Why we started East Coast Cruiser (and 5 boats you need to see)
The Manifesto: Why We Are Here
If you have spent any time on BoatTrader or YachtWorld recently, you know the pain.
You are looking for a vessel with soul—something with a keel, a diesel engine, and enough bronze hardware to confuse a metal detector. But to find it, you have to wade through a sea of “floating condos,” gas-powered bleach bottles, and neglected houseboats that haven’t moved since the Carter administration.
The signal-to-noise ratio is terrible.
We started East Coast Cruiser to fix that.
We are not brokers. We don’t care if you buy a boat or not. We are just obsessed with a specific kind of vessel: The High-Pedigree Cruiser.
Whether it’s a Downeast lobster boat converted for weekends, a vintage trawler that sips fuel, or a cult-classic pocket cruiser, we hunt for the “Green Flags”:
The Right Power: (Usually Diesel, sometimes a well-sorted Outboard).
The Right Hull: (Designed for the ocean, not a lake).
The Right Price: (Depreciated hulls where someone else took the hit).
Every week, we scour the listings so you don’t have to. We filter out the junk and serve up the 5 most interesting boats on the market.
Here is the best of what we found for our launch week.
The Launch Collection: Top 5 Picks
1. The Swiss Army Knife: 2001 Rosborough RF-246 Most boats trap you in one geography. This one sets you free. Originally designed for the Canadian Coast Guard, the “Rossy” is a legendary 25-foot pilothouse trawler that is 100% trailerable. Cruise Maine in August, haul it out, and tow it to the Keys for January. It’s the ultimate freedom machine.
The Swiss Army Knife of Trawlers
Most boats are floating prisons. You buy a trawler in the Chesapeake, and suddenly, you are “a Chesapeake boater.” To get to Maine takes two weeks of burning diesel; to get to the Keys takes a month. Your geography is dictated by your hull speed.
2. The Pocket Aristocrat: 1974 Grand Banks 32 Grand Banks defined the trawler genre. Usually, joining the club costs six figures. This 32-foot sedan is priced like a used center console ($43k), but offers the teak rails, parquet floors, and bronze hardware of a true yacht. It’s the perfect “starter trawler” for a couple who wants to slow down.
The Pocket Aristocrat
Grand Banks is the Kleenex of trawlers. When a child draws a boat, they draw a Grand Banks. They defined the genre: teak rails, bronze hardware, and a parquet floor that feels more like a library than a helm station.
3. The Cajun Transplant: 1971 Custom Biloxi Lugger What is a Mississippi shrimp boat doing in Rockland, Maine? Turning heads, mostly. This is a piece of maritime history—a shallow-draft, high-stability workboat converted for cruising. If you are tired of generic white fiberglass and want a boat that starts conversations in every harbor, this is it.
The Cajun in Maine
If you walk the docks in Rockland, Maine, you expect to see lobster boats, Hinckleys, and maybe a stray sailboat or two. What you don’t expect to see is a piece of Gulf Coast history sitting in the cold Atlantic waters.
4. The James Bond Choice: 1966 Huckins Sportsman 36 Huckins didn’t just build boats; they built PT boats for WWII. This 36-footer has that same DNA: fast, elegant, and built with the legendary Quadraconic hull. It has been repowered with modern Yanmar diesels (a massive green flag), meaning you get 1960s style with 2000s reliability.
The “Must Sell” Aristocrat
You can spot a Huckins from a mile away. It doesn’t look like a jellybean production boat, and it doesn’t look like a slow trawler. It looks like it’s doing 30 knots while tied to the dock.
5. The Real Deal: 1986 Crowley Beal 28 There are “Downeast Style” boats, and then there are actual Downeast boats. This is the latter. Built on a legendary lobster boat hull, this Crowley Beal is finished as a cruiser but retains the sea-keeping ability of a commercial worker. It’s simple, rugged, and handsome as hell.
The Calvin Beal Hull Hiding in the Lowcountry
If you have been hunting for a Downeast boat in the Southeast, you know the struggle: they simply don’t exist. You usually have to buy them in Maine and pay $15,000 to truck them south.
The Bottom Line The good boats go fast. The bad boats sit forever. If you want the full specs, the “Red Flag/Green Flag” analysis, and the direct links to these listings, verify your subscription below.
Welcome aboard.