I agree . On our Key West 3,000 mile cruise , we just didn't use the sails that much . Not enough to justify all the problems they presented .mastreb wrote:Dave, I don't think anyone is dismissing your idea, I just think people want to go trawler to avoid the hassle of dealing with masts, sails, and rigging entirely. If you're dealing with a mast anyway, why not just hoist the stock mast and sail?DaveB wrote: Seems like no one whats to raise a simple 15 ft. mast with boom and sails attached for a steadying sail.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!
Blind as a Bat.
I've had my rig off the boat since my accident, and while I can't wait to get back to sailing, it sure is a hull of a lot easier to get the boat into and out of the water without the rig on. Also makes for a lot more useful deck space.
So I can see the attraction. Fortunately the "euro styling" of the Mac doesn't look bad at all with the rig off, unlike a traditional sailboat style which would just look silly.
We have a friend who has sailed his
from Bath Ill to Key West and I mean sailed . He did it on a very small budget . Of course to sail this far meant holding up in various places to wait on favorable winds. It also meant braving high winds and waves on the 'outside" in order to move . We prefer the ICW and its calmer water . This is our first sail boat . The reason we fell in love with a Mac was that it could be used as a trawler if we decided sailing wasn't for us . We discovered it wasn't , but we still love the boat , sans mast ! A MacTrawler is a good looking boat with nice lines . And as said , any other sailboat , just looks like a demasted sailboat .
