On Fri, 27 Oct 2006 09:38:30 -0400, Harlan Lachman
wrote:

In article ,
Jeff wrote:

Lew Hodgett wrote:
Harlan Lachman wrote:
Does anyone have sail boat recommendations for a couple in their 80s?

snip

SFWIW, I'm on another list with a guy in Rhode Island that has sailed a
Marshal cat boat for years.

He loves it and while not 80, is no spring chicken either.

If you want something smaller, how about a 9 ft Fatty Knees, a dinghy
designed by Lyle Hess and now being built by Eddy & Duff.

Lew
I certainly wouldn't recommend a Fatty Knees to anyone with mobility
problems. It would be a death trap - they wouldn't last one tack! I
have one - I only capsized once, but that was stepping into it from my
boat.

A Marshall 15 might be better, but the larger ones have a lot of sail
to handle. I was thinking of a Rhodes 19, or the Mariner (same hull,
with a cuddy). With a keel its going to be stable, nothing happens
too quickly, and the sails aren't to large to handle. Its even
reasonably functional under main alone.

Of course, a lot depends on where they are and what type of sailing
they want to do.

Thanks guys. But I am pretty sure with his experience and money (not to
mention bladder), he would want a bigger boat. I am just not sure anyone
makes anything to compensate for someone unable to reliably hoist and
lower sails manually.

harlan

I wouldn't look for an off-the-shelf boat. It will almost certainly
need electric winches and windlass, and those are add-on accessories.
Implied in this is significant battery power and hence a reasonably
large boat.

To answer an earlier question, boom furling mains are reliable. I did
encounter a few "learning curve" issues with mine but it failed in a
forgiving manner unlike in-mast furlers that fail with an unreducible
sail.