Is this possible? Standing headroom, trailerable, AND seaworthy?

Must put in a vote for my SwallowBoats BayCruiser 20. Not quite standing headroom, but I am 6ft 3in and find her very comfortable. I can get changed in her quite easily and there is masses of sitting headroom, which is what you want most of the time. Some boast with standing headroom don't actually have such good sitting height because of side decks, and you spend 90% of your time indoors either sitting or lying down. The Baycruiser is only 450kg without water ballast (850 with) and is a doddle to launch and recover, although I leave her on a mooring.
You can see videos of launching and capsize recovery tests on my website at:
http://www.jegsweb.co.uk/boats/baycruiser/home.htm
I love her to pieces as she satisfies all my requirements, and screams along to boot. My daughter and I broke 8kts the first time out, which isn't bad for a 20ft boat.
 
Lakesailor said:
Can't say I've ever seen that. The trailer design (one axle or two) and construction material would make a stringent ratio illogical.

Lots of the 'net about trailering.
This is about the law http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roads/vehicles/vssafety/requirementsfortrailers
Click to expand...


I certainly haven't heard that and I am quite sure the trailer I had made (by a well known manyufacturer) did not comply with that ratio.

Fundamentally the trailer maker has to specify the max weight for the trailer and be able to prove his design if called upon. I am also pretty sure trailer plates only show the max weight not the net weight of the trailer so lifting your boat off at the weighbridge may prove problematic.
 
It's sureal this thread! The OP wants a boat that will happily cope with F8 ( constant winds of 40 to 45 mph true not over the deck, gusts to 60 /70 mph and 5.5m breaking waves) yet people suggest 20 ft trailer sailers and boats like the Hunter 26 / Sonata.

I once owned a Hunter 26 bilge and whilst it was a good boat, it was certainly survival time when I got caught out in just 30 knot winds
 
Standing up is overated on small boats, much better to be able to sit down with head clearance and have a sea berth on each side of the boat.Wanna stand up under the hatch? simply slide it back, loads of headroom then.
 
Lateral thinking

Have you thought about a Hunter Sonata with a sprayhood over the hatch and maybe a cockpit cover? There is one on a mooring near me and its looks a nice little cruising boat.

Has the desired outboard also

Drop keel version also available for easier launching but for once a year I'd have the fin keel version.

The up side is they sail nicely, they are relatively seaworthy, lots of them have trailers as the racing boys liked that sort of things and you can fit a seatoilet if you want.

My mate raced them and used to bring it home on the trailer and put it in the garden for the winter.

Quite a few in Scotland also

Cabatach

Also you could get a nice cockpit tent made up. Seems a shame to buy a top heavy caravan that you will never lust for. Better to have enjoyed the sail than overcompromise I think
 
jason -and the arguenauts said:
It's sureal this thread! The OP wants a boat that will happily cope with F8 ( constant winds of 40 to 45 mph true not over the deck, gusts to 60 /70 mph and 5.5m breaking waves) yet people suggest 20 ft trailer sailers and boats like the Hunter 26 / Sonata.

I once owned a Hunter 26 bilge and whilst it was a good boat, it was certainly survival time when I got caught out in just 30 knot winds
Click to expand...

OK, just a mo! All I want is to be able to maintain my course when a blow gets up, like I said I sailed in conditions that touched F8 last summer and it was never at any point an 'emergency'. We didn't even have to use a trysail.

A lot of people have seen my description of 'trailerable' and taken that to mean that I want something that weighs about the same as a dinghy, has a lifting keel, and can be launche din minutes by a family. For goodness sake, no, that's not the point at all. I just want the flexibility to be able to bring the boat back to my house for maintenance and storage- even if it takes a squad of my mates a whole day to do it. And yes, it is primarily about saving money. Cranes are expensive and we look set to lose our hardstanding storage at the harbour anyway.

By the way, I'm amazed that you'd consider it 'survival' conditions to be out in 30knt. I've been caught out in my Wayfarer with full sail up in a 30knt squall, admittedly the waves didn't have time to get too bad, and that's more like my idea of 'survival'- althoug we still sailed home quite well, spilling wind as required.
 
"I once owned a Hunter 26 bilge and whilst it was a good boat, it was certainly survival time when I got caught out in just 30 knot winds"


30 kns of wind is F6 if you felt it was "survival time" I would suggest that it was you rather than the boat that was the limiting factor.
 
Robwhelton said:
... like I said I sailed in conditions that touched F8 last summer and it was never at any point an 'emergency'. We didn't even have to use a trysail.
Click to expand...

I think I see where confusion is creeping in, the weather can't really "touch..F8". It's either an F8 or it isn't pretty much. You certainly shouldn't be offshore in a trailer sailer in an F8 unless you're very experienced. But inshore in an F5 or 6 offshore wind, with gusts ocasionally to an F8's mean wind speed would be fine in most trailor sailers, provided they're set up well. Quite good fun actually.

I still think that the standing headroom criteria will have to go if you want to get a truly seaworthy small trailer sailor, like I said before, standing up in small yachts is highly overrated, better to have unencumbered headroom above the seating and a seaberth on each side of the saloon.
 
Another possible is the Maxi 77. We used to move ours on a trailer back to the house for the winter thus saving the fees, and making doing work a lot easier. Mind you almost all these boats will need something like a landrover to tow legally on the roads. I had a mate with a Disc who did the honours for the occasional bottle of malt.
 
My father used to trail a Westerly Windrush (25' triple keel 2.2Te) home every winter. It was within the 3.5 Te limit for a Landrover 110 which he rented twice a year. I wouldn't call it a trail sailor, but it is trailable. It took 3 or maybe 4 folk to step the mast just with ropes and a deck brush but no A frame or any mods. Standing head room, seperate head, and seaworthy, I wouldn't race one though. He even took it to the Clyde for a summer cruise one year.

Similarly a Westerly Tiger (25' fin keel 2.4Te) on a decent trailer is trailable behind a Landrover. For comfort I would consider removing some of the cruising kit as the boat+kit+trailor may get you to or over the 3.5Te limit. You may be able to race one too.

My Centaur (26' 3Te) weighs too much.

I had a Jag 25 lift keel (2Te) that was easier to get on and off a trailer. A bilge or fin keel would be just as good if you were only doing it once a year. They only have standing headroom at the hatch though. The bulkhead slopes so I would consider a spray hood essential as it rains in with the hatch open or the washboards out.

Another 2,
Dufour 1800
Jeanneau Tonic
 
Last edited:
Lee_Shaw said:
I think I see where confusion is creeping in, the weather can't really "touch..F8". It's either an F8 or it isn't pretty much. You certainly shouldn't be offshore in a trailer sailer in an F8 unless you're very experienced. But inshore in an F5 or 6 offshore wind, with gusts ocasionally to an F8's mean wind speed would be fine in most trailor sailers, provided they're set up well. Quite good fun actually.

I still think that the standing headroom criteria will have to go if you want to get a truly seaworthy small trailer sailor, like I said before, standing up in small yachts is highly overrated, better to have unencumbered headroom above the seating and a seaberth on each side of the saloon.
Click to expand...

Fair point, to clarify we were sailing in F7 but sustained gusts considerably higher than that. It was a great sail actually! Hard on the wind the whole way across the north Minch, the boom trailing in the water most of the time, water coming back over the cabin top. A few more hours of that and I would have stopped enjoying it I suppose.

That experience leads me to think I'd like to remain safe when caught out by such conditions- not that I'd set out if I knew it was coming. I didn't think this would be such a hard criteria to meet, to be honest; I have previously considered getting a much smaller boat (before SWMBO became interested in sailing/cruising) and had been told that even for a really small boat like a Hunter Europa, the crew would remain the weak link, not the boat.

Anyway,the term 'small trailer sailor' is completely missing the point. That is exactly not what I am after. I am looking for a large trailerable boat.


There have been lots of suggestions so far, here's a shortlist of the what's catching my eye at the moment:
Sadler 26
Tiger 25
Jag 24/25 (pref. fixed keel though)
Westerly 25, maybe 22?
Fox Hound 24 (anyone?)
Ecume de Mer
Leisure 23SL (too much of a caravan?)
Snapdragon 747 (too slow?)
Offshore 8m

Anyway there does seem to be plenty of choice, hopefully something will come up!
 
Lee_Shaw said:
There are no large trailerable boats, most, if not all, are under 26 feet long and less that 2500kg displacement.
Click to expand...

We're talking subjective terms here. I meant 'large for a boat that still can be trailed'. So yep you're in the ballpark, I'm really thinking about 26ft LOA and 2t displacement, or a little bit over.

Some people seem to think this means a 'trailer sailor' of 20ft/1t which is an entirely different kettle of fish.
 
Not so long ago there were various manufacturers offering boats with 'pop-tops' .... yes I know McGregor is one - but there are others with much better stability reputation ...
The pop-top would give you standing headroom at hatchway when lifted up, sort of VW Caravanette style ... and sitting headroom when dropped and locked down.

Ally this to lifting keel and outboard powered - no reason why you shouldn't have what you desire ...
 
Robwhelton said:
Fair point, to clarify we were sailing in F7 but sustained gusts considerably higher than that. It was a great sail actually! Hard on the wind the whole way across the north Minch, the boom trailing in the water most of the time, water coming back over the cabin top. A few more hours of that and I would have stopped enjoying it I suppose.

That experience leads me to think I'd like to remain safe when caught out by such conditions- not that I'd set out if I knew it was coming. I didn't think this would be such a hard criteria to meet, to be honest; I have previously considered getting a much smaller boat (before SWMBO became interested in sailing/cruising) and had been told that even for a really small boat like a Hunter Europa, the crew would remain the weak link, not the boat.

Anyway,the term 'small trailer sailor' is completely missing the point. That is exactly not what I am after. I am looking for a large trailerable boat.


There have been lots of suggestions so far, here's a shortlist of the what's catching my eye at the moment:
Sadler 26
Tiger 25
Jag 24/25 (pref. fixed keel though)
Westerly 25, maybe 22?
Fox Hound 24 (anyone?)
Ecume de Mer
Leisure 23SL (too much of a caravan?)
Snapdragon 747 (too slow?)
Offshore 8m

Anyway there does seem to be plenty of choice, hopefully something will come up!
Click to expand...

You have missed the Hunter Horizon 26 off your list.
 
I once owned a Hunter 26 bilge and whilst it was a good boat said:
!!!!!!!!!!! I have regularly sailed dinghies in 30 kt winds. Also Hunter 19, Soling, Dragon.... 30 kt is fun if you can sail, but certainly not survival conditions.
Click to expand...
 
Hi Rob,

I know where you're coming from. I bought a boat four years ago and had a trailer made for it. Each October I have it craned onto the trailer and taken it home (about 60 miles), where it sits until April. Ideal for working on etc and saves on yard fees. The trailer has just about paid for itself. I have a mooring off Skye where I keep the boat. Best sail this summer was Gairloch to Stornoway in early July. I've been caught out in F7 this year and the boat is well behaved. Even the SWMBO is starting to get confidance in not only the boat but me as well!

The boat, Macwester Rowan Crown 24ft 2.5T
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top