I’m looking at getting a retirement trailer sailer and really liked the NS 30 I sailed on with friends on SF Bay in the 80s.
Since I’ll be single handing most of the time - wife doesn’t sail - I think a NS 22 would be great for me. But, with that rig, just how good a trailer sailer is it? Can it be rigged alone sitting on the trailer at a boat launch? Or is the trailer more for moving it from one place with a crane to the next?
Other than actually finding one and the cost, that’s my main concern.
I would imagine setting up the rig would be the main problem, lifting that long shroudless mast and getting it thru the hole in the deck to the mast step - especially if you’re working solo. When I was younger, I had a Moore 24 which had a tabernacle making it easy to rig up solo.
It would also require a very deep and steep launch ramp or some sort of extended tongue for your trailer. Probably looking at some sort of davit otherwise, which may help with stepping the mast.
Pat Furr
NS 26C #133
Bandolero
Charlotte, VT
I had a Pearson Ensign for almost 30 years and towed to regattas all over the eastern half of the US.
That boat weighs 3000# as opposed to the Nonsuch 22 at 5000#
The 5000# boat turns into maybe 7500# towing weight. You’ll want a beefy SUV or pickup with special towing accessories.
The Ensign mast was about 30’ long and perhaps 75 - 80 pounds with all the wire and running rigging
The Nonsuch 22 mast is around 40’ long and must weigh at least 200 pounds with it’s wire and running rigging. Big overhangs when towing.
The butt of the Ensign mast was about 3.5’ from the mast step to the partners.
The butt of the Nonsuch 22 mast is almost 6’ from the mast step to the partners.
We regularly stepped the Ensign mast (2 people) with a broken portion of a Lightning mast about 20’ long, stepped on deck as a gin pole. You might be able to use a gin pole similar to ours to step a larger gin pole to step the Nonsuch 22 mast.
Based on that, if I were trailer sailing, I’d look for a boat much lighter than a Nonsuch 22 and with a shorter, lighter mast.
If you are intending to daysail, a Sonar might be good. 1800#, 22’ long, stable and lively.
I trailed my Montgomery 23 sloop every year, for 10yrs to and from SF Bay to Port Townsend. Boat and trailer weighed 5800lbs, trailing height 12’, cabin stepped mast 32’.
With the center board up, draught 2’ 6”. I used a Harbor Freight 12v winch clamped to a U bolt through the bridge deck and the 9’ boom as the gin pole. I sold the whole rig in
1999 to a guy from Minneapolis.
Some fears ago I saw a 22’ Wylie Cat on trailer in PT, a lovely boat but more racer than cruiser.
Dick Lane
NS26c #35 Swoose
Port Townsend.
I have a trailer that I will not be using, as I don’t have a vehicle to tow it with and don’t plan on trailing it anywhere. I used it to bring the boat from the point of purchase to my home here in S.W. Florida. I finally have the boat in the water and I am now ready to sell the trailer. It was custom built for a N22 in 2005 by Loadmaster Trailer co. I replaced all four tires prior to the trip here. It appears to have never been submerged so there is only some superficial rust where some paint was scraped. It is rated at 10,000 lbs. GVW and has dual axles with electric brakes. I haven’t used the brakes so condition unknown, however the lights all work. It has a 6 foot tongue extension and interchangeable bow stands - one for a winch and the other is a jack stack stand. The boat was very stable to tow at normal highway speeds.
The reality is that these boats are not trailer sailors in the sense that you can pull into a local boat ramp, rig, and launch it. You can certainly take it to a distant location behind a pickup truck without special permits as it has a 8.5’ beam, but as you pointed out you would need a crane to install the mast. You would need local marinas, or if you are a yacht club member you may have reciprocals with other clubs that have facilities appropriate to rig and launch the boat.
I would not call my NS22 O/B a “trailerable” boat. Once again, going back in time, when I purchased MOUSTACHES in 2012, one of the few other NS22s that was for sale was hull #58, owned at that time, by Robert Peterson, of Colorado. I have a feeling that it is now owned by another family member, Brad Peterson. Robert made many heads turn as he trailered the boat a fair distance to attend a Nonsuch Rendezvous. I am not sure if he took the mast apart to do this trip.
I think that the boat needed to be Travelifted off and launched but I may be wrong. And, as Ron Weber points out, you cannot rig this boat “quickly”. The mast is heavy and close to 40’ long and I would NEVER take it apart unless I had to for maintenance or to deal with an issue.
However, if you decided to buy a wonderful NS22, inboard or outboard, and you were thinking of a few long moves or a convenient way to store the boat “on the hard”, I would jump at Ron Weber’s trailer. A trailer for this type of boat is as common as chicken’s teeth and this trailer sounds like a goodie.
Would you, possibly, consider either a slip at a marina or joining a club on or with access to SF Bay ? Trailer sailing is great if you really want to be able to sail in different waters or if the boat rigs as quick as a wink. Having the boat conveniently in the water, ready to go, at a club, a marina or a mooring, will cause you to use your boat five times as much, if not more.
Gene - My Dad has a 22 with a trailer. Setting the mast requires a mast “jig” - our neighbor created one with a telephone pole and rigging. Having helped remove / replace it - I can’t imagine doing that without a rig like that.
Once you remove the mast and have it on the trailer - it trailers well, but I would not call it a “tralier-able” sailboat that moves to multiple places in a sailing season.
Dad’s might be for sale this summer (He’s 86 now) - so keep your eyes out!
Robert Welch
Delaware
Boat stored in Kill Devil Hills, NC
I know others have trailered a NS22. I owned NS 22 #30 and a wonderful boat it was for me. But the thought of trailering it requires a lot more courage than what I have. The cost of taking the mast up and down and the cost of lifting in out of the water is way beyond my abilities. I would doubt that you could use a boat ramp. But others have done it. I wouldn’t. I now own a NS 30 and I can tell you that it is no more difficult to sail than my NS 22 was. I had to practice to back her up into my slip. Other than that it is no different.
Single handling a NS 30 is no more difficult than a NS 22. Whatever your decision, you’ll be happy with a Nonsuch of any size.
It has been done, I know of one that was based in Denver and hauled to Kingston as I recall. Assume you’d need a 350 or equivalent plus the appropriate trailer.
Well, it’s obvious that the NS 22 isn’t the boat for my intended use. That’s a bummer, but the reason I asked.
While I do have a large local marina (Everett, WA Marina) with over 150 24’-28’ slips available, and a dry storage facility with unlimited launch/recovery, I’ll be retired in less than a year, and am trying to shed fixed costs like that.
Gene,
Here is an article on possible contenders: trailerable-cruisers
I suspect you may have already seen it. Of course there are a number of trailerable multi hulls as well. None of them are a Nonsuch.
Good luck with the search.
Mark Powers
Gene,
I previously owned a ComPac Suncat and loved it. I cruised my local lakes in and around Laconia, NH, but at least twice a summer I would trailer her up to Lake Champlain (my old stomping waters) and gunk hole for a week at a time. I was very comfortably with her on the broadest parts of that lake in 20+ knot winds. The ease of setup on take down were second to none. You would be giving up significant room and amenities compared to the NS 22, but the ComPac is a true trailer sailer.
Pat Furr
NS 26C #133
Bandolero
Charlotte, VT
