SAGE

Offered by her family · Bay City, Michigan

She has already done the Great Loop. · 1992 Custom 54′ Steel Trawler · $349,900

Call Her Owner · (989) 297-0337 See the Records & the Steel
Scroll
4,500nm
Great Loop, completed
2011
Complete refit
500gal
Diesel capacity

Her story 43°36′N 83°53′W

Most boats dream of the Loop.
Sage has crossed her wake.

America's Great Loop, roughly six thousand miles of rivers, canals, Great Lakes, Gulf and Atlantic coastline, is the trip most cruisers spend a lifetime planning. Sage's owners cast off and did it: down the inland rivers, across the Gulf, up the Eastern Seaboard, and home to Lake Huron. In the Loop community that's called "crossing your wake," and it is the one credential no brochure can fake.

She was welded together in 1992 by Mummery Boat Works of Dover, Ontario, on a commercially built steel hull, the kind working boats trust, then transformed into a proper long-distance trawler. In 2011 she was refitted stem to stern: all-new marine-grade wiring, plumbing, water and holding tanks, and custom woodwork throughout. The bones of a workboat. The finish of a home.

Her owners are ready for their next chapter. Which means, for one buyer, the rarest thing on the used-trawler market: a Loop boat that isn't a theory. The gold burgee is the AGLCA's badge for crews who finish the Loop; hers was earned aboard, and it still flies from her rigging.

Sage underway with her crew aboard The gold AGLCA burgee flying aboard Sage
Underway · the gold burgee aboard

Out of the water

Steel rewards a thorough inspection.
So we'll start one for you.

The first question any smart buyer asks about a 1992 steel boat is "what's the metal like?" Fair. So instead of hiding the bottom of the boat, here she is hauled out in indoor storage: full keel, guarded running gear, welded thruster tube, commercial-grade stem. We expect you to gauge the hull. Bring your surveyor and their ultrasonic kit; steel gives you numbers where fiberglass gives you opinions.

Sage hauled out in indoor storage showing full keel
Full-length keel: running gear protected in every lock and river
Keel shoe, rudder and propeller protection
Keel shoe, rudder & prop, guarded
Welded bow thruster tube
Bow thruster, welded in steel
Sage in the travelift during haul-out
Haul-out day: she rides the travelift
Sage's bow and topsides ashore in indoor storage
Bow and topsides, in indoor storage
Engine room with Detroit Diesel main engine
Engine room: the single Detroit Diesel main
Sage's stern quarter hauled out, whole hull visible
Stern quarter: the whole hull, out of the water

Take this to your surveyor

The spec sheet prints every confirmed figure plus the haul-out frames, so you can hand it to a surveyor before you ever drive to Bay City. Records, survey scheduling and sea trial all go through her owner directly.

Download the Spec Sheet (PDF) Call about records & survey · (989) 297-0337

The 2011 refit

A 1992 hull. Much younger everything else.

In 2011 Sage went through a professional stem-to-stern rebuild, aimed squarely at the Loop. The systems a surveyor worries about on a boat of this age are the systems the rebuild replaced.

Replaced in the refit

  • All-new marine-grade wiring throughout
  • All-new plumbing and lines
  • New tanks: water, holding
  • Custom woodwork, stem to stern
  • Mechanical spaces gone through end to end

Power & comfort

  • Cummins Onan 23kW generator
  • Twin mini-split heat & A/C, quiet and deck-mounted
  • Battery charger, 12 and 24V system
  • Hot water, three electric heads
  • Full-size fridge plus chest freezer

Ready for the miles

  • Bow thruster and oversized rudder
  • Electric windlass and ground tackle
  • Crane with tender: an 11 ft 6 in Achilles hard-shell inflatable with a 20 hp Tohatsu
  • Garmin electronics

The galley

Her owner is a chef.
It shows.

Most boat galleys are an apology: two burners and a bar fridge. This one is not. A propane range with an oven. A full-size refrigerator, plus a chest freezer, ice maker, microwave and a Big Green Egg that between them swallow months of provisions. Quartz counters with room to actually work. He cooked his way around the entire Loop from this galley, every night, in style.

  • Propane range with oven: real heat, no marina reservations required
  • Full-size refrigerator and a deep chest freezer: the provisioning depth a long Loop leg actually needs
  • Quartz counters with genuine prep space
  • Custom cabinetry throughout, a place for every pan
  • The Big Green Egg on the back of the deck comes with the lifestyle
Chef's galley with quartz counters, propane range and custom cabinetry Chest freezer open and provisioned SAGE-lettered canisters on the galley counter
Breakfast set on Sage's covered aft deck overlooking the water Covered aft deck with dining table and Big Green Egg at the rail Aft deck seating along the rail

The aft deck

The Loop is made of mornings.
Most of hers looked like this.

The covered aft deck is where the Loop actually happens: coffee over a new anchorage, dinner for six under the hardtop, the Big Green Egg working at the rail while somebody watches the sun go down. Shade for a Gulf-coast July, cover for a Georgian Bay drizzle, and open air the whole way around.

  • Hardtop-covered, open-air dining with room for six
  • The Big Green Egg cooks at the rail, and comes with her
  • Bench lockers swallow the deck gear
  • Protected side decks with real rails, bow to stern
Sage's traditional ship's wheel, binnacle and Garmin electronics in daylight Pilothouse with helm chair and wrap-around glass windows Chart desk with Waterway Guide and instruments

The pilothouse

A wheel you'll
want to hold.

Stand at Sage's helm and you understand the whole boat: a proper ship's wheel, wrap-around glass, and every system labeled and in reach. Garmin radar overhead, chart plotter, depth, VHF. Modern eyes on a traditional bridge.

Underway she steers like the workboat she was born as, with a big rudder, a protected prop, and a bow thruster for the hundred-odd locks and a thousand fuel docks ahead of you. Two people ran her the whole way; ask the owner how she docks, single-handed thruster work included.

  • Garmin radar, GPS chart plotter, depth sounder, VHF
  • Bow thruster: single-handed docking without the drama
  • Glassed-in breaker cabinets, brass clock and barometer, a chart desk with the Waterway Guide still on it
  • Wrap-around pilothouse glass with true sightlines

America's Great Loop

She crossed her own wake.
The Loop is already behind her.

Rivers south, Gulf coast, Atlantic north, canals and Great Lakes home. Sage has closed that circle once already, bridge by bridge and lock by lock, and her next owner starts with that voyage in her logbook.

~6,000statute miles is the length of the Loop route itself around the eastern U.S. and into Canada, more with the scenic detours.
100+locks between the lakes, rivers and canals, with the bow thruster earning its keep at every single one
~270crews crossed their wake in 2024, a record year by AGLCA's count; roughly one in nine did it in a boat 50 feet or larger
Goldthe AGLCA burgee color reserved for crews who have finished. Sage's crew flies it.
G U L F A T L A N T I C G R E A T  L A K E S Straits of Mackinac Chicago Mobile Norfolk New York Erie Canal BAY CITY Sage is here. Start your Loop from her home port. N Schematic chart, decidedly not for navigation

Particulars

The ship's papers.

Hull & Dimensions

Type
Steel trawler, full keel
Builder
Mummery Boat Works
Year
1992 · refit 2011
Length on deck
54 ft
Length overall
60 ft
Beam
16 ft
Draft
5 ft
Air draft
14 ft
Dry weight
70,000 lb

Machinery

Engine
Detroit Diesel, 4-71N
Aspiration
Natural
Transmission
Twin Disc, 3:1
Cruise
8+ kn
Generator
Cummins Onan 23kW
Electrical
12–24V · charger
Tender
Achilles 11 ft 6 in hard-shell inflatable, 20 hp Tohatsu

Tankage & Accommodations

Fuel
500 gal
Fresh water
150 gal
Holding
140 gal
Cabins
2
Heads
3 (electric)
Climate
Twin mini-splits, heat + A/C
Galley
Propane range, fridge, freezer, ice maker, microwave, Big Green Egg
Registration
MC 3343 TK
Download the Spec Sheet (PDF) Request Refit Documentation

Fair questions

Answers from her owner.

Could I live aboard her full-time?

She was lived aboard for the length of a Great Loop, which is the honest test. Two cabins, three heads, a chef's galley with real refrigeration, a chest freezer for provisioning, 23kW of generator, mini-split heat and air for both ends of the thermometer, and a covered aft deck that works as the summer living room. She is closer to a small home that moves than a boat you camp on.

What is your favorite memory of the Great Loop trip?

Her owner's favorite part of the trip was going through the Erie Canal. All 35 locks.

Why is Sage so comfortable for the trip?

It's ease of operation and maneuverability, the friendly ports along the way, and her range and larger tankage to hold fuel, water, and waste.

What advice can you give to anyone who plans to do the Great Loop?

Plan accordingly. Crew changes, so be flexible about where they drop off and pick up. Bring a good book and playing cards. Plan on plenty of helm time.

Where is she, and how do I see her?

Bay City, Michigan, on the Saginaw River just off Lake Huron: about 25 minutes from MBS International, an hour from Flint Bishop, two from Detroit Metro. And she is docked a day-cruise off the Loop route itself, roughly 110 nautical miles north of Port Huron and 160 south of the Straits of Mackinac.

Come see her

The Loop starts
in Bay City.

Serious buyers fly in, step aboard, and know in ten minutes. She shows even better than she photographs, and her home port sits a day-cruise off the Loop route itself.

Getting here: MBS International (25 min) · Flint Bishop (1 hr) · Detroit Metro (2 hrs).

Her family built this page for one reason: to give you the level of detail we wish we'd had when we were the buyers.

Speak with her owner

Showings, records, survey and sea trial

Call (989) 297-0337

Showings, records, survey and sea trial all go through her owner. He is the family's point of contact and he answers his own phone.

Call Her Owner · (989) 297-0337