ROAD TRIP
Demand for trailerable boats has caught fire over the last decade, and boatbuilders have answered the call with a wide variety of solutions. Though designed with a common objective, the solutions vary greatly in how they address the needs of a portable market. Conceived to take a cruising couple on waterborne adventures, these trailerable boats are a natural fit in the world of trawlers, but in a different fashion. Traveling is at the core, but the question is how far, how fast, and how long. Here are six capable cruisers you can strap down and take with you this summer.
ATLAS Acadia 25
When I first wrote about this boat in 2012, the Acadia 25 was only offered as a diesel. But I was taken with her simplicity and rugged Downeast styling. Atlas Boat Works owner Tom Gamso and his family have been building boats on the west coast of Florida since 1987, and the Acadia 25 has been one of their most popular models, with more than 120 hulls built to date. Prompted by the increasing popularity of four-stroke outboards, the company introduced its first outboard model less than a year ago.
“The more stringent emission regulations on diesels have also substantially increased the cost of small diesel engines,” Gamso says.
He has only built two Acadia 25 outboards thus far, and one of them was nearby on Siesta, owned by Mark and Jackie Barry. Lit by the morning sun, she gleamed in her lift behind their home. Her hull was painted with Awlgrip “Boston Whaler Blue,” picked by Jackie.
