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Originally Posted by bob perry  I think it's a waste of time to even try to draw a distinction. The line can be blurred in so many ways. My definition of a motor sailer is any boat with inside steering. I can't see why what you call a boat is important any in this case. There are light, modern boats with inside steering that I call motor sailers and there are heavy, tank laden tubs with inside steering that I also think should be called motor sailers. Check the next issue of BLUE WATER SAILING if you want to se an example of a new heavy displacement motor sailer that I designed. I think this one fits the typical notion of what a ms should be. However my 7'10" beam Container Cruiser was also conceived as a ms and I can't imagine two boats further apart in design philosophies. |
Would you consider a boat with inside steering and no motor, a motor sailer? Or a boat with inside steering and a tiny motor a motor sailer? One of my 36 footers has a 20hp diesel and inside steering. Would you consider that boat a motor sailer and a similar sized boat with no inside steering and a 50 HP motor not a motor sailer? A wheelhouse and inside steering is not a motor.Some folks can't tell the difference between a wheelhouse and a motor.Sad! A wheelhouse doesn't make the boat a motor sailer. It just makes the skipper intellegent.
A reasonably sized wheelhouse has less windage than a crew on deck.
I just had a great sail up Georgia Strait last night. Wind SE 30 to 40 knots, , periods of rain, cold. I set the windvane and poled out the jib soon after leaving port, then spent the rest of the trip down below, listening to the radio, with the wood stove pumping out the heat.I felt like a first class passenger. What a contrast to my last boat ,which would have had me sitting foolishly in the open cockput, exposed to the rain, wind and spray, fighting the helm, looking like a complete idiot. Totally bad seamanship. I'm embarassed that it took me so long to figure it out. I'm slightly consoled by the thought of how many will never figure it out.
Brent