Rosborough RF 246, the 25-Foot Pocket Trawler That Started a Genre

How the Rosborough RF 246 became the first trailerable trawler

The Rosborough RF 246 is one of those boats that defined a category before the category had a name. James "Doug" Rosborough founded Rosborough Boats near Halifax, Nova Scotia in the mid-1950s, designing traditional wooden schooners, ketches and sloops. In the early 1980s his son, James "Bob" Rosborough, moved the business into fiberglass. After experimenting with 18, 28 and 35-foot designs, he settled on a 25-footer for couples, and the first RF-246 was delivered in 1987.

Soundings has called it the boat that may have invented the pocket trawler, and Eastern Boats, which builds it today, says that although the hull is not technically a trawler, it functions like one and became known as the first trailerable trawler. Over about 25 years Rosborough built close to 500 of them, then sold the molds to Eastern Boats in Milton, New Hampshire, around 2012, as the Canadian company turned to government, police and military craft.

That continuity is the RF-246's great strength for buyers. You can find a 1990s boat for the price of a used pickup, or order a new one built on essentially the same hull, with modern outboards and an updated interior.

A Nova Scotia workboat hull under a tall pilothouse

The RF-246's shape comes from the beamy Novi workboats that fish the Maritimes. A tall, slightly raked bow with modest flare runs into a graceful sheer and a low cockpit with a straight transom. Underneath is an all-fiberglass modified-V with a center keel and a flat run aft, built with 100 percent positive flotation, and the deck and superstructure are foam cored. Owners describe it as soft in a head sea, stable in a beam sea and predictable downwind.

The pilothouse is the boat's identity. A three-panel windshield, 13 windows on current boats for all-round visibility, and sliding pilot doors on both sides let a single-handed skipper step straight out to a cleat. Headroom is quoted at 6 feet 5 inches on new boats, which is remarkable on a 25-footer and the reason the boat looks so upright on its trailer.

Sedan Cruiser, Custom Wheelhouse and today's Halifax, Digby and Yarmouth

Rosborough built the 246 in several forms. The Custom Wheelhouse is the original working layout with a shorter house and a bigger open cockpit. The Sedan Cruiser extends the pilothouse a few feet aft and adds a hardtop over the cockpit, which is useful for carrying a dinghy on the roof; a Soft Top version was also sold.

Eastern Boat Works offers three cruising layouts plus the Custom Wheelhouse. The Yarmouth continues the classic Sedan Cruiser plan with a starboard dinette for four that converts to a 7-foot berth and a galley to port. The Halifax puts an elevated settee-berth to port with an articulating teak table and a starboard galley with refrigerator, two-burner stove and deep sink. The Digby lengthens the deckhouse to fit a full stand-up head and shower in the aft port corner, with windows and privacy curtains placed so the skipper keeps a clear view.

All share a forward V-berth cabin with a sliding door, an enclosed head with shower in the traditional layouts, a 115-gallon aluminum fuel tank, a 40-gallon water tank, a 33-gallon holding tank and a 6-gallon water heater on current builds. Eastern lists dry weight at about 6,000 pounds for the cruising versions and 5,000 for the Custom Wheelhouse.

• Yarmouth: classic sedan plan, starboard dinette, galley to port
• Halifax: raised port settee-berth, starboard galley, wide center walkway
• Digby: longer deckhouse with stand-up head and shower aft
• Custom Wheelhouse: the original working layout, lightest version

Power options across four decades

Few boats have been powered in as many ways. Soundings found mid-1990s listings with a 350 hp MerCruiser gasoline inboard and a 3-liter MerCruiser, a 2000 boat with a single 115 hp four-stroke outboard, and a 2005 boat with twin 150 hp Honda four-strokes. Rosborough's own recommendation was a pair of outboards up to 150 hp each, or a single diesel of about 190 hp.

Owner reports give a feel for performance. One couple with twin 150 hp four-strokes cruised at about 27 mph at 4,000 rpm, just under 2 miles per gallon, with a top speed above 35 mph, and ran on one engine at 6 to 8 mph using about a gallon every four miles. A 1996 boat with twin 90 hp Hondas cruises at an easy 10 knots or a quicker 19, with a top end around 26 knots. None of these are controlled tests, so treat them as ranges, not promises.

Current Eastern-built boats carry a single Honda outboard, 150 hp standard with an optional 200 hp, mounted on a full-width aluminum bracket. PassageMaker reported speeds in the low 20s and noted that hanging the engine off the transom frees the cockpit, isolates vibration and helps economy.

Towing it, and taking it around the Great Loop

At 8 feet 6 inches wide the 246 tows without a permit, and it stands about 11 feet tall on its trailer. It is heavy for its length, though. One owner put the fully loaded boat and twin-axle trailer at 9,600 pounds and found himself at the upper end of his truck's capacity, and the owner PassageMaker interviewed recommends a three-quarter-ton pickup.

The boat's reputation is built on long trips by small crews. Power & Motoryacht followed Jacquie Albina's solo Great Loop aboard her 25-foot Rosborough with twin Yamaha outboards, and the Rosborough Owners Association runs rendezvous and shares know-how. The draft of about 2 feet keeps creeks and canal systems open, and the enclosed, heated pilothouse lets owners start the season early and finish late.

Surveying an older Rosborough without surprises

Most RF-246s on the market are 20 to 35 years old, so the hull matters less than the systems hanging off it. Cored decks and superstructures need a moisture meter around every fitting, the pilothouse windows and sliding door tracks need checking for leaks, and the fuel tank on older boats deserves a hard look. Old gasoline inboards and sterndrives are the most likely to need money; a boat already repowered with modern four-stroke outboards usually costs more but saves headaches.

Running costs stay low. Trailered and stored at home, a 246 can be run for roughly $6,000 to $14,000 a year in insurance, outboard service, trailer upkeep, bottom paint and seasonal storage, more with a summer slip.