"txmxrider" wrote in message
Please forgive me for asking a newbie question. I'm considering getting a
smallish (19'-23'), swing keel, water ballast, sailboat for family
recreation on local lakes.


IMHO that's a great idea!

For
budget reasons I prefer not to have to rent a slip and would like to keep
my
boat at home and trailer to the lake on weekends.


And you've figured the price of fuel for your tow vehicle into this
calculation? Anyway, it's a big advantage to keep the boat at home.

.... In all of my years of
boating I have never seen anyone trailer a sailboat to the lake, raise the
mast, and launch. Every sailboat I have ever seen either came from a slip
or
at the very least, was sitting on a trailer stored at the marina with the
mast up

Yeah, so? That doesn't mean it can't be done, just that the guys in
your neighborhood don't. Maybe they don't know how, or maybe there are
other reasons (more below).



Obviously it would be more involved than launching say a bass boat, but
really, how much trouble is it? Is the idea totally impractical? Are some
models easier than others to launch?


Yes MUCH. Although it's a rule that every single trailerable sailboat
is claimed by the owner to take "about 15 minutes" to rig / unrig,
actual times vary by hours. The skill & attitudes of the owner also
have big impact on the procedure.

FWIW, it's fully possible to have a reasonable sized trailerable
sailboat that can be rigged & launched in less than 15 minutes, by one
reasonably skilled person. I've personally owned two such boats, and
proved this many times... in fact, one potentially hostile witness
timed me, intending to burst my claims... turned out it took me eleven
minutes, from ready for the highway to ready to hoist sail. And i was
holding a cold drink in one hand for much of that interval


Although I'm not a lazy guy, far from it actually, I'm still very
concerned
that a boat with a poor work-to-fun ratio will sit in the driveway and not
get used that much.


Right on the money there. It's true of the vast majority of all boats
in America, not just trailerable sailboats.


"Silver K" wrote:
The only problem with trailering a sailboat is the amount of time it takes
to rig the mast and attach the sails and other gear. I trailered a Hunter
23 for a few years and it would take an hour by the time I was ready to sail
or drive away.

Ah, an honest man! The Hunter 23 is a nice boat but it's not the most
effective design for trailerability. The newer Hunter 23.5 and H240
are better in that respect.

.... I had to raise the mast, tension the stays and shrouds,
attach the boom, run the halyards and sheets, raise the jib on the furler,
run the jib sheets, attach the main, put the anchor on the roller, attach
the dodger, launch the tender, attach the outboard

Did you ever realize that much of this was redundant & unnecessary
labor?


.. I had an eight foot extension on the
tongue that allowed me to back the boat in further and guides on the trailer
that helped to align the boat when loading it back on the trailer.


A shallower boat that sits low on the trailer is a necessity for easy
& quick launching. But all boats are a compromise, the Hunter 23 will
sail rings around many water-ballasted & shallow draft boats that are
more easily trailered.




Brian Whatcott wrote:
I fitted a staff to the trailer winch post, with a second winch and a
block somewhat higher than the topsides.

If you get the post high enough, you don't need babystays. I cut this
process short by choosing a smaller boat with a mast I could lift by
hand.

At the ramp, I fit a crutch in the rudder gudgeons, and set the
foot of the mast in a tabernacle hinge and rest the top in the transom
crutch.


Why not put on a bracket to set the mast crutch in place, and leave
the rudder in place? Eliminating unnecessary steps makes it much
quicker to rig & unrig.



I can launch a ski boat off a trailer single-handed and dry foot,
paying out a long painter, which I walk round to the jetty.
That takes about 30 times less time and effort than
sailboat rigging, no doubt.


That's a big reason why motorboats are so much more popular than
sailboats. But it's possible to simplify... and can be rewarding too.

I know a fellow who used to trailer a small full-keel classic sloop,
with a keel-stepped mast. He had invented a tripod arrangement with a
winch that would raise the mast into place, but of course it took
about half an hour to assemble. He spent about two hours rigging up
every time, and apparently enjoyed the process. His boat was beautiful
and most people walking by would compliment her. So it doesn't have to
be all about hurrying to get on the water.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King