the most that can be had

[wardd]

perhaps a thread should be started about what the most that can be had in a boat that's trailerable and primarily to be for one or two people

4 to 6 people for a day , no sleep over

for off shore and a dash to the Caribbean

[Petros]

I think about this a lot. If you can store it in your driveway when you are not using it, the cost of owning it goes way down. Keep it simple and it makes a good day sailor, and you add camping equipment for weekend trips.

Monohull, I would guess about 26-28 ft long, about 8 ft beam, and less than 12 ft high on trailer, preferably less. A shoal draft wing keel would prevent you from having any moving parts and still give reasonable performance, and allow easy trailering.

I have also been thinking about a catamaran design: in this state if it is less than 16 ft there is no registration required. So a cat sailboat 16 ft long, 8 ft wide gives a large platform for a cabin and cockpit, and no registration fees too! A bit boxy and unattractive perhaps, but you get a lot more deck space with a catamaran configuration.

[wardd]

my interest is primarily a power boat

I should have said that

[Submarine Tom]

We used to have a 21 1/2 foot sailboat with a retractable keel.

4 or 5, even 6, of us could go out for a day no problem. We would overnight with camping gear for all but two or three.

It was great, and never a shortage of hands on deck!

-Tom

[wardd]

I'm old and lazy, I just want to push a button and go

[Submarine Tom]

On a trailer you can load the baby at home and launch where ever you please.

-Tom

I was looking for the same things in a boat and think that I have found it

( It meats a lot of your requirements except it is
Not an Offshore Boat.

I would not go out in anything more than 3 to 5 fters in this boat and

I would stay close to land; maybe 30 to 50 miles out depending on the weather..



I dont consider any boat less than 50 ft and must have a full Lead Keel Downeast style Hull (and thats Marginal) to go offshore. Funny how the further away you get from land how the smaller you boat gets.


Here is a Good Rule of Thumb. Take how far you can see ( 17 miles) the Big Green/Black Thunderstorm Clouds with Tornados in the.m. Divide that distance by the spped of your boat lets say 5 kts ( Oh and the boat dealer told you it would do 50. eh?00 and multiply that by how may hours it will take you between puking overboard; while your going into Hypothermia from the freezing cold and stick of rotting fish and beer form all your buddies to get back to that "Safe Harbor" that now has 16 ft standing waves comming into the channel. Well you can pick a number.




I recently bought a Brand New Shamrock 246 center console with Yanmar 240.

It is 24'6" long and 8'6" wide and has a 2 ft draft with the screw in a tunnal drive.



How Many Boats should you Own?


OK. I have not spent a lot of time yet with the boat but here are things I like.

Lots of under deck strorage and seats in the bow.

T Top with a hard fiberglass roof. ( Could be larger, about 2 ft longer and 1 ft wider) T top is Too High. Its bamm near 8 ft high. I can barley reach it and can not reach the electronics box which make it useless except as storage. The Alum framwork should be lowered to make the T Top 6'6" at most.

The engine is good but if I was starting from scrath I would go with a turbo, intercooled 5.9.HO Cummins

The Dive Platform is nice but could be widened to 4 ft and all the SS Stancions thru bolted instead of screwed. ( Im changing that)


The 4 SS Rod holders in the Gunnals could be expanded to 6 in the gunnals 2 in the transom and 4 more on the SS Bow rails.

I am custom building a 14 Rod Vertical rack to add to the Center Console

It has 5 Gold Rocket launces on the hardtop. Nice. But agin they are too high

the Center Console forward & Back seat is Great! Dont change it except to do away with the two resessed beer can holders and add more rocket launces and tackle holders. OK Yea Im going to make 4 open beer can holders on the rod rack.

get rid of the resessed beer can holders in the dashboard. Replace with 4 open beer can holders attached to the Alum Stantions

Add 4 Big Ass electric Trolling Motors to the dive platform, Add 4 more deep cycle batteries to power the trolling motors and down riggers.

Add a Sunbrella Canvas top pver the stern and a Bow Dodger


Add a off the block Stainless Cabin Heater under the footrest.

add two individual macerator pumps to the in deck fish boxes.

add a small hot water tank and 20 gallons of potable water. Nice to take a shower after diving comming out of 30 degree icey salt water.

Add a Bow Pulpit to hold a 30 pound Danforth securely while trailering and underway yet quick to deploy.

Add a under deck working anchor box

add Spurs to cut off Lobster Pot warp

Add a stainless Cage so that the Spurs wont be needed

It has 3 nice 800GPH Bildge pumps. I plan on upgrading them with 3 4,000GPH Pumps with water witch switchs.

[FAST FRED]

The engine is good but if I was starting from scrath I would go with a turbo, intercooled 5.9.HO Cummins

Thats fine IF you never expect to operate at displacement speeds.

Turbos get really unhappy not working , and that can get expensive.

IF you only have one pound of boost , that may be enough , but it might require a 1600RPM "slow cruise".

FF

[Submarine Tom]

FF,

I'm not sure I understand your post.

Isn't the nice thing about a turbo that you have up to double the power if you need/want it but if you don't use it then the engine will last forever? The turbo will always spin and have oil even when it isn't loaded up (boosting).

I am much more familiar with gas turbo applications but the theory is the same I believe.

-Tom

[tom28571]

Guys, the Option 1 thread is about powerboats ONLY. No sailboats need apply. Sailboats are great but this is not the place for them. Start your own thread.

[FAST FRED]

"Isn't the nice thing about a turbo that you have up to double the power if you need/want it but if you don't use it then the engine will last forever? "

Great concept , but it doesn't work well in real boat use.

An engine built for high HP will have trapizoidal rings instead of square cut.

This helps make the high power for once a decade use , but doesn't seal as well with light loading as the square cut.

The turbos will oil OK at minor rpm, but they may not get warm enough or spin fast enough to run the engine cleanly.

Slobbering , blowby and low engine life with high fuel use is what happens to an underloaded DIESEL engine.

Sometimes "Bigger is Better" is a myth.

The boat engine mfg frequently list 4 power /service life levels for their products.

The 24/7 would be selected , hopefully with 60%+ for LRC -80% for higher inshore cruise power used .

The wonder and delight is some 24/7 engines can simply be loaded higher (time limits do apply) for the " to windward in a 40K breeze" some folks seem to desire.

FF

[Submarine Tom]

Thanks FF, I get 'ya now.

-Tom

[michael pierzga]

Id look to the designs of Nigel Irens For inspiration. Lightweight, modest beam, low power and seaworthy. Didn'T see any true trailer boats in his stock design work. I simply like the modern lightweight elegance of his work.

What is the maximum size of a trailer boat ???

http://www.nigelirens.com/ldl/yachts...p?id=7&idcat=1

http://www.nigelirens.com/ldl/yachts...p?id=4&idcat=1

[Pierre R]

Originally Posted by wardd

perhaps a thread should be started about what the most that can be had in a boat that's trailerable and primarily to be for one or two people

4 to 6 people for a day , no sleep over

for off shore and a dash to the Caribbean

I am going to assume for offshore you mean a dash to the Caribbean via island hopping instead of a dash to Bermuda.

In that case the largest that I have seen trailered on a regular basis is Cigarette boats in excess of 40' with tripple axle trailers. Meets all of your requirements, many have accomodations and even mufflers. They will certainly dash and can certainly take advantage of a weather window. Many have the range and the deep v design to handle the chop. Keep the speed down in the mid to low 20's and they are not that bad on fuel and have the range.

Many a drug runner has made the trip.

[Ike]

The maximum size of a trailerable boat is limited by the highway, 8 feet wide is the max, and some one said 12 feet high. But remember that's twelve feet off the pavement so the max height of the boat will be less. I would go with around 22 -26 feet and outboard powered. OBs give you more room in the boat. A small cuddy cabin for a porta potty and a place to catch a nap. A 2 burner stove, an ice box or large cooler. A tank for water and a small sink and faucet. You don't need much else if you are not planning on sleeping over. I would go with two smaller twins rather than one big herky engine. That way if one conks out offshore you can still get home. Twin saddle tanks for fuel. And of course a suite of electronics. (and all the fishing gear you can carry!)

PS. I would mount to OBs on a bracket which will give you even more room in the boat and make the cockpit self draining.