Macgregor yachts cease production

When does a Trailer Sailer become a towable liability?

dylanwinter said:
bloody brilliant answer

my little trailer sailer went to The Thames, Dartmouth, Fowey, The Lakes, West Coast of Scotland, Grebe Lake, Rutland

there is a lot to be said for a trailer sailer .... even in these days of high petrol prices.... actually they probably save you miles of commuting to the boat

it is the ability to resist going large that is the key

and having towed 22 feet I have no idea how stressful towing 26 feet must be

the sefarer was 15 foot six and was wonderful to tow and launch

and not that bad to live on during sunny weather

if the sun is not shining it went back on the trailer and I took it home again

lovely roller trailer that would pick the little seafarer up from the ground

Dylan
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No arguments from me regarding the benefits of a trailer sailer Dylan, I have one!
The concept was of course invented here in NZ by the late great Richard Hartley with the ubiquitous TS16, which is still going strong both here and in Australia - http://youtu.be/w8aJvI5talQ
There is of course a limit to what can safely be called a Trailer Sailer and I would suspect you are right on the limit at 22 feet.
 
pen2413 said:
No... the whole boat is a toy - a brilliant one!

I wouldn't go offshore in it either but that's not what it's for. Frankly I wouldn't want to spend a week with 2 adults and 3 kids on a swift 18 either.
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Too right - it's a great boat for its design brief which is a fun family caravan on water which can motor damn fast and sail very pleasantly; then be towed to some great new sailing location. But on here if you can't bash to windward getting drenched and cold in a force 7 then it's a **** boat. The Mac wouldn't be offshore so wouldn't be in those conditions and frankly I have a boat for pleasure not for demonstrating how tough I am; which is good because I'm not tough I like to enjoy the experience :)
 
pen2413 said:
No... the whole boat is a toy - a brilliant one!

I wouldn't go offshore in it either but that's not what it's for. Frankly I wouldn't want to spend a week with 2 adults and 3 kids on a swift 18 either.
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Good on you Pen too many on here forget the pleasure derived from "messing about on the water" with the wife and kids in a comfortable boat.
How many Mac knockers have been where you have in their current boat at the cost and time it took,a few no doubt but not all by a long way. As I have said before £s - enjoyment of the Mac must be very low(in cost). The Mac puts peeps on the water at a reasonable cost and not in a cave like older boat that is the alternative on a smallish budget.
 
I never felt a strong liking for the Mac 26, but its speedboat pretences have led me to dream of gutting one, taking out the weight of the interior and water-ballast, and putting in a 350hp petrol inboard, if necessary by cutting open the coachroof...

...then, go quietly 'pottering' under sail to some spot where PWCs are menacing other boatists...and at the right moment, let rip that ruddy-great cabin full of Mercruiser grunt, and scare the grins off their faces. :rolleyes:
 
dancrane said:
I never felt a strong liking for the Mac 26, but its speedboat pretences have led me to dream of gutting one, taking out the weight of the interior and water-ballast, and putting in a 350hp petrol inboard, if necessary by cutting open the coachroof...

...then, go quietly 'pottering' under sail to some spot where PWCs are menacing other boatists...and at the right moment, let rip that ruddy-great cabin full of Mercruiser grunt, and scare the grins off their faces. :rolleyes:
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You definately need to stop dreaming and buy a boat - any boat please!
 
No, proper boats are better for that as well ;)

images-6.jpg
 
Yantlet said:
There is of course a limit to what can safely be called a Trailer Sailer and I would suspect you are right on the limit at 22 feet.
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That may be the case in NZ, but in Europe this is the limit to what can be towed on a normal driving license (although recently you need to take another test)...

DF920
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It's 30.5' loa and nearly 50' of mast. The weight means that a large 4WD is needed to be legal, like a LR Disco or Defender or a Land Cruiser. It was designed to be a Euromax design, i.e. legal to tow on an ordinary license in all the EU members at the time. Whether that is still true, I don't know.
 
Just what is a Trailer Sailer?

And your point is?
Obviously if you are determined enough you can put anything on a trailer and tow it from A to B - but in my book that is not what is defined in the true sense of the words Trailer Sailer
Where I come from it is a boat that is regularly driven from home to wherever your cruising,racing,fishing ground may be and can be launched,retrieved and rigged by one or at the most two people on a regular basis, not just as a means to reposition the boat - try that with the monster in your photo!
 
Yantlet said:
And your point is?
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My point is that 22' is not the limit to the size of a trailer sailor. The DF920 was designed as a trailor sailor. It is legal to tow behind a suitable car on an ordinary driving license. The builder supplies a road legal trailer. It is designed to be rigged and car launched by two people without a crane in 40cm depth of water from its trolley. Owners regularly move them by road to explore new areas. Try it? Yes thanks, I have. Maybe it's different in NZ, but in the UK a driver with an ordinary car license cannot tow any size boat on the roads, so a DF32 is not a trailer sailor. That's a good enough definition for me. But who cares anyway? We all do different things with our boats, and what may be suitable for one may not be for another. As long as it's all fun, it doesn't really matter, so no need for unpleasant posts.
 
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