Over the years, the Rosborough 246 trawler earned a reputation as a reliable, salty, pocket cruiser, popular in the Northeast and even (when a buyer could find one on the brokerage market) on the Great Loop.
The iconic 246 was made in Nova Scotia by Rosborough Boats, which was founded in 1955 and started out refurbishing commercial fishing schooners into pleasure boats. Built for the treacherous waters of the North Atlantic, Rosboroughs were basic, rugged and not terribly expensive.
Rosborough sold the molds to the 246 to Eastern Boats in New Hampshire in 2012, and concentrated on making military and commercial vessels. But now Rosborough is back in the recreational market with a new leisure series and a Wild Islands 25 center console.
The leisure series also includes a 30’ 4” Rough Water RIB that the company says is “a blended layout configuration of our older pocket trawlers with the exceptional seaworthiness and deep-sea high-speed capabilities” of its commercial RIBs.
The Wild Islands 25 was first displayed at the Annapolis power boat show in October. The boat is made for day cruising or fishing with your family and friends. Standard power is a single 200-hp Yamaha outboard, but you can order it with two 115-hp Yamahas.
The hull has a 21-degree deadrise at the transom, and is built, like all the original Rosboroughs, to handle rough stuff offshore. It has a T-top, a three-piece windshield, a stainless steel destroyer-type wheel, and U-shaped seating in its large cockpit.
We’ll stay tuned to see where Rosborough’s recreational boats go from here.
Specs.: LOA: 25’0”; Beam: 8’6”; Draft: 1’6”; Disp.: NA; Fuel: 85 gals.; Water: NA; Power: 1/200-hp Yamaha outboard.
