Trailor Sailor my ass... and some Boating Art

[DaveB]

Cranking tractor means getting sailing.
If you get the rail down often, your tractor is running!
Sailors call it 4 sheets to the wind!
And yes, your tractor is running.
Dave

What ever cranks your tractor, just do it in the Wind.
Many Sailors just like sailing and can't wait til they are aboard again. Some just sit on a arm chair rocking back and forth looking at others doing it on the Net.
Sooo...who are you?
Dave

Are you offering to ... crank my tractor? Better bring something with a big alternator

...I kill me.

[BOAT]

I suppose the very best of all worlds would be a house at the marina



If i were rich I could afford a place right where this picture was taken overlooking the ramp. From here you can tow the boat right to the ramps with the mast up. This is also a good place to see how rough the opening to the harbor is on any day - this looks pretty normal.

As you can see there are no overhead lines around the ramp area and the road is clear all the way to the place where this picture was taken.

I would like a house at the harbor - that would be the best to me.

The harbor is too small to go sailing in and the approch is so rough that some guys don't make it:



But I have been using this harbor since I was 12 and I have pretty much figured out how to get around anything it can throw at me - so if it were my chouce I would have a home at the harbor and park the boat mast up next to my home.

[Gazmn]

It is so nice to be able to go over and simply walk on the dang thing. I wonder if I am going to be keeping it in the water? I wanted to avoid that expense, but its so so so convenient. Any conversational / experience on this?

Well Sig,
You said it.

The boat came with bottom paint and I don't think I'll keep her in the water more than 8 weeks at a stretch... Haul it out, blow the green off the bottom at the local car wash.

Get a not so hard pushbroom. Put a pool noodle on it & brush off your bottom in a standing tide. With a cocktail promise when finished

For others here without PO bottom paint:
Consider epoxy barrier & bottom coating.
Don't do one without the other.

Then get a slip, mooring or mast up spot for the season- Save Up. You're worth it

[sailboatmike]

just to rub it in a bit, I have mast up storage 20 meters from the boat ramp for the grand sum of less than $800 Au a year (thats about $570 US), plus i have an option of leaving it on the private Jetty next door to the boat yard for $3 Au ($2.20 US) a nite.

One would think that at these prices we would be a million miles for anywhere, but we are just 50Km (30 miles) outside the second biggest city in Australia, we just happened to luck on this place that most people dont even know exists, it is by far the best kept secret in the whole of Australia

[Gazmn]

Don't worry Mike... Now that the secret's out - We're all coming

[sailboatmike]

Long way to go for cheap boat storage

And just to rub it in a bit more we dont have to winterize our boats, we recon 7 degrees C is freezing, not sure what that is in farenheit but its well above the temp any snow would fall, on a really cold night it may drop to 4 or 5 degrees and we are in the cold part of Australia.

[Bilgemaster]

My original plan to widen our single-vehicle driveway and keep our new 26X at home has hit some local zoning snags from the County Gnomery having nothing at all to do with the driveway itself, but rather with an undocumented shed elsewhere on the property. Apparently I merely need to lift up that 10x12 shed and all its contents and just shift it over about five feet before I can get approval for the driveway. As soon as I find a contractor from the Planet Krypton I'll get right on that. In the meantime, I've put the boat and trailer at the nearby Leesylvania State Park's Boat Storage, where I can store the thing mast up during the season and just roll it on down to the launch ramps (no trees or lines en route). At less than $100 a month, and having read some of the postings here, I'm actually feeling a whole lot better now about the undeniable convenience of it all. Sure, it's not an actual hop-on-and-cast-off slip in the drink, but it's the next best thing...maybe better, since I won't be fretting about it every time a little squall brews up. I was also quite pleased to see another very fine looking 26X named "Boom Shaka Laka" already there, about two points off the port beam from my spot.

As of this writing they still have a couple-few spots free in case anyone else in the area's needing a decent and convenient place to stow their Mac. I wouldn't put it off too long, since I imagine there's likely to be a scramble for those remaining spots as soon as the leaves start falling.

[paulkayak]

I find that trailering and set up, launch, haul out and securing for transport again is more of a hassle than it is worth to day sail. Not bad if you are going to be out for 3 or more days but still a hassle.
We tried keeping out Macgregor 26S at a marina in Spanish, Ontario a small town on the North Channel of Lake Huron, Canada at $800 for the season. It was nice to just cast off and be underway but with 1.5 hours drive from home and than over 1/2 an hour under motor to get out to the really great sailing it made for a long travel time before under sail. With the wife and my work schedule we only got out 3 times. And just for one night each outing.
This summer I have taken out the Macgregor twice. Once was a bit of a cluster and no one was hurt and no serious damage to the boat.(story in previous post) The other time I had everything ready to go with the mast in the mast step and stern cradle and I drove to the launch 1km down a back road from my home. We launched and we're ready to sail in 15 minutes. I had a great day of sailing with three wounderful ladies and hauled out the same day. We sailed 10km down wind on Long Lake under spinnaker and sailed back up wind back to the launch. (Long Lake is 15 km long and is from 1.5 km to 50m wide) I am keeping my 26S in my yard with the mast in the mast step and the stern cradle so launching and sailing is relatively quick and we hope to get out on the Mac once more this season. (Power lines and trees prevent from having the mast up.)
We have a DS16 on a Neighbours dock across the road from us that I go out in every time I have a chance. It is so nice leaving and returning to the dock under sail and not needing the motor. He is ok with me leaving my 26S on his dock but my DS16 has pulled his dock off its moorings in high water and heavy winds so I am hesitant to leave the big boat there.
My favourite mooring spot for the Macgregor was when we left it on a friends dock on Windy Lake for the summer, a roughly 5km round lake 50 minutes from our home. There were enough islands close to the dock to keep the waves down but still enough room to let us sail away to the open part of the lake. We would hoist sails on the dock and sail away later returning to the dock under sail. I do not think I even used a small tank of gas that year. If I could find a spot like that on the big water that would be perfect.

[bobbob]

In Toronto (Scarborough to be exact) we have a Trailer Sailor club that gives you a parking spot down at the water, 4 private boat ramps, and a handful of first come first serve short term docking (ie. launch on friday night, keep the boat in the water until sunday). Plus a private clubhouse. And reciprocal docking privileges all around Lake Ontario (including swanky private yacht clubs on the Toronto islands, etc).

All for around $100 monthly (Canadian dollars!) - less if you put in work hours.

Cheers