Practicalities of a trailer sailer

[Reel Time]

We had a Shipmate Senior Information and was like a dinghy with a lid. Light and easy to launch, mast steps same as a dinghy. I’m no longer expert sailer but we had fun. One of these circumnavigated the uk and he sailed across the channel to France. Bonus was it fits in a single garage on trailer

 

[Fantasie 19]

Depending on your budget I've always like the Swallow boats.. water ballast so trailer friendly? Carbon masts so easy to raise/drop..

 

[Alfie168]

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.

Try Weymouth harbour marina. A friend keeps his trailer sailor there and its not ridiculously pricey.

 

[eddystone]

I had a Crabber 17 which is about the length and weight you indicated, lifting plate, gaff rig. In the end I launched it and recovered it twice a year onto a trot. Gaff rig has big advantage of mast being shorter but takes longer to rig. On my own I took the best part of a day to rig so not like a dinghy otoh I could raise the mast single handed which certainly isn’t true of wife’s Flying Fifteen.
I would say only sensible if you have it in the water for a decent amount of time - ratio of rigging to sailing bit high for weekend but then if there are two or three of you that’s different

 

[Skylark]

There's a tidy looking Swift 18 on Apollo Duck at the moment - looks well cared for and good trailer with it, with 4 guides to help loading.

I couldn’t resist but to take a look ?

Very fond memories of owning one. Many TSs just don’t look right but the Swift does look, feel and sail like a small, big boat.

I live in the NW but I bought mine from a guy living on IoW. I drove there to collect it and he agreed to meet me at the ferry port. One of the trailer wheels collapsed during his journey so I had to return a week later after he’d had new running gear welded to the trailer.

When I sold it, it went back to Lake Solent.

I remember being impressed by the quality of the rudder stock fittings. ?

 

[steve350]

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.

I sold my wayfarer for the reason you mentioned; launching and rigging then decommissioning for every sail got too much.
I think its only tolerable if your are on the water for an extended period, but with a wayfarer that isn't possible imo.
It's a different prospect of course if your trailer sailer has a cabin or cuddy to sleep in, allowing a longer duration on the water. The setting up then becomes a smaller percentage of time spent on the overall exercise.
I think the real advantage of the trailer sailer is the saving in boat yard fees in the off-season. The boat being trailered home from its mooring. Different cruising grounds each season can be chosen and 1/2 tide moorings are often available and cheap.

 

[steve yates]

Errata...Lakesailor According to some Lakey is still here...

oops. apologies to him then

 

[Alfie168]

I wonder why no trailer-sailer manufacturer ever followed the Broads sailboat style of lowering counter balanced mast. There’s a cavity in foredeck for counter balance at base of mast to pivot into. Combined with a gaff/gunter rig to keep the amount of lowered mast projecting from aft end of boat to a minimum.
I had a Jaguar 23 with an A-frame for raising and lowering of mast. Did it once, and that was the end of my dabbling with trailer sailing!

On my Dehler there are two extra shrouds that keep the mast stable laterally as it goes up and down, so there is no need for an A frame. You just use the spinny pole as the fulcrum, attached to a stainless fitting at the base of the mast and to the roller reefing base at the other., attach the rope and lead that back to a winch...and wind away from the cockpit, Its nice to have a second person around, but I've done it alone enough times now for it to be routine with no (well not much drama.) A frames are the devils work.......and yes i have done it that way as well and its not brilliant is it.

 

[JumbleDuck]

Yes the Drascombe would be the boat I'd give serious consideration to. Especially the Coaster with its cuddy, it ticks plenty of desirable boxes:
Lift keel
Not too heavy displacement, 480kg.
Seaworthy design.

The simplicity of the rig would make setting up the boat a much simpler task and less onerous than perhaps a bermudan with all the associated standing rigging of that configuration. The Drascombe is a gunter yawl rig with loose footed sails. This would be an important consideration for me

Although not essential I'd look for a break back or swing beam trailer for ease of launching.

I have a Longboat. Although it is indeed pretty quick to launch and recover, and the main mast goes up easily, the mainsail rig generally is a slow faff. It takes ages to lace things onto things, tie things onto things, do things with parrel beads and so on. Without a lot of modification I really wouln't want to trailer-sail it.

 

[Alfie168]

We had the very first Skipper Mariner (as they were then called) when I was a child. Lovely big cockpit and surprisingly roomy cabin, but a pernicious lee helm, which I am sure was corrected on later ones. The local sailing centre has three of them which they used to take people out for trips before they were mostly replaced by a Drascombe.

The Eagle 525 was made as a Mk1 and a Mk2. The Mk 2s had more and better placed ballast which I am told helped make them a bit less tender. Morton boats did a lovely job of the revamp and i think made about 70.....as opposed to about 3,000 or so of the original Skipper 17.

 

[richardabeattie]

And you then need somewhere to park the car and trailer and others will be queuing up for the slip so you've got to be slippy.

 

[coveman]

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.

Not sure where in Dorset you are but Castle Cove Sailing Club, Weymouth have moorings available ( at least they will when the current crisis is over). Access at all states of the tide either via your tender or they have a ferry operating at weekends and some evenings.

 

[steve350]

I have a Longboat. Although it is indeed pretty quick to launch and recover, and the main mast goes up easily, the mainsail rig generally is a slow faff. It takes ages to lace things onto things, tie things onto things, do things with parrel beads and so on. Without a lot of modification I really wouln't want to trailer-sail it.

Ah, I appreciate the lacing is time consuming. There's not really a quick and easy way to get on the water and go sailing in anything much bigger than a dinghy. I guess it's a trade off between the time needed to commission and decommission the boat, and the time spent actually aboard and sailing.

The Hunter 490 was on my short list of boats when I was looking for an entry into sailing years ago. At that time there were none available so I eventually bought its larger cousin the Hunter 19 (Europa) which was sold to me with its mooring. I've always thought the 490 a nice little boat, a fun package. And then there's the West Wight Potter, it's attractive but perhaps not as slippery as the Hunter.

West Wight Potter :: potter-15

 

[Praxinoscope]

As Seajet hasn't offered an opinion yet I would certainly put a plus in for the Anderson 22, great sail and is one of the 70's trailer sailers that has stood the test of time.
Mast erection is always a pain on trailer sailers, we had a Fox Terrier for a while and getting the mast up and set was always the longest winded part of the exercise, an 'A' frame helps, on the smaller boats erecting the mast is not so difficult but still an exercise that tends to take the gloss off trailer sailing.

 

[Sandro]

JumbleDuck said:
I have a Longboat. Although it is indeed pretty quick to launch and recover, and the main mast goes up easily, the mainsail rig generally is a slow faff. It takes ages to lace things onto things, tie things onto things, do things with parrel beads and so on. Without a lot of modification I really wouln't want to trailer-sail it.

I have a Dabber, no cabin, so probably not what the OP looks for. Having a standing lug loose footed main sail rigging it is very quick: the sail is stowed laced and rolled around the yard; on it there is a strop with an eye. The halyard ends with a carbin hook and is kept abreast the mast by the parrel bead, already tied around the mast, One just hangs the yard to the halyard hook, connects the tack with the downhaul tackle (carbin hook), connects sheet tackle with rope horse (carbin hook) and clew (soft strop for safety sake) and is ready for hoisting away.
The shorter mast is a boon both for raising it and for trailering.

When I had a two sons crew, it took half an hour from arriving to sailing off, car and trailer parked.
Now, singlehanded, it takes about twice as long but always worth a day of sailing.

Stowing of all gear and launching drill are aimed to a shortestlaunching and retrieving time.

Sandro

 

[JumbleDuck]

The Eagle 525 was made as a Mk1 and a Mk2. The Mk 2s had more and better placed ballast which I am told helped make them a bit less tender. Morton boats did a lovely job of the revamp and i think made about 70.....as opposed to about 3,000 or so of the original Skipper 17.

Thanks. Ours had a single lifting (pivoted) keel which I think was replaced by lifting bilge keels.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I think the real advantage of the trailer sailer is the saving in boat yard fees in the off-season. The boat being trailered home from its mooring. Different cruising grounds each seaon can be chosen and 1/2 ride moorings are often available and cheap.

I think that is a very good compromise. You could even hire a van for towing at the beginning and end of the season. Different cruising grounds particularly appeals to me.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I couldn’t resist but to take a look ?

Very fond memories of owning one. Many TSs just don’t look right but the Swift does look, feel and sail like a small, big boat.

I live in the NW but I bought mine from a guy living on IoW. I drove there to collect it and he agreed to meet me at the ferry port. One of the trailer wheels collapsed during his journey so I had to return a week later after he’d had new running gear welded to the trailer.

When I sold it, it went back to Lake Solent.

I remember being impressed by the quality of the rudder stock fittings. ?

I had one too. I thought the quality was pretty good and she was lovely to sail. Biggish
rig and mast though. I often see her locally and she lives permanently on a half tide mooring.

 

[bdh198]

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!

Definitely +1 for a lift keeler, and jumping in to join the crowd singing the praises of their various trailable lift keelers, I think I should say a few words for the Sailfish 18.

She is easy to launch and retrieve and I frequently do this solo on all kinds of different slipways. I can also lift and lower the mast solo, even when ’at sea’. A few years ago I motor/sailed her round Portsea Island in Portsmouth which involved a mast drop to get under the Eastern Road bridge, the A3 bridge and the M275. Safely into Portsmouth harbour the mast went up and I sailed into the Solent. With her lift keel I have ’threaded the Needles’, sailed through Durdle Door and explored some very remote creeks in Poole Harbour. She is also quite capable of longer passages and I have solo sailed her from Lymington to Cherbourg, and sailed her from the Solent, round the Sussex and Kent coast and the up the Thames all the way to Oxford.

She has been in our family for over 40 years and my father originally bought her because of her deep cockpit and family friendly layout, particularly for young children. However, it was when I was first getting into sailing 20 years ago that her versatility and easy of handling really came into its own. She might not win you many races, but I suspect that’s not the kind of boat you’re looking for. Although we’ve moved onto bigger boats we’ve kept her in the family sitting quietly on her trailer and we always find a weekend or two each year to get her out.

Finally, she has a good community of owners who know every last detail of the boat and are always willing to help with any problems, and of course there is a well known columnist of one particular practical sailing publication who is quite simply ‘mad about the boat’.

 

[chriscallender]

I moved in the opposite direction from an 18' trailer sailer to a Wanderer dinghy, so maybe not the best person to ask. The points here are well made about a good tow car, rigging setup and trailer. However although it sounded good in theory I just found I could never get into the whole trailer sailer thing - I think quite a major part of the reason is that personally I don't like driving and being in cars .

For me one appeal of sailing has to be that possibility to go and visist places at a slower and more relaxed pace without having to sit in a car to get there. A day out involving an hour or 2 drive to a slipway, say 30-60 minutes to launch and get going and doing the reverse at the other end of the day just isn't my thing. So that would put me firmly in the camp of getting a cheap mooring fairly close to home and using the trailer to avoid winter storage charges. But then I'd be looking to get something bigger than 18' and getting a bit more space and comfort and better at handling slightly rougher weather in that case - say 21-24". The other thing then that might change is the lifting vs bilge keel question. The keel box takes up plenty of cabin space, although of course makes it nicely shallow draft and makes for easy launch/receovery (somehow all boats I've owned in the past have been lifiting keel, even at 28'), if you only launch/recover once a year I see it that a bilge keel would be better.

Just something to think about. Maybe your're not the same as me and you'd enjoy the driving/trailing/towing aspects well enough for the benefit it gives of getting to sail in different places in the end. I think that is what a boat this size could be good for. Otherwise it strikes me as the worst possible compromise, a dinghy would be just as good for local half day/day sails near home (which tends to be more my thing, at least in normal years :-( ), and a slightly bigger trailer sailer would be better for more extended trips if you are only setting it up and launchning/recovering twice per season.