Diesel Duck 462 after 5 years and 10.000Nm (trawlerfans)

South Pacific Familyadventure 2008
Claes Brodin
Sun 26 Jan 2020 13:08
I have been the owner of Dora Mac for almost 5 years. During this time we have travelled the coast of Turkey, done a great passage through the Mediterranean,cruised around the entire Atlantic coast of Europe,crossed the Baltic Sea to Russia and last year cruised around the Atlantic coast of Norway and crossed the polar circle to the Arctic parts of Europe.
From summer in Turkey to winter in Arctic Norway temperatures have varied between +40centigrades to -16 centigrades putting different demands on boat and crew.
My aim is to give a view of my experiences from 5 years of ownership in different posts on the blog starting with the cruising and liveaboard perspective,followed by investments,experience from major systems onboard,major repairs performed and a final concluding remark with pros and cons of the DD 462(for a specific comparison between Nordhaven and Diesel Duck, please see article from Jeff Merill on the subject).
Diesel Duck 462 is a competent oceangoing passagemaker with all necessary equipment of todays standard for world cruising. For me being a sailor at heart voyaging under power is quite a different way of travelling the seas. To my opinion the major difference is the comfort on an oceangoing motortrawler with the backside of being less of a sport with less excitement. Not only is being under way much more comfortable but as a liveaboard a Diesel Duck is more comfortable than a sailboat of the same size.
So far I have experienced some bad weather out at sea with winds of 35kts gusting 40kts and allthough Dora Mac behaved well in headseas having heavy weather on the beam is not a pleasant experience. The paravanes do help but when being in heavy weather I allways wish I was on a sailboat. Having managed 2 survival storms on sailboats (crossing the North Atlantic and the North Sea)I would feel much safer heaving to under sail than hanging in a parachute anchor on Dora Mac.Having said that,I have heard of 2 Diesel Ducks managing bad weather with success. One heading up the Red Sea in a force 9(45-50kts) and one managing 40-45kts of winds 200Nm west of California. Both owners bragged about the performance of their boats.
Allthough being a very comfortable boat,another backside is also a complex boat loaded with complicated systems that takes time to learn and maintain (probably goes for all oceangoing motortrawlers).
Next post will deal with investments so far,and maintainance.


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