Scowt: A Safe and Comfortable 12' 10" (3.9m) Cruiser-Sailboat for the Aging Singlehanded Skipper

A few years ago the day came when I had become too weak, too clumsy and simply too comfortable for my 7-meter (23’) trailer boat.

Article by Michael Anderson

A veteran trailersailor longs to return to the water and to make it through the square of the circle.

A few years ago, the day came when I had become too weak, too clumsy and simply too comfortable for my 7-meter (23’) trailer boat. The long journey with the heavy trailer from Germany to the Mediterranean. The strenuous positioning of the heavy mast. Heaving the 45 kilo outboard into the bracket. For a man well over 70, who had always worked at a desk and done little for his body, it was simply too uncomfortable and too strenuous. After all, a hobby should be fun. And then there were the annoying crane appointments in hectic, overcrowded marinas. At the same time, my first mate no longer wanted to sail for reasons of age. And the boat was unnecessarily large and spacious for me alone.

In order to continue sailing solo, I then had a hapless interlude on a modern 17-foot boat. I could only crouch with my knees to my ears instead of sitting comfortably. I was never interested in pure daysailing. At least for short trips lasting a few days, the boat should have been habitable with minimal comfort and some “coziness.” In addition, the 17-foot boat was still quite difficult to rig. After this last attempt I resigned myself to my fate and stopped sailing altogether. But the desire to sail has not gone even after years.

And today, now 77 years old, I asked myself whether a special sailing boat, as small as possible, could be designed that I could still trailer, slip and navigate safely and with pleasure for shorter trips as an autonomous singlehanded sailor, despite my limited physical abilities, even at the age of 80. Even with one significant restriction: Not sailing in open water and with a boat design that is only intended for sheltered waters.

I am now almost certain the answer to this question is “yes!” However, you have to slaughter almost all the “sacred cows” of sailing and boat building and throw the usual aesthetic maxims overboard. Because to make a very small boat very comfortable and safe to handle for a very old skipper is nothing less than squaring the circle!

“Happy8y”

I have given my concept idea the motto “Happy Eighty.” Which means: I reject the idea of “Beauty Eighty” from the outset and leave it to the cosmetics industry or unscrupulous cosmetic surgeons. Fortunately, you can be very cheerful and adventurous at 80, but you can’t win a beauty contest by any stretch of the imagination. Fittingly, “my” boat doesn't have to be beautiful, or even elegant. It's enough for me if it has its own “character” and perhaps a little “charm.” Downsizing a “beautiful” boat to a length of 3.90 meters only leads to a toy boat, for which the skipper would have to be downsized on the same scale. To square the circle, the boat must break with all design conventions and cheerfully have the courage to be ugly!

Under the formula “Happy8y,” countless different designs are of course conceivable. The following is about the variant presented as a very rough cardboard model:

“Scowt”

With its flat and box-shaped hull, the boat is a scow. This historic type of boat was prized for its maximum usable volume in relation to its width and length. And with its shallow draft, the scow is an ideal scout for exploring shallow, barely frequented branches of sheltered waters and enjoying secluded bays away from the herd of sailors. So scow + scout = Scowt.

These are my sometimes very contradictory requirements for Scowt, which call for squaring the circle: