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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Fri Nov 02 2001 - 19:29:34 EST
At 11:16 AM 02/11/2001 +0100, you wrote:
>I'd be interested in what people were thinking in terms of brands of
>motorsailors.
Short version - buy a Nauticat !
Long version -
We had a Gilbert 30+, The Gilbert is a late 80's wide bodied fibre &
kevlar, fractional rigged sloop. She was fast, quick off the mark, spun
on a dime and could be parallel parked under power.
Two years ago, we went looking for a bigger boat to retire with and allow us
to comfortably trek from Lake Ontario down to the Islands etc. and explore
salt water again. We looked at a variety of 40 - 45 footers and then just for
the hell of it, we looked at a Nauticat 36 motorsailor.
At this point I'll add that it was my wife's idea to upsize with a view to
going
south. When I suggested looking at the Nauticat she asked "Why?", because
we had been looking at sailing boats. I thought that we should check it
out, just
to know we'd looked at a variety of possibilities.
Off we went. Pat stepped on board and I was in trouble. The extra living
space
offered in the pilot house really caught her eye and imagination. I didn't
actually
expect to buy a motorsailor but after a test sail? We now own a 1986
Nauticat 36
motorsailor ketch with a full keel.
She sails just fine but prefers upwards of 10 knots of breeze. The ketch rig
allows us 3 sail options and a 4th if we opt to fly the spinnaker. She has
both
indoor and outdoor steering / driving stations and when the lake gets
really cold
and nasty we go to the pilot house, close the doors and turn on the Espar.
She'll easily do 7 knts to weather under power with the 22 x 16 prop driven
by our 90hp Lehman Ford diesel. She carries 700 litres of fuel so we can drive
a good distance and with a 5 foot draft we are on par with many sailing boats.
Have I regretted selling the sloop? Well, I miss single handed racing but
with
Tawee I can sail, be on the boat in weather and Pat is comfortable. Pat
has a
restriction on our ocean voyaging. We can go anywhere that we can see land.
Well - she has relented and is allowing the Bahamas etc based on the fact that
you can sail 40 miles to cross Lake Ontario.( not the shortest hop! )
So our motorsailor is a sail boat when we want it to be and a trawler when we
want it to be. The advantage to sailing is that no governing body has
found a way
to tax the driving force of the wind.
As far as living aboard - it is a 4 room apartment with 2 washrooms. A big Vee
berth, large dinette & galley, the pilot house (more seating and a table)
and a
stand up aft cabin. Technically she can sleep 7, when asked we say she
sleeps 2.
We are happy with out Nauticat. We would buy another if we felt we needed
to upsize. We belong to NANA, the North American Nauticat Association,
http://www.nauticatownersgroup.com/ and we are fans.
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