33ft/10m LOA motorsailers. Why there are so few of them?

There was a time, not so long ago, when small motorsailers around 30 feet, like Nauticat 33 and the like, were popular to young or not-so-young couples looking for extended vacations in a roomy, but affordable and easy handled boat. With the inflation of the late nineties, the boats got bigger and bigger, and now it seems that the minimum length of such a motorsailer is 40, even 50 feet LOA. Why is this so? Why cars, for example, are getting smaller and cheaper, while sailboats are getting bigger and not-cheap-at-all any more? Is the small motorsailer outdated?

 

Is the small motorsailer outdated?

The "old " motorsailors were a delight for X pure rag baggers to at last be warm & dry.

Todays boater has not usually started in dink racing and worked up.

Today the Quest is for a house afloat , washing machine , dish washer and all.

The size required is larger to carry the equipment necessary for modern electronic cruising.

Paper charts? GASP!! How do you know where you are on those?

FF

 

all that and dont forget motorsailers allways did cost more

and there was / is the compromise, sailing with small sails
and bigger motor or motoring with a mast up sailboat etc

my gallery shows some scetches on another idea for a motorsailer
maybe some wharram style construction to keep price down?

yeah, that porsche shown is nice but i'll chance it to a minicar
reason i'm driving a mini is ive got a boat, yaeh, its all compromises

 

A house afloat ? No, thank you...

" Today the Quest is for a house afloat..."
This is the heart of the problem for the modern obesity pandemic in the recreational boat industry in general.
There are the sea-men who want a bigger boat and the land-men who want a smaller house, a floating copy of the one they have in their farm, with the garage and the porshe in it, if possible...
But this is not what boats were supposed to do, at least it was not when I, for one, fall in love with them for the first time in the old days. When there is not any molecule of terra firma under your feet, what you really need is less weight, not more. When there is so much unobstructed space around you, what you really need is a small cabin, not a huge palace.
Modern technology gives us stronger and lighter materials, so we can have some of the facilities we are accustomed to have at home without excessive loading of the boat. Modern electronics are beautiful because they are small and light, lighter than the old navigation systems with all their paraphernalia.
When we are talking about sea-going boats, size matters but so does seamanship too. We must not use it as an excuse for staying at the fictional safety of the marina.
A 33ft/10m motorsailer is big enough for a couple looking for a few weeks sea journey. If they find the right boat.

 

ok, journey's can be made with a, sorry, two bikes aboard also
10 meter motor ( not smaller sail ) boat we find allready to small for a week
while i'm a calm frendly guy and did hear bout advanatges of the small cabin
but how small is big enough to really be comfortable
the real motor sailor dont go for less weight and junk, he wants a multi purpose
good for all type of boat, preferable with workbench and all is it not?
but i hear you, car goes mini, dump the dishwasher too

 

"A 33ft/10m motorsailer is big enough for a couple looking for a few weeks sea journey. If they find the right boat."

Many , many boats smaller than 33ft have completed uneventful circumnavigations , 2 or 3 YEARS , of cruising.

The MS configuration should be more comfortable in heavy weather , and the bigger engine would allow refrigeration .

With todays light weight construction ,and engines a 90/90 is easy to envision , rather than the slow 50/50 of years gone by.

FF

 

all agreed, and i envy that nauticat 33 as a very attractive small motorsailor!
our (power) boat has the same size tho and even fitting a radio or so is often too tight
the cat sketch i made must be 16m for clearance and other considerations
but for liveaboard motorsailors i belive cats to be the future

 

Small cats are even fewer than small motorsailers...

...and a small motorsailer cat has questionable: 1) interior space. 2) blue water capabilities. 3) marina costs. I see no future there! If you go as high as ,say, 16M LOA, you better spend the night at the five stars hotel nearby .Women seldom prefer small sailboats from big hotels, anyway...

 

"but for liveaboard motorsailors i belive cats to be the future"

Liveaboard , and lakes bays and rivers perhaps.

But for ocean cruising far too much time would be spent in port waiting for a weather window.

Cats can capsize , the smaller the easier to be flipped.

"Much Ungood"!

FF

 

in my mind plays a powerboat that can outsail a sailboat (downwind ;-)

 

A (farm) house afloat...

...with the garage and the porshe in it
It could well house a 33ft/10M LOA motorsailer as well...
(The drawings are pretty, though.)

 

The usual problem with the old 50/50 is the limited ability to transit.

With never enough fuel to cross an ocean UNDER POWER , and a tiny cut down sail rig , the boat is best for coastal passages.

To voyage with the tiny sail rig would require the patience of a Saint.

Of course at 60 ft LOA , its another world.

FF

 

filosofie

come to think of it, what sailboat does not have a motor nowadays
on the other hand, what powerboat has a ( fold-out ) sail

pretty? more to draw and calculate but thats what counts

 

what powerboat has a ( fold-out ) sail

If the Kite folks have their dreams come true, most ocean transiting motor boats will be be wind powered under some conditions.

FFF

 

yes i was crazy, i've been hanging on those stairway foil gliders
long ago fantasised hanging on one with dolphins in the water
( the type that sweeps sideways clearing mines )
motorsailors usually have deck stepped masts, hmmm
a new thread on masts and riggings may be a good idea