Prefer to trailer

Project_Mayhem · Sep 10, 2024

Most people feel the opposite. It takes about five minutes to grab my dingy from the rack and paddle to the boat. Once on board, it takes about 10 minutes to get everything ready to head out. Trailer sailing involved prepping everything for towing, towing time, about an hour of rigging and then the reverse afterwards

Timm R Oday25 · Sep 10, 2024

We've been on a mooring for almost 20 years .
I wonder at times if we shouldn't money up the cash and get a slip . About $2400 a year on the western shore of lake Michigan.
A mooring definitely has is advantages and disadvantages . We use a Watertender dinghy . Wide ,very stable and has the ability tto have a small outboard . Beats rowing ,although I enjoy rowing at times . I can understand the frustration of kayaking out to your boat . Very unstable getting in and out of one . We really enjoy the solitutde of a mooring .
We don't hear conversations of early risers or the music and loud conversations of folks who are still up enjoying the lake time
If we had to step the mast and launch the boat every time we wanteed to sail , I'm pretty sure we would give up sailing.
We've trailered our boat to Kentucky Lake ,some 300 miles each way . Worth it when we were able to stay onboard for a week .
Same for our trip to Door County several years back .The summer of 2025 looks like we will be sailing the Apostle Islands .
All boats are a trade off to some extent .
We can easily and safely drop any of the stays to replace or fix or install a furler . It's a matter of technique and safety

Tedd · Sep 10, 2024

Once in a while I muse about having a boat in the water, especially when my trailer needs some work. But then I remember all the down sides.

The nightmare that maintenance (or even washing the boat) is when it's at a marina or, even worse, on a buoy.
A filthy boat virtually all the time, no matter how much you work at it.
Bottom scraping. Sailing with crap all over the hull below the water line.
The nightmare of any job that needs to be done below the water line, no matter how small.
Rot. Corrosion.
The nightmare of something on the mast or rigging above head height that needs work. Even a tiny amount of work.
Worry. All the time, but especially during bad weather.
UV damage. (My boat is under a canopy 90+ percent of the time.)
Being restricted to local waters.
Marina neighbours.
Cost.
Uncertainty. What's going to happen to my slip fees? Will the marina still be in business next year? Will the local first nations council decide to close it? Will there be some new environmental law that will up my fees or force me to relocate?

I'm sure there are others I've missed but those are the first that come to mind.

In some cases people's life situation precludes trailer sailing--if they live in an apartment, for example. But I suspect that a lot of people who aren't trailer sailors don't even realize that they don't have to put up with those things.

David in Sandusky · Sep 10, 2024

We are at a slip on Lake Erie. Here is my take on Tedd's list:

Plenty of time for maintenance ashore when we pull the boat each winter. All above water maintenance is available at our slip.
Sometimes cleaning of the cockpit and deck when we get to the boat. Sometimes not. We load our food, clothes, and supplies in a cart at our car, and it is an easy run down the dock to get them to the boat.
Bottom is power washed once a year when we take it out.
Bottom is available every winter..
Rot and corrosion are pretty much non-existent on fresh water. (47 years on our aluminum water and fuel tanks with no sign of corrosion.)
Work on the mast is easy riding up in a bosun's chair on the main halyard with the spin halyard as a safety line.
No worries in storms. Boat is well tied to a strong floating dock, and the marina staff watches over it.
UV damage is minimal to non-existent. Fiberglass, stainless, and aluminum are not UV sensitive. Our sails and Bimini are covered when we leave the boat. Every few years, I take the few pieces of woodwork home over the winter to refinish then.
We have now cruised over 8,000 nm on lakes Erie, St. Clair, and Huron. And we start in the Lake Erie Islands spread over 40 nm between Sandusky Ohio, and Leamington, Ontario..
Neighbors can be an issue on weekends, but our marina does enforce a 10 PM quiet time. However, most of our nights on the boat are anchored out, on a mooring at Put-in-Bay, or at another mostly quiet marina or yacht club.
We do pay around $2,500 a year for the slip, haul-out, and winter (outdoor) storage. That does include the bottom cleaning and an oil change.
Our marina has changed hands twice in 25 years, but the crew is the same, and they are really good. We are at peace with First Nations as far as I know.

As for sailing new waters, we have chartered for a week at a time all over the US, in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Sweden, and New Zealand.

I see the advantages of trailer sailing, especially for economic cruising at different locations. I did just want to offer the setup we enjoy.

dlochner · Sep 12, 2024

SteveHughessails said:
Great discussion. Our buoy is roughly 20 miles away. We never leave anything on board, not even our battery. I wonder, once the buoy is gone, if we’ll miss it, (2 weeks). A slip, I would imagine would be easier with some level of security but..... I hope one day, maybe we will experience it.

Removing everything isn't really necessary, unless you keep the boat in a high crime area. Only remove clothing and perishables. Lock the motor and the boat.

Kayaking to a boat, especially with 4 people and all the stuff that can stay on the boat, increases the complexity of going sailing. Get a real dinghy either an RIB or a small power boat, like an aluminum fishing boat. Everything will fit in the boat including the people. It will be much easier to load and unload than trying to rig and launch a sailboat every time you want to go sailing.

The major benefit of a slip is the ability to just step on the boat and go. The simpler it is to get on the boat and go the more time you have for sailing. The easier it is, the more often you will go sailing.

john6206 · Sep 12, 2024

THIS has been on my mind a lot lately.

Small Craft Advisor has a axiom that says that right about 1500 lbs, a boat becomes too much for most people to tow, rig, sail, re-rig, and tow back home all in one day. That has been my experience. My Hunter 170 was 25 easy minutes in the parking lot, and was really easy to tow. We used to daysail it a lot. The Capri 18 is an hour at the ramp…. Ok, probably 90 minutes is more like average, and it’s hard work. Having even one night in a marina makes it so much more enjoyable.

I love that I regularly sail out of Escanaba, DeTour, Sutton’s Bay, Tawas . . . i Guess from Tawas to Escanaba is 6 hours by land - by water it’s . . . How much vacation time do you have?

we are hoping that next year we have the best of boat worlds (pardon my bad joke). We joined a yacht club, and we are getting a slip for our little 18 footer. The club also offers dry sailing, but I think we are going to pony up and get the slip.

in theory, we can still trailer to the destinations that I love, but we can also jump right on the boat and sail away without loosing 2 lbs of sweat in the parking lot first.

I am kinda wondering how much we WILL tow it, given that there is an option not to..

my wife wants a bigger boat. Something in the 30’ range. That appeals to me, we will probably do that. But honestly the boat AFTER that one also appeals. Let’s say ten years from now… we’ll be closing in on 70. The big boat is a lot to keep up with. I want something with character, in a 12 foot waterline. Like an O’Day widgeon. I’ve never sailed one, but I love the look. No motor, no dock fee, not much maintenance. Take it down to the pond and daysail for an hour.

Sounds good to me.

dlochner · Sep 12, 2024

First, about that age thing. When I turned 70 I was in a small harbor in the Abacos about halfway through our ~5,000nm journey from Lake Ontario to Key West to the Bahamas. Two years later I'm about 1900 nm into another journey from Lake Ontario, down the St Lawrence and on to the Bahamas. There is no mandatory retirement age for sailing.

It is however, somewhat mandatory to keep yourself in decent physical shape and to outfit the boat so that the loads and physical requirements are reduced. This might mean smaller sails, electric winches, heat, and so on.

30' is a good intro to cruising size. Easy to manage, big enough to feel comfortable and be able to stand up to put your pants on. It will also have the basic systems you will need to learn, like freshwater plumbing, sanitary plumbing, refrigeration, inboard diesel, and electrical system. A few years of cruising will teach you whether this is what you want to do.

There is also a trade off with boat size, a 30' boat will have greater loads than a small day sailer, however the day sailer will require you to be much more nimble.

Finally, if your boat is simple enough to rig that you trailer sail it, then it will no big deal to pull a couple times a season to trailer to some new location. Meanwhile it is sitting in the slip ready to sail as soon as the ice and beer are in the cooler.

john6206 · Sep 13, 2024

@dlochner Everything you say is true.
Longevity doesn’t run in my family, I’m already older than my dad and two of my brothers ever got to be. I try to think of that as a warning rather than a destiny, but also, I know tomorrow isn’t promises to any of us.

I guess when it comes to boats, I’ve always been happy when I’m on one. Each boat has their advantages and their beauty. I like that my Capri 18 is simple, simple electrical system and a portapotty. And it sails pretty well.

I was in a marina a few years ago and a WW Potter 15 was in the slip next to me, I kept looking at that thing thinking how easy it would be to raise that mast!

yep, my wife wants standing headroom and a head and a galley. We‘ve Looked at a Hunter 28 and a Catalina 30 and some really funky boats I’ve never heard of.

We’ll keep our Capri until something comes along that calls to both of us.

pgandw · Sep 13, 2024

I feel blessed to have been limited by the dock and boat lift at the house we bought. The lift is limited to 1500lbs, and 8" keel protrusion at most. Budget constraints were also very real.

A certain degree of agility is required for small sailboats. The more dependent they are on crew weight placement, the more agility that is required. DW is less nimble than I, but I'm not a candidate for Lasers or 470s either, like I was in my 40s. So I looked for a reasonably priced trailerable that was stable, and fit within the lift parameters. A Mariner turned out to be it. Unfortunately, even though I can stand on the rail without any dangerous heel, DW just isn't comfortable with her lack of nimbleness. So I had to refit the boat for single handing - factory config is ideal for 2 people.

That solved the day sailing in local waters. But deep down, I really wanted to cruise places I had never been. So the Mariner I bought had a new trailer already fitted by Stuart Marine (current builders of the Mariner and Rhodes 19). Trailering a boat distances is a lot rougher than I realized - the poor roads in so many places are hard on trailered boats (will not ever go through NYC again). Getting systems for single-handed setup and takedown at the launching ramp simple and quick is a work in progress. Working on fitting her for trailered cruises - many Corps of Engineer lakes in North Carolina and Tennessee. Also, the Outer Banks 130 (OBX 130) is perfect for a centerboard Mariner - can beach camp or camp on board. And the North Channel and Apostle Islands beckon. So many places, so little time....

Fred W
Stuart Mariner 19 Sweet P
Yeopim Creek, Albemarle Sound, NC

sesmith · Sep 30, 2024

We don't have a trailerable boat anymore, but when we did, we kept it on the water (in a slip). Why? It was conveniently located between work and home and got used all the time. If we had to rig it each time, we never would have used it. We pulled it once or twice a year to take it on trips, but they had to be at least a week or more or it wasn't worth the rigging and derigging hassles, in my estimation.

We no longer have a home base slip, but we're on our boat full time from when we launch it in the spring until we pull it in the late summer. I prefer to anchor when we can, but slips work well when exploring towns along the way.

Concerning Ted's list above, a here's my answer in a pic. This is our boat at the end of the season after many miles in lakes, Erie, Huron, and Michigan. I didn't even bother to pressure wash the bottom and the boat's still got its shine, as well. It's all in how you take care of it along the way, and if you keep it moving all the time with VC17 paint on the bottom, nothing builds up. But we can do that since we're retired

Tedd · Oct 2, 2024

I rig for day trips pretty regularly, but I agree that it is a small disincentive. I think a lot of people don't put enough effort into setting up their boat for easy rigging, though. When I had a Mac 26S (classic) I had it set up so I launched like a powerboat and motored away with the mast down. I could rig it in a few minutes, on the water, while my wife steered us out to sailable water. It took less than ten minutes, and none of the launches were within less than ten minutes of sailable water so, really, rigging took zero time. (I.e., it was never on the critical path.)

My current boat is a lot more complicated, with a dodger, bimini, all lines led to the cockpit, and so on. I used to rig it while motoring, too, but I rarely do anymore because I now launch in a place where almost no motoring is required. Raising the mast takes no time at all--two minutes, maybe. Mounting the boom and threading the main sail takes maybe ten minutes. Messing with the dodger and bimini takes more than either. So, a lot depends on how complex the boat is.

I also think people underestimate how long it takes to go sailing from a slip or a buoy. When I sail with friends whose boat is in a slip, the time between arriving in the parking lot and having the sails up isn't that different from when I launch my trailerable--keeping in mind that everything is already on board the boat when I arrive. There's no transporting gear, fueling, or anything like that. I might well be under sail sooner than someone who has to go out to a mooring buoy.

Crazy Dave Condon · Nov 21, 2024

I really enjoyed all the responses in this thread . Thank you. You are truly blessed to be able to sail as I miss it. The camper also has to go due to health also but to read your stories enlightens my day

crazy dave

SailingLoto · Nov 22, 2024

I'm fortunate. I ended up with a stip in exchange for helping maintain the remains of a derelict resort. I can't imagine having to launch and rig everything anymore. It's too much work on a c25. Some of my previous small boats were fine, but not this one. As she sits, it takes about 10 minutes to be motoring out into the channel, jib hanked on, sail cover off and ready to go.

The docks are rough and require request repairs. The road to it is aweful and full of wash outs, but the price is right and the water is calm. I keep her 4 way tied and she barely moves.
The biggest issue is the occasional trespasser and people stopping to ask if the property is for sale.

Prefer to trailer

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