turning a sailboat into a motorsailor

I would never alter the lines of my boat..but I can think about ..especially after 5 wet days on her..alone..and cursing the former owners attempts at changing the salon area into a double or triple berth type settee with 1/4 inch home depot plywood and drywall screws...got rid of that contraption...Also, there's a few sections of toe-rail teak that are shot..but he went to town with liquid nails and bondo on those areas...a land-lubber but he gave me a "free" boat...so I can't ***** too looud..meanwhile.....it has rained every day for a week...but that's Florida in July for ya'... so does a nice dry and enclosed Motorsailer rear wheelhouse sound good.???? ...Eh..er.. You betcha! ....
Is it something I would seriously consider.?..No way! I would never wanna lose all that windward ability and destroy her lines..but I can dream about it...and at the end of the dream I put it all back the way she always was...beautiful...meanwhile..it hasnt rained yet today...and I finally got a slip for her at a cool ol' florida marina here in N FMY...Tomorrow I get to attempt to move a 20,000 boat (with gear) about a mile....with a dinghy and a 4.5 hp Johnson seahorse..should be interesting..but the prevailing winds are SE lately...which might just slide me right into the marina and my slip is right at the outside tip behind the outer seawall so we'll see..might be a cake walk ..or might be a ***** if I am not patient and wait for the wind...so that's what i plan to do...just gonna put the dinghy on her mid-rear starboard hip with a few old tires i found..and putter over to the new slip

 

A little push boat will move her just fine. You're not going to go very fast, but it'll tow easily. Do it in the very early morning or just at dusk, when the winds are shifting and die down.

 

good advice PAR..thanks...i think i'll make the gambit at dawn and hope the early bird gets the worm...the afternoon/dusk is too wet still with t-storms this time of year...so yeah...early AM..should be the ticket

 

I have been commissioned twice to redesign the C&C Landfall 47 into a decent motorsailer. One case was a new boat built in Middletown RI and the second boat (used) rebuilt in Florida. In both cases I used Perkins engines in the 90 hp range with a 2:00:1 reduction. The selection for a C&C was the performance under sail. These were sailboats in the true sense except they had a full pilot house and big engines. The new boat I sailed from Newport RI to San Francisco, taking about 6 months to get there cruising the Caribbean and down to Tortuga for almost three months. The new boat was equipped with an Onan 7.5 kw, AC, diving compressor. All nav and communication equipment was in the pilot house. The used boat that was rebuilt had the nav and com station below with the galley in the pilot house. Both boats had good accommodations for two couples. Both boats had folding props, except when we got through the Panama Canal, I changed the Gori prop to a fixed pitch 3 blade Michigan Wheel Dyna-jet for the uphill climb to San Francisco. I have found that when you need the power, you want all of it. I could power that boats at 9+ kts into a 40kt headwind. All in all good boats and easy enough to handle with two people.

 

Yes here on the North East coast of the UK we do like our motor sailers, I have a Colvic Watson (which has a pedigree second to none), unless I have a force 4 I do not even bother going out to sea for a sail.

The 24' boat has a 27.5 HP Isuzu engine and at 6 knots engine only use 1 Litre/hr diesel, 'sailing only' (sloop rigged) best speed to date 7.2 knots and I sail 'all year round'.

Why convert a boat when you can buy the boat for the job!

Mike

 

That There boat looks like a ton like a ton of fun......OKAY..MAYBE TWO TONS OF FUN...
ENJOY HER...!

 

Actually she is 4.6 tons!!

Colvic Watsons are well known for their heavy layup in the hull construction.

We have all seen the description in GRP ‘heavy layup’ but what does that really mean?

It’s a technique and part of the mould process when constructing a mould in GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) and G L Watson & Co and Colvic Craft Ltd were very careful on this point when designing the hulls, as all the hulls had a very heavy layup where the hand layed polyester resin reinforced woven matting used was from 24.5oz, 20.5oz, 16.5oz and 10oz per sq/ft used from the keel upwards to form a rigid bonded hull and coach roof.

The hulls were then heavily further constructed and strengthened with side and bottom transverse bearers also bonded into the hulls for extra strength and the moulds were manufactured at the time by Colvic in a special temperature controlled moulding building to ensure the correct mould process was carried out making the hulls far in excess of Lloyds specifications for the hull design 'at the time' .

The Colvic Watson hulls were also designed to take heavy fit out loads, with a lot contributing from the wide beam and long keel and all Colvic Watsons have a high freeboard topped with a bold sheer especially to the bow area to reduce taking water onto the decks and deflect it back into the sea where it belongs, it should also be remembered GL Watson & Co were also famous for their early pioneering in lifeboat designs and this is still reflected in the Colvic Watson with high bow and stern and lower midships.

The Colvic Watson range start at the 19'-6" size, then 23'-6",25'-6", 28'-6",31'-6" and 34'-6", most of the large 34'-6" are around 14 tons.

Anyone interested in The History of Colvic Watson Motor Sailer it is on line or PM me and I can send it, I thought stupidly I could research and write the History of the Colvic Watson in a year, no problem but I was 7 years out! !

There are some Colvic Watsons in the USA, mainly 34'-6" models

Mike

This one 'was' called Xena but now called Nordheks (her original name) now near Portland Origon.

 

The 34-footer would probably be a dream boat...if it's just a bigger version of your boat...that would have to be as much sailboat as I have ever seen in a 34-foot+- package..btw..your boat is probably as much sailboat as I have ever seen in a 24-25-footer range...might be that the diesel is a tad bit over powered but it depends on how your using her...but I guess they say no matter as long as you run her hard at the end and burn out any deposits and unburnt "plehm" from her...before you shut down if you only ran her a mid-power that day....cool pics..thx for posting..

 

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Hello. Saw your post today and am hoping you can answer a question i have on colvic watson 23 boats. Do you know during which years the colvic watson had a good quality thick layup?

Kind Regards

Wellington

 

Hello Wellington Sorry for late reply as just returned from holiday.
OK the Colvic Watson 23'-6" was the last of the Colvic Watson's to be designed in 1976 and all the moulds were made at the Colvic Craft PLC factory in the UK to Lloyds specifications
and almost all of the CW 23'-6" are built like a tank.
The ballast is almost always encapsulated.
If you would like a copy of my 'History of the Colvic Watson Motor Sailor' I can send it on line (free) I just need your email address
If I can help further just ask
Best Regards
Mike
Archivist for the Colvic Watson Owners Group

 

Why wont they take wood boats? Because they know you will always been working on her? I'd think wooden boats would get a special exemption, like Seeing Eye dogs.