Trailer Sailer advice please

I have a Parker 235 – so perhaps I am biased. I chose it for the combination of internal space (having looked at several of the boats listed earlier) and performance.

I easily towed mine 400 miles from the factory to Inverness with a Discovery and I can tow it with my Forester but the car struggles on hills. Launching and recovering onto its works trailer is a doddle if there are no side winds (or 2 helpers), and it takes me about 2 hours to drop the mast and prepare for the road (and the same at the other end). It is just possible to manage with one person but much easier with two.

On performance, 2 years ago I sailed some 435 miles from Inverness down the Caledonian Canal and round the North of Scotland back to Inverness in 15 days (longest daily leg 65 miles). The boat coped well with some strongish winds and rough seas. There is plenty of room for 2 adults and their kit, and sufficient space for 2 adults and 2 children to sleep.

I normally leave mine on a swinging mooring but I have quite happily dried out on mud and sand. The outboard does not need to be removed from the well before drying-out.
 
I have found the article I was thinking of .It was in August 2008 PBO not sailing today as I thought.

It compares 12 lifting keel cruisers including Super Seal Hunter DeltaParker 27 275 and the 235 Etap 23 and 26

Evolution 25 and 26 and Trapper 240

If you want it PM me your address and I will post it to you.

The Super seal or Delta 25 would appeal to me .
 
Check out the evolutions lifting keel plus internal ballast will float in 12 inches or 5 feet smooth bottom and they fly. inboard or outboard available but mine is not for sale
 
Another thing I heard about vertically lifting keels into a keel box, the centre of gravity is quite high with the keel up and they have been known to capsise in rough weather when left.

I don't know ifthat's just a horror story put about by someone with an external lifting keel, but it sounds feasable to me.

E boats have a special trailer, they are wider than the maximum legal width so have to be trailed at an angle to make it legal.
 
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(7m long and 2.3m wide maximum, I believe, althoug hit seems to me that people must push these limits a bit or else most of these boats couldn't be towed legally)

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Those are the max dimensions of the trailer. The boat can overhang trailer by a fair margin. I can't remember the total length extra, but it is more than a metre. I do know that the max width you can tow is 2.90 metres. The DoT guidelines will give you the exact length of overhang allowed.
 
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...I don't think I'm hampered by towing weight really, more just by the size regulations (7m long and 2.3m wide maximum, I believe...


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These are not the overall dimensions. The length of 7m excludes the drawbar and any rear overhang behind the trailer. The width of 2.3 m is trailer only. The load may project up to 305mm each side.

If you're serious about trailing, launching and recovering easily then buy a new, twin axle, multi-roller trailer from one of the reputable manufacturers and set it up for your boat, especially for self-centring on recovery. We spent 4 happy years trailing a 20' Orkney small motor cruiser and having the right trailer made an enormous difference. It was very much easier than the smaller, lighter boat and mediocre trailer we had previously.


Edit...too slow!
 
Thanks for all the top tips. Keep 'em coming!

I'm so glad I mentioned the trailer size point. I am a careful chap and want to comply with the Regs. I had done what I thought was the research on the point and I couldn't understand why so many "trailer" boats seems to be too big to be legal. But I had missed the overhang point and that makes it all clear now.

So if effectively you're allowed a beam of up to 2.9m and a length of 10m, then for all practical purposes the determing factor will usually be the weight not the size, I guess. Which will then practically be limited to the permitted weight limit of the towcar.

So I might go back to looking at those 25-26 footers after all.....
 
High Judders. No I am not selling this boat. I think my sons plan to have it when I have finished with it. I am not looking for a new boat. I think the design however is brilliant.
I take full responsibility for the broach. Of the 8 boats started in our division this is the smallest. 2 are over 30 ft fin keels. A 22fter and a 27fter pulled out that day as just too unpleasant/rough. I alone flew spin ( a small one) and it went really well until it was time to gybe the spin.
After it recovered with spin still up I managed to get it on course with pole finally attached again and it went well even shy.
My problem is that the boat has a reputation for performance in medium to light winds so handicap is such that we have to beat the bigger boats by quite a margin. Come strong winds it is a real effort to keep up let alone beat them but we keep trying. I really have to have a reef and tiny jib for windward work so spin is vital for down wind.

For sane people it can be quite a nice boat easily driven provided you shorten sail early and light to tow. Class min weight is 740Kg. Though mine is closer to 1 tonne.

I have never had difficulties towing out of a ramp. I once towed it home with a 2 litre Camry auto. But have mostly used a 4 litre auto.

I think here in west oz towing limits are easier (or ignored) One friend has a Magnum 8.5 (metre) trailer sailer (that is heavy) he tows with a Land Cruiser. olewill
 
We had an Evolution 22 (clesely related to the E-Boat) for a while and we occasionally sailed in North Wales. I have the following observations:

1. They were a vertical lift keel with a relatively flat bottom. They sat in a partial mould of their own bottom on the trailer (which made them surprisingly HARD to recover)!

2. It's very hard to antifoul a flat-bottomed lift keeler!

3. We had to remember to pull the log paddlewheel up a bit before drying out! I didn't especially like doing this as it meant it wasn't especially well located. Doing it "properly" (i.e. taking it out completely and putting the blanking cap on) was a pain in the backside because we'd always get a fair bit of water in the bilges.

4. It would slam in a short chop (of the sort you often get over Caernarfon bar) something wicked.

5. It had a transom-hung outboard that (again in a short chop) would loose it's grip on the water as the boat pitched. Making progress to windward under such conditions was a soul-destroying experience! If I got another boat with an outbard, I'd definitely want it in a well to try and reduce that effect.

6. I could never be 100% sure that the fibreglass bottom wouldn't dry out on a rock, damaging the gelcoat. In retrospect, I'd prefer a bilge keeler or something with an iron grounding plate.


7. The rudder is often more of a problem than the keel when grounding. I like the sort that swing back when they hit something.
 
Hello Avocet to reply
1. My t/s goes on a trailer of rollers open at the back obviously which is the easiest of all boats to recover that i have seen including mobos. I once winched it onto the trailer from dry sand but usually back the trailer in till the water just covers the rear most rollers. ie bearings still dry.

2. I gave up on paddle wheel log many years ago. The fouling here was just too much too fast. I use GPS.

3. I antif foul my t/s every spring while it is on the trailer. I jack the trailer to increse clearancee under the trailer or pull is up onto ramps. The drawbar is raised or lowered to tilt the boat to give more clearance. I roll the boat back about .5 meter to enable the keel to be partially dropped so it can be painted. The top half of the keel is painted from inside the cabin.
Yes the a/f does get damaged as keel is raised and lowered but I put up with that.

I feel sure you will find the hull of any f/g boat very thick on the bottom. I accidentally dropped mine off the trailer onto concrete from where it slid into the water over about 5 metres of concrete.(I didn't realise the boat would roll off the trailer so easily when launching. There was only a few superficial scratches on the hull. When I cut a hole for the log paddle the f/g was very thick 8mm at least. I would not worry much about puncturing the hull of any f/g boat. Within reason. Banging up and down in waves could damage it on rocks perhaps.

Anyway bilge/ twin keel boats are almost unheard of around here. olewill
 
Hi Olewill, I wasn't actually intending to reply to your post in particular - just ended up pressing the "reply" button! Naturally, I can agree with what you say and the points were largely specifically aimed at our Evolution. The fatct that it sat in a partial mould of its own bottom left it very well supported on its trailer but nigh-impossible to antifoul!

I also agree about the strength of the bottom - in fact when ours wasn't sat quite right on its trailer after a recovery (which was most of the time!) I used to jack it up through an opening in the bottom of the "mould" on the trailer with a trolley jack and then move the trailer a bit to reposition it. Under these circumstances, virtualy the entire weight of the boat would be concentrated over an area not much bigger than the pad of a trolley jack. The comment wasn't so much about structurally damaging the bottom as scratching or chipping the gelcoat. If the OP wants to leave it afloat for any length of time, that might allow water into the laminate in the area of the chip. Obviously for a trailer-sailer that doesn't lie afloat for a year, this wouldn't be a problem.
 
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What about the little Dehler? Pretty as a picture and a well sorted trailer arrangement IIRC. Some have got an inboard engine to boot.

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There are two Dehler trailer sailers, the 22 and the 25, of which the 25 has an inboard engine option, but the 22 has outboard only. They both date from the mid 80s-early 90s. The vast majority are in Germany/Holland (Dehler had a plant in Zaandam in those days)

Plus points. They are generally quite well made, a beautiful shape and are really quite high performance designs. They are now very affordable and easily towed. They point upwind well and are a very rewarding sail. The have wind up keels plus water ballast (so they don't turn over with the keel up when moored). You can launch them into less than two feet of water. Most spares are available form Germany

Minus points. The 22 is small inside, but has four berths. Two would be happy on board for a week. Four good friends could do a weekend. The 25 is still not large inside, but is a bit better all round. There is a long stub keel which contains the water ballast, so it will not dry out upright except on mud. It has a lift out non swing rudder which goes through the cockpit floor. Its in the right place for boat handling, but is bulky to store when you 'park'.

Have a look here. http://www.dehlya.de/index.html

Which brings me to another minus. It helps if you know a smattering of German, but the parts supplier at Marina Grossenbrode speaks English reasonably well (a lot better than my German)

I'd have liked a Parker 21 or 235, but they were outside my budget. They are beautifully made and sail well. I think you will find the Polish boats a little fragile in some depts. Some of the rudders I have seen on them don't look meaty enough for rough stuff as they are mainly sailed on lakes. My Dehler 22 is a delightful compromise. I just don't get to sail her enough.

Tim
 
Second the two suggestions above to check out a Hunter Liberty or Minstrel. Shallow draught stub keels, dries out upright, will sail well without the swing keel deployed if necessary, and a thriving Owners Association. Road test in YM late last year.

Sparkie
 
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