Practicality of owning a trailer sailer - is the extra effort worth it?

ridgy said:
I have a friend with a 17 footer on a trailer and just this weekend gone we took it to the menai straits. From getting it out of the water to driving off with it took 2 hours. Strapping everything down, attaching number board etc all takes time and we discussed on the drive home leaving it in a nearby boatyard next season. It's a lot of effort for a weekend.
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Somewhere like Dinas Boatyard could be worth considering - they've a slip and a tractor for launching/retrieving and has a few trailer sailers there
 
slawosz said:
My favourite for UK would be Maxus 22. Plenty of space inside and its fin keel version circumnavigated the world twice - in 2018 non-stop.
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I keenly await the Poles building a trailable multihull. The other offerings are hugely expensive, pretty sure theres someone in Poland who could do it just as well for less money.
 
I have had my 21ft trailer sailer for 41years. Still love it. The first 3 years I kept it at home in Melbourne and towed it to a marina for launching. It did not seem a great hassle at the time. Needed lots of maintenance on trailer. Bearings brakes etc. I di a few races which involved towing 150 miles. Situation changed and moved across the country the boat on the back of a truck. Ended up living in sight of a nice swing mooring and club with good slip. So boat got antifouled and has been raced for last 38 seasons with much success and pleasure. I have developed the habit of pulling it out and home for winter. (will be back in 2 weeks time) It really is not much hassle to launch and recover. A steep ramp with trailer bearings barely wet. No real worry about tides. Launch and rig less than 30 mins with 2 people. But then I have had lots of practice. The mast is tapered ali and relatively light and I use 2 spin poles for an A frame and a very tall 2 level crutch support at the transom. Keel 100kg is vertical lift which does take a bit of time and effort to raise using halyard winch and 4 purchase pulley system.
I could rave about the boat but being made in Oz (Victoria) it would not help OP. It has been proven self righting to ocean racing standard.
No apart from early years in Victoria I have not towed it very far to different locations here in west oz. That is just how my usage has turned out. I do get neurotic worryiong about trailer integrity on a long trip. It weighs about 1200kg boat and trailer.
Now for the OP I would say enjoy the boat you have. You could get a small mobo on a trialer for some adventures to see how you go. Or you could get a trailer for the existing boat. Perhaps a challenge launching retrieving etc but here regularly at our club ramp people retrieve fin keel boats onto trailers up to 27ft. (light ) So as said much depends on facilities for launching that are available. ol'will
 
Since it is the rig that mostly delays launch and recovery, myself and friend spent some time simplifying the process. On his, a gaff cutter, a decent tabernacle allows the mast to lowered and raised underway. The boom and gaff, along with the main fold back together. Both fore sails are on furlers and have 2:1 tackles to the stem and bowsprit fittings. So, ties released, make sure nothing will snag, heave the mast up a bit and pull on both tackle falls, then cleat off. Raise the gaff and main and stow the gallows. Call it ten mins max.
On my gunter, it trails with the main, boom and yard lashed to the mast on two supports. Shrouds attached. Release ties and lift the mast into the keel step. Haul on the jib halyard which has a snap shackle to the stem fitting, when mast is up, cleat off and attach the forestay via a pin to the two ss strips off the stem. Release the halyard, hank on the jib.
In both cases the rudders have to be hung, couple of minutes.
We are lucky in that we have several launching places nearby that are free and have somewhere close to park the car and trailer.
The Kelt 6.2 is getting an A frame with a slider in the mast track. Mast is 8mt and quite a lot heavier than the little boats. The slider means that the A frame feet don't have to be in line with the mast step to keep the mast vertical, but will keep it centered while heaving.
Genoa is on a furler. I expect the whole process to be under an hour, with setting up and taking down the A frame , along with a longish prop to support the mast at the stern.
It won't be 'daily' process, as a drying mooring is available up a creek, but could be good for a w/end elsewhere. Boat weighs 1 ton.
 
The F27 has a pretty tall rig, 10m or so IIRC. The inner shrouds are in line with the mast foot, so make perfect guys, and the boom is used, with the trailer winch, to lever the mast up. Not detaching anything except the forestay, gooseneck and mainsheet in order to trail speeds it up. Of course, on a smaller rig, a good tabernacle works wonders. Can’t imagine why smaller trailer sailers don't have them universally. Just fashion?
 
The first boat I owned was a trailer sailer. The good side was that we visited lots of cool places. Ultimately , however I found that we were spending a lot of time traveling, launching, trying to find place to park trailer, rigging,, derigging, retrieving trailer, loading boat ect. It is also difficult if you do not have competent crew and/or trailer drivers. In many places you need both at the same time.

A three day weekend was maybe only one day sailing in reality. I now have mooring and a three day weekend is two and a half days sailing which suits me much better.
 
ridgy said:
That is exactly where we were thinking of leaving it. Either that or a mooring on red wharf bay.
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We had a 24 foot trailable yacht based at Port Dinorwic. Dinas is an excellent slip.

We equipped her with a suitable mast raising tackle and used our own 4 * 4 for launching and recovery with its own front towbar. This allowed us to pack up and move her a couple off times a year. A background in method study and dinghy open meetings helped me ensure that we could rig launch and sail or recover within a very short time scale.
Having a fully shaped bunked trailer ensured reliable and repeatable loading and unloading.
Having said that we still preffered to arrive and sail so had her in the water in the marina.

If you plan trailing any significant mileage you want to ensure your trailer is in tip top condition and is kept that way after salt water immersion.

We also used slips at Pwllheli (public and privatea) at Beaumaris (ABC) and made two trips to South Brittany. (By Ferry!)

France does not charge for launching or trailer and car parking in contrast to anywhere in the UK. The Morbihan and the Villaine is a TS paradise.

We only trailed home for winter maintenance at home and storage in a farmers barn.

We spent more time on that boat than either that have replaced it. Wonderful memories.
If you plan is to have her based in North Wales a trailable boat is a very suitable choice for the sheltered waters and shallow anchorages of the Strait and around Ynys Mon.

Dont hesitate to PM me if you are in the area and want more info or advice.

I would not recommend your preferred mooring ground.............

Steve
 
The trailer sailing conundrum seems to boil down to the amount of work to launch and recover, mostly. Thats partly boat design and size, and partly launch system, ie trailer and possibly slip cradle, though that might just be dead weight to some. Our 27 weighed just over a ton. The rig was well engineered for DIY. You didn’t have to immerse the wheel bearings to launch or recover, which obviously is a shallow draught benefit, but also trailer design. Ours was designed as an outfit, not just ‘stick the boat on a trailer’. To me, that removes every single fixed keel design from consideration. Lifting keels need to retract completely too. So to me, any trailer sailer design should draw no more than 50cm at launch, no more than about 1200kg, and have a mast system for easy stress free DIY and a trailer design to make launching easy. That narrows down the choice a fair bit.
 
DownWest said:
Since it is the rig that mostly delays launch and recovery, myself and friend spent some time simplifying the process. On his, a gaff cutter, a decent tabernacle allows the mast to lowered and raised underway. The boom and gaff, along with the main fold back together. Both fore sails are on furlers and have 2:1 tackles to the stem and bowsprit fittings. So, ties released, make sure nothing will snag, heave the mast up a bit and pull on both tackle falls, then cleat off. Raise the gaff and main and stow the gallows. Call it ten mins max.
On my gunter, it trails with the main, boom and yard lashed to the mast on two supports. Shrouds attached. Release ties and lift the mast into the keel step. Haul on the jib halyard which has a snap shackle to the stem fitting, when mast is up, cleat off and attach the forestay via a pin to the two ss strips off the stem. Release the halyard, hank on the jib.
In both cases the rudders have to be hung, couple of minutes.
We are lucky in that we have several launching places nearby that are free and have somewhere close to park the car and trailer.
The Kelt 6.2 is getting an A frame with a slider in the mast track. Mast is 8mt and quite a lot heavier than the little boats. The slider means that the A frame feet don't have to be in line with the mast step to keep the mast vertical, but will keep it centered while heaving.
Genoa is on a furler. I expect the whole process to be under an hour, with setting up and taking down the A frame , along with a longish prop to support the mast at the stern.
It won't be 'daily' process, as a drying mooring is available up a creek, but could be good for a w/end elsewhere. Boat weighs 1 ton.
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Re Slider and A frame. I think you refer to a system which is occasionally used here on fractional rig boats for lowering mast for bridges. I would not call it an A frame but considts of a car which slides up and down the main sail track under control of a halyard and down haul. 2 poles are attached which sit on p[ivot points on gunwhale aprox half way down cockpit. They meet the slider near gooseneck level when mast is up. As mast comes down the slider goes up the track to a point where mast is about 30 degrees from horizon and slider is well up the mast and the poles angle aft. It works well for lowering for bridges but has limitations for removing the mast to cabin top for trailering or really low bridges. Quite expensive for the slider and poles. It does control sideways sway of mast in traverse. I would not recommend it for trailer sailer because you have to stow the mast as well as lower it. I would use gin poles and tackle on forestay as well even though in theory you can force the mast up by pulling down the slider.

One of the difficult parts of rigging a heavy mast is in lifting the mast aft from stowage base on or under pulpit to the mast base to connect the pivot pin. This takes 2 people on my 21fter one in the cockpit lifting mast through crutch support and one guiding the base to it's home. I guess once I could do it alone. I have heard of people exploring the idea of a track from fore deck to mast base with a car but might involve a lot of track bending to follow deck line and get the base up to pulpit to allow mast to travel horizontal. Actual raising the mast is easy. Puting boom sails and halyards in place is easy just tedious. All doable. ol'will
 
Chiara’s slave said:
The trailer sailing conundrum seems to boil down to the amount of work to launch and recover, mostly. Thats partly boat design and size, and partly launch system, ie trailer and possibly slip cradle, though that might just be dead weight to some. Our 27 weighed just over a ton. The rig was well engineered for DIY. You didn’t have to immerse the wheel bearings to launch or recover, which obviously is a shallow draught benefit, but also trailer design. Ours was designed as an outfit, not just ‘stick the boat on a trailer’. To me, that removes every single fixed keel design from consideration. Lifting keels need to retract completely too. So to me, any trailer sailer design should draw no more than 50cm at launch, no more than about 1200kg, and have a mast system for easy stress free DIY and a trailer design to make launching easy. That narrows down the choice a fair bit.
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I generally agree but the weight issue is again an engineering issue in my view. Any trailer sailer at 1200kgs is unlikely to be suitable for extended time living onboard in anything but the equivalent of tent camping mode.
I owned a Jarcat 6 catamaran which met all of your criteria and lived on it for 5 weeks when 20 years younger.
Now just retired with a previously non sailing new partner we have comfortably spent nearly 6 weeks living onboard our cruising set up 28 foot trailer sailer with standing headroom at the galley and an enclosed shower/toilet compartment.
Yes you need a powerful car to tow it’s about 3 ton on trailer weight but with the right trailer and rigging and launching systems we manage to launch, rig and sail away in well under 1 hour and the same for retrieval. What 27 foot yacht weighs so little? I assume perhaps a tri?
PS That’s only a 3 litre car licensed baby truck also carrying a truck camper and transversing a 500 meter high climb and fall twisty mountain pass. ?
Note the targa bar with roller that allows one person to move the mast base back to the deck mount and it has an integrated mast raising system that allows one person to easily raise the mast using a cabin top sheet winch.
PPS Yes it’s Polish built.
F7702288-85F8-4271-939B-1548ED7AEA2F.jpeg
 
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The weight of the boat is the area I would be most likely to compromise on for sure. Having a big boat behind the car doesn’t worry me, you just need a better tow vehicle. My own preference is for sailing performance above standing headroom, yes, a Corsair F27 is an Ian Farrier designed tri.
 
William_H said:
Re Slider and A frame. I think you refer to a system which is occasionally used here on fractional rig boats for lowering mast for bridges. I would not call it an A frame but considts of a car which slides up and down the main sail track under control of a halyard and down haul. 2 poles are attached which sit on p[ivot points on gunwhale aprox half way down cockpit. They meet the slider near gooseneck level when mast is up. As mast comes down the slider goes up the track to a point where mast is about 30 degrees from horizon and slider is well up the mast and the poles angle aft. It works well for lowering for bridges but has limitations for removing the mast to cabin top for trailering or really low bridges. Quite expensive for the slider and poles. It does control sideways sway of mast in traverse. I would not recommend it for trailer sailer because you have to stow the mast as well as lower it. I would use gin poles and tackle on forestay as well even though in theory you can force the mast up by pulling down the slider.will
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On a similar boat we used an A frame and tackles, but it was a bit sloppy as the feet of the frame were not attached in line with the heel pivot. The system was not developed further as a pontoon berth suddenly became available and the owner opted for that.
This version will have better deck fittings , but the track slider means that they do not have to be at the height of the pivot, or even in line with it but will still control the sideways movement of the mast.
Bits will be cheap, tube probably around €50 and the rest from scrap SS in my w/shop. The slider will be a bit of flat bar about 200mm long with a slug at each end and the tubes pivoted halfway on a lug.
 
In my experience there are not as many launching sites as you think there may be and it is not always easy to find a place to park car and trailer.
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I often see people complaining about lack of launch sites and parking. I’m not sure if my expectations are different or I’m just lucky but I’ve rarely been in a situation where I couldn’t find somewhere to launch or park. Most obviously, most marinas have some sort of facility and are very good at taking your money. Outside of marina facilities a bigger issue is if you want pontoon/jetty type capability for getting, crew, kit etc to/from shore in a dry and dignified manner. In my view you either end up going to somewhere with pontoons, parking etc (ie a marina!) or you’ll be as well looking at dinghy cruising and a dry suit for a wayfarer/drascombe etc.

As for the OP - if you’ve tired of one area but have another a similar distance away why not switch marina for a year or two. You’ll get a feel for whether you actually prefer the exploration/unknown or enjoy the simplicity of familiarity.

for me a bigger issue than finding a parking space near a slipway would be when you get in the car and the other half says “could we just stop to get bread and milk on the way” or on the way back after a long tiring trip and you want to stop at a chippy in a small town on the road home. Places you can pull over, turn trailers etc are not often found in small town high streets etc!
 
Chiara’s slave said:
The weight of the boat is the area I would be most likely to compromise on for sure. Having a big boat behind the car doesn’t worry me, you just need a better tow vehicle. My own preference is for sailing performance above standing headroom, yes, a Corsair F27 is an Ian Farrier designed tri.
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Yes I have owned a tri before myself. Sail really great but not so comfortable for longer times living on.
BTW how do you get a F27 down to 1200kgs on trailer. My 680 TT weighed in at 1700kgs on trailer with a 6hp Tohatsu and ready to launch and wasn’t exactly as loaded to the gills for Cruising as my current yacht.
It’s not just standing headroom to cook primarily either in my view. It’s not having to deconstruct/construct things to sleep with my partner, (permanent made up big double bed) and carrying capacity for multi week trips onboard.
Tri’s need to stay light to really sail well and that’s hard if you are carrying many weeks of supplies, water and cruising gear.
Some prioritise speed others of us are old enough to now prefer comfort when extended cruising which retirement now allows. ?
PS That’s a day sailing 2 person tri under the cover beside my yacht.
B143179A-3827-4E4F-9F40-C5176941DF0D.jpeg
 
I said the boat weighed 1200, its about 1800 on the trailer, empty, ie no water, fuel, personal stuff. I’ve towed it at over 2000 with everything on board, ready to sail. It seems sensible not to if you have the option.
 
I think that main trailing/sailing issues depend from us wanting too large a boat. A small day sailer is the maximum easily handled size.
I have a Drascombe Dabber (15 1/2' open yawl). When my two sons sailed with me the launching/retrieving time was about 20 minutes, included removing and parking car and trailer.
I can launch/retrieve single handed but of course the time more than doubles.
In my case the most time consuming operation is unfitting/fitting the tarpaulin cover.
 
Thats just a dinghy though. No probs if thats what you want. It is perfectly possible to do much more, with little extra effort, and it can save bundles of cash compared to other forms of storage between uses. Grith and I are both on the same page really, we are going as big for cruising as is practical on a trailer. Our sailing and accommodation aims differ slightly, whereas you’re moving the goal posts completely.
 
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