Trailer Sailing

[Tony Cook]

For me the answer is defined by my own personal limitations and the strength of the likely crew over what I want to do with the boat. For example me, 66 & arthritic, crew, none, (Her indoors got seasick on Victory), objective sail almost anywhere with care = West Wight Potter, or limit ambition, (And increase comfort) to inshore waters then consider something up to 16-17 foot eg SeaSafe Dandy or Salterne Sharky. Stronger crew would increase potential size a little but I'd regard something around 19 foot as being the top limit for regular trailing.

 

[TQA]

Key questions - what is your tow vehicle and how often will you tow long distances.

My own experiences centre round a Jaguar 22 on a 2 wheel trailor [ wish I had had a 4 wheel jobbie ] towed by a Citroen CX 2000. Working out of Loughborough I towed to the Solent the East Coast the west coast of Scotland and the longest trip was to the Adriatic towing it down through Germany. The only time I felt things were getting dodgy was taking the mountain route [ a short cut ] through Postojna to Pula. Returning on the coastal road was much less eventful. I was very careful about steep launch ramps prefering to park the car at the top on the flat and using a rope around the towball to drop the trailor down the ramp then towing it out with the rope. with the car on the flat.

I am 6;2" and while I could just raise the mast on my own having 2 or helpers made it a much safer operation. Raising the mast on my own was the limiting factor.

I had a 8hp longshaft and I guess a 6 would have done fine. If you intend to singlehand get a tillerpilot and make sure it works with all sail combinations you intend to use!

I got the Jaguar 22 because I went to look at several boats in the 16 to 20 ft range and they were all being sold because the owners were moving up to 21-22 footers.

It was great fun and really turned me on to the sailing lark.

I sailed it to France, Stornoway and Albania always being mindful of the weather.

It slept two in some comfort and four could be managed overnight at a push.

 

[AngusMcDoon]

You can tow one of these...

if you are brave...

 

[TQA]

I would not want to put THAT mast up on my own! It will go like stink though.

Is it a F 27 ?

 

[drawkins]

I would not want to put THAT mast up on my own! It will go like stink though.

Is it a F 27 ?

No .it's a Typhoon

 

[davidbfox]

We had a Sailfish after various dinghies. Good fun but we opted for something a little more comfortable as we got older.

In practice never actually trailed it anywhere apart from home for winter. - too much hassle with a family though possible if the buzz comes from varied locations. The difficulty of raising the mast was the main obstacle. It was possible to get on the water about an hour and a half after arrival.

If you want to spend your time sailing rather than mast erecting or worrying about slipways, you might be better looking at a mooring somehere. Or as a cheaper option you can keep a boat on the trailer in a boat park by the water but launch to sail. We did that on Ullswater for about 4 years.

Enjoy it!

 

[AngusMcDoon]

I would not want to put THAT mast up on my own! It will go like stink though.

Is it a F 27 ?

It's a Dragonfly 920, designed as a EU tow-max, i.e. the maximum dimensions allowed to be legal to tow in any country of the EU without having to resort to commercial sized trucks.

The mast raising is not too bad. It's carbon so doesn't weight too much, and comes with a mast raising kit that fully supports it throughout the raise, including sideways.

The hard part is getting the floats turned over, lifted into position and bolted on. They are not particularly heavy, but from below they are rounded and slippy with nothing good to grip on to.