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Hi, this is my first post and will be my introduction post as well. I'm from Canada and did my first season with a Mistral 4.04 last summer. I enjoyed it a lot and I want to move on to a real sailboat. I intend to take ASA101 this next summer.
For now I'm looking at a trailer-sailer such as a hunter 19, potter 19. I wanted something like a Cat22 but my ford escape can't tow over 3500 pounds. That being said, what would be my other options near the 4000$ mark and less then about 2000 pounds ?
$4000, and under 3500lbs total weight (boat and trailer) is gonna be tough, but here are some candidates in the 16-20ft range.
Precision 165 (total weight towed about 1900lbs)
Capri 18 (actually its a 20) (total weight towed about 3400lbs)
Precision 18 (total weight towed about 2900lbs)
Compac 19 ???
Compac 16 (tw about 1900)
Oday 192 (probably close to 2500lbs)
Beneteau 21 (OK this one is likely out of the price range, but worth looking for fun).... 1994 Beneteau 21 Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com
Had a Sirius 21 on a trailer for a few years, come in about 2000 pounds. Sirius 21 - Used Sailboat Market in Canada
Did the North Channel on it, towed it up behind my S-10 4x4 pickup with a v-6.
I had a Mistral 16 for a while back in the 80's. Logged some Atlantic Ocean sailing in that little thing. Towed it all over the place.
I kind of miss having a trailerable boat!
Had a Sirius 21 on a trailer for a few years, come in about 2000 pounds.
Sirius 21 - Used Sailboat Market in Canada[/url]
Did the North Channel on it, towed it up behind my S-10 4x4 pickup with a v-6.
I had a Mistral 16 for a while back in the 80's. Logged some Atlantic Ocean sailing in that little thing. Towed it all over the place.
I kind of miss having a trailerable boat!
I think that a Catalina 22 on a trailer is close to 3500lbs. I spent one season trailer sailing a Catalina 22. We towed it with a 2002 Honda Odyssey, which is rated to tow 3500 lbs. My towing distance was about 10 miles and I never had a problem.
Other similar boats are the O'day 22, 222, 192. If you want something very easy to tow and launch, look at the O'day Day sailor. It doesn't have a cabin, but there are lots and lots around.
I'm a little disapointed, even a Sirius 21 is probably to heavy for a 3500 pounds rating. I guess I need to be way under de 2000 pound displacement.
I found info on the sirius for example on a forum that says :
I am rolling down the road at about 4,000 lbs when loaded with battery, motor, water, and other supplies. My trailer weighs in at about 900. I would guess the boat weighs closer to 2,400 than the 2,000 design weight. Anybody else weigh their Sirius?
I just had mine on the scale and boat with trailer came to 3400 lbs. That is lightly loaded....no motor, gas, or battery. I think your thought of 2400 lbs for the boat may be close possibly a bit low though I don't know what my trailer weighs.
Think about selling your car and getting something like a used Jeep Grand Cherokee. It has a tow capacity of around 5000 lb. Then your options would open up.
I towed a way-heavy boat (~2t+ all up?) behind various marginal vehicles (Nissan Pathfinder I think, Toyota Sequoia) for a few years. It worked fine, but it wasn't fun for long distances, and I regularly had to do 100-150+km around from one side of Lake Simcoe to the other - even though it was only twice a season. Switched to a Siren 17 for my last year in the GTA and it was so much less stressful to tow, barely noticed it there.
Even if you're gong to dry-sail but you plan to leave your boat within a few km of the water, don't worry about it. As long as your Escape has 4wd and locking differentials, you'll be ok. The trickiest can be getting out of the water on a wet ramp. Can always let some air out of the tires and load the back with sand etc.
The tow rating isn't a hard-and-fast number and there's no agreement about what it's based on, so comparing manufacturers won't tell you much. More important to think about how heavy the boat is relative to the tow vehicle (=how much the trailer will jerk you around) and how low the boat sits on the trailer (my old boat drew 1m and sat high, no fun).
If you really want to be able to go 100km/h to weather to explore far off places, going smaller on the boat or bigger on the truck is a good call.
I loved my Venture 222. It towed like it wasn't there. I could fit my family of 6 on it, and although it didn't point terribly well, it did keep us safe pounding to weather in some pretty nasty chop on Lake Huron. I sold it in pretty good shape with an outboard for less than $ 2K.
Keep in mind a boat is forever, a truck is temporary, so get a bigger truck! Actually you likely can upgrade your transmission cooler, and brakes for not too much and be able to comfortably pull enough more to get into the Catalina 22 range. Are you planning on towing a lot? If you are going to be keeping it on one spot near the lake all summer and just bringing it home for the winter, then I would not worry too much about weight. You could always rent a truck to get it home, and back. Now if you are thinking you are going to take to lots of different lakes renting a truck might be a bit expensive. UHauls generally are set up to tow and Enterprise rents nice big SUVs and trucks even Home Depot/Lowes rent towing capable trucks by the hour.
In high school I had a friend who towed a Hobie behind his 48 HP diesel VW Rabbit so anything is possible.
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