Trailer Sailing--How to Make it Happen

[thistlecap]

When my wife's health declined, we sold our cruising boat.  She would never again be able to spend long periods at sea.  I got Thistle, a barely trailerable 25-footer.  Life is for living, and there is no living without sailing.  But, we ended up moving to Oklahoma, the land of dirt and rocks, so Jean could be close to the grandkids.  The Gulf Coast is 750 miles away.  The Chesapeake is 1200 miles away.  Now, I'm looking at SERIOUS trailer sailing far from home, and would love to see an exchange on how people in similar situations actually make it happen.  It's not like hooking the trailer on for a daysail.  It will involve a substantial investment of both time and money to move the boat to blue water. To make it worthwhile, do people plan trips spanning a month or more?  How do they travel back and forth to home for family time?  Drive? Train? Bus?  Dragging the boat increases cost in gas and truck wear.  Do you leave it in a marina to rejoin it later?  Have you ended up SOL when bad weather is coming and you can't get to the boat to take care of it? Since we don't have generators, how do you recharge phones for communications with family?  It's hard to know the questions to ask, but rather than re-invent the wheel, would like to learn how others have made long-distance boating work.  Thanks, Jim

[CharlieJ]

Recharging phones is easy- just get a car charger and plug the phone into the ships batteries, using a cigarette lighter outlet.

As for the rest, there aren't any EASY answers. Some we know keep the boat down at the coast, and just drive back and forth- means keeping it in a storage yard, mast down, or in a slip. One friend of mine just tows his 22 footer to where ever he wants to sail, hang the expense.

Pretty much which ever option happens to suit your needs I would think.

You might even consider having two boats- a small one for sailing the lakes in Ok, and a larger one for coastal work, left there.

[AdriftAtSea]

It helps if you have friends who live on the coast who can keep an eye on your boat for you, when you're not able to get to it.  Even though my boat is in a marina a reasonable distance from where I live, I travel quite a bit for business, and having one of my crew living 10 minutes from the boat means that I have someone who can check on her when I can't.

[Frank]

I love trailer sailing.Been to the Chesapeake,Buzzards Bay erea,Lake Champlain,North Channel Lake Huron etc. We keep a 25fter on the hard for winter down south and trailersail a 15fter at home.They are a blast.Easy to prep,rig,launch and vise versa.Stress free fun and ya just park em and tarp em when home.I think 2 boats work well for some situations