rumble seat of a Model A. The boat is going to have a tiller in the cockpit and a wheel in the cabin. A tiller head and a tiller arm will be positioned on the rudder shaft. The rudder shaft is going to be 1-inch stainless steel and the rudder blade will be 1/4-inch stainless steel plate. A trailing rudder will follow the boat and prevent rudder wander. I'm not a fan of over center rudders on small boats. The trailer for the trawler is on the yard and the first pictures of the boat in the water should be available soon.

Chapter 1 We started off with the fiberglass components of a Sun Cat sailboat and a computer drawing of what we wanted in a trailerable trawler. Our progress towards getting it built and opertional has been slow. Our normal work schedule keeps getting in the way. We are going to remove the words and pictures showing the building process to this point. We need to save some space on our Web site and it was lots of stuff. Our article will continue from where we are now until we finish the project. The first picture is a computer drawing of our first design. We put a few pictures together from Chapter 1 into one image. They take up less space on our server and they are the second picture below.