John and I are returning from the Mystic Trawlerfest in Mystic Connecticut. I wanted to let you all know that the Seahorse Diesel Duck Peking DD462-3 won the people's choice award for "Best in Show." There were representatives of all the well known trawlers there, American Tug,Nordic tug,Kadey-Krogens,Nordhavns,Selene, plus others. There were many participants who had followed George Buehler's designs and Seahorse Marine. They came from great distances to see the Duck and the most common response to the Duck was that the website doesn't do it justice. It is so much better than they had expected. Congratulations to all.

THANKS for your responses. I went back to take a second look at John & Jerie's DD462 and liked it even more! Monique and I have pretty much decided we like the layout better than that of a sedan. Although, I bet the 462SD will be awesome. We also like the "end of the world weather handling" argument for the DD462. We are very impressed with the quality of the Seahorse construction.

WOW such a nice little ship! I need one now

Jim, just an adendum to Marcia and Kurt's post. Number 1 will be delivered to me sometime by the end of the year (if all goes as planned!). The layouts and general look between the 462 SD and the LRC are similar. Contact Capital City Yachts for information and comparison of both. They rep the LRC but are very familiar with the SD as Alan Powell has spent a lot of time at both the steel and glass yards. He is a good guy and very knowledgeable, I'm sure he will be happy to give you his two cents.
Capital City Yachts

The drawings on George's site do give you a reasonable feel but they don't match what was done on hull #1 or the design modifications that were made for 2-4. All the sedans have more windage than the 462 and more glass making them not as rugged(however they are still more rugged than any other Sedan you will find) it is of course brighter inside with more of a view for the surroundings. The sedan has substantially more usable space than the 462 and is a little more traditional in that it separates the dinette from the pilot house. The 462 has a walk in engine room while the sedan is a hands and knees space. The sedan makes up for this to some degree by having a much larger engine room (square footage wise). The 462 will feel more familiar to people coming from sailboats, as it has a motorsailor layout.

All of the ducks and the LRC are excellent boats and it will come down to taste, where you are going and what you want to do.

If you are just a couple with periodic guests take a look at the 382 as you get most of the functionality of the 462 for a fair amount less.

From what I gather most of the people that have chosen the 462 (& 382) do so because of how rugged the design is, comfort level in facing extreme weather in far off ports and simply prefering the look and feel. The sedan has some real pluses for coastal work and will be competent offshore, though it has sacrificed some end of the world weather handling capabilities for space and functionality on the hook.

All of this is of course posted by somebody who chose the sedan, though I did have a reservation on 462 Hull #10 for quite some time before switching. It wasn't an easy process.


Hugh
SD #1 (Yet to be named) My two boys are pushing for Umiak (inuit for family boat, a George Buehler suggestion.)

Jim,

You ought to also consider the Sedan Duck 462 built by Seahorse. It is a similar to the Seahorse 52 LRC but built on the same hull as the DD 462. The first model is being finished up now and 3 (or 4?) are in works (including ours ).

Bill only has a reference to it on the Seahorse home page. A little more information can be found on George Buehler's web site at http://www.dieselducks.com/462-Sedan.html . The latest design has evolved a bit from that which is on George's web site, though.

I bet an e-mail to Bill & Stella at Seahorse could get you an electronic version of the latest drawings.

My wife and I visited your boat yesterday at the Solomons Il. Trawler Fest. John was nice enough to give us a tour and talk to us about our plans to retire on to a boat next year. We absolutely LOVE your boat and are seriously considering buying one. Both the George Buehler design and the Seahorse construction seem to be top quality! We want to thank you both for showing the boat!

Before this show we were considering the Nordhavn 46, but have not gotten to visit one yet. At the show we looked at the Nordhavn 47 and 43(newer and supposedly better designs than the 46) both boats were nice but neither was as nice as your duck. In fact we were disappointed by the Nordhavn boats and have dropped them lower on our list. We found your duck to be far more comfortable and liveable than the Nordhavns. Though we are only considering boats that are real passage makers, we are also very concerned that we find a boat that will be a comfortable early retirement home.

Do you have and advice for us about other boats we should look at before we decide to buy the DD? We would like to stay in the $400K-$600K range, but could stretch up a little if it was worth it. Did you look at the Seahorse 52 LRC bofore buying your boat? If so what made you decide the DD was better?

Thanks in advance for any advice you (or anyone else) care to share!

Congratulations Jerie and John, I thought your boat was the best in show at Solomons last year. I anticipate you will win the double crown and win at Solomons this year. I wish I could be there to help you prepare for and show it.

Randal

Congratulation Jerie...you guy are having fun by the sound of it and are rightfully proud of your Duck...I agree entirely that in real life the Ducks are far More impressive than Seahorse show on their web site....Congratulations to Bill & Stella and all at Seahorse...your boats just keep getting better.

Jerie

Great news!

And I heard your Peking looked stunning. Thanks for attending the show and for preparing the boat so well.

Any show pictures you can share?

See you and John at Solomons TrawlerFest in September.