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Old 17-05-2014, 04:50   #16
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

Lousy performing sailboat and a less than ideal powerboat = Motorsailer
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Old 17-05-2014, 05:02   #17
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

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Originally Posted by bletso View Post
Lousy performing sailboat and a less than ideal powerboat = Motorsailer
ROFL ridiculous statement..
There are lousy sailboats and lousy powerboats too. That doesn't mean all the rest are the same..
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Old 17-05-2014, 05:20   #18
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pirate Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

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Is this a motor sailor?
If your engine is on... YES
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Old 17-05-2014, 05:26   #19
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

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Lousy performing sailboat and a less than ideal powerboat = Motorsailer

So.....you're saying a McGregor 26 is a motorsailer for example....with an outboard...
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Old 17-05-2014, 05:30   #20
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pirate Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

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So.....you're saying a McGregor 26 is a motorsailer for example....with an outboard...
No.. that's a ski boat.. with auxiliary propulsion..
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Old 17-05-2014, 05:43   #21
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

and a HUGE holding tank, with some minor plumbing tweaks.
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Old 17-05-2014, 06:31   #22
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

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Some folks enjoy the practice of motorsailing, the simultaneous use of sails and engine for prolonged periods. Basically they are motoring but assisted by the sails, saving a bunch of fuel and stuff. A boat that is specifically designed for this might be thought of as a motorsailor even if it doesn't exactly meet my other definition.
.
I don't think there is any such thing as a boat specifically designed for motor sailing. Any sailboat (or motorsailer) can be motor sailed. It helps tremendously to have a variable pitch prop like a Hundestedt or a Brunton, but you can fit a variable pitch prop to any boat.

I greatly enjoy motorsailing, myself, and do it often. I rarely motor any distance without at least some sail up. If there's not enough wind to maintain a decent pace under sail, motorsailing can be a great option. If the wind is ahead of the beam, you get a virtuous circle where the motor allows you to reach a speed where apparent wind starts to kick in and make the sails work better. With a variable pitch prop, you might only need an effortless 1200 rpm or 1500 rpm to maintain a great passage speed in wind which would otherwise be too light to make much progress.

I sometimes enjoy ghosting along under sail alone at 3 or 4 knots in very calm weather (it can be magical, when the water is glassy calm!), but even when I'm pottering around the coast near my boat's home base, I am usually sailing towards some destination 40 or 50 miles away at least, and there is almost always a tide to consider, too. So it means I usually can't afford to ghost along at 3 or 4 knots, and so motorsailing can be a Godsend.

But practically any modern cruising sailboat can do the same -- it's not a tactic restricted to any specific design.
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Old 03-06-2014, 12:17   #23
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

The term motorsailer often used as a criticism for poorly designed sailboats. A good motorsailer is specifically designed as such, and has many advantages over the average sailboat..

This is what Bill Kimley from Seahorse Marine describes them.

"So what's different about a motorsailer? The motorsailer is a vessel that sort of sails without a motor pretty well, but not real close to the wind, and can motor along without sails OK, but may be a little stiff. A stiff hull is shaped to resist rolling. It carries sail well but it likes to float with its beam water line parallel to the water surface. A lumpy sea presents many inclined water surfaces and a stiff hull will snap around trying to parallel each one as it passes.

The designer of a motorsailer has to make the decision to exclude good upwind performance. Accepting that compromise allows a lot of neat things to happen, lighter weight, shallower draft, 5 feet is the max for most canal systems, and a more yacht trawler like hull shape with its large accommodations, especially in the aft cabin. But the neatest thing of all is the way the large motor and large sailing rig of a true motorsailer, designed with a nice slippery hull, work in harmony, the motor taking over in the lulls and the rig taking over in the puffs, to provide a surprisingly fast, fuel efficient and comfortable passage."
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Old 03-06-2014, 12:29   #24
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

As I get older along with my cruising friends, I have noticed a tendency to look at motor sailers with a different eye. As Dockhead mentioned, in the colder weather he traveled with the hood up...... and I have no idea what age the man is.... so apologies if you are 30 something

I have always loved the pilothouse for its capacity to enclose a group of people in warmth or air conditioned luxury, and I have also loved the ability to sail as an alternative to the diesel. Not that every motor sailer has a pilot house/raised coach look but the ones I like do...

Any vessel that can do either and moderately well, is a winner in my book. I dont see "sailing" as anything else than being on the water in a vessel you love. Even a canal boat.
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Old 03-06-2014, 12:36   #25
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

My favourite small motorsailer

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Old 03-06-2014, 13:14   #26
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Re: What makes a boat a "Motorsailer"?

[QUOTE=Kokanee;1555825]

This is what Bill Kimley from Seahorse Marine describes them.
/QUOTE]

I don't consider Kimley's Diesel Ducks as motorsailors.... even though he does try to sell "spinnaker packages" to his novice clients.

They are... as someone else coined.. sail assisted trawlers.
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