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Just a little background info before the primary question -
I've always wanted to learn to sail but never had anyone to really learn from. Joining a club was (is) out of the question as there are none in close proximity. So....being the "self taught" type, and after reading everything I could find in regards to "how to sail", I purchased an Aqua Glide Multi Sport last year and spent part of the summer learning to sail. I immediately knew that a larger boat was in the future!
A few months ago, I purchased a used Sunfish type sailboat to continue my "growth" in sailing. Needless to say, this boat is my pride and joy and I have really enjoyed it. I knew when I bought it that it was really just a stepping stone up to a larger type boat. I'll spend the rest of this year sailing this boat on the weekends at our lake home.
Here comes the real point to all this:
I'm curious to know what boat - or what type boat would be a good next choice.......any suggestions? My primary requirements are as follows:
That is should be adequate for large lake sailing only; Must be capable of carrying 3 to 4 adults; Able to be sailed single handed; Can be trailered easily; A small cabin is desired; Small outboard a plus.
You are going to have an issue with "can be trailered easily" and "three or four adults" and "small cabin". Three or four adults can SAIL these boats, but sleeping over is problematic.
How big is the lake and how big is your truck for trailering? I am not sure a keelboat will suit you, but maybe a dory with a cuddy or something with a centerboard at the 20 foot mark.
Catalina has a couple of small, trailerable models. The Catalina 22 and 25 IIRC, might be appropriate for you as well. I wouldn't recommend getting a keel boat, unless you plan on keeping it in the water. Most keelboats will require a travelift to haul them out of the water, even if they are on a trailer, as most boat ramps aren't deep enough to handle them safely.
Depending on where you are there will be various boats available. If you are near the Great Lakes then a Shark would be my first choice. If you want something a little cheaper, I would recommend a Siren, also consider a Sandpiper, Nash 20, DS 20.
Further south, look for ComPac's, Montgomery 17's, Rhodes 22 (?) , Cape Dory Typhoons, Precision 18 or 21's, and the Seaward Fox. Lots of boats out there. Look for one that has newer sails - that is the biggest expense you'll run into with small boats. Good Luck - keep us posted
There are some good suggestions here, and let me add a few more. The combination of easily-trailerable and a cabin can be pretty problematic. Years ago, four of us spent an afternoon on Lake Michigan in a friend's O'Day Mariner, which I believe was a centerboard version of the Rhodes 19. It had a cockpit big enough for four and a cuddy cabin with V-berth and two VERY tiny berths under the cockpit ... not a place I would want to spend a lot of time. But in the cockpit and under sail it was a nice boat, and we got it in and out of the water pretty quickly.
You may want to give up the cabin idea and get one of the larger day sailers. I own a Flying Scot ... no cabin, but a huge cockpit, lots of storage room and a lot of fun for picnic sails. I can also launch and singlehand it easily. A Lightning might be another alternative, but I've never been aboard one.
Hey Starfish - my first boat was a Grampian 26. A good starter boat that you'll keep for a while and won't have problems sailing. The hull is strong and the boat very forgiving. I've been in 8' seas and she took it well. It also has 6' standing room inside, which is rare on a boat that size and a big cockpit. You can usually get these boats at a good price.
Here's a link if you want more info. index
Lots of good responses here and definitely many recommendations to check out. This is what I needed!
The lake that I will be sailing on is Possum Kingdom Lake in Texas. It is 17,624 acres with a max depth of around 145 feet and an average of around 37 feet. There are several marinas on the lake however, I really want to avoid having to leave the boat on the water.
There are some very good points stated that I really haven't considered. The first being that I am currently pulling my boat with our GMC Blazer. It is perfect for my little boat but I may want to reconsider this for pulling a more substantial size/weight boat. With that in mind, maybe a boat without a cabin would be the way to go as it would probably help to reduce overall weight. Although it is not something that I would probably do all the time but I was thinking it would be nice to maybe spend a night on the boat now and again. So the cabin was an attractive idea in that respect but I suppose that it is not essential.
I'm sure that I would want to stay clear of a fixed keel type boat considering the difficulty in trailering and weight issue but maybe a swing keel type boat would work.....?
The suggestion of maybe a larger daysailer might be the way for me to go. Anyone have suggestions for this type of boat based on the info that I've given above?
One other question please: How difficult will it be (sailing wise) to make the transition to a larger boat with a different sail configuration? Again, I really do not have anyone knowledgeable in sailing to draw from to show me the ropes so to speak. So, is learning to sail a larger (different) rig on my own within the realms of "reality" or am I out to lunch here?
I really appreciate the input and advice that's been given. Thanks to all!
You might want to look into the Hunter 216. Easy to trailer, small cabin, and easy to rig. Once you move up though, you may find the cost of a slip is worth not having to rig and unrig the boat every time you go. You're basically looking at a couple of hours of your day, just getting the boat in and out of the water.
I second PBeezer, it would be worth your while to look into the Hunter's. They have a couple of different boats that meet your criteria. I tow and launch for a good friend an H-25. It has a swing keel and is water ballasted. Dry weight is a mere 1500lbs. (I belive) making it very easy to tow. Set up can be done single. It not a very stiff boat, but than again for your intensions, I think it would be a good fit. Also has a nice cabin with sitting head room, porta-potty, and berths for spending weekends out on the water.
On thing you might consider is paying to leave the boat at the marina but on the hard, leaving all the rigging in place. I did that with my trailer sailer and it was so much easier. I think you can tow a boat around 22 feet with your size car.
You're getting a lot of good feedback here. Now that you've added your vehicle to the equation, that's certainly a consideration. I imagine a boat like at Catalina 22 would be no problem for a Blazer to pull, but again, the lighter and easier your boat is to launch, the more time on the water. My Scot and trailer weigh 1200 pounds all up, so I can pull it short distances with my Accord, and I do what Jotus suggested ... I leave the boat on the trailer at the marina. I pay $45 a month, and all I have to do is take the cover off, put the sails on, and back her in. I'm on the water in 15 minutes. And I still have the flexibility of taking her to the bay if I feel inclined.
I never sailed by myself before and just purchased a Catalina 25 and I love it. I have it slipped, as it didn't come with a trailer, however that should be coming shortly.
The lake is about a 1-1/2 hour drive from where we live so being able to just leave the boat on the trailer through the week is a very good idea. We have our travel home set up in a marina camping ground year round but they do not allow you to leave boats....but they do have some rental storage available. That may be the best way to approach the situation as it will be under cover when not in use. We're right on the water and there is a boat ramp there in the marina so launching will be no problem.
If the Blazer will pull a 22 foot boat (more or less depending on weight) then that leaves many options open as far as which boat to look for. As I mentioned previously, I'll spend the rest of the summer sailing my little boat but in the meanwhile will be looking at other boats (the ones mentioned) for consideration.
I'm assuming that going from a lateen sail set up to a sloop type sail set up is not a huge transition? The learning curve should be reasonably painless - right? Since I've never handled a sloop rig I'm just curious...........
I bought a San Juan 21 a few weeks ago, was shopping with about the same criteria.
The Blazer should be fine assuming it's a V6, a four-banger could do it too but not very enthusiastically.
The Hunter 216 was a major player in my research, but it's a recent model & slim pickens in the used market. New they run about $18K which was too much for what I'm considering a 2-3 year stepping stone purchase. Twofootitis & all. They're also getting some negative reviews for keel problems.
I've been very happy with my 1973 Cal 21'. Meets all your criteria. The Precisions and Com-Pac s are nice but maybe a little pricey. The Catalina may be the most easily found.
Basically no difference - once you can sail an 18 foot boat you can sail a 48 foot boat - it's just a lot harder to pull the ropes on the bigger ones (and a good idea to learn a little about navigation)
The main thing you're going to run into is learning how to deal with two sails at once, rather than just the one. Sailing a boat on just the mainsail is really not much different from sailing the little lateen rigged sailboat you have experience on. Adding in the jib is what is going to be the biggest transition for you. You can basically leave the main alone for the most part on a tack, but need to deal with the jib sheets and the tiller at the same time, which wasn't a factor before. Gybing becomes a bit more complicated, since you generally want to bring the main across the boat manually, to prevent it from slamming, and you have to deal with the jib and tiller as well.
If you are not going to spend the night on the boat, get a smaller boat instead of a bigger boat.
Something like a Catalina 16.5 or 18 would be a better choice than a Catalina 22. Both the 16 and 18 have small cabins and big cockpits. The 18 has a bigger cabin and you can put a portapotty in it.
The advantage of the smaller boats is that they are MUCH easier to tow, rig, launch, etc. The Catalina 22 will weight close to 5000 lbs when you consider the trailer and gear. While your vehicle can tow that much, it's not fun to launch and recover. The smaller boats are about 1/2 the weight, and easier to handle solo.
I appreciate all the great suggestions that everyone has posted. There's certainly many things to take in to consideration here when taking that next step. The towing/launching/loading issue is definitely something to think about considering the vehicle that I'm currently using. The other aspect of it is that there are some pretty steep grades to go up and down on the way to the lake and it gets to be a greater challenge the closer we get to the lake. The up side is that if I just keep the boat trailered at (or close) to the marina then the hills may not be too much of an issue in regards to towing. And yes, the Blazer is a V6.
I will most likely stay around 20 foot or less and hopefully this will help alleviate many issues that I might otherwise be confronted with in a larger boat. The cabin thing is something that I'll just have to confront at that time and I suppose the greater concern is that the cockpit size be ample for multiple passenger comfort.....since this is where most of our time will be spent while on the water.
Maintenance and upkeep is another concern that I must keep in mind. Although I enjoy tinkering about with boat things, I would prefer to spend more time in the boat than worrying over things that constantly need attention. I just assume that a smaller rig will be less to maintain, but of course I realize that that depends on the condition of the boat in the first place.
In regards to the sloop sail set up, I'm hoping that I can meet some folks at the lake that are sailing this type of rig......maybe I can get the opportunity to get some first hand experience by going out with them. There are many sailboats and catamarans being sailed on the lake although not necessarily right in my location on the lake. There is at least a couple right across the cove from us that I see out there on ocassion. So getting some instruction may be a possibility. That would be great! In my experience, boat people are a fairly friendly bunch and are generally willing to share in the fun of things.
Thanks for all the different boats recommendations. I've already looked at many of these on the internet and will continue to check in to all of them. I'm sure that by the time that I get to the point of making a purchase that I'll know exactly what I want and then I'll just go for it. The insight of everyone has really helped and it is greatly appreciated!
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