Quote:
Originally Posted by SCadaddle
Thanks for the link to the article. I considered a Macgregor until the lady friends Dad weighed in.....I think he was the one mentioned in the article. Just comes across to me as a regular "family boat" that just happens to have sails for when you want to try sailing it....which is pretty much what the article stated. I've considered the "water ballast" boats as well, well, at least to realize that even though they might be light on the trailer to haul with a smaller vehicle, you've still got to haul it OUT of the water with a full ballast so you can drain it. A novel idea but in the end still going to require quite the vehicle to get it out of the water on the trailer.
The "Atomic 4" on the C&C 30....I agree, that is less desirable than a diesel engine when it comes to safety, I asked the owner about that and he turned on the large blower before attempting to crank the engine. I'll sit down and write out a list of the pros and cons on the C&C 30 see where I stand on paper instead of my head.
Next boat on my list to go look at is a Freedom 21. I've read up on it and am intrigued by the free standing carbon fiber mast, however, that mast is prone to damage that can be extremely expensive to repair.
As for the lady friend, "just find a Catalina 25 with a swing keel and a trailer and be done with it!"
Ahh, don't you like the old days of video tape? This is quite the "Demo" video of the Freedom 21, although sadly it gets rather shall we say "politically incorrect" at the 4:20 mark.
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I would be in your lady friends dads camp. No "real" sailor would consider the Mac26. But based on your OP it fit the bill. You didn't care about performance, you were looking for a reasonably roomy cabin due to your size and ease of trailing. The Mac26 Does a little bit of everything and none of it very well but you can get on the water and sail, overnight, get out of the weather, crank up the power and get home and launch and haul on a ramp.
The biggest hassles with any sailboat being trailered is unstepping/stepping the mast and getting the boat in and out of the water due to draft. Most swing keel boats in the size range you are looking at are probably going to need to be lifted in and out of the water due to their draft as there is going to be a small semi keel or the keel doesn't fully retract into the hull. You might be able to get an O'Day 19 down a ramp but few others.
Trailering a sailboat is a hassle no matter how you look at it. So ignore the salesman's statement if you are going to trailer a sailboat.