i have been told by several sailors that owning two boats is a waste. they say that with a new family there will not be enough time to sail them both. how many of you have (or had)two boats and how often do (did) you sail them?

I own 3 18sx.Fox and FX-One...got hooked into racing so I bought a Fox....big problem no crew.....so I bought an FX-One...so I sail that one ,,,the Fox sits at the yacht club covered up.....the 18 needed some work..so I hope to sell it soon.....

I own several boats, my Supercat-20 is used for distance racing and fun while my Nacra 18 square is used for bouy racing and I am putting together a Nacra 5.2 with 10' beams and a snuffer witch gives me something to do during the off season. I don't consider more than 1 boat a waste but a blessing. I've been blessed with 8! 4 mono's and 4 cat's. The mono's might be considered a waste but they are a gold mine in hardware and parts to use on my cats!
Adicted to sailing!
Don Caldwell
Supercat-20
Nacra 19 square
Nacra 5.2
ect, ect

Hi there local sailor,
I like your way of thinking. Heck, we sail year 'round in this area, and it wouldn't be like you had to work the sailing into a "short" sailing season. Give up the job, and then you really can make sailing time. (Laughing Out Loud).

The way I see it, they haven't built (personal opinion) a perfect boat yet. So, the more you have, the closer you can be to the perfect boat.

The windsurfers and kite sailors have already figured this out. Although it is a bit simpler for them to bring all the toys to the beach at the same time. You would probably want to do this to make full use of the different wind conditions.

I can try a bit of logic on my wife when I try to pull this off:
The insurance company would probably extend a discount for multiple policies; my property value would increase by building a new structure to house this (these) additional boats;
she wouldn't feel obligated to help me hold the boat down when conditions were less than favorable for single-handing; AND the sails, rigging, and other assorted "boat stuff" [that I usually replace every year] would last longer (because I would not be using one boat exclusively).

If I have a problem getting a seal of approval, maybe you can help me with my close.

Stop by and say hi at Dunedin. I'm there almost every weekend. One boat (P19MX)
Dave

I've never tried sailing both of my hobies at once, but I have invited friends to come out and sail my H14 while I sail the H16. Also, if time is scarce, the quick rigging time for the H14 makes short outings reasonable. When I bought my 16 I thought I would sell the H14, but I soon realized I couldn't part with her.
Greg
H14, H16

Dave-

I just returned from Sarasota looking at a business to buy and the surrounding area for storage locations for my three boats. When I found out I had to drive to Tampa to sail I broke off the deal. I have three boats and all are for different uses. I would say the deciding factor for me would be "How much time does it take to launch and retreive?". Also How much money are you planning to tie up and/or what else could be done with the cost [money] of boat #2 or #3???

In my profession debt is not a good idea because when the economy is good its really good but when its bad you definitely don't want extra monthly payments...

thom

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have 3 boats. They are 3 different kinds, and I use them for 3 completely different purposes. They are also near the water, or in it. This enables me & my family to spend a lot of time in water-related activities, which is important to us, and a welcome relief in our very hot summertime. I would definitely use any one of them more, if they were my only boat, but I also think my total time in water-related activities would be reduced if I only had one boat, since there would be conditions where that one boat was inappropriate. I do get flak from my kids about spending too much time messing with the boats, like when I bring one home in the driveway to do some work on it, and they can't play basketball. So, I generally have resigned myself to having 3 boats that are always in need of many hours of general maintenance, but none are unsafe or unusable.

NACRA 5.5 - racing, going fast, taking kids for fun rides
Ensign (23 ft keelboat) - socializing, moonlight summer sailing, club racing (ha!), taking another family out with ours, RC platform?
16ft Motorboat - (I mean chase boat!) windless days, different parts of the lake, tubing & skiing, going to other lakes that aren't sailable.

Before I had kids, I did at one point have 2 catamarans
I was sailing recreationally so often I found it hard to keep my race boat (NACRA5.2) in "fighting trim". So I found a NACRA5.0 to use as a recreational boat. In that time period, I probably sailed more often than I ever have, but that was mostly because it was "before kids".

i have the prindle 16, but want a monohull for "dryer" sailing. my wife used to sail on an ensign. they are pretty boats, but a bit slow for my taste. i want to keep the cat and get a monohull, but i think i won't have enough time for 2 boats. i get to use the cat once of twice a month as it is. now, maybe if i convince her that children will like the beachcat better than being confined to a monohull for most of the day...

I have two boats: An RC-27 and an A Class Cat. The RC-27 is great for distance races, PHRF races, and day sailing with the family. It is a bit of a hassle to launch/retrieve short handed and is a major pain to breakdown and trailer.

I sail the A Class whenever I have no time to get crew or just want to sail by myself (although I have single handed the RC-27 many times). If I want to go to a normal cat regatta out of town, I take the A Class. If I want to sail with just my 2 1/2 year old daughter and it isn't too windy, I take the A Cat.

I would gues I sail the A Class 80% of the time and the RC-27 20%. I sail at least one a week all year round.

What about splitting a second boat with another couple in same situation as yourself? Then it's half the cost, half the maintenance time, and you probably won't have an issue with only getting access half the time.

BTW, I didn't mean the Ensign as a recommendation, or even a monohull. Just relating how my choice serves my needs/desires. Also, your choice of boat(s) may change over time, depending on how easy is your access to water & launching facilities, available time for boating, and age/interests of your family/children.
I know when my kids were very young, we spent more time on our motorboat, because it had high gunwales - (kids couldn't fall out or off of it), had shade from the bimini, and didn't tilt while underway, like a monohull, and had a motor - i.e. certainty about the situation. Now that they're older, they like all 3, for different reasons -
the catamaran - they get to go out on the wire, and in their words "it's fast & it's cool".
monohull - because it is bigger, it's more like a "pirate ship", they can hide or play out in cuddy cabin, etc.
Motorboat - tubing & kneeboarding, and for use as transportation - i.e. to get to restaurant on other side of lake in a predictable time.
You can see I haven't mentioned anything about my family racing, right now it's only I who race.

actually, my wife would love to buy an ensign, but i think i want a boat that is a bit faster. there is a pretty good class thet sails out of dunedin, fl. she used to sail on one of them. there is also a really nicely restored one at davis island yacht club. we sailed to key west on a triton (it has a very similar hull) and although it was a very stable boat and handled the weather and high winds very well, i want a boat with a phrf rating that is somewhat below 200 (as i recall, the ensign is about 235).

as far as sharing a boat, i'm not sure i want to deal with splitting up maintrenance costs. i would rather buy a new sail because i wore it our than have to deal with buying a new sail or half of a new sail because the other owner let it flog in the wind... i'm not saying that i don't break things ccasionally, but i never have to deal with getting the other guy to repair the damage he did. it just makes things easier when you don't have to play well with others.

Dave,
Before you think about getting an Ensign, you should check out what happened at the Inter-Lake Yachting Association (I-LYA) Regatta at Put-in-Bay, Ohio two or three years ago. We had a catamaran fleet there, as usual, and there was also an Ensign fleet. I am not sure of the exact circumstances, but Rick says the wind picked up to 15-20 and wreaked havoc among the Ensigns. As he recalls, at least two of them sank and others swamped. So if you get an Ensign, make sure you stuff it full of flotation. The newspaper at Put-in-Bay is the Put-in-Bay Gazette. I don't know whether they have a website and a way to get old stories, but you might want to investigate further.

thanks mary. i was just commenting in the way they look. i don't want one.

some people collect stamps. i have 3 hobies- 12, 14, 16,- a canoe, 4 kayaks, a sunfish, 8 and 16' sailing skiffs, 2 windsurfers and 2 surfboards. i have a hard time selling toys, boats in particular. to me they are art. kinetic sculpture. i love boats!

I’ve always had a hankerin’ to try sailing, but never seemed to get to it. In 1997, I spotted, literally, a pile of sail boats in a local vacant field. These were small sail boats ranged 14 foot mono-hulls (Lido 14's, Sunfish and Chrysler 15's) to beach catamarans as small as 11 feet and as long as 19 feet.

After spending a few months, off and on, trying to run down the owner, I finally located him.

I asked how much he wanted for “that old thing” pointing to a rather miserable specimen.

He said he didn’t know anything about sail boats, had received them in trade and wanted to sell the batch.

I told him I also knew nothing about sail boats but only was interested in the one.....

This back and forth, circular discussion went on and on, until I asked the fatal question: “How much for the pile”.

He gave me a figure of $100 per boat and threw in bunches and bunches of peices and parts, as a free "deal" sweetener.

I thought it over, came home, told the story to my wife, and then listened for the next couple of days to the various and ongoing response(s).

I took note, within all that was told me, I had not heard a definitive and distinct “NO...ARE YOU CRAZY”..... I even shared that without that, it could be mistaken by me as support for the idea.

Well, I became the owner of 26....yep.....26 sailboats. I even learned later that there were a dozen more still sitting in California, that were part of this package, at no extra cost. That eventually brought the total to 30+....and I had never even been on a sailboat before.

I’m happy to report, I now know how to sail and do so often...and the fleet is down to only six or so... plus the Stiletto 27 I couldn't do without and the power boat for Lake Powell..

Indeed, each has its purpose and each is stored in the different places I use for goof-off.

(Does that make me a sailboat junky...?)

Besides, all this makes sense when one thinks of them like aspirin. If one’s good, isn’t more, more better?

(I'm now down to seven.... and attending SA ...Sailors Anonymous ... a twelve-step, support group program, that meets regularly at the lake.

We start every meeting by introducing ourselves. Each in turn stands and says something like:: "Hi, I'm (insert name), I'm a sailor."

Tom H.

I've got the G-Cat 5.7M that is just about perfect for me. I can do everything concerned with that boat (trailer, rig, launch, recover, etc) without assistance.

I bought a '74 Seafarer 24 monohull to cruise on (picture attached). I wanted something I could take from Tampa Bay to the Keys, Bahamas, etc. I've had it two years and it's still sitting on the trailer because I ****** the gelcoat up trying to prep it for painting.... Anyhow I'm waiting to get it re-gelcoated. I'm going to either rent a slip or put it on a mooring. The thing I like about this boat the most... actual marine head!

I've considered selling them both to buy a Reynolds Cat 21. It would be a good compromise in speed/fun and storage/bunkspace and sea-keeping ability. The one hang-up with this is.... how do I cat-track a 1000# beach-cat uphill to it's spot in front of the sand-dune? I sometimes have trouble with the 400# G-Cat! Oh yeah- it doesn't have a real marine head, but I think I could rig up something comparable... or just get used to a porta-potti

*tongue in cheek*
Mary, I'm surprised at you. Warning someone against getting an Ensign because you heard about some of them having trouble in a blow. Why, I saw a catamaran capsized the other day, don't buy a cat!!
*tongue removed from cheek*

Here's the likely reason those Ensigns had trouble.
Ensigns were designed to be sailed on salt water. The flotation was added to be sure they would float also on fresh water, which is less buoyant. But, any serious racer of Ensigns (not me), and any Ensign that has had any amount of work (also not mine - yet), has had the old 1965-era open cell flotation removed, and replaced with equivalent buoyancy closed cell flotation material. Sometimes, in the pursuit of that extra nano-knot of speed necessary on this kind of monoslug, the owners "forget" to put in enough flotation, taking the chance they will never need it. Along comes a big gust, leeward rail goes under, and presto - you're sinking.

The equivalent activity on a NACRA would be to remove the bulkheads inside the hulls and leave the portholes off -- "to reduce weight", go sailing in a heavy air, and then act surprised when you capsized and had trouble righting it.

in defense of the ensign, you can race true cruising, attach a grill to the stern of the boat, and troll for king fish at maximum speed. we did this in the clearwater to key west race on the triton. we didn't win, but we ate good. as it turns out, hull speed for this boat is the perfect speed for trolling for king fish. it doesn't get any more fresh than pulling the fish out of the water, filleting it and tossing it on the grill. all of this in the span of about 1 minute.

Thanks for the info about the Ensign. That's probably what happened -- they "forgot" to put in their flotation. I didn't mean to knock that particular boat -- just repeating what was reported in the newspapers at the time of the event.
HOWEVER, this leads us to another subject, which I will post right now to start a new thread.

The 5.2 with 10 foot beams sounds like an intriguing idea. Have you thought about further hot-rodding it by maybe putting a N5.8 rig on it and going to an 11 or 12 foot beam?
David Ho
TheMightyHobie18 1067