Years ago I was waiting for the Cook Strait ferry with my 20 footer on the trailer behind me, the ferry is a 20k ton monster that travels between our south and north islands. It was late, the ferry was not going to run until morning, and it was in the depths of winter and howling down with rain.
Being late the town was shut, no food, nothing. The car behind mine had what looked like a young mum and dad, a small child and a baby, crammed in with a heap of luggage. They were going to have to spend a very uncomfortable night in there so I tapped on the window, pointed to my boat, explained that I had room on board and could heat up something to eat.
They accepted the invitation, hot soup and bread, mum 'n dad with baby took the big vee double forward, the child got one quarter berth and I the other. I had enough blankets to keep everyone warm.
It was a nice night, they were very pleasant people and the child though it was a great adventure, I was happy to help.
The ubiquitous trailer sailer is an RV everywhere I’ve been except Whiskeytown Lake in California. After a 5 hour drive to one of the best sailing lakes on the West Coast we were turned away by the consessionaire and Rangers because the tent camps were full(no, they weren’t all open), we didnt have an RV( no again, my 23’ boat has self containment for four days) and there was no arguing with their logic. It amounted to a locals only play ground and everyone else had to haul out and go to a motel. There was motor homes and trailers that were not as nice as my comfy sailboat.
I would like to see more of this topic in Small Craft. I would also like to travel with a Catalina 22 for vacations. We made a trip to finger lakes without the boat to see how to do an east coast trip. September was the off season and with school in there was slip space but the camp ground was full of glampers. We had a tent and everyone looked at us like we were nuts but for us it was a stop over for a VRBO on Cape Cod. KOA stop on the way to NY was great off season it was almost empty that night we rented a cabin and we had the sleeping bags and pillows. Lessons learned don’t drive major highways 75, 81, 95 are loaded with 18 wheelers and they ride the line in the center of the lane. We came back from Massachusetts on the NY turn pike, trucks don’t like to pay the tolls. We dropped down to Cincinnati then headed south to the land between the lakes and checked out and stayed at the KOA there, it was nice. I would route the trip with KOA in mind and use the smaller Hwys, rig the the boat for plug in power and look at small A/C and way to vent out the hatch for southern trips. Next trip to checkout the route for us is to Door County Wisconsin and see what hwy 57 north is like to travel.
Yup, it's the Blue Highways, off the beaten path for me when I'm trailer-sailing. Thanks for the KOA campground tip. And I hope that you'll tell us about your Door County and Rt 57 trip...I was boatless last time, but it was still worth it!
Driving to Maine last summer with a Montgomery 15, tried to make it one day, couldn't, too exhausted after 10 hrs driving, it was going to be dark soon; motel rates were ridiculous, the one nearby campground was full... saw a sign - "County Park" with an arrow down a narrow road. Okay. Drove down it a quarter mile, just a field, a few tennis courts and a large paved area for cars and... a Montgomery 15 for the next 8 hours.
I wore a couple of articles for SCA concerning trailering and got numerous comments that may be helpful. Trailer-Sailor Trepidations(5/28/24) and Trailersailer Fender Bender (10/28/24). Have fun and good luck!
For no particular reason, the drawing reminds me of the drawings for "Travels With Charley" by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck's truck and camper are in the Steinbeck Center and Museum in Salinas, California.
I'll offer a couple of suggestions based on my MacGregor and it's trailer. First, build a ladder or steps permanently attached to the trailer tongue to get up and down. Ideally it has handholds to assist its use, especially if your boat has a bow pulpit. Then you don't need to carry or worry about trying to level a ladder. Assuming your mast step is hinged, attach a second hinge point up at the bow (the MacGregor bow pulpit comes with it welded on). Then, as Rob says, use a longer mast crutch to lift it well above the cockpit. Once it's secured, it provides a decent handhold for traipsing up to the bow, and the exit. I use lots of bungie cords to keep all the shrouds and halyards tied to the mast and out of harm's way.
Since I camp where it gets hot and humid, I'm seriously considering one of those portable, battery-powered air conditioners that I can charge up while I'm driving to the next ramp or camp site. On the land, and when there's no breeze out on the water, it would make sleeping in the cabin much more tolerable.
We have land camped on our sailboats and a a few things we did was make a longer mast crutch and raised the front of the mast on the bow pulpit. This gave us headroom in the cockpit so we could stand up and on one boat we could even put the dodger up. We would also either disconnect the shrouds or tie them up so that they are not a tripping hazard or dangling loose in the cockpit. We also have a wheeled gray water tank that we used for the sink drain in campgrounds. I took a piece of hose that fit tight into the through hull and put a garden hose fitting on the other end so I could screw it onto the gray water tank. Then I could wheel it over to the dump station. We made sure we had a safe and sturdy ladder to access the boat when on land. If you have shore power, having an adapter from an RV type plug to the marine type, means you can have power to charge your batteries or run a heater. Some of our boats did not have shore power, so we would just use a three-way GFCI and be able to run a heater and charge our devices. When we land camp, I also keep screw type stabilizers to put under the back of the trailer to stabilize it, and I use a little 24" level to get it level front to back and side to side. We have found that most State and County parks as well as KOA campgrounds will let you camp with a boat. Some of the private ones or Coach Park type ones will not let you camp on a boat. I know I would sure like to hear more about your travels!
Depends on the type of boat, but here are some thoughts. Make sure you have an easy way on and off the boat. a good ladder or step system will make this a million times more enjoyable then trying to swing over the side while on your tip toes on top of a trailer fender. The more I think about it this would be biggest thing have an easy way on and off the boat on the trailer or it's just a chore. If your boats big enough to have plumbing be aware of how it's set up and if your using water make sure your not depending on something like a seawater inlet to flush the toilet (for this one instance I will say a porta potty or composting head is preferable if using both on shore and on land). Same thing for grey water if using the sink with others nearby you might want a length of hose and a bucket to prevent the water from just splashing on the ground (in particular camp grounds frown on this). The spars can be annoying but solutions depend on the boat. If the spars are short (like a gaff catboat) some times you can just offset them to one side and be OK. On a boat with a short keel I once made a setup to carry them along the center of the trailer along the keel instead of on deck. This allowed them to use the length of the tongue and still be out of the way but wont work on most swing keels. Might want to look into bug netting bugs tend to be a much bigger issue on shore. Being able to keep the hatches open but bugs out can be a big deal.
And a final thought make sure it's easy to get in and out.
Years ago I was waiting for the Cook Strait ferry with my 20 footer on the trailer behind me, the ferry is a 20k ton monster that travels between our south and north islands. It was late, the ferry was not going to run until morning, and it was in the depths of winter and howling down with rain.
Being late the town was shut, no food, nothing. The car behind mine had what looked like a young mum and dad, a small child and a baby, crammed in with a heap of luggage. They were going to have to spend a very uncomfortable night in there so I tapped on the window, pointed to my boat, explained that I had room on board and could heat up something to eat.
They accepted the invitation, hot soup and bread, mum 'n dad with baby took the big vee double forward, the child got one quarter berth and I the other. I had enough blankets to keep everyone warm.
It was a nice night, they were very pleasant people and the child though it was a great adventure, I was happy to help.
What a wonderful story, John! Thanks for sharing it.
The ubiquitous trailer sailer is an RV everywhere I’ve been except Whiskeytown Lake in California. After a 5 hour drive to one of the best sailing lakes on the West Coast we were turned away by the consessionaire and Rangers because the tent camps were full(no, they weren’t all open), we didnt have an RV( no again, my 23’ boat has self containment for four days) and there was no arguing with their logic. It amounted to a locals only play ground and everyone else had to haul out and go to a motel. There was motor homes and trailers that were not as nice as my comfy sailboat.
Crazy.
I would like to see more of this topic in Small Craft. I would also like to travel with a Catalina 22 for vacations. We made a trip to finger lakes without the boat to see how to do an east coast trip. September was the off season and with school in there was slip space but the camp ground was full of glampers. We had a tent and everyone looked at us like we were nuts but for us it was a stop over for a VRBO on Cape Cod. KOA stop on the way to NY was great off season it was almost empty that night we rented a cabin and we had the sleeping bags and pillows. Lessons learned don’t drive major highways 75, 81, 95 are loaded with 18 wheelers and they ride the line in the center of the lane. We came back from Massachusetts on the NY turn pike, trucks don’t like to pay the tolls. We dropped down to Cincinnati then headed south to the land between the lakes and checked out and stayed at the KOA there, it was nice. I would route the trip with KOA in mind and use the smaller Hwys, rig the the boat for plug in power and look at small A/C and way to vent out the hatch for southern trips. Next trip to checkout the route for us is to Door County Wisconsin and see what hwy 57 north is like to travel.
Yup, it's the Blue Highways, off the beaten path for me when I'm trailer-sailing. Thanks for the KOA campground tip. And I hope that you'll tell us about your Door County and Rt 57 trip...I was boatless last time, but it was still worth it!
Driving to Maine last summer with a Montgomery 15, tried to make it one day, couldn't, too exhausted after 10 hrs driving, it was going to be dark soon; motel rates were ridiculous, the one nearby campground was full... saw a sign - "County Park" with an arrow down a narrow road. Okay. Drove down it a quarter mile, just a field, a few tennis courts and a large paved area for cars and... a Montgomery 15 for the next 8 hours.
I wore a couple of articles for SCA concerning trailering and got numerous comments that may be helpful. Trailer-Sailor Trepidations(5/28/24) and Trailersailer Fender Bender (10/28/24). Have fun and good luck!
Sorry , wrote autocorrected to wore.
For no particular reason, the drawing reminds me of the drawings for "Travels With Charley" by John Steinbeck. Steinbeck's truck and camper are in the Steinbeck Center and Museum in Salinas, California.
I'll offer a couple of suggestions based on my MacGregor and it's trailer. First, build a ladder or steps permanently attached to the trailer tongue to get up and down. Ideally it has handholds to assist its use, especially if your boat has a bow pulpit. Then you don't need to carry or worry about trying to level a ladder. Assuming your mast step is hinged, attach a second hinge point up at the bow (the MacGregor bow pulpit comes with it welded on). Then, as Rob says, use a longer mast crutch to lift it well above the cockpit. Once it's secured, it provides a decent handhold for traipsing up to the bow, and the exit. I use lots of bungie cords to keep all the shrouds and halyards tied to the mast and out of harm's way.
Since I camp where it gets hot and humid, I'm seriously considering one of those portable, battery-powered air conditioners that I can charge up while I'm driving to the next ramp or camp site. On the land, and when there's no breeze out on the water, it would make sleeping in the cabin much more tolerable.
We have land camped on our sailboats and a a few things we did was make a longer mast crutch and raised the front of the mast on the bow pulpit. This gave us headroom in the cockpit so we could stand up and on one boat we could even put the dodger up. We would also either disconnect the shrouds or tie them up so that they are not a tripping hazard or dangling loose in the cockpit. We also have a wheeled gray water tank that we used for the sink drain in campgrounds. I took a piece of hose that fit tight into the through hull and put a garden hose fitting on the other end so I could screw it onto the gray water tank. Then I could wheel it over to the dump station. We made sure we had a safe and sturdy ladder to access the boat when on land. If you have shore power, having an adapter from an RV type plug to the marine type, means you can have power to charge your batteries or run a heater. Some of our boats did not have shore power, so we would just use a three-way GFCI and be able to run a heater and charge our devices. When we land camp, I also keep screw type stabilizers to put under the back of the trailer to stabilize it, and I use a little 24" level to get it level front to back and side to side. We have found that most State and County parks as well as KOA campgrounds will let you camp with a boat. Some of the private ones or Coach Park type ones will not let you camp on a boat. I know I would sure like to hear more about your travels!
Depends on the type of boat, but here are some thoughts. Make sure you have an easy way on and off the boat. a good ladder or step system will make this a million times more enjoyable then trying to swing over the side while on your tip toes on top of a trailer fender. The more I think about it this would be biggest thing have an easy way on and off the boat on the trailer or it's just a chore. If your boats big enough to have plumbing be aware of how it's set up and if your using water make sure your not depending on something like a seawater inlet to flush the toilet (for this one instance I will say a porta potty or composting head is preferable if using both on shore and on land). Same thing for grey water if using the sink with others nearby you might want a length of hose and a bucket to prevent the water from just splashing on the ground (in particular camp grounds frown on this). The spars can be annoying but solutions depend on the boat. If the spars are short (like a gaff catboat) some times you can just offset them to one side and be OK. On a boat with a short keel I once made a setup to carry them along the center of the trailer along the keel instead of on deck. This allowed them to use the length of the tongue and still be out of the way but wont work on most swing keels. Might want to look into bug netting bugs tend to be a much bigger issue on shore. Being able to keep the hatches open but bugs out can be a big deal.
And a final thought make sure it's easy to get in and out.