Re: Motor Sailers

On Sun, 20 Jan 2008 11:46:44 -0500, Roger Long wrote:

The phrase that came up in nearly every response to my New Boat Ideas
Wanted post was "motor sailer". Some kind of motor sailer was in fact
foremost in my mind when I posted.

A long time ago, I saw an analysis by one of the prominent yacht
designers (forgotten which one) that made a good case for the motor
sailer having an slender and easily driven hull as opposed to the
burdensome trawler style hulls nearly universal in the type. This was
written back when boats had much higher displacement length ratios than
today. He was writing about a type developed even earlier when the
lower ratio of power to space and weight of available engines meant that
the typical sailboat auxiliary was just that, an auxiliary primarily
useful when there wasn't enough wind to sail. A motor sailer was a
sailboat with an engine big enough to achieve hull speed against a
reasonable headwind and function as competently under power as sail. The
space and weight required for the powerplant had a significant effect on
vessel configuration.

The lighter, shallower hulls of the typical modern sailboat are as
easily driven as the slender hulls recommended in that long ago piece.
Modern engines have enough power and weight that most sailboats today
have the performance the author was promoting. Modern roller rigs make
sail handling far easier than even on the short rigged traditional motor
sailers. The concept is thus less one of hull form and rig proportions
than of operational environment for the crew. If you are out in the
wind and sun, even with bimini, dodger, and the full side curtains often
seen up here in the cold part of the coast, it's a sailboat. If you
operate from inside in a dry, powerboat style, pilothouse, it's a motor
sailer.

With the advent of all roller modern rigs and electric winches, I
suspect that it is not the sails that prompt many long time cruisers to
switch from sail to power. The motivation may be primarily two other
things, the tiring effect of exposure to the elements and the difficulty
of working on the engine in the cramped spaces of the typical sailboat.
Once the focus shifts to just getting places and seeing things, a power
vessel becomes and easy choice. Fuel costs are going the re-weight that
decision a bit.

New boats are very expensive. The target demographic is therefore going
to be people old enough to have had time to have put away some serious
dough and gotten college expense behind them as well as having cruised
enough to have sufficient commitment to buy a new vessel. There are
going to be very few people like myself who would stick with something
under 35 feet even if they could afford a larger boat.

I think it has to be a hull large enough to be fully flush decked
without the headroom reduction in the engine room of the typical mid
cockpit type. An engine ROOM where you can work on the machinery
comfortably and even enjoyably is essential. On deck, a full structural
pilothouse equal to anything a trawler yacht of comparable size would
have although without the non-navigational superstructure of a trawler.
No reason not to make the sailing rig as large as would be found on a
sailboat for good reaching performance. The sailing compromise would be
underwater. Just enough keel for roll damping and to go to windward in
a pinch. Engine would be run at low RPM for most windward work.

Roller furling mains make the schooner rig an option worth considering
for a vessel like this. One big roller reefing headsail and a similar
main staysail, both on self tacking travelers. The main staysail would
be an excellent steadying sail. Reefed main would be good at anchor or
for heaving to. Sail area aft means underwater plane well aft as well
but the large effecient prop is consistent with putting most of the keel
aft anyway. This long keel underbody would be fairly traditional and
have good directional stability under power.

The trailer sailer concept interests me as well but I think the economy
and demographics are probably against it. There are too many boats on
the market used and new that can do that kind of thing. The small boat
business plan depends on volumn so you have to make a big commitment to
an unproven market. Larger boats can be done semi-custom so you know
each one is sold before investing in construction. Still, I've got to
give the smaller vessel idea some more thought.

Does this make sense so far?

Yup.

I've been spending summers on a friend's Maple Leaf 50, a brilliant
motorsailor. The thing is, it's a better powerboat than most powerboats,
but also a better sailboat than most sailboats its size. Skippers of more
sailboatey sailboats (like Swans!) are astonished when we go screaming
past, which we do. Powerboaters are astonished to hear we use only a
gallon and a quarter an hour at 8.5kt. And that's with 400gal water,
400gal fuel, and 150gal you-know-what.

It's a fin-keeled boat that steers/tracks straight. Underneath it looks
like a Cal 40 with a generous skeg rudder. Long keels are not necessary
for a good tracking boat.

The closest thing being built today, type-wise, is the Waterline series of
"sailboats" from Sidney, BC, but they're about 50% heavier.

In my experience, the Maple Leaf's full canvas cockpit cover and
windshield is as good a pilothouse as any, unless you're heading into
hurricanes. BTW it has survived hurricane force winds many times during
winter storms at the dock, but I wouldn't take my chances with huge
breaking seas. But you're right, exposure to the elements is an issue,
and why a lot of people go to powerboats. Most boaters are senior
citizens and have as much difficulty with sun as with cold. Even at 44 I
don't care to be baking in the sun all day.

So basically, take a sailboat that's big enough to carry everything you
need, with an easily driven hull, and put a big enough motor in it to
cruise at hull speed all day in most conditions, and you have a good
motorsailor, without the cargo/pirate ship affectations.

So, in satisfying your criteria, does the Maple Leaf have:

* A light, and/or easily driven hull? Yes.

* A big enough engine to cruise at hull speed all day, with generous fuel
tankage? Yes.

* Full protection from the elements, w/ pilothouse or equivalent? Yes.

* Roller furling (all controls operable from inside "pilothouse")? Yes.

* Self tacking? No, but could easily be done.

* Engine room with standing headroom? Yes, even a workbench.

* Fuel economy? Yes.

* Convenient storage for all the junk you take crusing? Yes.

You shouldn't need to compromise windward performance and rely on the
motor, unless you're in a hurry to get somewhere in light winds. The
Maple Leaf doesn't go as well to windward as the best racing boats, but
it's better than most cruising sailboats.

If you don't want to go as big as 50', the Maple Leaf 42 is the same
thing, scaled down a bit, with one less cabin.

I was checking out a Bruckman 50 (?) a couple of years ago, and the owner
graciously invited me aboard. It's a nice boat, better finished than the
Maple Leaf (which is saying a lot). But although the designer did a
beautiful job with it, that chunky, chopped off stern is still too
powerboatey for me, and the interior layout isn't as nice as the Maple
Leaf's. It's also nearly a million bucks (as are the Waterlines).

In summary, I don't understand why, after 25 years of them being around,
there aren't more boats like Maple Leafs. I guess it's like cars, where
people are attracted to and/or familiar with existing types, and
manufacturers are too conservative to break out of the mold -- even if the
resulting product meets their customers' needs better.

Roger, I've seen your website and your work, and I know you can do it!

Finally, I do think trailerables are the future, because we're running out
of waterfront real estate, and the cost of keeping a boat in the water is
going up to astronomical levels. Also, a lot of people would rather
trailer their boat to new cruising areas than make long passages.

Matt O.
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