What is a good Trailer Sailboat?

[ShalomOrchard]

What is a Good Trailer Sailboat?

My Criteria?

Smaller then 30 ft.

Can be ?easily? launched from a trailer on a ramp...

Is livable for a week long trip or so.

Older / Classic Sailboat that can bought inexpensively

Decent Headroom?

Can be sailed Single handed.

A Cabin with at least a couple decent sized windows, instead of small portholes.

I'm considering downsizing from a Pearson 30, to something that can be trailered,
not daily or per sail, as it would be on a mooring during the season, or can be trailered
elsewhere to sail.

Many Thanks, Jim.

 

[Leeward Rail]

Is livable for a week long trip or so.

Liveable is totally subjective. Some people think a Catalina 22 is liveable for a week... Others would say nothing under 30ft need apply.

What are your own personal standards/needs ?

A Cabin with at least a couple decent sized windows, instead of small portholes

On a boat under 30 feet that is unlikely.

Older / Classic Sailboat that can bought inexpensively

Define inexpensive.. That term is also subjective. What price range ?

What are you using for trailering ? SUV ? 1 ton pickup ?

Seaward makes nice boats.

 

[BarryL]

Hi,

Unfortunately the sailboat you are looking does not exist (as far as I know).

Once the boat gets bigger than 22' or so, launching and retrieving becomes very difficult. My first boat was a Catalina 22. A nice, fun, easy to sail boat. I trailer sailed it for one year. Even after lots of practice it took at least one hour to launch and another hour to recover. While that boat was relatively easy to sail and had a small cabin, I would state it was livable for a week. The Catalina 25 can be trailered, but it's a lot of work and very difficult to raise the mast, launch, recover, etc. I have HEARD of someone trailering a Catalina 27, but that seems crazy to me.

Good luck,
Barry

 

[Will Gilmore]

ComPac 23.
Comes also in a pilot house version.

-Will

 

[ShalomOrchard]

"Liveable is totally subjective. Some people think a Catalina 22 is liveable for a week... Others would say nothing under 30ft need apply."

Since it is subjective, I would depend on other people's description of the boat....
I could then decide if it met my standards.

"On a boat under 30 feet that is unlikely."

I swear I've seen I boat like that. I can't recall what it was, but I think
It may have been some variety of Pearson. The aft end of the cabin was
a bit higher then usual, and had two decent sized windows with a dinette on
one side and the galley on the other.

"Define inexpensive.. That term is also subjective. What price range ?"

Let's say an older boat under $10,000. I bought my P30 for $4k.
If I can only find a suitable boat for more money, I'll have to figure something
out.

"What are you using for trailering ? SUV ? 1 ton pickup ?"

I doubt that will be an issue. I expect other factors will be a problem
before the tow vehicle becomes a problem. As of now, I have a E450SD
Shuttlebus to pull my P30. But I just use it to pull it from the boatyard to
home and vice versa once a year.

"Seawards are nice"

I looked at them, they seemed quite nice, but I imagine very expensive.

Thanks for responding!

 

[Hayden Watson]

By two previous boats were both trailer-sailed and over 25'. My first was a Clipper Marine 26 swing keel and the second was a Catalina C25 swing keel. I could step the mast on both with one helper. They had a tabernacle mast base that allowed the mast to rotate at the base. I carried the mast on deck with the head towards the stern. I would rig a gin-pole that held the jib halyard up about 8' above the deck to the tabernacle mast base with lateral support lines. Raising the mast was a matter of walking the mast back to connect the base, attaching the aft lower, uppers and aftstay than cranking on the jib halyard to raise the mast. It took about an hour to rig and launch. Of the two, the Clipper was lighter and easier to to tow. The Catalina was more comfortable.

 

[ShalomOrchard]

"ComPac 23. Comes also in a pilot house version."

VERY Interesting. How does the "hideaway" galley work?

 

[dmax]

Some reading for you, there are some nice options:

9 Best Trailerable Sailboats | Life of Sailing

Instead of docking a large boat, you can purchase a small trailerable sailboat. A trailerable sailboat is a perfect option for part-time sailors and people with busy lives.

www.lifeofsailing.com

Biggest Trailerable Sailboats | Life of Sailing

Many sailboats up to about 27 feet in length can be trailered safely on American roads. These vessels are limited by weight, beam, and overall height.

www.lifeofsailing.com

Trailerable Cruisers

There’s a lot to be said for a trailer sailer. Say goodbye to expensive boatyard haulout and storage fees. Forget about the laborious annual bottom scrub and

www.sailmagazine.com

7 Trailerable Sailboats That Have Standing Headroom

Trailering your boat is a great way to sail in a lot of different places while keeping your boat budget in control. You can take a smaller boat a long way to launch it somewhere new, and you don't get saddled with a lot of mooring and dockage fees while your boat sits around unused. That sounds...

improvesailing.com

 

[Leeward Rail]

ComPac 23.
Comes also in a pilot house version.

Man is that pilothouse version ugly !
Found a listing for $50,000 !!
Looks like someone glued a shed on a boat.

Whereas the normal one is under 10k

 

[rgranger]

I’ve owned two macgregor 21 sailboats, A McGregor 22, Coronado 23, Coronado 25, a Balboa 26, A Rhodes 22, and a Hunter 26. of those boats the roads 22 and the hunter 26 are the only two that I would consider comfortable to stay on for a week or more that are also easy to launch and easy to retrieve. The Balboa 26 is a very spacious boat but it is a beast to launch. The Coronado 25 is not trailerable

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

@rgranger
Sent the poster a pm if he wants to talk with a former dealer

 

[sesmith]

"Seawards are nice"

I looked at them, they seemed quite nice, but I imagine very expensive.

Yes, they are very nice. You would have to expand your price range quite a bit, but once over that pain you'd have a really nice boat set up for cruising that needs nothing

Used sailboats, sailboats for sale

Used sailboats, sailboats for sale

sbo.sailboatowners.com

 

[ShalomOrchard]

“Man is that pilothouse version ugly !”

oh come on, it’s not THAT Bad….

For my taste they could have raised the cabintop half as high and cut the window in almost to the deck. Just as big a window, half as high.

 

[shemandr]

Man is that pilothouse version ugly !...Looks like someone glued a shed on a boat...

It is ugly!

2024 Com-Pac Pilothouse Cruiser for sale - YachtWorld

Find more information and images about the boat and contact the seller or search more boats for sale on YachtWorld.

www.yachtworld.com

 

[Leeward Rail]

For my taste they could have raised the cabintop half as high and cut the window in almost to the deck.

Agreed. They chose 6ft headroom over better looks.

 

[Will Gilmore]

-Will

 

[SailingLoto]

I like my c25. Trailerable with a half to truck. 2 people can step the mast relatively easily. It's reasonably roomy.

I trailer mine like you stated. It's slipped spring-fall and trailers out in the winter. This year it has stayed in the water this far, but due to working on it through most of the summer, it's only been in the water since August.

 

[patbratton]

I think that it would be hard to beat a Hunter 260 or a 26. I settled on a Hunter 240 but she is a little small for a week on the water unless you are by yourself. She is easy to pull though, even with my six cylinder Mountaineer. Also I don't know of any boats with an easier mast raising system.

 

[Orbweaver]

One thing that I've noticed during my searching is that not all manufacturers put adequate thought/provisioning towards mast raising on a trailer sailor. My current Hunter 23.5 actually has a fairly elegant and simple solution. I've seen a few others that were not as well thought out. As for headroom, that's gonna be difficult. Not impossible, but add week long + 6' headroom + easily launchable and you are very quickly going to exceed $10K budget. There is a couple at my marina that have a Seaward 26 that would fit the bill, but you won't find one of those anywhere close to $10K. Any Mac26 (M or X) that I've found is minimum $13K, and most are over $20K if well equipped.

One thing you didn't mention is how many people you plan to have aboard for that week long trip? I would have loved to find a Hunter 26 or 260, as they have a fair amount more room below. But, I bought my 23.5 for less than half of what I could find for ANY 260, and it was almost local. Anything else was at least 18hrs of drive time away.
One thing I would suggest in your search is to plan on spending a LOT of time aboard potential boats, and take notes of what you like and don't like. We found that very useful. No boat has everything we would want, but the 23.5 does check most of the boxes for us.

 

[ShalomOrchard]

"One thing that I've noticed during my searching is that not all manufacturers put adequate thought/provisioning towards mast raising on a trailer sailor. My current Hunter 23.5 actually has a fairly elegant and simple solution. I've seen a few others that were not as well thought out."

Good to Know

"As for headroom, that's gonna be difficult. Not impossible, but add week long + 6' headroom + easily launchable and you are very quickly going to exceed $10K budget. There is a couple at my marina that have a Seaward 26 that would fit the bill, but you won't find one of those anywhere close to $10K. Any Mac26 (M or X) that I've found is minimum $13K, and most are over $20K if well equipped."

Yeah, headroom is actually a little lower on the priority then price, trailer ability, and ramp launch, self mast raising.
I have a Pearson 30, but I'm trying to downsize to something trailerable. Also high on my priorities is having a couple decent sized ports to be able to sit and look out, instead of feeling like you're in a hole.

"One thing you didn't mention is how many people you plan to have aboard for that week long trip?"

Well, conceivably it would be just me most of the time. I hope to convince my wife to come along some of the time. Her mobility is limited, so she can't be counted as crew. The biggest problem is the border collie and Australian Shepherd she will want to bring along.

"I would have loved to find a Hunter 26 or 260, as they have a fair amount more room below. But, I bought my 23.5 for less than half of what I could find for ANY 260, and it was almost local. Anything else was at least 18hrs of drive time away."

"One thing I would suggest in your search is to plan on spending a LOT of time aboard potential boats, and take notes of what you like and don't like. We found that very useful. No boat has everything we would want, but the 23.5 does check most of the boxes for us."

Yes, I will be spending at least a year looking until I find something to replace the Pearson 30 with. It's
very hard to sail by myself, and expensive to have a yard step the mast, launch, and then lower the mast and pull out each year. Plus a mooring. Thankfully I have a trailer, so I don't have to pay them to store it.