Sail vs motor...Aargh!

[Doc]

Diving from a sailboat, even a larger boat, means some serious accommodation issues.

No easy exit and re-boarding, no dive platform, very little storage space.

No possibility of anything other than a moored dive, unless you are really going big time and have a RIB in tow.

At that point, you're a sailboat towing a motorboat.

 

[octopuppy]

Just borrow Larry E's 40 knotter.

 

[gbert]

I agree with the 2 boat solution... as a sailor, I like to sail out to the Channel Islands in California with a couple tanks and get some dives in. It sure would be nice in an open motor boat to get to Anacapa Island in 30 min instead of 2 hours but that's the price I pay to enjoy the trip. I've contemplated using a Hobie Cat to make that run but once you get in the lee of the island, getting back out might be a challenge. A trailerable trimaran may be an option for you, like a Farrier or Corsair. I've sailed an F-27/28 that gets up to 10+ knots in 13 knots of knots of wind. It also makes for a decent dive platform since you have the trampolines for space. They fold up into a standard slip size.

Another option (although they sail like garbage but you can still sail them) is a MacGregor or a Hunter theEdge. They're pretty much a motorboat that has sails just in case you run out of gas (chuckle). Or get a big motor sailor (there are a few out there but they're typically in the 40-50' range)

 

[w ripley]

I have a simple solution, keep the sail boat and buy a motor boat. If you do some fancy math, you can show your wife how keeping the sail boats will save gas money. Then show her how the motor boat will save you time (so you can spend more time with her). Making this arguments sound logical of course best done after a bottle of wine or 2.

You can tell someone who has been working on these type of remarks for a while. I have to come up with some pretty good ones myself, to get out the door and go diving or sailing, but my skills pale next to yours!

If money is an object then you have to choose one of the other. I wouldn't compromise a sailing boat to get there fast any more than I would compromise a power boat that would also sail (somewhat). I sail, but would have difficulty anchoring any boat off shore and going diving, unless someone is on watch in the boat.

Be sure to tell us how you resolve your problem.

 

[SCUBASailor]

I agree with the 2 boat solution... as a sailor, I like to sail out to the Channel Islands in California with a couple tanks and get some dives in. It sure would be nice in an open motor boat to get to Anacapa Island in 30 min instead of 2 hours but that's the price I pay to enjoy the trip. I've contemplated using a Hobie Cat to make that run but once you get in the lee of the island, getting back out might be a challenge. A trailerable trimaran may be an option for you, like a Farrier or Corsair. I've sailed an F-27/28 that gets up to 10+ knots in 13 knots of knots of wind. It also makes for a decent dive platform since you have the trampolines for space. They fold up into a standard slip size.

Another option (although they sail like garbage but you can still sail them) is a MacGregor or a Hunter theEdge. They're pretty much a motorboat that has sails just in case you run out of gas (chuckle). Or get a big motor sailor (there are a few out there but they're typically in the 40-50' range)

I appreciate the advice, but I am still stumped. I have an O'Day 31. I would never trade her for a MacGregor. I've come to the dilemma that I will either keep her, or cut her loose for a motor boat. It's like leaving your wife so you can marry your girlfriend. I want them both, but everyone knows that's not the way it works.

 

[Blue Sparkle]

I figure boats are like golf clubs: You need a whole bagful for the diversity.

Of course that doesn't make them any easier to afford...so I'm not really much help here.

 

[Airleron]

I feel your pain....We own 3 sailboats and 0 powerboats. We live just a few miles from the Inlet so diving off our own powerboat is a must in 2011.

The plan.....sell the WestSail and Kettenburg, keep the Cape Dory Typhoon as a daysailer. Take $ from sale and purchase a 26' center console for fishing/diving.

Of course, I'll be devastated to sell the other boats, but we don't do any long distance sailing anymore.

A catamaran would be nice though.........................hmmmmmm.

 

[vladimir]

It's like leaving your wife so you can marry your girlfriend. I want them both, but everyone knows that's not the way it works.

Yeah, the way it works is you try to keep both, the wife finds out and divorces you, and the girlfriend leaves you because you're now broke. The sailboat has given you many years of pleasure, albeit of the safe, slightly boring kind. The powerboat promises excitement and a whole new world of pleasure, but you haven't seen the maintenance bills yet. Stick with [-]wife[/-] sailboat.

 

[sambolino44]

Actually, I've been fantasizing a lot lately about owning a boat I could dive from, and since everything else I do is other-than-fossil-fuel-powered, sails and oars would be the way to go. Until your post I hadn't put much thought into how fast I'd get bored with the limited range a slow boat has. But in my case it's all academic anyway, since ain't no way I'll ever be able to afford my own boat.

I dived out of a 15' RIB recently. It was neat, but (and this shows that I have no connection to the real world at all) I started thinking about what it would take to add a centerboard trunk and gaff rig to that RIB. Talk about slow.

 

[Randy g]

Keep the sailboat and befreind a new dive buddy that loves to dive with a fast powerboat!

Problem solved!