MOTOR SAILERS

rinkerrhoda

rinkerrhoda

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I was wondering if anybody has any experience good or bad of motor sailers. I am in the process of looking for a boat to operate on the clyde ...have had lots of usefull info from a previous post on the subject.
Recently went to view a motor sailer (seafarer 24) which was basic but in excellent condition. With a 35hp diesel it would cruise at 8knots which to me seems like the best of both worlds.
The present owner does not sail her at all...I want a boat primarily for day / weekend cruising.. do these boats tend to sail well or are the sails more for stability...any thoughts.
PS I realise there will be sailing purists who will no doubt hate the idea /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
I have a Fisher 30 and I have to say I love it. It sails well, heals over slightly, never reefed it, if it rains I stay inside the wheelhouse and do not get wet.

Has not dropped in value since I bought it. Horses for courses I guess.

Best advice is to get on a few and have a go.
 
Can't speak for that particular model but in general motor sailers vary enormously. Some sail and motor pretty well, others are complete dogs under sail. If you like to sail, be sure to try out your choice under suitable conditions so you don't find yourself with stuck something that takes a F6 to get moving.

The smaller ones sometimes have no room for an outside steering position - could you live with having to sit in a glass box to steer on a fine sunny day?
 
I specifically looked for a motor sailor when buying... wanted the safety and comfort of an enclosed Cockpit, together with the large engine so that SHMBO could take it out under motor without me.
As said by others, the range varies and the middle ground means that you can get some that sail very well (but not good under motor) and some that motor well but not good under sail.
Needless to say I found my ideal.... my 27 year old swedish girlfriend....... She is a Fisksätra Parant, more of a sailboat, suits us very well. User group homepage
Look around, find one that suits what you think is right, then find a user group or research the model on the internet.
The search is as much fun as the finding of your ideal boat.
 
My Sunrider 25 ....

Sails albeit slowly ... but surely.

Engine is over 40HP, so will motor comfortably all day at speeds that other sail-boats dream about .... getting me to the front of the bar-queue ...

Most MS are not so good on sails alone being designed to have sails and engine together ... but the title MS has now drawn vague as boats such as Centaurs, SR 25, Colvics etc. sit on the dividing line.

At the end of the day you will have to accept that Club Regatta days you will enter races for fun only ... with odd DNF's (Did Not Finish). But you may have a boat that is more liked by SWMBO / family etc.

So its really what you want out of it .... having the bigger engine often leads to extras like hot water etc. so why not ???
 
The LM boats were marketed as "the sailor's motorsailor". An LM27 next to us last winter was up for sale, pretty boat (for a modern design), looked more like a sailing boat than a motor boat by a long way, but quite expensive. I always thought I'd get a Fisher 25 or a Nauticat when I was too old to sail a proper boat...... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
LM 27 'modern' Mmm. I did read many years ago that the hull was designed as a sail boat, the top only being added as an after thought.

I heard that the Nauticat comes with a Stanner stair lift. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: LM27

Sorry, I must be getting old again. I forgot how long they've been around, but they are still solid looking boats. From my perspective 1970's yachts will always look modern.
Anyway, I've since decided that any "retirement" boat will have absolutely no bloody engine whatsoever, and be small enough to sail everywhere. I'd rather spend my failing years waiting for the wind than with my head inside an even bigger and smellier diesel than I've got at the moment.
 
You don\'t need dinghy or other such ... engine-less =

EOLA_01.jpg


She did have an outboard bracket ... and I went and bought a "get-U-home" Johnson 3.3 to go on it. It was used maybe 2 or 3 times in 4 yrs. We used to "sail" her out of Tallinn Marina and sail her back in .... (Boat is approx. 26ft pine / elm on oak)

Moorings were bow to dock and stern to a buoy - so for departure you would about turn the boat by hand, rig sails and depending on wind direction etc. decide to hoist all, main or genny. Once choice made ..... it was let go dock line and heave like mad on buoy line to get boat moving ... and then sail out ... negotiating 2 sets of breakwaters.
Coming back in was reduce to best sail either main or genny depending on wind again .... sail close to mooring and drop sail ... glide into berth having caught the buoy line, passed to stern and then (the buoy line has another line going to the dock that bow man keeps hold of) bowman uses second buoy line to get dock lines ... Stern man stops boat by taking turn of stern buoy line ....

Phew ... harder to write than do ....

Anyway point is that we did it engine-less .... and I am sure many can remember my account of UK boat from Folly when engine seized ??

Engines a very nice back-up.
 
I bought an Evasion 32 which was a bit of a basket case, last year and was described as a motor sailer. It is ketch rigged, and I have had over 9 knots out of her under sail. The 47SHP Perkins engine works well and pushes her along quite happily at 6 knots and 8 knots when pushed. She is long keel and sails very well.
I was at a Beneteau meet recently, and was having the piss taken out of the fact she is 26 years old, but asked the question of the owner of a £330K 47 footer - what do you do when it gets wet? Of course he replied, I get wet. Oh said I, my boat may be 26 years old but at least the maker provided a proper wheelhouse, and hause holes in the bow!
 
It always amuses me when you get a comment about why do you need that greenhouse, and the next day there they are sitting on the rail in full foullies and boots looking like something that just jumped out of the washing machine, and I am just wearing a fleece and thinking about whether I could fit a windscreen wiper!
 
Hmm
depends what you mean by a sailing purist - if its one who sails engineless everywhere there's not many of them about.
Claymore is a good boat - semi enclosed wheelhouse, aft cabin, decent saloon and galley. She has a 48hp engine and sails just fine. Not happy going upwind in excess of 24 knots, but then again, neither am I.
At 30 ft LOA the extra waterline length gives you a better guarantee of achieving a steady 5 knots, uphill, downdale, all day, everyday - but we can burst up to 6.8 with the spinnaker up.
The best bit is when its raining!
 
The Evasion 32 was high on my list when I was looking to change. In the end I went for a center cockpit Colvic Countess pilot house ketch.
Previously I had a 22ft Swin Ranger motor sailer. Under engine it would happily maintain 5 knots on a Yanmar 7.5 hp 1GM, under sail it wouldn't point very high but you could gain 10 degrees by motor sailing /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

02Rouen.jpg
 
thank for all the replies, it sounds like it might be jusT what we need, the idea being to get from A- B, I need to do some research...
 
Nigel I was impressed with your Countess 33 when I saw it from the pontoon in Cherbourg last year. Do you know if the Colvic Countess 28 also has a wheelhouse version?
 
No, it's tiller steered. It is a totally different animal to the CC33 or 37.
I found out literally the other day that they also produced a 35 but only 3 were made, one can be seen here . The extra 2ft is given over to a scoop stern. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
 
[ QUOTE ]

The smaller ones sometimes have no room for an outside steering position - could you live with having to sit in a glass box to steer on a fine sunny day?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's why God invented the autopilot
 
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