Containerable Motorsailers

I'm with Daniel......perhaps for slightly different reasons....

First....owning a fancy/expensive boat makes no sense whatever for the "young family", where it even possible. Inbox was about $450k USD, more than the cost of two houses for joe pedestrian.

Even if he could make the payments, doing so means he can't take the time off to travel. It makes far more sense to fly to Europe and charter a boat, there are thousands to choose from. And next year he can vacation in some other part of the world, and with no cost to move or store a boat.

The thing is that being "containerable" imposes so much restriction on the vessel's arrangement that she becomes undesirable (In my eyes). It is far more comfortable (for most folk) to charter a big fat Beneteau than to live in this skinny tube. Financially it is light years better.

 

It is always a pleasure to read your post, you elaborate and explain far better than me. You are dead right.
Cheers
Daniel

 

Yes - good points. The old "charter it, dont own it" philosophy. You can argue *that* philosophy for all boats, not just containerable ones. Also, some people dont have to make *payments*. Its hard to imagine - but true, especially if you want to move every six months to not incur taxation liabilities.

Chartering in some situations makes sense, like, say if you only get 6 weeks a year holiday, but not for extended cruising.

And with charter boats, you are often limited to one area, (you cant go to other foreign countries, often some waters in the same country). And try getting a decent boat in the popular areas during peak season without booking and committing 12 months in advance.

If you paid $1500 a day for 6 months (a typical charter rate on the cheapest season), you have paid for half the boat already.($250,000)
Sure, any boat costs a lot to build - but in the end you get to keep it, and I believe there are some people out there who still buy secondhand boats !!

Do you hire your car, or own it ?

As far as "living in a tube" - in inclement weather, a fat Beneteau, or any boat under 70 foot for that matter, is just as bad as a skinny boat if you are pounding you *** off in a cyclone off the Maldives. (mind you, I would rather be outrunning a Dhow in the Gulf Of Aden in a narrow boat with a decent motor than in a fat Beneteau) on the way to the Mediterranean.

The idea of a boat is to sail it in "nice" places - and if you can get there cheaper, and stay longer for less, its a great idea. In a 'nice place', you will spend most of the time loungin on deck, snorkelling in the water, or exploring interesting places - not down inside "the tube"

The *other* thing that I forgot to mention, is the use of "backfill" routes. A container back to Asia from Australia and the USA and a lot of other "net import countires" is damn cheap. You can cover a lot of the globe sailing the expensive container routes, and piggybacking on the cheap "infill" routes.

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I notice you didnt attempt to argue the cheaper transport and storage points - whats it cost for the average "fat Beneteau" at a marina or dry storage for 6 months compared to a container farm? And you dont have to run down every weekend and wash the bird poo off the decks.

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Now, I am not pressing my points to be argumentative (well, maybe a little), but I have just been through this exercise with my NA. For nigh on two years he has wanted to make my 28ft trailer sailer another two foot wider so that it wont fit in a container.

By making my trailer sailer containerable, I can have it shipped to the Whitsundays (where my partners kids and grandkids live) in Australia for less than two or three days charter costs, during winter. I can then have it shipped to Tasmania for summer (where my family and grandkids live)

Take into account the wear and tear on the towing vehicle, fuel costs, 2 weeks off work and motel bills twice a year, it makes even more sense.

Living on the boat at holiday destinations saves a fortune on accomodation, and means you can get to quiet, picturesque places that the average tourist will never see.

 

A very interesting perspective Tad has introduced, I think. And for most people a valid one. I suspect that 90% or more of the population would be financially better off chartering a boat once or twice a year, regardless of their crusing grounds. Of course owning (or should that be owing ) a boat is an emotional decision... if it were purely a rational one, we'd all stay ashore!
For those who spend extended time aboard, then the ability to ship starts to make more sense. Though of course one could equally argue that the longer you spend aboard the more you would appreciate those extra couple of feet of beam.
RW, yours is a case that I'd consider not so cut & dry. The cost of transporting boats up and down the East coast of Oz is not exactly expensive - I've done it a number of times. I live in Tassie and we operate a trailerable boat out of Pt Stephens (just N of Sydney for those of you on the other side of the planet). I've towed and transported boats as far north as Bundaberg. In my experience, if you plan on towing (or shipping) your boat every 2nd weekend, then sacrificing additional beam for ease of transport is a sensible compromise. If, however, you only plan on doing it once or twice a year, then I don't think it is.
My latest boat, Graphite ( http://imaginocean.net/index1.html ) is a case in point. She's designed to be trailerable with a boat / trailer weight of under 3500 kg. The beam, however, is 2.8m, so requires the display of an "overwidth" sign and a flashing light on the tow vehicle. Having cruised extensively aboard similar sized boats with a 2.4m beam I can assure you that that extra 400mm makes ALL the difference.
For most people, a boat this big isn't a trailerboat - but it is trailerable.
For short-haul transportation - like you are referring to - I think this makes far more sense than containerising a boat.

 

I was planning to sail to the southern Philippines when I re-locate, but just don't have the time. As a result, I bought a little Macgregor 26S, which I am shipping there. Though I am planning to build a boat when in the Philippines, The Mac will serve it's purpose, in the interim, and will be far more convenient for day-sailing than a large steel sailboat, after the build. It can be beached in most tides, is easily moved to secure storage & will day-sail six, overnight four. There are no charters, to my knowledge, in the southern Philippines. Doesn't seem like a foolish endeavour from my perspective.

 

"..There are no charters, to my knowledge, in the southern Philippines..."

Off topic, but, that's because of the Abu Sayyaf. Too many problems to be classed as 100% safe sailing in that region. Not saying it can't be done...but just not as safe as middle and northern Philippines.

 

I dont feel that way myself. I have done Darwin to Hobart four times without a boat, so I have a bit of an insight into the process.

Trailering long ways *is* expensive. Say two weeks off work, $3000. $400 for fuel (say Melbourne to Queensland), add $800 for extra expenses (food, overnight accomodation in the boat) - thats $4000 for the privilege of a week of road rage tankers, idiot drivers and truck stop food. Do that with two teenage kids and a patient partner, and getting the boat shipped up is a way better method, even if you spend half a day in a cramped Jetstar seat.

If you charged someone for towing their boat on those trips you did, you know they spent several thousand dollars.

Yes - and with a trailerable boat, of course you would be moving it say once a month at least in boating season.

a) from the driveway to the water rather than paying Marina fees.

b) I would not consider two days in Bass Strait getting from Melbourne to the Lakes, (with the potentially rough conditions and the Lakes Entrance bar) when I can be there in 4 hours in the comfort of a vehicle.

I have towed the rather narrow Macgregor, and I am *not* keen on doing anything wider. Sure, the wider boats are "legal", but oncoming roadtrains on a narrow bridge make "legal" look downright silly. I have had to back the boat across a fairly busy suburban street in peak hour traffic, and I blessed every missing inch of the boat.

Now, did I mention the possibility of spending 6 months cruising New Zealands Bay of Islands and environs? Want to sail a 28ft yacht across the Tasman Sea ? Of course not, but its a doddle in a container.

Containerisation to the West coast of the US is really cheap. Maybe I can cruise the Baja Peninsula, or some of the great waterways further north.

When I sold the MacGregor, I had a guy from Perth interested in buying it. It was way cheaper to tow the boat to Perth than using a container ($4000), but only $500 if he had wanted to container from Perth to Melbourne. So, when I "do" Western Australia, I will tow the boat over, and container it back to Melbourne. That's cheaper than the petrol and wear and tear on the towing vehicle.

There are so many ways a narrow boat and a container make sense.

 

i had a thought today about trailerable boats and the max width of 8' 6"

how about a trailer that tilts the boat to 8' 6"?

then the boat could be wider

 

Only in the case of a multihull - unless you have a very odd shaped boat!

RW - I'm not suggesting that the only way to do is to tow the boat yourself. There are a number of good carriers that specialise in moving boats up and down the East Coast. They are a little more expensive than doing it yourself, of course... (I wouldn't suggest using one to come across Bass Strait, however - the cost of doing that is frightening!)
My longest single haul was to pull 4.5 tons of boat / trailer from Hobart to the Gold Coast. Took 4 days (with wife and 6 mnth old baby!) and cost around 2K, including the Ferry trip across the strait. I'm not suggesting you'd want to do it regularly. From memmory the cost of having someone truck the boat and trailer from Melbourne to QLD was about the same.
The real question, in regards to this topic though, is whether the sacrifices necessary in order to containerise a boat are enough compensation for additional cost that might be incurred by having a beamier boat transported....
As I said before - it really depends on -
a) how often you are going to move it considerable distance and
b) how much time you are likely to spend aboard.

 

One other thing that just occured to me....
You've just shipped your boat to Tassie. It's sitting in the shippers yard. How will you get it from there into the water? Ok, obviously a truck takes the container from the yard to the......??
Are you going to have it on a trailer so it can be launched at a boat ramp?
If so, what do you tow it with?
Do you have to take it to somewhere with a boat lift?
What do you do with the container (assuming you own it) or the cradle (if you don't) once the boat's in the water? I guess you could pay to store it...
What if you want to go somewhere without a lift?

Lastly, I've had a fair bit to do with shipping in my proffessional career and my experience is that it's NEVER on time. I've seen importers and exporters quite literally in tears as they look through a mesh fence at their perishable cargo, sitting in a container on the wharf, unable to access it. Clearly your boat won't perish... but holidays are precious and always too short....

I'm sure you've considered all these things... I'll be interested to hear your solutions

 

In my case, wanting it to be containerable, I specified the following.

"as wide as poossible, with tilt option"

All it requires is a trailer that has the facility to slide the keel about a foot either side of the centreline. That is as easy as providing a two foot wide central "bed", and the means to crank the boat over.

Of course, you may not want to ship the traler with the boat. In which case a temporary "packing platform" will do the trick.

See the next answer for "no trailer" options

 

Excellent points there - discussions like these are a great way to sort out potential snags.

Well, if you have shipped the trailer (like all Macgregors do), you either hire a ute for the day and tow it to the water yourself. Or most marinas will provide a tow to their site for a reasonable fee.

If you havn't shipped the trailer, the size and shape of the boat mean you can cart it around on a large car trailer quite easily, packed with old tyres for safety.

If you have hired the container, it just stays in the shippers yard waiting for re-assignment like all good containers do.

If you have purchased the container, you can either store it till the return journey (pretty cheap these days), or sell it (if you are going to be in the area for a while)

Yes - very true. Its on par with 3 weeks of really bad weather in a tropical paradise you booked 12 months ago, your Boeing 747 breaking down for two days from London to Sydney, or you falling ill the day before you start the trip. (been there, done them all)

Certainly, you would want to allow a margin of delivery, based on Murphys law, but assuming you intend to stay quite a while at the place since you have containered the boat there, a week or so delay wont be a reall killer. You may even get a freight discount if the shipper offers insurance, to help defray alternate accomodation costs.

I would lie around the beach thinking "At least I am not being pummelled to Jelly by a savage Sou-Easter on the way up the Australian east Coast, or being overtaken by B-Double Fuel tankers on the Hume in the two lane section at 100 kl/h"

Yes, containers across to tasmania from Melbourne are ridiculously priced. Much easier to tow it on the Car Ferry.

But from Tassie to the mainland, the "infill" rates can kick in at times through the year. If I wanted to container it to Sydney and meet it with the 4wd to finish the tow up to Queenslans, that could be viable.

As you quite rightly point out, towing V containers is a balancing act, but at least the option will be there, unlike the permanently "fat" yachts, that can only be towed, and then only with big annoyance factors.

 

build the boat in the shape of a shipping container, problem solved

 

Hmmm - slight hydro performance issue there. I refer you to the discussion on Prismatic Coefficients

 

LOL
Oh... now that's thinking outside the box!.... or is it inside the box....