Double the expense?

As far as costs go for the sailing rig on a motorsailer, I'd say they are fairly insignificant in the big picture of boat ownership.
In the 8 years I've had the boat, I replaced the running and standing rigging once. Total cost was $2600. Other than that, I had a small repair to the mainsail costing $200 and that's about it.

The stress on a motorsailer rigging tends to be much lighter than "performance sailboats" as there is much less sail area.

AusCan said:

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In the 8 years I've had the boat, I replaced the running and standing rigging once. Total cost was $2600. Other than that, I had a small repair to the mainsail costing $200 and that's about it.

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Cool little boat you have.

$2600 seems awfully low. I don't think I could replace even just one shroud for that here. Heck, just a new mainsail bag probably costs that much. We're replacing a worn out traveler car on the boat I sail on and its >$1500.

TheDory said:

Sounds like you guys are all living my dream. DDW - you've sailed everything from the Great Lakes to the PNW, Chesapeake, Bahamas, and Newfoundland. All areas I'd love to explore. I grew up boating on Lake Michigan and now cruise the Chesapeake but I can't wait to explore the PNW and up around Newfoundland. What's your favorite?

Edsail - a Mainship 430 is what I'm currently eyeing as a possibility for my retirement winter liveaboard.

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So far we love our Mainship. Smaller than your plan but well thought out and most of the maintenance is accessible. I also like the lack of lots of teak outside .... more time to use and enjoy.

EdSail said:

I also like the lack of lots of teak outside .... more time to use and enjoy.

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Amen to that.

TheDory said:

Sounds like you guys are all living my dream. DDW - you've sailed everything from the Great Lakes to the PNW, Chesapeake, Bahamas, and Newfoundland. All areas I'd love to explore. I grew up boating on Lake Michigan and now cruise the Chesapeake but I can't wait to explore the PNW and up around Newfoundland. What's your favorite?

Edsail - a Mainship 430 is what I'm currently eyeing as a possibility for my retirement winter liveaboard.

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I think generally speaking the further north I have gotten the better I have liked it. Places I've been that I would return to given the chance: North Channel in Lake Huron, Newfoundland, the Bras d'Dor and NS coast, Maine (when they outlaw lobster traps), Virgin Islands (when they outlaw charter boats). But I've spent the last 5 seasons in the PNW and bought the trawler specifically to spend several more seasons there. Desolation Sound and north. It is a huge area compared to all those others, with less people than any of the others (excepting perhaps, Newfoundland). And at the same time, few obstacles to enjoying it other than rain, and recently, viruses.

To me the best of all possible worlds would be a just barely trailerable trawler. It's why I keep looking at the Seapiper wishing it had a real house. Relocating across the country would be possible, and relatively cheap to ship to Europe or across the Pacific.

Spoke to the owners of Seapiper. Unfortunately they have no plans for building something in the 40’ range that would serve your (and mine) purpose. Believe the comments on how much the engine is used in sailboats is NOT representative of full time cruisers. It probably is representative of average use but not the cruising crowd. Sail cruisers travel seasonally between good SAILING grounds. For instance for the last 7 years we have traveled between the eastern Caribbean and New England. In that time we saw full main and genny less than 10% of the time. In the Windwards never never used the genny. Just the solent would suffice. Typical day was 20+. Same in the leewards during kite season and Xmas winds. While in those grounds the issue was to have enough time on the engine to warm up the oil. We were in a slip less than 10% of the time and that because we left the boat to go home. It was extremely rare to see a sailboat without the rags up and those were usually charterers not cruisers. The persistence of comments that sailboats don’t sail is directly contrary to my experience. I’m sure it’s the same in other popular SAIL cruising grounds. Know it’s the same for Atlantic coast of Europe (biscay) from friends. Issue in these grounds is too much not too little wind. Sailboats are miserable under bare poles in a seaway. Think the common opinion here is very distorted and only applicable when common sail/power areas are compared with cruisers excluded.

skyhawk said:

As someone just exploring the idea of getting into cruising, I'm wondering about the same sorts of thing.
Lack of responses here speaks volumes in a way....

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I've never owned a motor sailor, but I've owned a lot of sailboats and power boats.

Many, non-sailors, would probably be shocked to find out what a new mainsail and jib, and new standing rigging, can cost for a 40+ foot boat.

And, like engines, sails and rigging doesn't last forever, although with care and maintenance, they will last a lot longer.

Depends on usage and desire for performance.
Dacron stretches and films/other synthetics creep. Huge difference between occasional use in coastal setting and full time cruising with passages. However general rules for the later.
New working sails every 7-8 years.
Annual visit or greater to sailmaker for repairs ( usual is $750-2k).
New standing rigging every 7-8 years if 1x19 or like wire. Sooner if Dux a bit longer if rod but terminals may need attention.
Rotating but constant replacement of running rigging. Most are now replacing stayset or like with some form of dyneema so that’s more boat units.
Then variable work/replacement of line organizers, blocks, winches, clutches and rebedding if a grp boat.
Word I hear is:
The nordhavn motor sailor is a dog.
The nauticats come two ways. The classics are good power boats but lousy sailors. Don’t point and are slow. The moderns are better sailors but nowhere as pretty. Neither are cat A. Believe both are cat B due to the way the doors are done. Both are extremely well built gorgeous boats.
Many sailboats in current production have very well sheltered helms or even pilot houses and are excellent sailors as well as being great seaboats. HR, Amel, Outbound, Boreal come quickly to mind. If looking at motor sailors would look there first. We had a work room and three sided excellent engine access. The statement about limited access isn’t true. In fact engine access was much better than on the nordhavn, KK and Selene we’ve seen. Much less boat yoga.

Hippocampus said:

...... HR, Amel, Outbound, Boreal come quickly to mind. If looking at motor sailors would look there first. We had a work room and three sided excellent engine access. The statement about limited access isn’t true. In fact engine access was much better than on the nordhavn, KK and Selene we’ve seen. Much less boat yoga.

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So.....I was about to call BS on Hippo about great engine room access on these higher-end cruising sailboats. But, given he's typically well thought-out, I said to myself "better take a look before you hit the keyboard......"

So I grabbed a listing for an Outbound 46, which I believe he owned. While I don't fully agree with his statement, I have to say the O46 has one of the most clever work-shop areas I've seen on any boat, let alone a sailboat (screen-grabs attached, but here is the listing). So while the engine room in the N40 is still great, I certainly see his point.

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/2015/outbound-46-3693002/

If you scroll to the 10th picture or so, you'll see the portside head has a door at the aft wall. Open that puppy up and lift the overhead hatch/seat, and voila - a stand-up workshop! Way cool. Great space.