trailer sailing qualities

[fatsailorgit]

I'm relatively new to sailing and want to buy a boat.it has to be trailable and launched from the trailer,probably singlehanded. have been looking at ads for sailfish and foxcub, what I'd like to know are the relative sailing qualities of the above boats; eg pointing and stiffness , and tackability,
especially swing or lift keel varieties.
an
all advice welcome

 

[Lakesailor]

Hi Fatsailorgit. I'm getting a picture of you here.
I had a Foxcub which was a terrific sail, but that was a fin keel. I have a mate who had a bilge keel one and that was a good boat as well. Some bilge keelers are a bit "sedate" like a Valiant18 that I had.
The Foxcub lift keel boat is not a great compromise as the keel hinges into a large stub on the bottom of the hull. This means that the main attraction of a lift keel - easy launching in shallower water - is not taken advantage of.
The Foxcub is a light boat so easy to tow and manhandle around. On the downside the mast is not a very easy one to raise and lower, the Mk 1s being a bit of a pig with just a shoe to drop the mast base into. A tabernacle with a proper pivot assembly would make it easy to rig and de-rig. That depends on your intention of trailing all over the place. Is it just beginning and end of season you are thinking about?

Never tried a Sailfish, but I think some on here have had them.

I photographed one on Coniston a year or so ago.

Still prefer the Foxcub

 

[Alfie168]

Find a nice Swift 18. Its a good looking good performing mini yacht.

http://www.swift18.org/

I have a Dehler 22, which I think is a cracker, but i'd have been perfectly happy with a Swift for quite a bit less money.

Tim

 

[Lakesailor]

I always fancied a Swift, but the cockpit seemed a bit cramped to me.

Bit more loot than a Foxcub or Sailfish as well.

If £4K is not a problem a Beneteau First 18

 

[William_H]

Trailer sailers are a compromise between weight (balast) and size versus towability. I suggest if you are looking for performance that you look at class handicaps for the type of boat you are looking for.
I could tell you about Australian T/S but that won't be much help to you.
I can tell you that I have had my 21ft T/S and I use it almost exclusively for racing in a mixed fleet.of up to 32ft lead mines. In all but the roughest conditions it will beat boats far bigger especially in light conditions. I just got a trophy for summer season just finished for most number of fastests. Shared with a heavy 24fter at 9 wins each. This has mostly been the pattern for 24 years of competition.

However it does take a lot of courage to drive it hard with spin up in a blow and you could not call it comfortable when perched up on the gunwhale. I have lost a few windex pointers in the water. It has a total weight of around 900kgs.

In my opinion it is the keel that makes for performance. Many popular boat fin keel types were produced with a swing keel into a stub keel as an option. By comparison they are always very slow and point badly.
This keel type gives a lovely uninterupted cabin wheras mine has a dirty great C/B case in the cabin floor to ceiling that makes movement to the front difficult. But gives a nice saloon area just inside the main hatch.
It also very shallow draft ability to sit flat on the sand and ease of winching over rollers on the trailer.
Take your time in choosing the type you want and consider racing performance as an indication of cruising performance.

I think if i were only going to tow it home for the winter I would go for a fin keel type on a trailer. olewill

 

[Avocet]

Much depends on where you're going to sail and what sort of sailing. We started out with a Leisure 17. A fantastic beginners' yacht (we thought)! It was a bilge keeler, very forgiving, easy to launch and recover, but not exactly "quick". We sailed on Windermere and then ventured out into Morecambe Bay on quiet days.

After that, we had an Evolution 22. A much faster boat with a lift keel. Surprisingly, it was actually harder to launch and recover because it sat in a partial mould of its own bottom on the trailer. The Leisure had very positive location on the trailer because it's keels sat in a couple of steel channels. The Leisure was also much quicker to rig (having a very simple masthead rig). We also felt the Leisure was better in the short, steep seas of Morecambe Bay. The Evolution, being very light and flat-bottomed, would get carried backwards by every wave that hit it. It was, however, very exhilerating to sail fast on smooth water!

 

[fatsailorgit]

thanks to everybody who replied to my query,you have given me more to think about.
I currently sail a kestrel and miracle on my local duckpond(milton keynes) ,but would like to explore a few estuarys and backwaters, either east or south coast. said adventures would probably be solo so nothing too fast.(I get enough capsize drill in the kestrel!)

 

[Lakesailor]

More info would have been helpful. You'll be wanting a lifting keel then.