Seidelmann 245 trailerability

[Gene Floyd]

How hard is it to trailer the 245? The guy I'm buying it from says that he had a very hard time raising the mast and that it weighs much more than 3,000 lbs, but I think that has at least some to do with inexperience in trailerable sailboats. Has anyone had any special issues with loading and unloading that should be passed on? Does anyone in here dry-sail their boat (keep it on the trailer and launch it to sail)? We plan to put ours in a slip since we found one really cheap, but I'm modifying a trailer to fit so that we can pull it out if we want to travel with it. Any help or information would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Steve11003]

I have 245 with trailer,

I launched mu boat last month after a trip of 300 miles. I had 4 others help raise the mast but could be done with two or three. The boat floated cleanly off the trailer with no problems. My trialer was custom made for this boat, It also has two removeable guide arms to help center the boat while loading.

 

[pdshoa]

245 trailer

boat actually weighs aboout 3500lbs plus gear. I had it on a trailer for about a year while i worked on the bottom (lots of blisters). The trailer was from a catalina 24 and worked fairly well. Launching was a job off the Courtney-Campbell as the ramp is quite shallow and i probably could have used a tongue extender as it was we had to back up rather fast to get it to slide off. I have had the mast up and down several times. Each has been a real adventure (my wife will no longer assist me in this endevour). Since i raised and lowered the mast while it was in the water side to side sway was considerable. I have found several solutions to this on the internet and would be curious if anyone has found a good method. Has anyone found a trailer that works really well as slip space here in tampa is rapidly disappearing and i may need to buy another trailer soon.

 

[S299 Dave]

I would say...

It should be easy with 2 people and some planning. I would not recommend doing it in the water though. I used to but the mast up on my 22 by myself very easily. I would stand on the deck aft of the mast, with a jib halyard led back through a rope clutch and around a winch. As I raised the mast I would take up the slack on the jib halyard... since it was cleated by the rope clutch, once up it would stay while I winched it tighter to attach the forestay. If it were a larger mast, like I am sure yours is... a second person would be useful to steady it. The key is to keep the mast in column while someone is taking up slack on the jib halyard.