shaun wrote:

sherwindu wrote:
I think a trailerable boat is fine for offshore cruising, but I think you have
to be careful about using one for ocean sailing to the Carribean. You will
really have to
pick your weather when crossing the Gulf Stream. Trailerable boats do not have
the stablility of fixed keel boats and tend to get knocked around a lot in heavy
seas.


I have and have put mine through weather that you probley would not even
bother getting out of bed for,

You are making some big assumptions there. Have you ever crossed the Gulf Stream
in a Norther, or taken your boat north through the Windward Passage in the dead of

Winter? Unless you have sailed through a hurricane, I don't think you have
experienced
anything worse than I have.


as for pointing that's a load of crap .....i raced a gainst a 32
contessa in light breezes just b4 i sold mine and he gave up and motored
because i was beating him.

That may have been due to your superior boat handling. Most trailerable boats have

shorter keels, hence they have more difficulty holding the boat into the wind which
has
the effect of pushing the hull off the wind.


Any small boat will get knocked around fixed keel or not.

It's a matter of degree. The lightness of the trailerable hull relative to the
balast and the
shallower hull makes things worse.


read about the righting momentum of the RL24 and be suprised
the 24 lacks the head room tho......sigh
the reports on the 28 say she is tender due to beam but firms up quick
at about 15 to 20 deg
, but I
have
done lots of cruising from my former base in the Florida Keys, with cruises to
the
Bahamas and Jamaica. I looked at trailerable boats carefully before selecting
my
22 foot fixed keel Westerly. Don't let the size fool you, as this boat was
built for
the English Channel. It didn't ride out the storms as comfortably as a larger
boat, but
you just said it right there

I'm not disputing a bigger boat rides better, but the fixed keel boat probably
rides
better than the same size trailerable boat.



I never had concerns about it's seaworthyness. I think a trailerable boat would
have
fared much worse in the storms I encountered. Just a thought you should
consider
when picking a boat for the cruising grounds you are contemplating. I also
heard that trailerable boats do not sail as close to the wind as fixed keel
boats.

Sherwin D.

tt wrote:


don't give up on a trailersailer they can be the best of both for some
people especially if you plan on coastal
Shaun

I'm not down on trailerable boats. Just trying to warn the original poster that if

he plans to take this kind of boat across the Gulf Stream and do ocean sailing,
he better watch his weather. It's not just a question of comfort, but safety.

Sherwin D.



snip