Anyone live aboard a sailboat and motor everywhere?

[letoile]

That's exactly what we see the majority of larger sailboats doing...motoring everywhere with favourable wind ???

[laika]

No shame in motoring! Over the years I've probably developed a more intimate relationship with the engine than with the rig, but one good engineless sail when the stars align makes all the toil over the bits pieces aloft worth the effort.

[a64pilot]

What drove me to sail was range.
You just can’t cross Oceans under power with anything that I can afford.
Plus being under sail is so much more stable, so much more.
When that motor goes off and we are sailing, it’s just relaxing.
I don’t know about you, but with Yanmar running on my boat, it sounds like we have a lawnmower in the salon, not a good way to relax.
I hate running the thing, but love it’s miserliness and reliability.

[JD-Odyssey]

We're liveaboards in Annapolis, MD and have put quite a few hours on our Yanmar since acquiring our boat in 2004. We sail as much as we possibly can but during some of those windless, hot summer days the Chesapeake can look like a sheet of glass. We belong to the Power Squadron and enjoy doing some cruising or raft-ups with friends... so, sometimes you just have to put the peddle to the metal to arrive on time. When we get those nice windy Fall days and we have no particular place to go, the engine is off until we drop the hook.

[Mistress Sirena]

Sad to say severe copd makes it impossible to raise my sails any longer sooo I haven't
even bent them on this season and have just become a ball rat .the plan was to sail to the keys and onward well I still love the harbor life here in Boot key but my condition may end this also. I did love sailing when I could wish I had done more...

[canyonbat]

Last summer, in the Pacific Northwest, our ratio was 75% motor, 25% sail. I suspect our Alaska trip this year will not improve that ratio although we hope to get some good sailing here and there. We are sitting at the haul out place now waiting for them to launch us!

[hamburking]

From what I've witnessed locally, about 90% of sailboats only motor about. Even on the nicest of sailing days. The problem is clocks, calendars, and schedules. Very few people have the time to go no place slowly these days.

Many even run the engine at anchor. Idiots.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by windycityxx

I was actually posting more along the lines of people buying sailboats just to motor everywhere over powerboats because of the reliability and efficiency of most sailboats etc.?

Many sailboats I would suggest, are unreliable in the engine department due to lack of easy access.
This is based on many years on and around sailboats many with stinking festering lumps of metal in their bowels and also based on diesel repair pages where the vast majority of posters are on sailboats and their pics are of festering lumps of metal.

Motors that are easily accessible are easily worked on and tend to get more love regularly.
We have six ft headroom in our engine room so I am walking around in their several times a day checking and tinkering.

Also worth noting that some powered vessels are pretty efficient in fuel burn.

[mikedefieslife]

Never understood some boat owners 'fear' or apprehension of motoring. It's just another tool to move you along.

[CaptsWife]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

Never understood some boat owners 'fear' or apprehension of motoring. It's just another tool to move you along.

Yep. Right now, we're in the ICW headed north. We put the jib out when the winds are favorable, but we still have the engine on (obviously). No issues.

We sail when/where we can, we motor-sail when/where we can and sometimes we just have to motor.

[Cheechako]

I motor a lot, or motorsail. More than I sail probably. But if it's blowing I sail. But I turn on the engine by 3 knots of speed or less. To me the boat is just a vehicle to get from A to B. How I get there doesn't matter that much to me. and more often than not I need to make water or charge batteries etc.
OTOH I even had some great sails in a light beam breeze on the ICW, just coasting along and enjoying the view.

[Ken Z]

I have noticed in the last 30 yrs. that I see, pass or are around more sailboats under motor and sails covered within 5 miles of land
. Yes there are plenty of reasons for motoring, I love to sail, being propelled by the wind is ........ motors are beyond wonderful, but to my amazement when taking a tack to line up on a bridge, go thru the bridge, pass sailboats sailing downwind with their sails down, motoring, and they cheer me like I sailed around the world makes me wonder ?????? but at least they are on the water, and maybe they can gain confidence with themselves and hoist the sails. Either way motor or sail, enjoy!!!!!!😎

[thomm225]

I like most here in the lower Chesapeake Bay probably sail more than we motor or motorsail.

When I leave my creek, I have 150 miles plus of open water if I want to sail North, 2000 miles plus if I want to sail East, 10 miles or so if I want to sail West and also that connects to the ICW heading South, and if the wind is right, you can sail lots of that

It's certainly strange so many would buy a sailboat to motor but it's probably less expensive than buying a motor powered yacht

[sailorboy1]

In the end sailing and cruising on a sailboat aren’t the same. In the cruising world you don’t out go onto a reach for a few hours then turn around onto a new reach and come back. In the cruising world you need/want to travel 100s of miles to a choosen destination or a planned bail out spot along the way, while dealing with weather changes, tide and currents, entering unknown places etc. you aren’t out for a pleasure day sail, you are trying to get somewhere and do it safely.

[thomm225]

Many of us Coastal Cruisers and racers actually do sail 100's of miles using the engine only to get away from the dock/marina because we are in it for the sailing

Why else would you buy a sailboat.

If our schedule demands it, we will motor but when it comes time to cruise there will be no time table so it will be mostly sailing