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Old 04-03-2016, 04:21 AM   #29
AusCan
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City: Adelaide
Vessel Name: Kokanee
Vessel Model: Cuddles 30 Pilot House Motor Sailer
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,218
Good choice Mr Beans.


I am a complete fan of motorsailers, although they have a bad reputation. Power boaters see them as sailboats. Sail boaters see them as powerboats. They are neither.

To me, it is plenty of gain and no pain, unless you use your boat primarily onprotected inland water.

The biggest plus is stability in rough water. Roll reduction is as good asparavanes; and almost as effective as active stabilizers. Try finding a cruising boat for $50k equipped with another effective type of stabilization.

The get home propulsion is also a plus, without having another engine crammedin limited space and unprotected props.

A motorsailer is not a sailboat. It isn't designed to win races therefore the sail and rigging design is simple, robust anduser-friendly. It may only sail at 4 knots ratherthan 6 in a "real" sail boat in similar conditions, but I'mhappy with that. The motor & sails are designed to be used together in most situations, but the option is there to use only one or the other.


I travel under motor & sail the majority of the time. Raising & trimming the sails takes less than 3 minutes whensinglehanded. With a self tacking headsail it's set & forget unless conditions change substantially. Fine tuning toget another 0.1 knot is optional.

I haven't done any maintenance on my sail rigging in 3 years, other than aquick inspection, and lubrication of the mast tracks. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the boat.

The reward for motorsailing is greater stability than a conventional full displacement power boat, better economy, maybe a slight gain in top speed, get-home redundancy, and something to tinker with during a long offshore cruise.
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