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Model profile · for Great Loop buyers
Tollycraft 57 Walkaround
What the published record establishes about this model, what owners report,
and the questions worth asking while a boat is still a listing. This page is about the
MODEL — a specific hull always gets its own homework.
A rare, fast small-production widebody with wildly varying engine packages and no factory support — which engine and controls this hull carries drives everything.
The Tollycraft 57 Walkaround is a fast, semi-planing/planing widebody motoryacht built in small numbers (owners cite roughly 25 hulls) by a now-defunct West Coast builder, so the data pool is thin, West Coast-heavy, and there is no factory support. It shipped with several high-horsepower diesel packages — twin Detroit 8V92s (~735 hp), Caterpillar 3408/3408E (~800 hp), MAN (~820 hp), and MTU 8V183 (~665 hp) — so engine, transmission, and range vary sharply from hull to hull and must be pinned down on the specific boat. Best-documented owner data comes from a single Trawler Forum thread and a handful of brokerage listings; treat spec figures as starting points to verify. For the Great Loop, the primary questions are the measured air draft (radar arch/antennas almost certainly must fold), actual fuel tankage, and which engine package and transmission controls a given hull carries.
How to read this: 🟢 Fact = confirmed against a document, spec sheet,
or owner. Everything else — Claim, Pattern, Question, Context — is not yet
verified: things to check, not settled truth. Sources are linked where published.
Model overview
CONTEXT
Small-production boat from a defunct builder — thin data, no factory support
Owners report only about 25 of the 57s were built, and Tollycraft has been gone for roughly 25 years, so there is no builder parts or engineering support and the available owner data is thin and skewed to the West Coast. Most detailed information traces to a single Trawler Forum thread and a few brokerage listings, so treat any single data point as anecdotal rather than fleet-wide.
src:
Trawler Forum; HMY Powerboat Guide
Range & fuel
CLAIM
Runs most economically at displacement speed; above ~12 kt burns like ~19 kt
A long-term owner of hull #27 (twin 800 hp 3408 Cats) reports roughly 7 gph at 9 knots versus about 42 gph at 19 knots, and that any speed above about 12 knots costs nearly the same gallons-per-mile as 19 knots — so intermediate speeds waste fuel. Two other owners planning around 10 knots cite roughly 1 gallon per nautical mile with a clean bottom and well-maintained engines. Actual numbers vary by engine package and loading.
src:
Trawler Forum (hull #27 owner and others)
QUESTION
What is the actual fuel tankage on this specific hull?
Capacity is reported inconsistently: one Walkaround listing cites a single 1,150-gallon tank, while the hull #27 owner describes two ~500-gallon mains (~1,000 gal total). At displacement-speed burn this is comfortable for Loop legs, but the discrepancy means the number cannot be assumed from the model.
src:
Massey Yacht listing; Trawler Forum (hull #27 owner)
Your move: Get the tank count and rated capacity from the builder's plate or a tank chart, and confirm against the survey rather than the listing.
Air draft & bridges
CLAIM
Tall superstructure — arch/antennas almost certainly must fold for the Loop
No published, verified air-draft figure for the 57 Walkaround could be confirmed; a spec PDF for the model returned no usable content. Related boats in the family point to a tall profile: a 53 Tolly was fitted with a custom hardtop whose radar tower and lights hinge down to lower bridge clearance. The larger 57 will sit taller still, so folding the radar arch, tower, or antennas is the expected path to clearing the Loop's low fixed bridges.
src:
tollycraftyacht.com 53 listing
QUESTION
What is the measured air draft, and exactly what folds down?
Spec-sheet heights rarely match the boat at the dock because antennas, domes, and arches get changed and loading shifts the waterline. For a boat this tall, the reducible height — arch, radar tower, whip antennas — determines whether it can transit the Loop's controlling fixed bridge at all.
src:
North Pacific Yachts guide
Your move: Measure the actual air draft from the waterline on the specific boat, then identify and document every item that can be removed or hinged down and the resulting minimum height.
Systems
CLAIM
Weak mechanical ventilation in heads and galley
Owners repeatedly cite poor mechanical ventilation in the heads and galley on the 57, which can mean lingering odors and moisture in those spaces. Any added or upgraded fans on a specific hull are a plus to look for.
src:
Trawler Forum
CONTEXT
Battery placement outboard of the engines drew criticism
The hull #27 owner considered the factory house- and start-battery locations outboard of the engines a poor choice and relocated them. On a given boat, relocated or original battery placement affects access and service.
src:
Trawler Forum (hull #27 owner)
Reading the boat
CONTEXT
Cross-check listing claims against the actual hull
Because production was small and specs are reported inconsistently across listings and forum posts, listing figures for engines, tankage, and dimensions should be treated as leads rather than confirmed values. Prioritize a survey and direct measurement over any published number for this model.
Engines
The engines research — factory options, tested performance,
and the engine-specific questions our members' dossiers carry — is part of the
full profile inside the product. It travels with every dossier and survey brief
built on this model.
Looking at a specific 57 Walkaround?
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