John,

Cruising the loop really consists of two very different kinds of life activity.  First, there is the boat: boat piloting and navigation, boat provisioning, boat living, boat maintenance, and boat weather.  But second, the loop is a social experience.  You will meet many other travelers along the way, and you will be in interesting and varied places all along the route.  You will want to go ashore to take advantage of sightseeing and social opportunities.  We thought we would anchor out a lot, but we found we used marinas more than we had expected in order to enjoy time with friends and see new things.  These social considerations make managing fuel, water and waste holding capacities somewhat easier, because they fit fairly easily into the routine of daily life aboard.  More on this later.

There are several "sacred cows" buried in the question you've asked about which is "the best" boat.  Quite simply, personal preference is so important in that question that there simply is no one answer.  My ideal boat may be bad for you, and vice versa.  If as you stated in your original question, you know you want fore and aft staterooms and heads, the two boats that have already been mentioned on this list (the AT 34 and the Krogan Manatee) may not meet your preference.  They both have large salons and offer excellent living space, but trade off sleeping space to get it.  Pilot House boats generally enforce the owners preference to run the boat from inside.  We personally prefer to run from the flybridge, which we do on our "classic" Monk trawler almost exclusively.  Most Pilot House boats (AT34, Nordic Tug, others) have limited visibility aft, and particularly if dealing with sideways set and drift, that can be problematic.  There are many places on the loop where visibility aft is important to staying in a channel.  This is a common issue in Florida (both coasts and Lake Okeechobee).  If you go with a Pilot House boat, be sure to verify at sea trail that you'll have the visibility you personally prefer while piloting.  The traditional trawlers with forward and aft staterooms (Monk, Albin, Grand Banks, and others) are generally flybridge dual helm station boats, which offer very good 360 degree visibility.  These "classic" trawlers can be single handed in locking situations very easily from the salon helm station, just as pilot house boats can.  The Manatee offers both a large salon and a flybridge.  But, it does not have a walkaround deck, so single handing in locks requires practice and thought.  Anyway, there are pros and cons that only your personal taste can settle for you.  If you're not (never) going to be single handing, this discussion is moot.  If you are going to be single handing often, it's extremely important.

Likewise, with the question of engines, there are pros and cons.  Some people feel that dual engines provide a margin of safety in that it's unlikely you'd lose them both at the same time.  Some people feel that a fast trawler or cruiser allows you to run from approaching bad weather.  Most of the anecdotal lost engine stories I've heard over our 9 years aboard involve fuel issues, and both engines were affected.  The good news there is that on the loop, you'll turn over your fuel loadout 6 - 8 times, so the fuel aboard will generally be pretty fresh and clean.  With two engines, maintenance and maintenance costs are doubled and physical access for maintenance is problematic.  Single engine trawlers are generally fit with full keels and protected running gear.  There are lots of areas on the loop where the water is shallow and the bottom unforgiving, and every looper has knows of encounters between props and rocks.  So, for lots of reasons, I personally prefer a single engine configuration, but others will have other equally valid opinions.  Your preferences will settle that decision for you.  If severe weather is likely, thinking you'll outrun it is very risky.  To me, it's much better to have good communications equipment and stay in port.  There are only two things that really, really scare me about boating: fire aboard and lightening!  No small plastic yacht is made to take a lightening hit without serious damage, and there is plenty of open water on the loop.  Better to hide, and live to run another day.

I would ass/u/me you would not even consider a gasoline fueled boat.  Gasoline flashes at standard atmospheric temperature and pressure, so the boat is just a floating bomb.  Diesel is far safer.  That said, though, do give some thought to fire suppression; both equipment and emergency response.

The fuel, water and waste stores question will vary from boat to boat and power plant to power plant.  Most displacement and deep-vee semi-displacement hulled plastic trawlers in the 40' range will carry around 300 gallons of diesel.  If you get 2.5 - 3 StM/Gal, then you'll have a range of 600 - 700 miles.  Heavy genset use can affect that slightly.  Most knowledgeable people say an 8KW genset will use 0.5 - 0.75 gallons/hr.  300 gallons of diesel is plenty of onboard capacity to do the loop or visit the Bahamas.  The longest distance between fuel stops on the great loop route is on the Mississippi/Ohio River from just above St. Louis to Kentucky Lake.  That's around 240 StM.  We carry 140 gallons of water, which I think is on the high side for trawlers in our size class.  That lasts 2 adults about 6 to 10 days for drinking and cooking; the largest driver of water use is showers.  Learn to take GI showers.  We do not have a washer/dryer aboard.  Some folks consider them essential.  If you do, you will consume aHr of electricity capacity and gallons of water to feed it.  You will not need the expense or maintenance overhead of a watermaker for US Coastal and Near Coastal cruising.  Even for the Bahamas, positive ROI for a watermaker is measured in years, not months.  We have a 40 gallon waste holding tank.  That lasts two people 6 - 8 days.  So going back to the opening discussion, the social aspects of doing the great loop brought us into marinas - on the average - ever other day or so; around 4 nights out of 7, average.  Fuel, water and pumpout are all easily available within those parameters.  Even if you don't stay in marinas, they are available all along the way.  If you travel with a dog, particularly a larger dog, you'll probably use marinas more than that as a matter of convenience for the dog.

Hope this helps.

Jim

Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary
Currently at Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, FL
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436

Snip:"...Most Pilot House boats (AT34, Nordic Tug, others) have limited
visibility aft, and particularly if dealing with sideways set and drift,
that can be problematic.... Most of the anecdotal lost engine stories I've
heard over our 9 years aboard involve fuel issues, and both engines were
affected. ....physical access for maintenance is problematic.  Single engine
trawlers are generally fit with full keels and protected running gear.  ...
We carry 140 gallons of water, which I think is on the high side for
trawlers in our size class...We have a 40 gallon waste holding tank.  That
lasts two people 6 - 8 days.  ..."

Jim has provided a great summation on loop boat selection, however I would
like to add a little contrast using my sacred cow (of course my favorite
boat is mine) a Great Harbour N-37.

It is a 37' displacement hulled twin engine flush deck trawler style boat
(last hoist weight loaded was 43,000lbs.) that defies much of the criticisms
of twin engine boats. Both yanmar 54hp natural engines have keel protected
props and either one can drive the boat to cruise speed. I have had 4
failures that required getting home on one engine. All mechanical failure
related except the rogue fish pot float wrapped around a prop.  None were
fuel related. While we have a fly bridge, I have maximum visibility at the
salon lower helm from which I can most easily dock, see my swim platform
ladder and beyond as well as access our 360 degree walk around deck with
stout safe rails which makes locking/docking very easy.
The boat has a stand up/walk-in/walk around engine room which provides
"unrestricted" access to both engines and all the systems except the bow
thruster/windlass batteries under the master bed.
The tanks on this 37' boat are very large: 500gal fuel, 300gal water and a
100+gal holding tank.  This boat was designed by Lou Codaga NA/PE to be a
shallow draft (3' in fresh) with a very low center of gravity making it self
stabilized. Storage is also unmatched in its class due to its 16' beam and
hard chine design.

OK. Now let the ox goring commence!

Joe
M/V "Carolyn Ann" GH N-37
MTOA# 3813
AGLCA# 5485 (Platinum Looper)
http://carolynann-n37.blogspot.com/
Joseph.pica@gmail.com

Definitely no ox goring from me on this.  "Carolyn Ann" is definitely not your "typical" boat.  She's not a typical trawler (pilot house or classic), and certainly not a typical cruiser.  In may ways, she's the best of all worlds (and compromises).  I suspect Jay Wigginton would say the same things about "Sails," but the Florida Bay Cruiser is also not your "typical" boat!

Thanks, Joe!

Jim

Peg and Jim Healy aboard Sanctuary
Currently at Charlotte Harbor, Punta Gorda, FL
Monk 36 Hull #132
MMSI #367042570
AGLCA #3767
MTOA #3436