An All-Season Trailerable Sailboat

[Netpackrat]

Hey couple of ideas. Check with DMV but I think you can get a permit for less than 10 foot wide that is good for a year at a time. All you need is wide load signs and a warning light on the tow rig. But give them a call to make sure.

Looking at what the DMV has on their website, there are also holiday and weekend restrictions that cover most of the big holidays that fall on a weekend (Labor Day, Memorial Day, etc) that could be a real pain to work around given I will probably want to tow the boat places and use it during some of those. But you are right in that it would open up a lot of boat designs that I can't consider as long as I insist on no oversize permit. One thing I have noticed as I have looked at different boat designs though, is that most of those boats that would need an oversize permit due to width, tend to be boats I would not want to trailer or rig/de-rig regularly. Kind of like how the VG26 study plans say she can be trailered home for wintering, but otherwise needs to live in the water.

About what boat have you looked at the Woods multi hulls? The ones that fold could fit you bill, maybe.

Yeah, I have spent some hours going over his site. They are tempting due to tons of interior space and a little extra speed is tough to argue with. I have similar concerns about trailering and launching from a ramp with the foldable cats as I do with fin keel monohulls. Another issue is with a monohull, I can fit a little heater in the cabin and warm all of the living/sleeping space, but on a cat with a cuddy, there are 3 interior spaces to be kept warm. Another is needing to go up on deck to access the hull containing the head late at night while everyone else is asleep. At the age my kids are right now, that would be no good, although they would certainly be old enough by the time I finished building for that to be less of a concern. And the all around visibility from the cuddy of something like a Wizard is pretty good as designed, so I could run the boat from inside in bad weather.

I'm not ruling a catamaran out, but with the above concerns plus increased build time, I am not convinced. Maybe a Wizard is something I would consider building while sailing the used monohull I will probably buy.

[Netpackrat]

The Freedom cat ketch posted in Bogie's build thread reminded me of this boat that I liked:

https://bandbyachtdesigns.com/princess26/

Not a Bateau design and a bit too long for my current building space, but it looks like a neat boat. A year ago back east there was one built in foam sandwich for sale at a really attractive price, but I won't be in a position to buy anything anyway until a piece of property my brother and I have on the market sells.

[jacquesmm]

Keep one thing in mind with those free standing masts: the forward mast is too close to the bow. It throws the boat off balance and in some cases, increase the pitching to a point where it becomes unsafe. It's a lot of weight in the bow. I sailed one of the first Freedoms, a 44 footer I believe and in some cases, the skipper did not want to go out because it was almost impossible to pass the bar. The boat stopped and lost steerage because of the excessive pitching.
Besides that, it is a great feature downwind, in Trade Winds conditions but then, a spi does the same job.

I still have a semi finished Nauticat styled design, 30':

except that I designed a box keel hull.
The proportions are the same than the McMurray boat but I drew a poop deck. Same rig.
The box keel drops the engine much lower = straight shaft, lower VCG, stiffer boat, beachable for maintenance with a 3' tide.
I owned a Nauticat 33 and have good memories of the boat.
I may finish that design before you sell your land.

[Fuzz]

That is one fine looking design Jacques That would make somebody a fine boat.

[Netpackrat]

Not trailerable. But still a cool boat. Getting my entire wish list in one boat may indeed prove to not be possible or practical, but unfortunately I live too far from any usable water to buy or build a non trailerable boat. If it comes down to that, I will have to compromise somewhere else.

[jacquesmm]

Not trailerable.

Sorry, let's get the thread back on track.
The problem is that I do not have a design that fits all your requirements. I don't know if one exist.

[rick berrey]

While the 30' sailboat has been brought up could you either rethink finishing the one you started , or may be look at the pluses and minuses involved in turning the VG26 into a VG 30 or close to it ? I know one builder put a stright shaft inboard into a VG26 , but I think it was electric . I don't want to hijack the tread

[Netpackrat]

Sorry, let's get the thread back on track.
The problem is that I do not have a design that fits all your requirements. I don't know if one exist.

I think probably my best bet at this point will be to buy an older production boat that comes as close as possible, and then in the process of learning to use it I will get a better idea of what I actually need. Or it's possible that my circumstances will eventually change such that trailering becomes not as important.

[Netpackrat]

I know one builder put a stright shaft inboard into a VG26 , but I think it was electric.

Judging by Youtube, removing engines in favor of electric power seems to be the new age hipster thing to do to their sailboats. When somebody comments suggesting that maybe that's not the wisest thing to do to a blue water boat, invariably Slocum and the Pardeys get brought up, conveniently ignoring the fact that the Youtubers in question are neither Slocum nor the Pardeys.

[Netpackrat]

It's kind of a sad day for me, but it does mean I can possibly move forward on this. Just signed the papers to sell our remote cabin on 10 acres; I didn't really want to sell it but my brother wanted out, and I didn't want to keep it badly enough to buy out his half. So I let it happen. He still says he wants to get something a little closer in but we'll see if he actually follows through with that.

For the time being, I doubt if I will do anything besides keep looking at listings, but now if I see something I like, I can move on it. There hasn't really been anything that I like for sale locally this year, but eventually something good will come up. There was one C25 a few months ago but it was a fixed keeler. Occasionally there will be a Balboa/Aquarius 25 come up for sale too, although I would rather stay with the manufacturer that's still in business all else being equal. Saw that Compac makes a pilothouse version of their 23' hull that checks almost all of the boxes, but they've only been making it since 2012 or so. All those boats are new enough to be well outside what I am willing to spend.

Still looking at plans, but a scratch build of that size isn't in the cards while I have my MGA torn apart. Maybe if I haven't found anything I like by the time it is finished I will press on with a build. One crummy thing about Alaska is there aren't really a lot of sailboats around, so when something does come on the market, it's usually priced about double what an equivalent boat would go for down south.