On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:22:09 -0500, "txmxrider"
wrote:

Hello,

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. I don't know much about sailing but I've been a
power boat owner for 30 years. Big difference, I know, but bear with me. 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. 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 and presumably launched right there in that manner. I see photos and
ads for 'mast raising' systems but I have to assume that it's too much
trouble to trailer a sailboat on weekends or more people would be doing it.
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?

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.

I appreciate any thoughts the group may have on this subject, pro and con.

My wife and I easily setup our Catalina 22 (swing keel, kickup rudder) in
less than 30 minutes. We use a spar on the trailer for raising the mast
and it's always ready to go. Just a matter of moving the mast back to the
mast step (there's a extending mast support device with roller at the stern
in place of the rudder), connecting the line from the trailer (always in
place with a separate winch) to the jib halyard, and cranking it up. My
wife cranks while I provide lateral support. There's a roller furler for
the headsail that saves time in hooking and unhooking that sail. We
strongly recommend a furler for a trailered sailboat - big time saver. We
do remove the rudder for trailering but leave the outboard motor in place,
secured by a heavy strap. The boat also has a bimini.

Virtually all of the shackles are snap shackles and the straps for tie
downs when trailering are friction buckle or quick connect types or velcro.

It's a breeze to do and I've never understood why folks aren't more likely
to trailer a small sailboat like this. If us 70-somethings can do it,
anyone can!

If you would like more details (or even photos) of our mast raising system,
just email me by replacing the "austin" in the return address above with
"suddenlink".

LB