recommending a trailerable weekender?

[2Gringos]

I've been asked to recommend a shallow draft trailerable weekender. And as astonishing as this will be to those who know me, I have no knowledge of, or opinion on these kinds of boats. I am guessing a good boat for two people to spend a long weekend on, that can be trailered, and can travel through less than, say, two feet of water, would be a monohull.

ALL my research and experience for the past ten years has been about multihulls. I don't know diddly about trailer sailing, shallow water, weekenders.

Can any of you monohull gurus who know these things point me in the right direction? these are things like Com Pacs and MacGregors.....right?

[captainrizzo]

Hunter 26 is a nice trailer-able sailboat. If your friends are wanting to spend weekends aboard, they probably won't want to go much smaller. Here is a link to get an idea...

1994 Hunter 26 sailboat for sale in Michigan

[klem]

What is the tow vehicle? That will determine how big the boat can be.

Where is the boat going to be used?

How important is speed to them?

[sailingfool]

S2 made a number of first rate, performance trailerables, more real quality yachts than toy boats. Many are still very active and competitive in regional MORC and PHRF fleets. See S2 6.7, 6.9 & 22 Class Association Web Site !
The 6.9 is my favorite.

[pdimarco65]

I would like to recommend the O'Day (or Stuart) Mariner. It is 19', the swing keel model weighs about 1500 lbs with trailer (depends on the year). There is a good following on the web (www.usmariner.org), and you can still get parts thru Stuart. It will float in less than a foot of water.

[southshoreS24]

check out seaward yachts. there are 17, 19' 23, 24' 26 models all designed to be easy to trailer. only the 26 and a 32 are currently made.

[meteuz]

There is obviously a trade off between size of boat and size of tow vehicle/ inconvenience of raising mast etc.

I would look at the Precision's. P23 would be comfortable for a couple for a weekend and easy to tow with a small SUV or truck. I have a P18 which weighs 1100lb dry (probably about 2000lb including gear and trailer) so it can be towed by smallish vehicles. I can step the mast by hand in a few minutes single-handed; very convenient for short quick sails, but it has no galley and limited storage so sleeping on board is more like camping. There is also a P21 which is somewhere between P23 and P18. All of them are light, fun, responsive boats under sail.

[LOCKNUT]

I purchased the seaward 26 RK. I pulled it with an F-150-no problem. It has a very easy to use mast raising system. It took me and the wife about 2.5 hours to set it up when we got it down to the Keys. It has been a lot of fun.