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Help choosing a trailer sailer - big is better right?


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Hi everyone, I'm pretty new to sailing and my wife and kids (7/8yrs) are even greener. We have owned power boats for awhile so not new to the Marine environment.

 

We are going to buy a trailer sailer, please offer some suggestions and help me to clarify what is important in a TS.

 

I am of the belief that big is better -

Big=comfort

Big=capable

Big=longer ownership (won't grow out of it so quick)

Big=7.5m & over

Big=heavy (I have 3lt diesel Hilux max braked 2250Kg)

Big=better.....???

 

Am I right? Please convince me of otherwise!!! Will us 4 fit and be happy in a smaller package??

 

I'm a pretty capable person so please don't offer suggestions of absolute learner type boats (i.e buy small to learn first) I would prefer to buy once and buy the right boat and accept a slightly steeper/harder learning curve.

 

My max budget is 15K (rules out Nolex 25 which I think is ideal boat)

 

Thanks in advance for your experienced opinions.

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i would think 25' minimum for 4 people for those periods. not sure that 15k will get you a decent TS in that range, though a quick look at trademe suggests it's not impossible. i'm sure others will weigh in on specific models.

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Negatives of larger are of course towing and storing. Do you have sufficient room to park a 25' yacht on trailer? Is your tow vehicle heavy enough? Most FWD cars would be getting a bit uncomfortable with a 2T plus load on the back. In fact, ( I realize you have a Hilux but will you always have utes? ) I believe that is past the tow rating of most cars, and many light SUV's. The Trojan linked above is around 1500KG hull weight, add in a tandem trailer  (maybe 300KG, probably more? ) and some basic gear, provisions, water, anchor and battery, a battery or two and your probably getting well past to 2250Kg.

 

Dare I admit it on here, but we also have a Tristram 781 with an inboard eggbeater, and that thing is rated as being 3250Kg on the trailer, within the tow rating of most current series diesel utes and heavy SUV's. But, put over a weigh bridge with gear on it incl fuel and some water, its 4300Kg.... Weights have a nasty habit of climbing quite sharply once you set up a yacht.

 

That all being said, your hilux should do fine, although may well be above its manufacturers rating. With your hilux, the question may be more "are you happy towing large and heavy trailers?" because not everyone is  confident to do so, and many are also not competant in doing so.

 

Maintenance will be a bit more on the larger yacht, but really, on a TS what is there really? No haul out fees, no antifoul, rigging is exceptionally easy to replace, if you ever have to. They will have outboards which as long as not 100 years old, nor of no name Chinese origin, tend to cause little problem. 

 

Once you get past that, the larger yacht has few drawbacks in the TS world in my opinion. This comes from someone who feels cramped in most 35'ers so take that with a grain of salt. Remember that LWL gives better hull speed, 6Kn give or take with a 6m LWL. Drop to a 5m LWL and your down approx 10% on that.

 

As a kid I remember many happy times out on a 21' TS in Tauranga or Auckland harbors, so get out and look at some. a 25' of one design may have less usable space than a 22' of another design.

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Maths cooker lol, I saw that I messaged that guy a couple of days ago, He seems to think it weighs about 2000kg. A lot of boat for the price......

 

You might be right about additional load taking it over weight,I could carry stuff in the tray of ute. I plan to keep it up Kawakawa bay for the summer so wouldn't have to tow very far all that often.

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Make sure you look closely at the trailer on these boats, a lot of boats just go the couple of hundred metres from the boat park to the ramp and back again.

 

If you get caught with a dud, a new trailer for a boat the size you are looking at will be an easy 15K on its own (Just ask my Father in Law, he has the nicest Nolex 22 trailer in Dunedin!)

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I would go and negotiate with the Ross 780 guy and see if you can pull the price closer to the Trojan price. - In my opinion a far better boat. The outboard age alone is worth the price difference - a new outboard is not a cheap exercise...

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Yeh that is a cool looking boat, appears to be a lot sportier. Bit out of my price range unfortunately......

Are you familiar with Trojans? What's the common opinions on them?

Trojans are similar if not slightly slower than a Noelex 25 but with a higher SRI (self righting index)

Very family friendly as far as TY go

If you want performance then get a Ross 780

Here's something to use as a base for comparison http://www.nztya.nz/uploads/113077/files/Rating_Current_from_August_2016_-_Listed_by_Rating.pdf

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What is the Ron Given design that you see sailing out of Kawakawa, Joker ?  

 I don't know size but they're going to go ok I would have thought , always seem to when you see em out.

Joker

There's a 6.7 that's too small for a family of 4 but they sail really well.

And a 8.2 that would be ideal as they are water ballasted so light to tow but twice your budget is what's being asked and more

Don't be afraid to offer 25% less than asking price, most TY are hard to sell and getting quite old

You should settle between 10 to 15% under asking price or your wife will fall in love with one and you will just buy it.

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I enquired yesterday the Ross 780 owner has his lowest price he will accept listed on TM. Cool boat boat but doesn't come with much and it's over 30 years old....

 

I agree that trailers are very $$$ , I have a grinder and welder happy to make it a Frankenstein trailer to get a few more years lol.

 

The Noelexs really hold there price, what's behind that??

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Hi Kiwifish - As you're from the Tron and plan to store the boat at Kawakawa Bay can I assume you belong to the Waikato Yacht Squadron? 

If you don't then it might be worth contacting them and come out for a sail on a bunch of different Trailer Sailers to get an idea of size and sailing behaivour.

 

http://www.waikatoyachtsquadron.org.nz/

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I enquired yesterday the Ross 780 owner has his lowest price he will accept listed on TM. Cool boat boat but doesn't come with much and it's over 30 years old....

 

I agree that trailers are very $$$ , I have a grinder and welder happy to make it a Frankenstein trailer to get a few more years lol.

 

The Noelexs really hold there price, what's behind that??

A firm offer of $15K may very well swing him. Cash under the sellers nose can make a huge difference ( Realistically, how long will it take to sell at $18.5K? Who knows, and the seller sure does not want to be faffing around for 2 years trying to sell.

 

Very very sage advice from Ed, there are some shocking trailers out there. If your a good engineer, you can quite easily make a moderate trailer good, if its full of rust throughout, no amount of patching will suffice and you are going to have to buy or build another trailer..

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Very very sage advice from Ed, there are some shocking trailers out there. If your a good engineer, you can quite easily make a moderate trailer good, if its full of rust throughout, no amount of patching will suffice and you are going to have to buy or build another trailer..

 

In a lot of ways it quickly becomes easier to build a new frame rather than patching too. I ended up doing this with mine -- Cut out, and tack welded the frame together,then took it to a qualified welder to finish all the structural welds. The whole new braked, tandem axle trailer (for a 22' boat) ended up costing ~$4.5k I think, and it's far better made than an off the shelf one.

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