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

[Steadman Uhlich]

Jarel,

Thank you for adding your great post with good photos to the discussion!
It sounds like you have a lot of fun with your boat and you are lucky to have a happy partner who enjoys cooking and cruising on a pocket cruiser with you. Cool! I hope to be so lucky in the future.

I learned something from your post, and your boat does sound interesting.

Please describe the time and any effort involved in putting the mast up when you reach a lake.

Fair winds!

[Jarel Design]

Ah Ha! You hit the Achilles heal!

It's not really that bad, but much different that the much lighter SJ21 I owned previously.

It's definitely not a one-person task, but not all that difficult. When we have kept it up at the lake, we've left the mast up while she sat on the trailer... We drive up, hook it up to the truck and launch... Raising the mast every time we want to go sailing might mean the difference between sailing that day or not.

The Boom has a fitting that fits into the base of the mast and there's a "hook" on the mast step that the the bottom of the mast fits into. The mast is moved back over the cockpit and fitted to the mast step hook. Connect the rear stay and the four aft shrouds (there's a third (forward), pair of shrouds that are connected after raising.)

I built a SS bridal with SS eyes that get clipped onto the deck and the end of the boom. The forward stay is connected to the main sheet tackle and clipped onto the forward stay deck fitting. You just pull on the main sheet purchase tackle until you can get the forward stay locked in place. It works quite well.

The only modifications I will make are to add additional bridal "shrouds" to attach between the side rail and the mast (Easily removed after the mast is in place... not too high up), and create a stronger purchase tackle set up for pulling the mast up into place. Never felt "threatened, but the mast is heavy. (I tend to be a safety freak and I just want to pro-actively make certain the mast doesn't drift side to side and make doubly certain that the purchase tackle for raising the mast is stronger than I'll ever need!

The mast itself is easily lifted and moved into place with just the two of us (and were both 61 years old).

We have her under a tent for interior refitting this winter and will remove it to raise the mast and continue work on deck (fitting a Bimini, Dodger, solar panels with arch, leading lines aft etc) I plan on creating a new mast raising system and will post photos and a video of how it's done this coming spring.

hope this helps?

Richard & Tresa

Good luck finding your perfect mate! We both feel our relationship was worth the very long wait (We were both previously married, didn't want a repeat... We met on Match.com 10 years ago and were married on a white sandy beach in Hawaii 5 years ago... Can't believe we both fall deeper and deeper in love with every day that passes! Truly, each others best friend! =D

[Jarel Design]

PS:
Although she knew I was a sailor before we met, I didn't find out about her until after we met! On our second date, I met her family and they asked a lot about me. When i mentioned sailing, they asked if that was my "hobby"? NO WAY! Sailing is like religion, meditation and flying all rolled up into one! I began describing points of sail and tight rigging and putting the rail under... She chimed in with: "You forgot the luffing of your jib! You're describing a broad reach aren't you?"

Talk about being shocked! (I kid you not, I thanked god out loud when I heard these wonderful words come from her mouth!!!) Turned out she crewed on charter boats and at one point captained the boat she was on for days when the skipper was badly injured!

When I say she "sails", she sails as well as I do!!! (Only one of a handful of sailors I know that i would trust being in charge above if I was down below sleeping...) And I know a lot of sailors! LOL!

Yes, I couldn't be happier or more grateful! When I found our boat in central California SHE was the one that got on line to find the owner's contact info (We didn't know who he was or where he lived!), and when I had him on the phone and he asked when we could come see her, Tresa said: Ask him if tomorrow works for him!

Literally laughing out loud remembering that moment! She was also the one that brought the check and said "yes let's buy her!" without a moment's hesitation!

[Don C L]

Just a thought but maybe it is useful to break these boat suggestions into trailerable fixed keels and swing keels. I think of mine (Columbia 29) as a trailerable fixed keel (a big pick-up could tow her.) But with a fixed keel you are looking at a different kind of trailer, one that will require a tongue extender most likely, or a way to roll the trailer down separate from the truck, since it will need to go in pretty deep. I thought I had found a good trailer for mine a while back but at 8000# it was just a little too heavy for the break actuator (6000# rating) and the axles were rated 3500# each but the frame could have held 10K. So anyway, considering the trailer in all this is important. I had ideas of trailering mine down to Baja/Sea of Cortez.. and may yet try it, but for me I'd realistically need a trailer with 3 axles (to track better) and can handle over 10K pounds because as the trailer guy pointed out, you have to take g-forces into account as you are flying down the highway hitting pot-holes. So in my neighborhood, a trailer like that, when you can find one, is probably around $5000. There are some who say electric brakes only and others who say surge brakes are fine. I'd check with a local trailer maker. I also think a cradle on a flat-bed may be a good way to go for fixed keels since you can use the cradle separately if needed, and use the trailer for other things to as a flat-bed.

[Rhapsody-NS27]

Originally Posted by Tayana42

Consider the Nor'sea 27 designed by Lyle Hess. Intended to be the largest boat that could be legally trailered on US roads.
BoatUS - Boat Reviews - Nor’Sea 27

I love my Nor'sea 27. Certainly a boat loved by their owners.

[Steadman Uhlich]

JAREL (Richard & Tressa),

I enjoyed your posts, and chuckled when I read the one about your meeting your mate's family and learning she was a darn good sailor!
You are lucky! Thanks for sharing your good story, your good humor, and your encouragement with us.

And, thanks for answering my question about raising the mast.

But, I think I missed seeing something. How LONG does it take to rig (raise and set the standing rigging) on a typical outing? One hour? Less, more? I am just curious, and will ask this same question of EVERY Trailer Sailor owner when I can.

Thanks for continuing to contribute and sharing what you do.

[Jarel Design]

"But, I think I missed seeing something. How LONG does it take to rig (raise and set the standing rigging) on a typical outing? One hour? Less, more?"

Ha! That might be like saying: if you have to ask... then you can't afford it" LOL!

We use several heavy straps to tie her down... Although I've never timed it (I'd NEVER want to rush for this task... too much that could be forgotten, placed in the wrong spot, with very bad consequences etc.) If I had to guess, I'd say 2hrs? Taking time, climbing up and down on a ladder, moving the Bimini, unwrapping the stays, making sure all the halyards are secured, connecting and testing the mast top electronics (Wind speed, Wind direction, VHF antenna, mast lights etc...)... We've only done it a hand-full of times with a lot of time in between (Too easy to forget how it's done... especially at my age! LOL!) I'm also guessing that it could be done a lot faster... maybe an hour? (With how I plan to set up the new bridle

Part of the new bridle system will include color coded markers on the bridle shackles, toe rail, boom etc so that placement is quicker without guessing or measuring.

hope that helps...

Yeah, I still laugh when I recall how I found out my wife was a 'real sailor"... I cherish her for MANY reasons!

[Adelie]

While I understand that trailer sailors and pocket cruisers overlap significantly I see them as different boats with different goals. I think that the title of this thread misleadingly associates the two.

To me a cruiser is a boat that could be taken on offshore legs of at least moderate length, let's say 3 to 5 days, say down the coast from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas or even down the west coast from the Straits of Juan de Fuca to San Francisco or LA. Even if off shore legs are not considered, the ability to rack up miles is certainly implied. This makes it hard to include very short boats that will also be very trailerable the short length really limits the amount of miles that can reasonably be expected in a days sailing or even a day's motoring.

The definition of pocket sized is a bit maleable but I expect most people consider the upper limit of length somewhere between 24' and 26'. Yes there a plenty of long term cruisers for whom anything less than 35' is pocket sized, but living aboard long term is a different kettle of fish.

Let's also limit cruisers to boats that could carry a couple, while there are plenty of folks happy to cruise alone, the majority don't like to so a lower limit on length would seem appropriate at about 16' or 17'. There are also certainly couples that would cruise happily cruise smaller boats but the weight of 2 people plus food and water for same starts to be a significant fraction of the weight of the boat and performance as a sailboat suffers drastically.

As far as trailerability goes, there are obvious upper limitations to beam, length and weight. For beam that would be about 9'. Whatever the legal limitations are, J-24's are regularly hauled around the country for racing and they are 8'9" wide. I know there is a 40' trailerable out there (can't find the info I have previously seen but actually a serious racer.) Really though limitations on length a probably better expressed as limitations on weight since the 2 are generally closely related. Weight is a serious consideration because as displacement goes up the weight of the needed trailer also goes up. As the gross weight increases you go from something you could tow witha small car, to a large car or minivan to a small pickup to a large pickup to something with dually tires. At the point you need a large pickup the you start to talk about serious money just to tow the boat around unless you already have such a vehicle for other uses. I would put that weight at about 8,000lb, and dualies would be needed at about 12,000lb or so.

Implicit in the idea of trailerability is the idea that the boat is easy to set up once launched or take back down for trailering. I would expect the upper limit to be about 2hr required in either direction and no outside equipment needed like a crane.


The cliched example of a trailer sailor that most would not consider a pocket cruiser is a MacGregor 26. It was explicityly designed to be trailerable, and it reasonably meets the requirement for pocket size. But I don't see it being a viable cruiser. With extreme care I could see one making it's way thru the Caribbean, but not any passages on the west coast. Even the earliest MACGREGOR 26D which was more sailing oriented than the more recent models would be a risky coastal cruising.

Another would be a WEST WIGHT POTTER 15. Definitely trailerable, and probably sturdy enough, but it would be really difficult to rack up miles. Just one person stepping aboard increases the displacement by 1/4 to 1/3. Even on the ICW where resupply is to be found regularly, gear plus 1 crew plus supplies would probably almost double the displacement.

The WEST WIGHT POTTER 19 would be better but would still be somewhat overloaded with 2 plus supplies for a week.

Then there's the WYLIE WABBIT 24. Some are regularly sailed between the Hawaian Islands so plenty strong. Rather overcanvassed which mean performance won't suffer as much overloaded but with a cuddy cabin so small it's not certain I could sit up in it sitting on the cabin sole.


On the other side would be a DANA 24. At 24' it certainly fits the pocket definition. Many have made signifcant passages so it is a cruiser. It is narrower than the J-24. The catch is the displacement, 7600lb lightship. Loaded for cruising I would expect this boat to tip the scales between 9000 and 10,000lb. With the trailer you're approaching 12,000lb gross weight.

The FALMOUTH CUTTER 22 would be similar.


And there are plenty of boats in the middle like my own CAL 20. This model boat has been to Hawai'i twice and across the Atlantic at least once.


I'm not meaning to pick on SteadyHand for starting this thread, in general I like it. But I'm concerned that the title conflates the 2 groups of boats an many newbies reading it will not understand that many of the trailerable boats that catch their eye in this thread would not make good cruisers.

[Steadman Uhlich]

ADELIE,

Thank YOU for writing such a nicely worded and composed and detailed post!

What follows is written in a friendly tone of voice, and with real respect for your views, your experience, and your contributions to CF.

I agree with you on almost everything you wrote!

And I am very glad you brought up those important points and suggestions for other boats to consider.

But I do see some things differently. Here is my POV:

On the point of "conflation" of "Trailer Sailor" with "Pocket Cruiser" Issue I have the following views:

1. I thought about this thread for a long time prior to posting it. During my thinking on it, I considered the title carefully and how to guide the discussion if needed. I wanted to pick a title that was clear enough and broad enough to encompass a discussion that would be fruitful and not too limited. Moreover,

I wanted this to be a thread that is somewhat general and not specific to one person's needs.

Frankly speaking, I think too many threads on CF have titles that are misleading because they use a term like "Best Boat..." but then the OP limits the boats to just what they (as one person) want in a boat. Those threads do not hold much interest to me, because they are too focused on what one sailor/buyer wants and too specific to their budget or preferences.

I hope this thread will become an ILLUSTRATED guide to these popular boat types, and that many experienced sailors will post their opinions and observations and experiences with how these various boats perform as either a "trailer sailor" or as a 'Pocket Cruiser" or as both.

One thing I think is ESSENTIAL and you brought this up: It matters WHERE the boat is sailed. Sailing LOCATION or TYPE OF WATER (protected waters like lakes and bays versus open ocean) really does matter and is very important.

Put simply, NOT ALL boats are really "seaworthy!"

Some boats, especially in the class of "trailerable" may be intended for or designed for and built lightly and are suitable for protected water (relatively smooth waters and relatively light winds) sailing.

2. I chose to use both terms (combining) in the title because most sailors who visit CF and are new are not sure what they are looking for in a first boat. To many they may want a "starter boat" or a "first boat" or a "first cruiser" or "a boat to learn on" or a "inexpensive cruiser." Those terms are debatable too.

But, what I have observed is that many CF member responses to these threads originated by newbies seem to provide very similar answers and often overlapping terms and features such as "trailerable" and "small" and "can cruise for weekends on lakes and coastal." So, by using BOTH "Trailer Sailor" and "Pocket Cruiser" in my title, I hoped to make it clear this thread covers both types of boats.

3. I agree that some boats may be seen on a trailer, but will be difficult to trailer or rig. So, I think this is a question that should be answered for ANY boat discussed in this thread.

"Is THIS boat easy to put on a trailer, haul behind a typical truck or SUV, and easy to step the mast and rig for sailing?"

I hope people who have owned these boats will answer those questions and provide readers with some insights into the ease or difficulty and TIME required to do those tasks.

4. I totally agree that some of these boats are NOT built or recommended for some coastal cruising or offshore "blue water" sailing or long voyages.

Some small boats are fun for protected water sailing and some may be capable of SOME coastal cruising (ICW, Florida Keys, etc.) but those same boats may NOT be really safe or appropriate for some other coastal areas or "blue water" offshore sailing or long distance sailing.

5. I don't agree with your view this topic or thread has a misleading title. I think it fits the class of boats I see, based on how those boats are marketed and how they are perceived by the buyers and newbies and even experienced sailors too.

So, I encourage you and other experienced sailors of small boats to simply be clear in describing what you see as the STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES of any boats you post. I think it is imperative to simply be honest about those things, especially if a boat is suitable for one type of sailing or locationi, but is unsuitable for another type of sailing or location.

6. As I see it, a boat like a Catalina 22 could be considered a "trailer sailor" and a "pocket cruiser" and perfectly suitable for sailing on any lake in the USA and along much of the coast of the USA and (Florida and Gulf Coast especially) and suitable for short leg cruising or "weekending" cruising too. But, I would never try to sail it to Hawaii. Horses for Courses!

Conversely, I see a Flicka 20 as a boat I would sail to offshore destinations (Bahamas, Caribbean, Pacific) but I would NOT buy that as an easy to trailer, easy to haul, easy to sail in light wind, fun boat for most USA lake sailing or much of the coastal sailing either. I admire the boat, but it looks like it would be relatively slow and would not be my first choice or recommendation for many people. But, it is highly regarded as a "pocket cruiser" and so makes this list.

_________

I hope this response clarifies my POV, and will help others here too. I hope we can all contribute to this thread, with observations about boats that fit this somewhat broad category.

When doing so, I hope the experienced owners of these boats will offer their insights into the STRENGTHS and WEAKNESSES of these boats based upon specific locations or use.

[DocRox]

Great Thread.
I am looking for a water ballast trailer sailor to tow behind my ML 430.

[DocRox]

Great Thread.
I am looking for a water ballast trailer sailor to tow behind my ML 430.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Norwalk Island Sharpie. 29'

Designed by Bruce Kirby
cat ketch sharpie
Free Standing Masts Aluminum

Launched 2006
Marine plywood, fiberglass and epoxy construction
18" draft centerboard up

8' 6" beam legal to trailer
5800 lb displacement
2500# lead ballast

Asking Price = $18,000
Location = Florida

Sale Listing
http://www.sailboatlistings.com/photographs/62168

[Travelnik]

I'll chime in with the 22' Westerly Nomad / W22.

The Nomad feels much larger than 22'. It may not be a Tardis, but it feels bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside.

At 6' I have standing headroom through much of the boat, up to the head area and V-berth.

The V-berths are 6'3" and the quarter berths are 6'8".

At 3500# it has twin / bilge keels, and can be towed on a dual axle flatbed trailer at 70 mph with an '82 F-100 (5.0L C-6 automatic).

Shallow draft of 28" can cruise in most places in the tropics, or anywhere else. Made to sail in the North Sea, with a solid FG hull and deck, and can cross oceans (mine was sailed from the UK to the US by the original owner).

The mast can be set up easily by 2 people, and with a bit of planning, 1 person can handle it.

Mine has the OB engine so that opens up the space under the cockpit for additional storage.

Sails for the Catalina 22 will work, so no expensive custom sails are needed.

The galley has a 2 burner propane stove on the port side, and the icebox and sink on the starboard. Comes with a marine head, but can use a composting head or porta-potty if needed. I'll be adding a sit-down shower in the future, too.

It could accommodate 4 people for a weekend or so, but is better suited for a couple or a single person. It would be ideal with a screened cockpit surrounding under the bimini for a bug-free back porch.
It could be a live aboard for 1 or 2, but it would be cozy.

The price is well below the Flicka, Dana 24, or FC22. Usually between $2k - $6k USD for boats in good condition, and there are quite a few in the US and Canada.

[Steadman Uhlich]

TRAVELNIK,

Thanks for posting the good profile you wrote on your boat. That kind of owner's view is what I hope will populate this thread with more observations on all of these boats in this topic.

I had not seen one of those boats. Sounds interesting.

Please take a few minutes to post some photos and drawings of that boat (or yours). Photos help others.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Paul Munro Design Cat Ketch 28' LOA WOOD

Here is an unusual find. A small trailerable wood Cat Ketch.

LOA = 28'
Location = San Francisco Area
Asking Price = $5,000
_______________

Steady's NOTES:

First, I like to see photos of a boat actually sailing! And this boat has several.

Secondly, the SF Bay area is linked to the Sacramento River Delta which has many sloughs. I think this small trailerable cruiser would be fun for exploring some of the back water areas (though I would include a small outboard for windless times). I like the design, the trailerability, and the tan bark sails.

This looks like a boat I would enjoy sailing and using to explore many areas, especially given it can be trailered.

Egret may be the design name in the Munro catalog.
WOOD hull.
Free Standing Masts - spruce WOOD
Double ended.
Trailerable.
Shallow Draft (looks like a Sharpie design)
Sleeps two.
Wood stove in cabin.
Built 1986

NOTE! I have NO financial connection to the seller of this boat. I have no financial interest in posting it here.
________________

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/boa/5850790113.html

More from the sale listing:
"I am offering Egret for sale. She comes with a double axle trailer with surge brakes, good tires, ready to sail. Equipment includes 2 batteries, battery charger, 4 HP Johnson outboard, tanbark main and mizzen with two reef points, staysail, 2 electric bilge pumps. Light weight spruce masts. Sleeps two. Centerboard. Double ended. Wood stove in the cabin.

To learn more about the history of this design and building email me. She is registered with the Master Mariners in SF and has raced in the Master Mariners Regatta.

Designer is Paul Munro. Plans featured in Wooden Boat magazine."