Trailer Sailer - Moving up from 18 Footer

[mark_turner]

We currently have a Juno 560 lift keel trailer sailer, which has given us enormous fun week end sailing on the Solent (we are just a mile from the hard at Warsash) as well as further afield (Windermere, Dartmouth etc) for our summer holidays.

The thing is that our three boys (6, 9 and 11) are getting bigger all the time and to make maters worse the boat is definitely getting smaller!

So we are starting to look for our next boat.

It needs to be:

A trailer sailer (moorings around here are way out of our league)
Cheap to buy
Spacious inside and out
Safe and reasonably exciting for our sort of sailing

Any suggestions please?

 

[claymore]

You'll struggle to find another trailer sailor that's big enough to accommodate you all and still be trailable - I used to tow my Hunter Delta (25) around but needed a land rover to do so. It would still have been a crush with 5 of us on board.
So get another Juno on a double trailer arrangement then you can race against each other and when your 11 year old decides to go for the transatlantic record, you can sail along in the other one to make sure he's ok

regards
Claymore

 

[Strathglass]

The big brother to the Juno is the E boat by the same designer and weighs about one ton.

 

[chriscallender]

Are moorings close to Warsash really out your league? Its possible to rent a drying swinging mooring in Porstmouth harbour for about 400-500 pounds/year, which at a guess will be less than the extra running costs of the big car (range rover or similar) needed for towing a large trailer sailer. Or you can even rent a site for a mooring in Portsmouth for about £100/year and lay/maintain your own mooring.

Some sailing clubs also have affordable moorings and no long waiting lists.

The main thing would be to go for something that can dry out if you want to keep mooring costs down, but even with a fin keel it would still be possible to get a deep water mooring for maybe 7-800 a year.

Anyway there are lots of options if you were looking at a bilge keel say 25-30 feet and it can all be done on quite a tight budget. I think that finding a trailer sailer thats enough of a step up from what you have already without being a monster to tow and launch is going to be tricky. Of course holidays to Windermere may be a problem, but then you have other options like France/Channel Islands with a bigger boat.

Chris

 

[Avocet]

We had an Evolution 22 which, I think, is a development of the "E" boat but has a coachroof so there's more space inside. It was just about OK for 2 good friends and there was a small forecabin too. Very fast boat with a lifting keel. It was, however, a bit too fast for a timid husband/wife novice team and didn't like waves much!

 

[cynthia]

My brother has a Jenneau Tonic 23 footer which has excellent accommodation considering the size. He loves his - if interested look for the latter one with yellow/grey grafics as it has a kevlar re-inforced hull. Possible to tow it with the right family saloon and a good trailer.

 

[xcw]

Mark,

I have owned a MacGregor 26C trailer sailer for the last 9 years and had excellent fun with her. The 26C is the classic sailing yacht (not to be confused with the 26X which is the sail/power hybrid). Because she has water ballast she is very easy and light to trail even though she is 26ft long. I trailed mine behind my Cavalier 2.0 quite easily. 26ft will give you considerably more space than you currently have, she has 5 full length berths, enclosed heads, cooker, sink etc and with the pop top up in port, standing headroom.

Because of her length and light weight she is quite fast and very easy to sail. Her lifting keel (centre board) means she can float in 15 inches of water so very easy to launch. Due the simple design there is little to go wrong and little maintenance is required other than a clean up at the start of the season and service to the Yam 9.9 o/b.

We have sailed her for the past 9 years in Chichester harbour, numerous trips over to the IOW etc. People have taken them across the Channel but I wouldn't want to. They are great in anything up to around a F5.

Certainly worth considering in my view. The only reason I am selling mine for aroung £11,500 is that I have bought myself a 36 footer. Let me know if you wish to discuss further.

Chris

 

[kds]

Yes - get an Atalanta - see my website.
Ken

Check out some pictures of my boat at;
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.canongrange.co.uk/boat>http://www.canongrange.co.uk/boat</A>