Trailerable boats around 26-28'?

Instead of fooling yourself to an idea that you can trailer around a 2-3 ton sailboat....

Have a look at the Swedish Fabola Campus series. Or the newer Diva 24.
-These are made to be trailerable, and they sail very well. You can pick one up in Sweden and sail it home. Or trailer it behind your Vauxhall.
 
Kurrawong_Kid said:
No one has mentioned a Fairey Atalanta. Old now, hot moulded wood but very seaworthy. Trailable behind a Transit or similar.
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Very few good ones around now, and those that survive are in long term ownership anyway! If you do get one, look for rot in the hull round the drop keels. Serious and difficult carpentry required to rectify!
 
H35 said:
Yeah.... Trailerable, with a semi-truck!
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Yeah, gave up on that one, I'll stick to the permit-free (2.55m) and BE-licence limits. Not that I want to trailer every week, but I want to keep the opportunity to move the boat relatively easy from one lake to another without too much bureaucracy (permits for every country I am passing by) .

And yes, blue-water capability is not a must but very welcome, that's why I like the F27 and the Vega. I know, the skipper also has to be "blue water compatible" - being young I am working on that.
 
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We used to trailer-sail a 25ft, about 2 ton, Hunter Delta. It had an iron keel, with a hydraulic winch.

We sailed it cross channel and North Sea many times, also to Scilly and round Mull. We only trailed at beginning and end of season, and to reach a different cruising ground for our 2 or 3 week summer hols. The boat sat on a trolley on rails on the trailer. To launch, we ran the trolley off the trailer onto a ramp. To recover, we usually used a crane or travel-lift.

We had an old Ranger Rover, but the best towing vehicle was a hired Peugeot 3 ton van. The saving on fuel covered the hire cost!

TonyMS
 
I am pretty much sold on the Vega but also tempted buy its bigger sister, that would need towing permits and probably a pro service to tow, the Albin Ballad.

Need to rethink how often I'd relocate though, a professional transport would cost considerably more time and $$$...

And apparently there are sime structural issues with the Ballad: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?6266-Albin-Ballad&p=44837#post44837
 
Have a look at the Anderson 26.

A big boat for 26', but relatively narrow beam; it was designed with the '79 Fastnet report in mind, so has a deep lift keel; t was thought wide beam should be avoided after the race when several lightly ballasted wide boats stayed inverted.

Built in foam buoyancy, diesel engine, bulwarks on the side decks, powerful rig, sails very well and a good interior.

Most definitely seaworthy, they do well in offshore racing and I knew one which went to the Azores every year.

Only around 16 were built before Andersons went bust - nothing to do with their boats, they relied on an MOD contract building mobo's to hang on warships, stuffed when the contract ended.

I think there are two A26's for sale at the moment, one is on the site.

There's a fair bit about the Anderson 26 on my website below.
 
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I used to trail my Stella at the end of each season & whilst i would not suggest one now I would suggest that there are a number of older boats that could be towed .
For seaworthiness a Contessa 26 might take a lot of beating. Old but cheap.
Loads of similar designs out there.
The trailers for these are readily available & can be found in yards all over the country. Mine was 5 ton gross made by SBS.
But it needs to be craned off & on
 
A 5 ton trailer isn't going to be much use. You can only tow up to 3.5t without things getting really complicated.
 
Daydream believer said:
The point i was making is that they are readily available.
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Yes they are. This also keeps professional transport of boats with <12' beam, <4t gross weight affordable - at least as uship.com tells me for the ~600mile European transports I am planning... I'll give up frequent lake-hopping this way, probably for good (=no hassle every time I want to sail...) and move only every 2nd year. And I don't have to scrap my nice estate car for an expensive SUV+trailer at a cost I could buy and refit a Ballad (+pay for 2 year berthing)...
 
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Re the comment about multihulls and the Tahitians sailing long distances. Any boat can sail anywhere and if it gets lost on the way no one knows any way. Even the smallest sail boat capable of being sealed and self righting can survive any seas.
However we the humans inside are not (normally) so robust. We expect to enjoy our sailing and certainly to be safe and comfortable. Unfortunately in an open ocean the only comfort comes in mass. ie a light boat will bounce around in a small wave a lot more than a heavy boat. Very significant for our local sailing where we know if it is going to be bad from forecasts but not so much just medium windy /choppy. Actually around here we know it is going to be windy/choppy every summer afternoon. ie not comfortable in open ocean in a light weight TS.
Anyway the point is mass/size of a boat is comfort but mass/size means no good for trailering. So OP must choose what he wants to do. Yes trailer sailing can be wonderful with much more range of cruising sites than a lead mine. But may end up uncomfortable in medium to bad weather. olewill
 
Another vote here for Superseal 26/ Parker 27. Not a trailer sailer but trailerable. Quick, close-winded and good accommodation for size. Parker 27 has standing headroom and costs more generally. All reviews will feature the word "quick".
 
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