Creating a semi live aboard trailer sailer.

[Grith]

Hi All just creating a thread to discuss creating a live aboard capable trailer sailer. I have sailed and owned trailer sailers for over 50 years now and 20 years ago retired with the hope of following in the wake of older friends who retired early to a trailer sailer based adventure travelling life.
That didn’t last long when my ex and I had an unplanned late life only child unexpectedly and all plans changed.
I have just retired again with my new partner to resurrect this plan which I have been working towards for the last five years.
Very fortunately I have repartnered with Clare who has embraced my trailer sailer based retirement plan.
It is a narrow window of trailable yachts small enough to be comfortably trailed yet big enough to live on for an extended period in more than camping mode.
My unusual selection won’t appeal to everyone but 4 weeks into its maiden longer voyage it is proving excellent and even my now very elderly traditionalist friends (who delightfully are cruising in company with us) are coming around to its suitability to the extremely challenging expeditions they have done over their now nearly 30 years of exploring Australia by Trailer Sailer. They use a Court 750 built here in Australia back in the 70’s.
My choice is the Polish built Imexus 28 powersailer.
It is the second Imexus for me the first being an inboard monster Diesel engines version and the new one a significantly smaller but still very large outboard version.
The combination of water ballast, monster engines and high windage slab sides for internal volume won’t appeal to everyone but it does create a light enough to tow, big for a trailer sailer internal volume and multi conditions and challenges capable on water exploration platform.
Sailing it’s proving able to generally pace and occasionally pass its more conventional trailer sailer company whilst being a far larger unit overall to live on more comfortably.
Generally I would love to hear others stories of using larger trailer sailers for extended periods and compare notes. Obviously I have a wealth of experience already on tap from my friends who are perhaps Australia’s most experienced trailer sailers with 30 years of living that life now.
They are also Kimberley’s experts which I would regard as one of the most beautiful but challenging and dangerous desirable sailing locations on the planet.

[Jammer]

I had a Hunter 26 and found that it was too small to live aboard and too large to trailer.


YMMV. Hope it works out for you.

[Grith]

2 foot extra is quite a lot in a yacht and the Imexus is well laid out for a couple occasionally entertaining guests. Our friends have managed it on the smaller Court 750 for 30 years now. Since Clare comes from a wilderness backpacking perspective and I was an outdoors expedition leader from backpacking, through real camp off bike cycle touring both on and off-road and long kayaking expeditions having a standup inside kitchen, closed door shower toilet room and permanently made up long double bed with mattress feels like luxury to us.��
Now with hotwater, independent 240v electricity via both an occasionally used fitted Honda eu 2.2 generator and Ecoflow Delta max integrated lithium inverter fast charger and solar charge regulator we have induction cooking and some others regular electrical appliances available.
I am 6 foot 2 and can just stand inside closed up and Clare at 5 foot 7 has heaps of room. Whilst it can theoretically sleep 5 and a child it’s too small for more than four for a few days but is roomier than our truck camper to live in.��
PS I have so far towed it his one and my prior Imexus a combined over 10,000 miles already I mainly with a VW Touareg which had no problems towing it at our maximum Australian speed limits even up mountains though our truck camper is now slower but still adequate.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Grith

Hi All just creating a thread to discuss creating a live aboard capable trailer sailer. I have sailed and owned trailer sailers for over 50 years now and 20 years ago retired with the hope of following in the wake of older friends who retired early to a trailer sailer based adventure travelling life.
That didn’t last long when my ex and I had an unplanned late life only child unexpectedly and all plans changed.
I have just retired again with my new partner to resurrect this plan which I have been working towards for the last five years.
Very fortunately I have repartnered with Clare who has embraced my trailer sailer based retirement plan.
It is a narrow window of trailable yachts small enough to be comfortably trailed yet big enough to live on for an extended period in more than camping mode.
My unusual selection won’t appeal to everyone but 4 weeks into its maiden longer voyage it is proving excellent and even my now very elderly traditionalist friends (who delightfully are cruising in company with us) are coming around to its suitability to the extremely challenging expeditions they have done over their now nearly 30 years of exploring Australia by Trailer Sailer. They use a Court 750 built here in Australia back in the 70’s.
My choice is the Polish built Imexus 28 powersailer.
It is the second Imexus for me the first being an inboard monster Diesel engines version and the new one a significantly smaller but still very large outboard version.
The combination of water ballast, monster engines and high windage slab sides for internal volume won’t appeal to everyone but it does create a light enough to tow, big for a trailer sailer internal volume and multi conditions and challenges capable on water exploration platform.
Sailing it’s proving able to generally pace and occasionally pass its more conventional trailer sailer company whilst being a far larger unit overall to live on more comfortably.
Generally I would love to hear others stories of using larger trailer sailers for extended periods and compare notes. Obviously I have a wealth of experience already on tap from my friends who are perhaps Australia’s most experienced trailer sailers with 30 years of living that life now.
They are also Kimberley’s experts which I would regard as one of the most beautiful but challenging and dangerous desirable sailing locations on the planet.

Congratulations on finding such a boat. Personally I'd lose one of the double berths and add some room for storage. Guests can sleep in the settees or the cockpit. An outboard would be better in my opinion than the diesel. It is camping out but it can be comfortable.

I owned a C&C Mega 30 for several years. It was a similar slab sided flat bottomed sloop with a retractable keel and minimal interior (but it was FAST). I added propane stove, water system, holding tank and other accommodations. We cruised West Coast of Vancouver Island and many places inside including Puget Sound, San Juans, and Gulf Islands. It was great fun, I once sailed 9 miles in 54 minutes under spinnaker. We always towed a hard dingy and nearly lost that once out in the ocean, again sailing with the kite up, when it came loose.

The biggest problem was putting up and down a 38ft aluminum mast.

I wouldn't say you could live on it, but you can have nice holidays and extended cruises. Enjoy.

[Grith]

Sounds great but guess she wasn’t trailable? We do have the big front v berth covered in stuff but there is actually enough room under the settee berths and in lockers to accommodate all that stuff if hosting my daughter and friend or other couples for shorter periods. When I called it semi live aboard I wasn’t talking sell up home and move aboard but feel that more than a few weeks continuously on board stops being just camping and starts being semi living onboard.
The goal was create a trailer sailer that could accomodate that goal whilst remaining truely Trailable to quickly reach distant and diverse locations. I can raise and lower our 30 foot mast by myself both to launch but importantly also on water for bridges and powerlines when sailing rivers and inland waterways. The Imexus in common with several other trailable yachts built in Poland has a cleverly integrated mast raising and lowering system involving a permanently attached a frame in stainless matching the pulpit and lifelines with multi purchase blocks mounted both on the for deck and the a frame which interlock when fully raised but have a line coming back to a sheet winch in the cockpit allowing raising and lowering from there including when underway.
I guess they must have bridges to navigate on water there.
The remaining trailable part includes under 7000lbs completely loaded on trailer and at around 2.5 metres wide no special restrictions or permits to tow and now difficulties launching on secondary ramps caused by extra depth, length or width needed to accommodate launching and sometimes more importantly retrieving.

[giliganthegreat]

Super fun

[Fore and Aft]

Grith I have a few customers here in Australia who just hire a tilt tray or semi truck to move their "trailable" boats to the boat ramp. They are all 3.5 meters wide max and just have flagging/signage on the truck or trailer when being moved. They seem to justify the cost by not needing a marina berth.
Cheers

[Grith]

Yes I have seen that process but it doesn’t appeal to me as The Kimberley’s, The Whitsundays , The Ord and Lake Argyle, Paynesville and associated lakes, The snowy Mountains Lakes and even Kangaroo Island and Tasmania are on the bucket list along with some many other rivers, dams, inshore islands and bays all achievable towing my under 3.5 ton and 2.5 meter wide trailer. I can keep my yacht at home and repair , upgrade and provision it at my back door and just hook it up and go. For long road trips it is a perfectly good caravan on land and it’s 30 cm draft and relatively flat bottom mean access to very shallow areas and the ability to step off onto the beach or bank with dry feet and to snuggle in very close to shore out of wind and waves affecting boats with more significant draft. I can also dry out flat in appropriate places like Hill Inlet in the Whitsundays and have done so. I have chosen to sacrifice the offshore ability and comfort of larger yachts for these advantages.

[RaymondR]

The problem with cruising in much of Australia is that there's an awful lot of pretty boring water between the really interesting cruising bits, particularly in Western Australia. It appears you've made an excellent choice of vessels to overcome that problem.

[Grith]

Our friends Eric and Flo have basically lived a trailer sailer travelling and adventure based life for half of each year for nearly 30 years now surviving on the Pension here in Australia. Free camping, lots of adventure, rent/house sit their furnished house out for 6 months and this little extra covers their additional petrol expenses whilst they otherwise live on the same money they would vegetating at home like many other pensioners.
This was my falllback position after losing much of my wealth to separation 10/11 years ago generated by my ex with the stated reason I was always at work after I reluctantly returned to it 4 years after the birth of my daughter as our early retirement finances dwindled.
Fortunately hard work and luck has made that route unnecessary and a recent pairing with a spectacular new partner of equal wealth has allowed both of us to just retire to sail, travel and adventure.
Caravanning as grey nomads in Australia is very popular but like my friends I have chosen the vastly more interesting and adventurous trailer sailing based part time travelling retirement lifestyle.
I opened this thread to see if others had also gone down this path and to compare experiences and perhaps learn from each other.
Having done a number of multi day ocean races as crew when younger I decided a day or half day sailing then with morning or evening onshore walks/exploring and evening drinks and dinner with partner and or friends in a beautiful bay or riverbank was much more my scene than long lonely watches, storms at sea and days and weeks at sea to reach the beautiful sailing destinations I can tow to so have chosen a trailer sailer as a way to accomplish this.
I have even examined containerising my cruising trailer sailer to go overseas as that is the way my yacht arrived in this country from Poland. Feasible and possible but we shall see. Certainly New Zealand seems affordable and feasible.
Whilst very expensive by used trailer sailer standards my chosen platform is still far cheaper than many large caravans and motorhomes in this country whilst being able to visit virtually all the places they can and a huge range of places they couldn’t even dream of.
No marina or haul out fees and a very wide choice of sailing destinations unavailable or very challenging to sail to for other styles of non trailable yachts or powerboats.
Not for everyone I know but perhaps with the extra time available of retirement and the unique sailing and travelling destinations on offer something for others to consider who may have never contemplated this alternative.
Comments welcome. 🙂

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Grith

Sounds great but guess she wasn’t trailable?...

The Mega 30 was fully trailerable. The bulb keel retracted electrically, the rudder swung up, and then all you have to do is get the mast down w/o dropping it.

It sounds like you have a good arrangement and plan with your Imexus. Drive carefully on land and put the board up sometimes so you can explore deep into those creeks and coves.

[Chotu]

This is a really cool thread. Great idea.

[Grith]

Originally Posted by wingssail

The Mega 30 was fully trailerable. The bulb keel retracted electrically, the rudder swung up, and then all you have to do is get the mast down w/o dropping it.

It sounds like you have a good arrangement and plan with your Imexus. Drive carefully on land and put the board up sometimes so you can explore deep into those creeks and coves.

I have just looked up the Mega 30 specs as I had never seen one previously. Can you tell me with the keel fully retracted did it still have the bulb sticking out precluding easy drying out flat?
It looks very fast and I have sacrificed ultimate sailing speed for comfort , flexibility in use and high speed motoring capability and know that’s not everyone’s ideal. Have you got any internal photos as I couldn’t see any.
Also I had a racing oriented deep drop keel trailer sailer myself which was severely damaged whilst leading a race planing under spinnaker.
Unbeknownst to anyone a powerboat had accidentally picked up the portable rounding mark and carried it onto a sandbar. Just as we were about to douse the kite to round we hit the sand bar at full speed driving the keel through the front of the case by pivot action.
Towels, ropes around the case tensioned with a pole got us back to the club and we just got the trailer under her as she sank.
Often sailing in murky waters I am happy to sacrifice speed for the swing keel ( alternative depth sounder). The bang of the coral bommie or submerged log on the keel means action stations but it’s self retraction back into the hull generally means no damage done except to pride!

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Grith

I have just looked up the Mega 30 specs as I had never seen one previously. Can you tell me with the keel fully retracted did it still have the bulb sticking out precluding easy drying out flat?
It looks very fast and I have sacrificed ultimate sailing speed for comfort , flexibility in use and high speed motoring capability and know that’s not everyone’s ideal. Have you got any internal photos as I couldn’t see any.
Also I had a racing oriented deep drop keel trailer sailer myself which was severely damaged whilst leading a race planing under spinnaker.
Unbeknownst to anyone a powerboat had accidentally picked up the portable rounding mark and carried it onto a sandbar. Just as we were about to douse the kite to round we hit the sand bar at full speed driving the keel through the front of the case by pivot action.
Towels, ropes around the case tensioned with a pole got us back to the club and we just got the trailer under her as she sank.
Often sailing in murky waters I am happy to sacrifice speed for the swing keel ( alternative depth sounder). The bang of the coral bommie or submerged log on the keel means action stations but it’s self retraction back into the hull generally means no damage done except to pride!

The keel only retracted until the bulb came up to the bottom of the boat. It would not sit flat on a beach. I don't have any interior photos but the layout seems very similar to your Imexus, narrow cabin with settees on both sides a small galley unit, on one side, etc. The bow was empty and we put a water tank and toilet there. We moved one quarter berth back three feet to allow room for a gimbled stove.

The main problem with the Mega30 was that it was supposed to be a light fast trailerable, but it came out heavy and not strong. The keel supports were all metal top to bottom and very strong but we damaged the hull structure by over tensioning the cap shrouds (I fixed that). This is all history. Now boaters need to look at more current designs.

[Grith]

Thanks for that. It’s just I have tried to keep abreast of most what I call maxi true trailables but had never previously spotted that one. Our shower/toilet compartment is beside the entrance hatch so despite a sump floor for the shower is still stand up for Clare but not for me. I have only showered once in it and it would probably made the cut on funniest home videos! We have hot and cold shower on the generous rear swim deck that I can use when required. 🙂