Pilot House Vs Motor Sailor

[hpeer]

Folks,

Since we are on the subject of motor sailor/pilot house I'd like an opinion on a boat my wife and I are looking at. Frankly at this time it's unlikely we would get it for various reasons, most of which having nothing to do with sailing.

Anyway, the boat is a 47-foot "Fisher" (though not by that name) in steel. She has a ketch rig, no bow sprit and is liste at 60,000 lbs displacement and a Gardner 6LXB with 3,000 hours.

My sense it that this boat is mostly on the "motor" side of the equation and would not be a good sailor.

Any opinions?

Then we got into a theoretical argument. Suppose she had to handle the boat by herself. Say we were making an East going transatlantic crossing and I became incapacitated, naw, dropped dead of a heart attack (that makes it simple - no resuce involved.) Which would be easier for her to handle, the Fisher or a 35 foot heavy fiberglass cutter? I contend the Fisher because it would be more comfortable, it would have much more crew protection, and she could "drive" it. Wife has minimal sailing experience but strong like bull.

Any help here guys?

[James S]

The weight of that 47fter sounds a lot.
If she’s going to be sailing, its hard to compare the two boats apples for apples with out knowing how they're rigged.
If she’s motoring I don’t see much difference until she starts thinking about docking...then the smaller one probably does better.
Boating is so much like flying....flying is so easy...its the landing and taking off that requires some practice.