It seems that sailing is reverting back to the day where it is becoming a rich man's sport again. Back in '69 Everette Pearson came up with the Triton 28 which introduced an affordable fiberglass production boat for the masses and it was hugely popular. That sort of helped change the course to make sailing more affordable and it parlayed into other manufacturers following suit and so fiberglass technology grew. Before that, the average citizen could not afford a boat, unless it was a day sailor and before then, they were made of wood. Some years ago, when I talked to Frank Butler, he said his major goal was to keep his cost of the then Catalina 22 down to $10,000. He wanted to keep it affordable and he did. One of the ways he did that was instead of buying OEM products from the normal suppliers, he made his own turnbuckles, spars, etc. etc. keeping it in house and that helped keep the cost down. Also back when production sailboat flourished, one of the biggest and most successful companies of the time was O'Day. They recognized brand recognition and built starter boats like the O'Day 19, 22, 23, etc. and really had a stepping stone all the way into the 40 foot range and it worked. Many of their customers walked up the O'Day ladder as their incomes and interest grew. Hunter has enjoyed the same brand recognition, as have J/Boats and a number of other brands, like Morgan Yachts (way back) but O'Day really was sort of a pioneer in that area. It is true that today, a manufacturer can make a lot more money off of a larger boat and so smaller boats are not so profitable, unless you can sell a ton of them. J/Boats is selling lots of J/70's which appeal to J/Boat owners for sure (brand recognition), but J/Boats also thrives on the one-design racing program, which aids in their success. As mentioned above, not everyone wants to race. A great number of the sailing population wants to cruise, and that is what the Catalina 22 offered. To help keep up with the market, they made changes to the original design, such as a deck remodel, different keel selections, but they kept the original sail plan and hull to comply with all the Catalina 22's that were also used in club racing. It was hardly sticking to rigid one design racing rules, but then if someone wanted to go feet first into one design racing, they would be better off with a J/Boat or another brand specifically designed for one-design and keeping within the stringent rules that govern them. I can see some cruisers cringing at the thought, but if you wanted to get into racing, one-design eliminates the handicap problem of fairness or lack of it. I digress. Catalina did come up with some newer designs, which seems like the thing to do if you want to continue to satisfy your customers. The Capri 22 was designed to compete with the J/22, but never enjoyed the same success. With some of their slightly larger models, they stopped making the Catalina 25 which was pretty popular (O'Day had their 25-footer as well) and called it a 250. It also seems that sailors are getting lazier, or perhaps it is the manufacturer that is pushing that on folks and probably for the good of most. When I first got into sailing, back when the earth cooled, I started on a 19-foot day sailor, racing one-design and then gradually moved up into racer cruisers (because I wanted to sleep on my boat too with some degree of comfort). My sailing scope has usually included a sailboat that has performance potentional, but that has a lot to do with where I sailed. When you are on an inland lake, cruising very far isn't in the game, but club racing does add an element of fun when you are somewhat confined, so my boats could be raced and slept on. I have done a lot of Great Lake and ocean sailing as well and have been on many boats designed mostly for comfort rather than performance. Someone above mentioned large multihulls as a way to go as that seems to be the charter trend. Well, most people aren't into chartering their own boats, but for comfort - especially with a number of friends, a big cat is pretty cool and fun. They are big, so many marinas aren't keen on accepting them into a dock because they take up too much room. But, the charter thing is different. Back in the day, companies like Morgan Yachts, created the Out Island design especially for the charter trade. They were huge, comfortable and you had to turn the engine on to tack them. There were others like that as well. Getting back into the day, great companies like Islander, Pearson, Mirage, C&C - the list is a long one - cranked out decent boats that were affordable for the most part. Then the recession where double digit interest rates and long lines at the gas station became a reality. Fiberglass, a petroleum product raised the prices of boat manufacturing and literally priced boats out of the market in tandem with the recession. After recovery, boat manufactures that survived (and many didn't) had to figure out how to build boats for less money and so they cheapened up their production methods. Boats quite simply weren't built as well and they cut corners where ever they could to keep the price down. Today manufacturers are learning how to build stronger and lighter boats better than ever before (but there are still some cheaper ones out there), but across the board, it ain't so affordable anymore. It's a shame, because it is getting harder and harder to get a start in any kind of boating. The best buys are on the used market and there are a ton of wonderful used boats at a fraction of the price. There are also a number of good used boats that are very cheap (like a Pearson 26 which can be picked up for a few thousand dollars), but the price of a slip to put it is more than the boat. So, those older boats are starting to head for the dumps unfortunately. When I was a younger man, trailering a boat, launching, rigging, stepping the mast and pulling it out of the water wasn't daunting to me at all. Now it is more like work and it is much more convenient to walk down the dock, take off the dock lines and head out for a day of sailing. Also, when I was younger, copious amounts of stuff was very attractive. Sailboats were cool because you could buy all the stuff for them and rig them to the hilt. Tons of sails for every breath of wind. Several halyards, winches, spinnakers and bloopers, reaching struts (half of you probably don't know what a reaching strut is), internalize things and tree up the mechanical advantage (MA). Today, builders are making everything easy. No need for difficult or complex systems. The likes of Garry Hoyt and others spent their lives simplifying sailing. In some ways its a part of dumbing up America as they are doing with cars. But, that is a factor that gets people into the sport and that is A-OK. I guess when it comes to a trailerable boat that is between 20 and 25 feet, Precision Boat Works does a great job with their 21 and 23 footers. They are more modern that the Catalina 22 and have a lot to offer. That is not to say they are the only ones, but it seems to me, that is a great candidate for the trailerable sailor groups. You know, back in the day, there was a West Coast sailboat trailerable organization designed to bring trailerable sailors together anywhere in the country. I think it was called NASA (North American Sailing Association - or something like that - I can look it up). It was devised by builders like Balboa, Coastal Recreation, Laguna Yachts, etc. and had a good run. No reason something like that couldn't get off the ground again and that would put a charge in the small boat market. Groups could trailer at different times of the year to the left or right coast, Florida, Texas, the Great Lakes, etc. and enjoy their rendevouz'. Time to get back to work. Bye.
