Trailer Sailor & Pocket Cruiser Boats, Tips, Advice, Examples

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by zstine

...The Macgregor 26x is close but lacks sailing performance and quality(? Ive heard). The Seaward 26RK is possible but pushing price limit and sleeping accommodations are tight.

We want:
28ft to 31ft length
sleeps 4, prefer out of salon area (we have 2 kids 10yr & 12yrs)
enclosed head
under 5,000lbs
some minimal galley to cook
Good sailing performance
Retractable keel (sits low on trailer for ramp launch)
new-ish prefer this century
Available east of Mississippi river (I'm in NJ)
Under $50k

Any Suggestions?? I wish the Far East 28 was a big bro to the 26, but it is a race boat, not cruise able. I would consider a Hobie 33 if a retractable keel was available but none are for sale now.

You're not going to find a trailerable sailboat meeting all your specs. Most genuinely trailerable will be 26' or less. A used Seaward 26 is probably closest.

[Adelie]

C&C Mega30.
Can sail with partially retracted keel.
Downside is sleeping in the salon. Also a 1978-1982 boat.

[deander]

This thread is a neat find...thanks to Steadman for setting it up!

We've been trailering boats since 1980 starting with a 1976 Catalina 22. Pulled with a 1970 Dodge D100. We sailed Nebraska & Kansas lakes where we bought her, took trips to Tennessee, then up to the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior, then over to Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island,and finally to lakes here in Colorado where we sold her in 1999.

With two growing boys, we moved up to a Catalina 25 sailing in Colorado and Galveston Bay in TX. With that boat at about 5800 lbs we moved up to a Suburban with a 5.7L V8. In the meantime, we picked up a couple boat projects: 1970 O'day Widgeon and a 1974 Hobbie Cat. Loved sailing them on lakes here. But....with retirement and much more boat time coming up, we again upgraded in the past month.

We now have a 1979 Pacific Seacraft Orion 27. Needs some work to refit it for extended cruises (weeks) but in good shape. We first saw this boat (model) at the Boston Boat show in 1981 and fell in love with it....priced way out of our league near $60,000. A couple years ago we got a taste of long cruises on our sons' Pearson 365 ketch sailing across the Gulf twice, then to the Bahamas and up the east coast. The Orion will give us the chance to head to any water(always had a revisit to LakeSuperior in mind and the Dry Tortugas) and I can do refits at home where all my tools are. So..after doing a lot of thinking (2 years) about whether we were getting over our heads, touring a few Orions and picking up conversations with owners, we went for it. Bought the boat in Florida.

Now....how to get it home? After getting some schooling on trucks and what we'd need to pull about 12,000 lbs, we spent 4-5 months shopping after narrowing down a year range and model- within our budget. Being in Colorado it has to be a 4x4. Fortunately, near the boat we found a 2013 Silverado 2500HD in Florida with the 6.6L Duramax diesel and 6 speed Allison tranny.

We did see the boat in late Sept and built a good relationship with the owner over the months thereafter. But didn't see the truck- other than pics. We spent a good bit of time talking with both owners over the phone about both truck and boat. In late Feb my wife and I flew down to Tampa to settle on buying truck & boat. All checked out well and the owners were very helpful in helping us get on the road and asked us for trip updates over the 1900mile trip back home. That truck had plenty of power all the way- even on the 2000 foot climb up from Denver into the foothills of the Rockies. We traveled at 55 and only dropped from 6th to 5th on the climb and the transmission actually got 10 degrees cooler on the way up!

My guess is there's about 3 months of work to do on the boat. I'm doing more planning right now than labor, and that;s fine. We still have a couple feet of snow and only mid day hours are warm enough to work on the boat.

I'll update the forum as things progress.

Fair winds, following seas, and smooth driving to all,
Dean

[406Columbia]

looking forward to seeing some pictures. We have been refitting a Columbia 29 which weighs a bit less, but once were on the trailer (triple axle) its around 10k lbs. In our refit we have gone to great lengths to reclaim unused space. We added custom cabinets, got a Lagun folding/swivel table leg, compact water maker, etc. We are fortunate enough to have an outboard in a well, so the engine area is extra storage. But the main thing for us is find those nooks and crannies and making it usable.

Also on deck we have taken out standard cleats and gone with folding cleats, trying to build an extension off the bow to get the anchor out and off the deck. Added a few new lewmar ocean hatches to give small spaces more head room and increase air flow, etc.

Lastly finding efficient little items like our Origio stove, dometic fridge, etc.