Houseboat that sails

[Silvertooth]

I love the Quidnon design aspects, the fact that it's shallow draft and water ballast mean it can be lightweight. But it's a bit too beamy for my needs, (32x16) what is the nearest boat to this length but half the beam.

Also I am looking for a trailable option. Not necessarily a trailer sailer, but the option of trifling short distances.

Quidnon http://quidnon.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2019-05-13T06:15:00-06:00&max-results=7&reverse-paginate=true

 

[Silvertooth]

I also like the wilderness boats.

These are trailable and comfortable living space, but can't sail.

Is there anything like this that can sail

Wilderness Beaver 23 Long Cabin 1997 http://www.wildernessboats.com/Little%20Dipper/default.html

 

[Silvertooth]

Some of the modern trailer sailers around 26-32' may be very good at sailing but compromise the lovable space. These are more boat than house.

Which boats are more house than boat, but can still be sailed and put on a trailer? Is there such a boat?

I suppose one of these wilderness boats with a mast and Lee boards may fit my requirements.

I will only ever go on rivers or canals,Mitch maybe a tiny percentage possible sailing. Much of the time I want to use it as a caravan on a trailer, so no need for pointy yacht type design

 

[Silvertooth]

Which boat design could be capable of sailing from the uk down through the French canals and do a little island hoping in the med?

But is comfortable on a trailer and could be used as a caravan?

Also want something that doesn't need a large engine, just a low powered outboard perhaps?

Is there such a boat that is comfortable living house boat,more house than boat?

 

[fishwics]

Which boat design could be capable of sailing from the uk down through the French canals and do a little island hoping in the med?

But is comfortable on a trailer and could be used as a caravan?

Also want something that doesn't need a large engine, just a low powered outboard perhaps?

Is there such a boat that is comfortable living house boat,more house than boat?

Look at Triloboats - www.triloboats.com and other sites.

 

[Angélique]

i love the Quidnon design aspects, the fact that it's shallow draft and water ballast mean it can be lightweight. But it's a bit too beamy for my needs, (32x16) what is the nearest boat to this length but half the beam.

Also I am looking for a trailable option. Not nessasarily a trailer sailer, but the option of trifling short distances.

Quidnon http://quidnon.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2019-05-13T06:15:00-06:00&max-results=7&reverse-paginate=true

Which boat design could be capable of sailing from the uk down through the French canals and do a little island hoping in the med?

The locks in the old canals in France have minimum sizes as required by the August 5, 1879 French Freycinet gauge law:

— L 39 m (128') × B 5.2 m (17.1') × D 2.2 m (7.2') —

In addition the bridges and other structures built across those canals are required to provide a minimum of 3.7 m (12' 143⁄64") clearance.

Barges that use the canals are adapted to the minimum sizes of the locks, so they have max sizes that fit within the locks with a play of only a few inches...

Below a 5.08 m* (16' 8") beam barge entering a lock in the Canal des Ardennes, which has 44 locks of which 27 over a distance of 9 km (5.6 miles).

-

Below MS Traveler* with a beam of 5.08 m (16' 8") going into a French Freycinet gauge lock . . .

3 × a Quidnon of • LOA: 37' • LOD: 36' • LWL: 35' • Beam: 16 ' • will fit length wise in each of these locks, with ample room for the beam, as they have 0.32 m (1' 23⁄32") beam play there.

* Dutch link (2 ×)​

 

[Angélique]

Here relative to Quidnon some smaller potential houseboat designs that are able to sail . . .

William Garden design #617-B Oyster L 24½' (7.47 m) × B 8' (2.44 m) × D 1½' (0.46 m) on the thread: Sailing Shanty Boats post #1

↓ some designs of forum member [U]Tad Roberts[/U]
- Little Tilikum, 25' Thames Barge
- Future Cruiser 28'
- Harry, 26' Sailing Barge
- Laura Cove 28' Sailing Scow
- Harry II, 30' LOD 27' LWL Sailing Scow
- Tilikum 32' Centreboard Barge
- Sailing House Barge, Steel or Plywood, L 34' × B 11½' × D 1' 4" (tandem center boards up)

 

[Silvertooth]

Thanks for replies, some excellent info there.

Has there ever been a Thames Barge type design that is capable of being put on a trailer?

That Harry sailing barge is the sort of thing. Is there a modern equivalent that has been popular? I'm not after building myself, I'm looking for a second hand ready to go set up.

I was going to invest in a tiny house on wheels anyway. But to have the ability to occasionally go sailing would be wonderful. Even if most of the time we just use it as a tiny house on wheels. So it would be a waste to have something more boat than house.

But to have the ability to cross the channel and maybe do a little sailing in the Med, not too far from France it would need to be reasonably seaworthy.

I know people with a wilderness trailable canal boat who put it on a trailer and take the ferry over to France and do the canal thing there. But it seems a shame, if the boat was a bit more seaworthy they could surely cross the channel themselves. I know people have swam the channel,meven somebody has been accross in a bath tub. Loads have kayaked accross, or even smaller boats.

Would something like this with Lee boards and a mast be capable of crossing the channel and doing a little sailing in the med near to France?

 

[goodwilltoall]

Phil Bolger designed hundreds, my favorites are the advanced sharpies, as19, as29, as 39 (one at florida stretched to 45' w pointy bow), as55. A few unique ones would be superbrick and the huge "barn owl".
Get his BWOAM book used, its a good read, you can also join Bolger boats yahoo group and check out hundreds more at the files and attachments sections

 

[Clarkey]

Sounds a bit like you should be looking for a secondhand Griffiths Waterwitch - the leeboard version if you can find one.

 

[Tiny Turnip]

Silvertooth, could you clarify if you actually mean sailing on canals and rivers, rather than motoring, rowing, paddling, pedalling? I have to say that the prospect of actually sailing on canals, particularly in a boat as large and as unfocussed on performing well and pointing well under sail, and particularly if you are thinking of sailing on the particularly narrow, shallow, (keels/leeboards!) shopping trolley filled (keels/leeboards again!) UK waterways, fills me with horror! I appreciate that the French and European canals tend to be larger than ours, but unless the wind is well aft of abeam, the difficulty of this, and lack of space to manoeuvre is going to be a nightmare, especially in something that isn't a 'pointy yacht type design'. Worth just google image searching 'canal sailing' and seeing if you can find pictures of a vessel larger than a dinghy sailing on an actual canal.

Maybe a (sea going) barge, and carry a mirror dinghy on the roof for fun sailing when the opportunity presents itself?

I did find this rather lovely blog, of a rather different but appealing approach, albeit with a much smaller (and pointy!) boat, with a lot of specialised equipment. Worth a look.
Creeksailor: Yacht Sailing on Canals http://creeksailor.blogspot.com/2016/11/yacht-sailing-on-canals.html

Best of luck!

 

[The Q]

Silvertooth, could you clarify if you actually mean sailing on canals and rivers, rather than motoring, rowing, paddling, pedalling? I have to say that the prospect of actually sailing on canals, particularly in a boat as large and as unfocussed on performing well and pointing well under sail, and particularly if you are thinking of sailing on the particularly narrow, shallow, (keels/leeboards!) shopping trolley filled (keels/leeboards again!) UK waterways, fills me with horror! I appreciate that the French and European canals tend to be larger than ours, but unless the wind is well aft of abeam, the difficulty of this, and lack of space to manoeuvre is going to be a nightmare, especially in something that isn't a 'pointy yacht type design'. Worth just google image searching 'canal sailing' and seeing if you can find pictures of a vessel larger than a dinghy sailing on an actual canal.

Maybe a (sea going) barge, and carry a mirror dinghy on the roof for fun sailing when the opportunity presents itself?

I did find this rather lovely blog, of a rather different but appealing approach, albeit with a much smaller (and pointy!) boat, with a lot of specialised equipment. Worth a look.
Creeksailor: Yacht Sailing on Canals http://creeksailor.blogspot.com/2016/11/yacht-sailing-on-canals.html

Best of luck!

That brings back memories, many years ago Charlie Stock sailed Shoal Waters on the Norfolk Broads, remember sailing past him on one occasion on a down river race, and chatting to him moored up somewhere about sailing on the Broads..

 

[Silvertooth]

I didn’t mean sail on the river or canals, I plan to use a small outboard those times.

But to have the option of sailing on larger rivers or spaces would be greatly appreciated

 

[Silvertooth]

I’m working on my own design that is definitely a first of its kind.

It’s a cross between a wharrem cat, Dmitri Orlovs Quidron with elements from the tiny cruiser called Gorfnik

It’s a cross between a tiny house and all the above boat designs.

Will post plans soon.

 

[Angélique]

Even though most canals in France are wider than a lot of their congeners in the UK, no one is sailing by sails there, below's a Southerly 49 (beam 13' 9" / 4.19 m) going to the Med through France, they like to use more protection and have less experience than the barge skippers...

Also note the Med is not a lake nor a only friendly sea, don't get caught by the sea there with a wrong boat like the above suggested canal boats, or with any boat at the wrong time, the French canals lead you to the Med a bit west of Marseille, below shown is the islet of If and Château d'If just in front of Marseille, second is not near a storm, it's just the Mistral blowing from land...

— Frioul archipelago, just off Marseille, the islet of If and Château d'If are shown just to the right of the center —