Small Boat Sailing

26 Jul 2013 Resource

A trailer-sailor is a compromise boat. Whether it succeeds is a matter of finding the compromises that are correct for you. More people abandon the concept through traumas with the launch & recovery & the journey home than any aspect of the boat once on the water.

The launch & recovery operations must be achievable by one person using only whatever other facilities are regularly & reliably available. These other facilities may comprise of other people, a tractor, a crane or whatever. If you are always going to have them, then a large boat on an average trailer requiring complicated procedures will be a sustainable proposition. On the other hand, unless you can handle the operations on your own, the suggestion of going sailing will rapidly deteriorate from an opportunity to be grasped without further consideration to one that will be challenged & dismissed in a negative manner.

Think carefully about the size of boat you will be able to consistently manage in launch/recovery & how big it needs to be in use. It may be tempting to buy a big boat of the floating-caravan category. This will be manageable on a good day but how will you cope on a bad one? With their deep topsides, they can be a bit like manoeuvring an elephant – fine if the elephant is willing, painful if it steps on you! Think of the windage of your floating caravan, its sheer weight & the height of the gunwhales for grasping, pushing & pulling.

 

 

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