Practicalities of a trailer sailer

[wayfarer_sailor]

Hi all,

We're thinking of taking a step up from a Wayfarer dinghy and wondered whether anyone could give advice on the merits of a small trailer sailer. We basically want something that is a bit more of a stable platform for the kids and a small cabin for weekending in. Thinking at the smaller end ~18ft or so and so weight ~700kg ish. We'd still plan to store it ashore on its trailer and launch each time. Question is, particularly if we went for a bilge keeler, how practical/possible it is to regularly launch and recover from a slipway?

Thanks!

 

[Corribee Boy]

Launching and retrieving a bilge keeler probably means putting a trailer or dolly into the water and floating the boat over it. That means a depth of waterline to keels, plus trailer, which is about 1.2 m for my boat, or rather deeper than my waders. It’s hard to see if the boat is even in the right place.
It’s the only time I ‘d like a lifting keel.
There’s a recent thread about trailers that might be worth a read.

 

[steve yates]

look at lifting keels too, they can sit on the ground. Upright on mud and soft sand, angled about 25/30 degrees on hard sand or shingle.

 

[steve yates]

Oh, and I can only speak for bradwell 18's as thats what I bought, but it does open up a whole new world, I sailed mine 1200 miles on the west coast in relative comfort. (palatial compared to a wayfarer )

Edited to add, those 1200 miles were day sails, not passagemaking! The longest day was 53 miles from kinlochleven to stornoway, most days were 30 odd miles.You just pick your weather, which you would be doing with kids aboard anyway.

 

[dunedin]

A trailer sailor yacht is great for visiting new locations for a while (my dad took his 22 foot Alacrity lift keeler to the Scottish West Coast, Mediterranean France and Yugoslavia - yes pre-Croatia). Also for avoiding expensive storage fees when not sailing, if have space to keep at home (or a friendly farm near by).

But he tended to use for at least a week, preferably a month, between each launch and lift. You would have to be very (a) keen (b) strong and (c) efficient in terms of prepared systems, to use for either day or weekend sails.

 

[Skylark]

I had a Swift 18 trailer-sailer and loved it. Lifting keel, not difficult to launch and retrieve. Quick and easy to rig. Easy to tow (Volvo 780). Great for visiting different locations. Never had more than 2 aboard. 20 nautical miles in a day was more of an expedition than a day sail. The Swift looks like a "real boat" and on the rare occasions that I see one afloat these days it brings a huge smile to my face.

 

[claymore]

We have a Micro 18 with a lifting keel. We traded up from a GP14 in 1992. Its a great boat - just a dinghy with a lid on. We have docking arms on the trailer so getting it on straight if fairly easy. Audi avant used to tow it easily enough, Freelander was good, Touran is fine and Ford Transit is great. There are 4 berths which is good for the pair of us and our Grandchildren. We also have a boom tent which gives us a deal more space
Do it!

 

[wayfarer_sailor]

Thanks all for the replies! Perhaps a lift keel is the way to go then for easier launching/recovery on a regular basis. I'll have a closer look at the swift/micro 18..

 

[Kelpie]

There will be detractors who say that trail-sailing is a waste of time, but IMHO the devil is in the detail.
I've helped launch boats that were much bigger and heavier than my Wayfarer, but were actually easier- because the trailer design was good, with a winch, and working rollers etc.
You'll definitely want to stay with a light and shallow hull form, and a lifting keel. Put some thought in to the rig as well, to minimise the amount of time lost faffing around putting that up and down. It can be tempting to strip everything off a boat to reduce weight, but that comes at the cost of extra time with every launch/recovery. So maybe aim to remove the outboard and keep everything else with the boat.

 

[DownWest]

Def need shallow draft with a lifting or swinging keel/centre plate. The rig is the time consumer, but lots can be done to reduce the set up time. Depends on the boat, but I would avoid a bilge keeler because of the need to put the trailer well under water to launch/retrieve. Fine if only a few times a season, but not for day trips.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

We have a Micro 18 with a lifting keel. We traded up from a GP14 in 1992. Its a great boat - just a dinghy with a lid on. We have docking arms on the trailer so getting it on straight if fairly easy. Audi avant used to tow it easily enough, Freelander was good, Touran is fine and Ford Transit is great. There are 4 berths which is good for the pair of us and our Grandchildren. We also have a boom tent which gives us a deal more space
Do it!

The Micro 18 was my first boat with a roof. Imho the best of the Microcup crop.

 

[DownWest]

The Micro 18 was my first boat with a roof. Imho the best of the Microcup crop.

While I like the boat, might it be a bit race orientated? Rather than a mini cruiser with a bit of space? Which seems to be the OPs aim.
Problem now is, most of the likely boats are getting on in years, since small boats are are too expensive to build, compared to the margins on the 30ft + lot.
Still, plenty about if a bit of renovation is within the ideas. But not of you want to go sailing, rather than fix up. At the moment, home renovation seems to be the only option ;0)

 

[PeteCooper]

Whereabouts are you? If you are anywhere near Scotland you are welcome to have a look at my Micro Gem 18 - very similar to the Micro 18 mentioned above.
It would give you an idea of the space available, and if the weather was nice you could have a sail.
Post corona of course.

 

[steveeasy]

Great idea. defiantly get a lift keel, will help with launching. The one I had was water ballasted, worked well. make sure the rig is not too big, mine was 10 mtrs for a 22ft boat and the sail area was too much and made it difficult stepping and unstopping the mast.

Steveeasy

 

[lw395]

Great idea. defiantly get a lift keel, will help with launching. The one I had was water ballasted, worked well. make sure the rig is not too big, mine was 10 mtrs for a 22ft boat and the sail area was too much and made it difficult stepping and unstopping the mast.

Steveeasy

10sqm is less than my 14ft dinghy.

 

[Ian_Edwards]

We had a Jaguar 21 for 13 years after trading up from a Wayfarer.
Lifting keel and good sailing performance.
Getting it on the trailer was easy, but you need to take care of the wheel bearings.
The big problem we had was getting the mast up and down, just me, the better half and 2 children. You really need to get that sorted if you are going to launch it every weekend.
We finished up keeping it on a cheap drying mooring, launching it in April, out for a 2 week summer holiday, trailing it to the holiday location, launch and then recovering it at the end of the holiday, then re-launching it for the rest of the season, and then taking it home for the winter at the end of the September.
You can waste a lot of time getting the boat ready to sail and then recovering it. Most slips are tidal, then getting the mast up and tensioning the rigging etc etc.
It all got a bit tedious, so we weren't using the boat as much as we'd have liked. We used it much more when it was on a mooring, it floated on a wet towel so the tidal restriction weren't as bad as I first feared

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

10sqm is less than my 14ft dinghy.

Mast length?

 

[wayfarer_sailor]

Whereabouts are you? If you are anywhere near Scotland you are welcome to have a look at my Micro Gem 18 - very similar to the Micro 18 mentioned above.
It would give you an idea of the space available, and if the weather was nice you could have a sail.
Post corona of course.

Thanks Pete that's a very kind offer but couldn't be much further away in Dorset!

Thanks all for the advice, all good info and now I'm wondering whether perhaps a cheap mooring is the better solution than trying to launch every time.

 

[PeteCooper]

Thanks Pete that's a very kind offer but couldn't be much further away in Dorset!

That's freaky … I bought my Gem in Christchurch!

 

[JumbleDuck]

There will be detractors who say that trail-sailing is a waste of time, but IMHO the devil is in the detail.
I've helped launch boats that were much bigger and heavier than my Wayfarer, but were actually easier- because the trailer design was good, with a winch, and working rollers etc.

As I keep saying, I have a Hunter 490 as my spare boat. She's almost exactly the same length as a Wayfarer, but witha 500lb lifting find-and-bulb keel. My experience is that launching and recovering here is prety easy, even though my trailer has big wheels and needs to go quite deep. The time consuming bit is getting the mast up and down, and if I properly trailer sailed her instead of just taking her to a freshwater mooring once per year I'd be doing everything I could to make that as quick and easy a job as possible., Highfield levers to tension rigging, perhaps, and certainly a proper tabernacle.