Converting a sailboat into a power boat.

[Snotter]

Hey, Moon. I kinda miss seeing you out on Wheeler.

If you go the route of converting, buy a sailboat that is missing it's rig. You will get it for a steal. Chances are that if you convert a perfectly good sailboat you will take a hit when you sell it.

There are many shoal draft sailboats that draw no more than many trawlers of comparable size.

 

[John T1594]

A while back, we had to remove our mast for some repairs. We used the boat for motoring around. Without the mast, the boat rolled (side to side) very badly at anchor and while motoring.

 

[rgranger]

Look at one of the new MacGregors. You could just leave your mast in the back yard and you would be there already. Then if you ever wanted to sail you could put the mast back on.

 

[Ross]

If you changed the rig to a sliding Gunter you could have a much shorter, more easily handled mast that could be unstepped to clear bridges. Sailing slowly close along shore is one of my pleasures. I will reef in less than ten knots if I want to explore and watch the shoreline.

 

[SailMML]

It has been done very successfully. Check out this sight.

http://www.ipass.net/sailboat/

The conversions they have done were Com-pac 23s. Shoal draft seems to be a must and makes the most sense.

Norm

 

[Hermit Scott]

It has been done very successfully. Check out this sight.

http://www.ipass.net/sailboat/

The conversions they have done were Com-pac 23s. Shoal draft seems to be a must and makes the most sense.

Norm

Where on that website is there a sailboat converted to an abomination?
I couldn't find it.

 

[Steve Dion]

How could this be? They have taken a perfectly good sailboat and turned it into a floating P.O.S. What was wrong with selling the sailboat and buying something that would only move a 5kts.?

PS: Should have bought an Albin to begin with. Why remove the mast & boom? You can motor with it!

 

[RichBone]

Thinking about an efficent trawler that sips diesel a sailboat cames to mind. Remove the mast and cut off most of the keel then add a steering staion protected from the weather. The result might be an efficent powerboat that is comfortable ,efficent and capable of going under bridges and into shallow water. Has anyone made such changes and how did it work out???

As mentioned, removing the mast creates a quick and uncomfortable righting motion. You could add back some weight on top with a pilothouse. Or remove some of the ballast from the keel. Like you said maybe cut or remove the keel and add a keelson for directional stability. Shorten the rudder too. Form stability from the hull shape itself could be enough to keep it upright. With the inboard motor and a little internal ballast. Of course before making any modifications, a session consulting a N.A. would be advisable.

For a protected steering station you could add a bimini or a canvas enclosed cockpit. Rig up a nice comfortable, cushy chair, sit back and cruise. Not everybody's cup of tea, I know.
But you're asking is it possible and I'm saying sure, why not.

With a good sized trailerable you could "auto pilot" it around the country. The Intercoastal, TVA, Upper Mississippi and Missouri, Trent-Severn, Lake Powell.

Rich

 

[MoonSailer]

My thought is to get an old sailboat that probably is not fit for sailing and converting it into a highly effiicent way to cruise rivers and lakes. I love sailing and if cruising the ocean sailing is the way to go. But you can't sail up most rivers!!!! Houseboats and trawlers are relatively inefficent even though they do have a lot more room. It would all depend upon finding a really really cheap sailboat to convert.

 

[Ross]

Haunt the marinas that have haul-out facilities and land storage. We have abandoned boats in our yard that the marina doesn't concern themselves with. If you show a real interest they will track down the owner and get the title and practically give you the boat to get it out of their yard. Abandoned boats on land and in the water are a major problem on the chesapeake bay.

 

[MagothyBoy]

I have thought that an old Morgan 41 could be spruced up with a nice new quiet (and small) diesel and would be much less to buy and operate that a 40-ish foot trawler. If bridge clearance were not a concern, you could leave the mast up with a genoa on a roller furler for easy use to keep the motion of the boat smooth. Most of the expense of the big trawlers is in the engines and they loose a bunch of interior space to store large amounts of fuel to go fast; especialy the "semi-displacement" variety.

 

[PotomacDaysailer]

When I saw the title of the thread, my first thought was, "blasphemy!"

I get it about going up rivers and such. But why not look for a cheap old power boat hull instead of a cheap old sailboat if you're going to be doing all that work anyway?

 

[Ross]

Around here they sometimes take a fiberglass junk cabin cruiser and strip away everything above the sheer and convert it to a center consol open fishing boat. If you ran such as that as a displacement hull with just a little pilot house on it you could drive it with 20 horse power.

 

[RichBone]

When I saw the title of the thread, my first thought was, "blasphemy!"

I get it about going up rivers and such. But why not look for a cheap old power boat hull instead of a cheap old sailboat if you're going to be doing all that work anyway?

Powerboat aren't as efficient for slow going as a displacement hull and I imagine the motion would be more agreeable.
Most powerboats have inboards which take up precious space and are really inefficent to run at slow speeds.
A couple of years ago I spent hours online looking for trailerable powerboats with outboards and hardtops. Scarce, probably people who have them know what they have or they don't stay on the market very long. Worse with semi-displacement hulls. There's just not many out there. There's precious few under 30'. Even less for under 100k. Found a few across the pond. Seems like here we're either into going slow under sail or seeing how fast we can get there under planing power.

Rich

 

[RichBone]

You might be able to rig a small mast with the boom for a steadying sail. It would be easy to raise and lower for bridges.

Rich

 

[Rick Sylvester]

At our recent haul-out

I witnessed this very thing happening.

A guy took a ratty Hunter 30, had the yard hack off the keel (now his rudder's vulnerable) and cut the mast to a stump for his TV antennae.

Aside from the inevitable whiplash motion in a seaway he's got a boat that is now pretty much worthless on resale. We were all left scratching our heads wondering why he didn't just buy a small trawler instead.

Even if he got the Hunter for free he could've sold it for a song and bought a more suitable boat. Hell, they're practically giving them away around here.

 

[Winkfish]

Powerboat aren't as efficient for slow going as a displacement hull and I imagine the motion would be more agreeable.
Most powerboats have inboards which take up precious space and are really inefficent to run at slow speeds.

Gotta disagree with you there, Rich. Down here, there are working "skiffs" designed for different waters, for example, Lake Skiff designed for Lake Pontchartrain; Lafitte Skiffs for the waters in the Barataria area; Atchafalaya Skiffs for the Atchafalaya Basin waters. Different conditions in those areas, hull design is different, though at first glance it can be hard to see the differences. Shrimp boats and net fishing boats do their work going slowly, and they are very efficient going slowly.

When my little 17' whaler with a 90hp outboard goes through a no wake zone, if I'm going at anything more than idle speed, I throw off a wake. Shrimp and oyster boats 30' and more will pass me up and they have no wake, and I really mean no wake. I've never seen a sailboat have no wake, no matter how slowly it goes.

Inboards taking up space - they do that in sailboats as well. All depends on how big a boat you want, how big an engine you want, and what kind of setup you want. There are tons of boats down here with hard tops, cabins, virtual apartments inside. These people use their boats to make their living, they'll often stay several nights out on the water, so they put whatever they need into them. Some of these boats are really nice inside. I was involved in a lawsuit down here with a guy from Delacvroix Island (bayou and marsh country). his house had burned, he didn't fix it for 5 years, but he put half a million into his fishing boat during that time. That was his living, and he could just as easily live on his boat as in his house.

Finally, as a basic premise, sailboats are designed to be sailed, and powerboats are designed to be powered (McGregor type sailboats and motor sailers excepted). That's why they call sailboat engines "auxiliary power." If you cut off the mast and the keel, a sailboat still is not going to motor comfortably or efficiently. That's simply not what they were designed for.

 

[SailMML]

Hermit, look under "What's New" on that site and scroll down.

I never said I agreed with this practice, just that their end product doesn't look too bad. Why anyone would go through this process instead of just buying a boat built for that purpose is beyond me.

 

[MoonSailer]

My sailboat motors very well though slowly about 6 knots. As mentioned it also sails very well. There is no danger that I will modify it into a power boat. I have no desire to go fast in a power boat burning precious fossil fuels as if they are in endless supply. I am happy motoring at bicycle speeds where I can see the world going past. I am a pilot and fly when I want to go fast or ride my motorcycle. Slow relaxed is my desire in cruising...well except when sailing hull speed on a broad reach is best.

 

[Ross]

My Islander slips through the water at 4 knots with barely a ripple. My prop disturbs the water with a series of eddies. At 4 to 4 1/2 knots I use less than a quart per hour of fuel. One of my dock neighbors has a new power boat and if he keeps his speed below 20 he burns about 2 gallons per hour and leaves a large wake. His boat draws 3 1/2 feet to the bottom of the stern drive, I draw about 4 1/2 feet. The scows that I see on the news working the gulf clean up appear to me the best gunk hole boats.