If you are going to cruise in cold climates a large pilot house is worth consideration
There are tradeoffs. Aesthetics, windage, weight, and deck configuration are all difficult to handle design wise, and put a definite crimp in the cruising lifestyle if you are doing a tradewind circumnavigation.
Of course you are not going to be very fast under sail unless heading off the wind in a fresh breeze.
Which is where the motor part of motorsailor comes into play. Progress slow? Fire off the iron genoa and do your part to hold off the coming ice age. Meanwhile, you will be very cozy standing watch in this big pilot house, if the weather is wet or chilly.
We used to turn our nose up at this sort of configuration. But now, with maturity, and a propensity for cold weather cruising, it don’t look so bad.
Posted by Steve Dashew (January 22, 2011)
January 24th, 2011 at 10:10 am
Funny how beauty is in the eye of the beholder………… I see a functional = beautiful cruising boat… from my admittedly untrained (but eager to learn eye) I see a boat that is a half step away from the accomplished “diesel ducks” that aspire to the many of the same cruising goals as your designs ( the ducks are definitely way more blue collar but, way less $$ )
Thank you for your significant contributions to the cruising world. Your willingness to share your real world experiences and earnest opinions regardless of personal gain/profit is a very rare virtue in todays day and age.
Sincerely,
Ed Smith
January 24th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
I delivered one of these from Cape May NJ to Cranberry Island Maine in a very, very cold and rainy weekend. It took a good bit of wind to get the sails working but man was that pilot house a nice place to stand watch in. I was hooked — it changed the whole dynamic of an offshore passage. I can only imagine what it must be like to do so in the greatroom of a Dashew design, while making nice speed over ground.
February 3rd, 2011 at 4:01 am
Hi Steve, we met on the “ARC” i was with Doug (65th Birthday) at the crew supper and subsiquent tour of Windhorse.
Thanks for you both for your hospitality.
I recently sold one of these motor sailors – This looks like a aft cabin version of a Colvic Watson 34 with a slightly altered bow sprit affair.
We sailed ours all over the North west of scotland England and south to spain, and yes you need a good blow to to sail them but we tended to motor sail with a self feathering prop and this worked well.
very safe, stable and comfortable for the young kids we had with us.
Kind regards
Lance