Trailer sailer: what's a sensible compromise?

Reptile Smile

Reptile Smile

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Hi all,

Wonder if I can seek your opinions? After a while without my own boat, this Summer should see me being one of 'us' again, and not one of 'them'.

I'm always on a very limited budget, and this is no exception. My plan is, I think, to get as much boat as I can in the form of a trailer sailer. My intention is to spend £1000 on a 4x4 that will do nothing other than tow the boat, and ten spend about £2000 on a boat and trailer. I like the idea of visiting more places than I would otherwise get the chance to, and something around the 20 foot mark would suit me very nicely.

Would folk recommend I stick with the formal kind of of definition of trailer sailer, with a lift keel, or would any old bilge keel on a trailer be ok (in that there are a few more around of those)? I just don't know if I'm going to run into problems with required depth of water to launch if it's a bilge keeler, though maybe the 4x4 is enough to compensate for this..? In addition, am I likely to run into problems with putting the rig up and down every time on a boat that isn't really a trailer sailer?

Cheers for any thoughts you can offer
 
I think you've hit the nail on the head with your two foreseen problems. You'll struggle to get most bilge-keelers off a trailer unless the slipway is very steep or you're prepared to seriously dunk the car, I would think. And you'll need a tabernacle to raise the mast, which some but not all non-trailer-sailers will have.

Pete
 
Assuming you're working and assuming also that you are intending to trail home every week then I'm pretty sure that anything not specifically designed as a trailer sailer will be far too much like hard work to launch and rig for just a weekend to be much fun.
 
machurley22 said:
Assuming you're working and are intending to trail home every week then I'm pretty sure that anything not specifically designed as a trailer sailer will be far too much like hard work to launch and rig for just a weekend to be much fun.
Click to expand...

Thanks all. It's an interesting point - my 'points in favour' of trailer-sailing are currently:

1) Cheaper mooring (ie; my local caravan storage place - £35 per month)
2) Less likely to get bored of cruising same old places, hence:
3) More weekends on it per year

That said, is the rigging and launching such a faff that I don't end up taking it out more, and would be better with something in the water..?

Hmm... I know the received wisdom is more along the lines of 'keep it in the water' - it just all made sense in my head when I thought of it..?
 
Back in the day, we had a mobo on a trailer that didn't get much use; it was such a performance getting the thing in and out of the water. The we put it on a mooring; it got used most weekends, 'cos all we had to do was go and use it! If you then add in the entertainment of rigging and de-rigging a sailing boat, I'd opt for a small something on a mooring that you could put on a trailer at the end of the season or take away with you for holidays - just like we used to do with the mobo.....
 
Your reasons for a trailer sailer make a lot of sense to me, especially seeing new horizons. With a small (hence slow) boat you can otherwise spend an awful lot of time crossing and re-crossing the same piece of water to get anywhere.

Just get a boat that can be rigged quickly, which may mean one designed for the purpose.

Pete
 
I'm partly qualified to answer this as I dry-sail a Wayfarer.
I have spent a lot of time (and some money too) in getting the boat set up to be as quick as possible to rig and launch. Keep the rig very simple, every single bit of string and wire takes a few more minutes to attach. So, for example, all halyards should be handled at the mast, all reefing lines on the boom, keeping each spar 'self contained'. Use snap shackles where safe and possible to do so.
Have a dedicated 'trailing bag' with all your ratchet straps, lightboard, etc, and use the same strap for the same job every time.
If possible, fit guide rails to the trailer for easier recovery. Make sure the rollers are in good condition and move freely.

The shallower the draft of your boat, the easier it will be to get on and off the trailer, and the wide the choice of slips/tides- so for true trailer sailing I wouldn't bother with a bilge keeler.
 
Trailer sailor

I used to have a Sun2000 trailer sailor of 20ft length with a swing keel that went completely flush with the hull when raised. This meant it could be launched easily straight from its trailer. Some of the issues I found were:
1. Slipping the clutch to get started up the slipway with the trailer in the water caused smoke and smells. Obviously not doing the clutch any good on our 1.9 turbo-diesel Seat Alhambra. So I would suggest an automatic or something with a very low ratio transmission.
2. Front wheel drive only was never a problem although I was careful not to go below the weed-line on the slipway with the driving wheels.
3. The trailer was getting immersed each time, which can't be good for electrics, brakes and wheel bearings. You might look for a break-back or piggy-back trailer arrangement especially for a bilge keeler.
4. No obvious reason why you can't trail a bilge keeler but obviously you need to go further into the water. You might think about using some kind of winch and jockey wheel arrangement to go down and up the slipway with no need to get the car anywhere near the water at all.
5. Sometimes a bit tricky to get the boat lined up with the trailer which would be more difficult with a bilge keeler but some guides or assistance devices might help.
6. You might get more boat for your money with a bilge keeler. Or even a fin keeler if you can avoid drying out.
7. You are right to question rigging time. It would take us a good hour to rig and load up the Sun2000. In the end we gave up trailering it and kept it on a drying mooring so it was always ready to sail. Best trailer sailing activity would be to aim for weekends or longer, not single day drive-launch-sail-recover-drive.

Good luck and I hope you find a boat that you enjoy and that you get to sail in many lovely waters.:)
 
Reptile Smile said:
Sorry - due to my low post count, I think this has only just appeared. Wondering if anyone had any thoughts about it..?
Click to expand...

I have 19ft bilge keeler. I would not consider it a trailer-sailer although some do.

A lifting keel would be my choice for trailer-sailing.

Ease of raising the mast must be considered. I don't do mine single handed, at least not without an A frame, although some do

Dylan does his on his own but it must be remembered that the slug is a Mk1 Mirror which has a very small rig.

It be looking for a mast in a tabernacle for a trailer-sailer.

I think your budget may be a bit optimistic.
 
I can't comment on "sailer" bit of "trailer sailer" as I've got a 18' Mayland MoBo weekender.

Due to financial and personal reasons, I sold my Fairline 40 back in 2006 and have only recently returned to boating. I'm having to do it on a tight budget these days and, as marinas here on the Thames want £2-2500 to keep mine in the water, keeping it on a trailer at home makes a lot of sense.

Pros of keeping it in the water - convinience, no faffing around launching or recovering in good (or bad) weather, pop down to the boat when you get the urge (no planning required) even just for a drink on board. And that's about all I can think of in my case.

Pros of keeping it OUT of the water - no mooring fees, no lift out and scrubs at X times a year, maintenance & cleaning (all my stuff is 20 feet away in the garage), able to travel to other parts of the country, security (mine's at home), no need for hardstanding, able to user it year round at a moments notice (difficult if you're on the hard for 4-6 months), extended cruising grounds here on the Thames (top end one weekend for two days, bottom end next weekend for two or three days).

The bottom line for me is with boating on a budget (or camping on water) is that I don't have a disposable income and £3-4k of spare cash kicking around every year. IMO, for cheap boating it's trailer sailer all the way.
 
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Very Limited Budget

I think your budget is too limited to do it.

I thought I had done well to get a lightly damaged Shogun Paj 02 with 75k on the clock for 1k and it was motd and on the road for another £400. But I wanted a trailer sailer that needed a 4*4 to tow it. Do you really need a 4*4 just for towing? Are you solo or a family man?

If you are planning visiting many places and towing any distance your trailer needs to be good, not a patched up rusting heap with no mudguards, brakes, lights, etc. I reckon you need to budget around 1.5 to 2k on a good one. Dont scrimp on the trailer. I would advise you to spend at least as much on this as your boat.

You can source a project boat or abandoned boat very cheaply but I reckon what you save will soon be eaten up in repairs and replacements. I personally would look at a boat only budget of up to 5k and you can then pick up an in service boat with.........all the gear

Have you got any sailing gear? Lifejackets, anchor and line, foulies,outboard?,charts,compass,radio?
What is the minimum gear you need to get on the water safely? What sort of water you planning to cross?

Sorry I have raised as many questions as given answers:)
 
I trailer sail. I also live in the West Mids, which allows me equal access to the South coast, Wales, Lake District or East coast. I don't want to sail the same area all the time, and I don't want to pay for a mooring - and I don't want to do any maintenance, which also rules out keeping it on the water and in sunlight.

It takes me 90 mins to launch and a bit more to retrieve, so I tend to do more than a couple of days at a time to make it worthwhile. This year will be second season, so I'm still getting slicker and making rigging more streamlined.

Last year I did a few very long weekends on the Solent, a week at Porthmadog and two weeks on a lake in south west France. I've more planned for this year.

I'm sure you could have a great time doing what you have planned.
 
TSB240 said:
I think your budget is too limited to do it.

Have you got any sailing gear? Lifejackets, anchor and line, foulies,outboard?,charts,compass,radio?
What is the minimum gear you need to get on the water safely? What sort of water you planning to cross?

Sorry I have raised as many questions as given answers:)
Click to expand...

I do take the point that it's a low budget, though my previous boat prepared me for that pretty well. I also think you're right that I need to allocate another chunk for wet weather gear, etc.

That said, there are a lot of 4x4's taxed and tested with under 100k miles on Autotrader for under £1000, towbar in place, and a fair few boats on here under 2k.

I don't think I'm going to get the boat of my dreams, but I do intend to be out there sailing something, if you see what I mean.
 
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Reptile Smile said:
Hi all,

Wonder if I can seek your opinions? After a while without my own boat, this Summer should see me being one of 'us' again, and not one of 'them'.

I'm always on a very limited budget, and this is no exception. My plan is, I think, to get as much boat as I can in the form of a trailer sailer. My intention is to spend £1000 on a 4x4 that will do nothing other than tow the boat, and ten spend about £2000 on a boat and trailer. I like the idea of visiting more places than I would otherwise get the chance to, and something around the 20 foot mark would suit me very nicely.

Would folk recommend I stick with the formal kind of of definition of trailer sailer, with a lift keel, or would any old bilge keel on a trailer be ok (in that there are a few more around of those)? I just don't know if I'm going to run into problems with required depth of water to launch if it's a bilge keeler, though maybe the 4x4 is enough to compensate for this..? In addition, am I likely to run into problems with putting the rig up and down every time on a boat that isn't really a trailer sailer?

Cheers for any thoughts you can offer
Click to expand...

You could look at the seal 22's but you'd need to think carefully where you launch it.

My immediate thought is the additional costs you are taking on, 4x4 insurance, road tax, mot, fuel costs to tow etc.. May not work out as cheap as you would hope.

Any boat you consider the trail sail, the trailer must be good, and easy to use, otherwise as others have said you'll be put off. I'd also recommend getting into a routine, and having things organised in a way that makes it easy and fast to rig and derig.

You may be better off spending a bit more on the boat, and using your existing car. Or looking at a cheap swinging mooring, and having something you can take elsewhere when the mood suits you.
 
long keel T/S

We trailer-sail our 20' (fixed) long keeler that draws just under 1m, and with rope between trailer & car can launch from a wide variety of slips / hards.

The boat weighs 650Kg, so with trailer & gear I reckon I'm pulling 1100Kg-ish, which our 1.9L diesel Volvo V40 copes with easily, both on the road and launching / recovering (it's towing limit is, I think, 1300Kg-ish).
 
Do you already have a car? If so it would seem unwise to spend one third of your boating budget on another vehicle. Choose a boat that fits the car.

Every year I see boats at the side of the road, on old trailers that have broken down. If you intend to travel more than a few miles from home the type of reliable trailer you will benefit from will be worth £500+.

Spend £1500 on a simple boat and keep the remaining £1000 of your budget to deal with the unforseen problems that will inevitably arise.

Some of the best places to look for suitable boats are the corners of boatyards where abandoned vessels languish. Persistent enquiries may result in a bargain. In contrast, any decent boats widely advertised online or in print are likely to attract interest from other buyers, keeping prices up.

Good luck.
 
Thanks to all for their input into this thread.

Just to clarify - I don't currently own any sort of vehicle (gave up a car two years ago and only cycle now) and my wife has a Fiat 500 :rolleyes:

Hence the vehicle element to my planning... ;-)
 
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