Trawlers
for Sale

A trawler trades speed for range, comfort, and economy: displacement or semi-displacement hulls, efficient diesels, and liveaboard volume that planing boats cannot match. It is the category people buy when the plan is the Bahamas for a season, the Great Loop, or simply years aboard.

It is also the category where systems matter most - a trawler is a small ship, and tankage, stabilization, electrical capacity, and engine health decide whether the dream works. Greg Gaus spent 20+ years as a working captain living with exactly these systems offshore, and represents trawler buyers as buyer's broker - the seller pays the commission.

Florida is the natural place to buy one: most US trawler inventory lies between Fort Lauderdale, the Gulf coast, and the east coast of Florida, close to the surveyors and yards that know these boats and a short hop from the Bahamas crossing they are bought for. The live selection below spans the whole US market, with Florida boats front and center.

What exactly is a trawler yacht? A displacement or semi-displacement motor yacht designed for range and efficiency rather than speed - typically single or twin diesels running at 7-10 knots, with large tankage and liveaboard accommodation. The name comes from the fishing trawlers the hull form was borrowed from.

How far can a trawler go on one tank? Many true displacement trawlers run 1,500-3,000+ nautical miles at passage speed, enough for serious coastal cruising and, on ocean-capable hulls, transatlantic legs. Range figures on each detail page above come from the listing data - verify them at survey with actual burn numbers.

Are trawlers expensive to run? Per mile they are among the cheapest large boats afloat - a displacement hull at 8 knots burns a fraction of what a planing yacht burns at 20. The real costs are maintenance of the ship systems, which is why the pre-purchase survey matters more than on any other category.

Is Florida a good place to buy a trawler? Yes - Florida carries the deepest trawler inventory in the country and Fort Lauderdale's surveyors and yards know the category. Florida also caps sales tax at $18,000 per vessel - see our Florida boat sales tax guide.

Where are most trawlers for sale in Florida? Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding Broward and Palm Beach county marinas hold the densest concentration, with more on Florida's Gulf coast. Use the search above to filter the live selection by location, size, and price - each boat links to a full detail page with photos, specs, and asking price from the YATCO MLS.

What makes a good long-range trawler? Range and seakeeping first: fuel capacity against burn rate at 8 knots, a hull that behaves in a seaway, active stabilization, and redundancy in critical systems. Then honest maintenance history. A captain's walkthrough before survey - which is how Greg vets every trawler he shows - catches most of what matters in an afternoon.