Passagemaker Magazine

Passagemaker Magazine The Long-Range Cruising Authority

Passagemaker was born of a common interest in extended voyaging to inform, educate and inspire trawler and long-range cruising enthusiasts worldwide. Passagemaker is a multi-dimensional brand spanning a print magazine reaching 18,000 subscribers, a comprehensive website and daily newsletter, an engaging social media suite and podcast "Trawler Talk."

Griffin is a 50-foot, custom aluminum trawler that has a generously sized pilothousewith excellent visibility and a hand...
06/19/2026

Griffin is a 50-foot, custom aluminum trawler that has a generously sized pilothouse
with excellent visibility and a handmade ship’s wheel. Her open saloon is just two steps down from the pilothouse. Her master stateroom is full beam.

Equipped with a single 210-hp Cat 3208 and a fuel capacity of 1,700 gallons, she cruises at 6 knots; at that speed, she boasts a 3,500-nautical-mile range.

📸 Dori Arrington

For Andy Stewart and his father, Roger, the steel-hull William Garden design Nightfall serves as a bond over a shared pa...
06/18/2026

For Andy Stewart and his father, Roger, the steel-hull William Garden design Nightfall serves as a bond over a shared passion for salty boats.

Built by Waterline Yachts of Canada for architect Harlan Pedersen, she’s a single-screw, 38-foot tank with a steel hull that comes in at more than 40,000 pounds. The deck is three-sixteenth-inch steel with a teak overlay in the cockpit.

According to Andy, Nightfall typically runs at a 6- or 7-knot cruising speed, burning around 1 gallon per hour with her 143-hp John Deere (marinized by Lugger) diesel. With an estimated total fuel capacity of around 1,000 gallons, the boat could get to Alaska and back without refueling.

📸 Norris Comer, Andy Stewart

A 2016 build is born anew after a son enlists Zimmerman Marine to improve his late father’s launch. 📷 Max Parker ...
06/17/2026

A 2016 build is born anew after a son enlists Zimmerman Marine to improve his late father’s launch.

📷 Max Parker

Medora was drawn by Ray Hunt Designs and built by Burger Boats (Hull 466c) in 1988 of welded aluminum in Manitowoc, Wisc...
06/16/2026

Medora was drawn by Ray Hunt Designs and built by Burger Boats (Hull 466c) in 1988 of welded aluminum in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

The 72-foot aft cabin yacht has a 19-foot beam, a 3-foot, 8-inch draft and is powered by twin 760-hp MANs that propel her to a 20-knot cruise and a 24-knot top speed.

According to Hunt, her original owner was an seasoned yachtsman that had owned previous designs. Hunt says:

"Her appearance is traditional, in this case rather military, and she makes no attempt to squeeze the maximum of accommodation into a given length, to the benefit of appearance and performance. Her arrangement allows for a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces, from which to enjoy pleasant harbors, and her Hunt deep-V hull and ample power make her an all-weather cruiser."

📸 Hunt Yacht Design

I spotted Messenger III on a trip to Canada's Gulf Islands a few years ago. We were on the move, so I snapped a photo as...
06/16/2026

I spotted Messenger III on a trip to Canada's Gulf Islands a few years ago. We were on the move, so I snapped a photo as we went by. Coming across it recently made it clear that this vessel deserves a closer look.

Built in 1946 of fir and yellow cedar at Falconer Marine Industries in Victoria, British Columbia, she was put into service for more than 20 years as a missionary vessel for the Shantymens Christian Association. She hauled medical supplies and supported remote hospitals on Vancover's west coast.

She's been privately owned since the late 1960s and has undergone a few rebuilds. The original Chrysler gasoline engine was replaced with a Gardner 6LW diesel in 1959, which still powers her today.

📸 Jeff Moser, Classic Yacht Registry

The Ranger Tugs R-25 is this couple’s chief residence in the Bahamas and Canadian wild. Julia and Michael Bertelsen just...
06/15/2026

The Ranger Tugs R-25 is this couple’s chief residence in the Bahamas and Canadian wild.

Julia and Michael Bertelsen just spent their second winter in the Bahamas. Winter is for planning and for living as nomadic liveaboards, armed with GoPros. Several of the videos on their YouTube channel, Expedition Sea Nest, offer impressive insight into how the husband and wife manage to coexist on a small vessel. “We had to live with a lot less,” Julia says.

The Starlink and generator are real game changers, Julia says, because they allow the couple to live almost completely off the grid while working from their boat. From spring through fall, they trailer the boat all over Canada, including to Georgian Bay, for Michael’s photography tours. Come winter, they put Sea Nest back on the trailer and head south.

📸 Julia and Michael Bertelsen

Starting with just a bare hull, a couple perseveres to build this Ed Monk Jr.–designed expedition yacht.Back in the mid-...
06/14/2026

Starting with just a bare hull, a couple perseveres to build this Ed Monk Jr.–designed expedition yacht.

Back in the mid-aughts, the owner saw a two-line listing for a 67-foot trawler hull in the classifieds of a boating publication. Intrigued, he emailed the seller and received back several photos and the design drawings.

After making a deal, he built the entire boat from the hull up with his own two hands—and occasional help from friends and family when more than two hands were needed.

The owners made many updates from the original plans. Significant changes, such as adding doors along the side of the house—one forward of the settee and one in the galley. Originally, the only way to access the deck was via the aft doors in the salon.

The new owners also put a great deal of thought into their galley design, in a way only liveaboard boatbuilders can. They added about three feet to the pilothouse to accommodate a bunk. He changed the layout of the staterooms, doing away with the single bunks in favor of a queen berth for each cabin.

Azimut Yachts’ Magellano 60 is the smallest model in the range, with features similar to her big sisters.Named after Fer...
06/13/2026

Azimut Yachts’ Magellano 60 is the smallest model in the range, with features similar to her big sisters.

Named after Ferdinand Magellan, the Azimut Magellanos once started at an economical 43 feet long. Today’s dual-mode, semi-displacement hulls keep the ethos of long-distance cruising with economy at the forefront of the designs, but update them substantially for a modern audience.

Boarding the 60, feels like walking into a thoughtfully designed living room. From the cockpit to the bow, there were plush settees, soft carpets and a rotating TV near a high-low table.

As for volume, the master and two guest staterooms are generously sized, each with its own head and shower. Two of the guest showers have a sauna-style touch, with wooden box seats. There’s also a crew cabin with a head aft.

Azimut reports a cruise speed of 18 knots with a top speeds of 26 knots. We clocked her at just over 27 knots with substantial fuel burn, returning a range of 306 nautical miles. On the other hand, this boat is just as comfortable at 8 knots as she is at more than 20 knots. At 8 knots, the 60 is good for 1,000 nm, with the MANs sipping just under 8 gallons per hour. Back down the throttles to 5 knots, and she’ll go 2,297 nm.

📸 Azimut Yachts

The brief of the Steeler NG40 is simple. Take a beautifully proportioned hull and add a straightforward superstructure c...
06/12/2026

The brief of the Steeler NG40 is simple. Take a beautifully proportioned hull and add a straightforward superstructure comprising just a pilothouse and a raised coachroof on the foredeck. Stick to the tried and tested portholes in the hull sides—not the vast and vulnerable windows of many modern designs.

On the interior, the owners of First Star wanted the galley up in the pilothouse instead of below, where it’s located in the standard layout. With the sink and the four-ring gas hob along the starboard side, there’s ample room for the dining table and comfortably sized settee on the port side. Stowage space is found in every available corner.

The woodwork, which is used mainly as trim in the pilothouse, is beautifully crafted walnut with a matte finish. The walnut is also used for much of the paneling and furniture in the cabins below, giving a warm and intimate feel.

The salon and the aft cockpit integrate well when the wide double doors are open. With both decks on the same level, it’s an easy transition from the interior carpet to the teak decks outside. The cockpit deck hatches allow access to the engine compartment and the aft lazarette, which has enough room for a bike or a folded tender as well as additional chairs.

📸 Steeler Yachts


We came across this 1974 Doggersbank, currently on the market in Seattle by Colton Mork of W S Yacht Brokers, and were i...
06/11/2026

We came across this 1974 Doggersbank, currently on the market in Seattle by Colton Mork of W S Yacht Brokers, and were instantly enthralled with her classic good looks.

The 63-footer was designed by the legendary Dick Boon of Vripack, splashing in Holland as the largest Doggersbank of her time. The steel trawler has lived for the last four decades in Washington's San Juan Islands with the same owners, who cruised her extensively along the Inside Passage to Alaska as well as the remote coasts and fjords in Alaska and Vancouver Island.

Her 365-hp Caterpillar 3408 will push her to a cruise speed of 8.5 knots and a top speed just shy of 10 knots. At cruise, she has an approximate 3,500-nautical-mile range.

Other standouts on the three-stateroom, two head vessel include a soapstone wood-burning cabin heater, Naiad stabilization, a Village Marine watermaker and much more.

📸 W S Yacht Brokers

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