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There are several ways of reducing the impact of the engine room on the arranegment, but they all add cost and complexity. The space occupied by a central engine room can be minimised by using a sideways engine lay-out and hydraulic or electric drives.
→Engine Room
An amidships engine room adversely impacts air-conditioning more than an aft engine room, since there are twice as many bulkheads to transfer heat (and noise). It also complicates heating and air conditioning; and increases the general noise level aboard. Contrarily, putting the mass of the engine amidships helps the centre of gravity. However, overall the optimum layout has the engine room aft.
[[File:ElectricDriveLayout.png|thumb|200px|left|With an electric drive, one engine can be eliminated - the battery bank provides emergency power]]
There are several ways of reducing the impact of the engine room on the arrangement, but they all add cost and complexity. The space occupied by a central engine room can be minimised by using a sideways engine lay-out and hydraulic or electric drives.
With hydraulic or electrical drive, the engine can be bedded in any convenient spot. It doesn’t have to be inline with the prop shaft. This enlarges the space for the accommodation, and allows more variety in layouts.
The trade-off is that the drive system is more expensive, from $20,000 to $50,000, and the larger accommodation increases the fitting out cost. So the trawler is substantially more expensive to build. Repair expertise is harder to find for hydraulic and electric drives; although construction and farming use hydraulic extensively.
With an electric drive, build costs can be contained somewhat by using only one engine. If the engine fails, an electric drive can use the a house bank with suitable capacity for full emergency power.
[[File:EngineLayoutAstern.png|thumb|200px|left|With electric or hydraulic drive, or a mechanical V-drive, the engine can be placed astern]]