19 foot sailboat

• BOAT OF THE YEAR
• Newsletters
• Sailboat Reviews
• Boating Safety
• Sails and Rigging
• Maintenance
• Sailing Totem
• Sailor & Galley
• Living Aboard
• Destinations
• Gear & Electronics
• Charter Resources
• Ultimate Boating Giveaway

7 Small Sailboats for Everyday Cruising

• By Cruising World
• Updated: July 29, 2019

Not everyone needs a 30-foot sailboat equipped with bunks, a galley and head to go off cruising. In fact, all we really need is a hull, mast, rudder, and sail. There is nothing better than the thrill of a small sailboat or daysailer slipping through the waters of a lake, bay or even the open ocean.

Whether it’s simplicity to rig, ease of trailering or a manageable size that you’re looking for, these small sailboats are perfect for the cruising enthusiast who wants the thrill of the sea without the commitment of a 30-footer. And some of these sailboats come with cabins. This roundup of the best daysailers goes to show that sometimes big things come in small packages.

Marblehead 22 Daysailer

Traditional-looking above the waterline and modern beneath, the cold-molded hull sports a deep bulb keel and a Hall Spars carbon-fiber mast with a wishbone rig and square-top main. The 11-foot-9-inch cockpit can seat a crowd, and a small cuddy forward will let you stow your friends’ gear for the day.

Catalina 22 Sport

Recently, the company introduced the Catalina 22 Sport, an updated design that can compete with the older 22s. The boat features a retractable lead keel; a cabin that can sleep four, with a forward hatch for ventilation; and a fractional rig with a mainsail and a roller-furling jib. Lifelines, a swim ladder, and an engine are options, as are cloth cushions; vinyl cushions are standard. The large cockpit will seat a crowd or let a mom-and-pop crew stretch out and enjoy their sail.

With its cuddy cabin, twin bunks, optional electrical system, opening screened ports, and portable toilet, a parent and child or a couple could comfortably slip away for an overnight or weekend. Add in the optional performance package, which includes an asymmetric spinnaker, a pole, and a mainsheet traveler, and you could be off to the races. The boat features a laminated fiberglass hull and deck, molded-in nonskid, and a hydraulic lifting centerboard. Mount a small outboard on the stern bracket, and you’re set to go.

West Wight Potter P 19

First launched in 1971, this is a line of boats that’s attracted a true following among trailer-sailors. The P 19’s fully retractable keel means that you can pull up just about anywhere and go exploring. Closed-cell foam fore and aft makes the boat unsinkable, and thanks to its hard chine, the boat is reportedly quite stable under way.

Montgomery 17

With a keel and centerboard, the boat draws just under 2 feet with the board up and can be easily beached when you’re gunkholing. In the cuddy cabin you’ll find sitting headroom, a pair of bunks, a portable toilet, optional shore and DC power, and an impressive amount of storage space. The deck-stepped mast can be easily raised using a four-part tackle. The builder reports taking his own boat on trips across the Golfo de California and on visits to California’s coastal islands. Montgomery makes 15-foot and 23-foot models, as well.

Catalina 16.5

With the fiberglass board up, the 17-foot-2-inch boat draws just 5 inches of water; with the board down, the 4-foot-5-inch draft suggests good windward performance. Hull and deck are hand-laminated fiberglass. The roomy cockpit is self-bailing, and the bow harbors a good-sized storage area with a waterproof hatch.

The company has introduced many other multihulls since, but more than 100,000 of the 16s have been launched, a remarkable figure. The Hobie’s asymmetric fiberglass-and-foam hulls eliminate the need for daggerboards, and with its kick-up rudders, the 16 can be sailed right up to the beach. Its large trampoline offers lots of space to move about or a good place to plant one’s feet when hanging off the double trapezes with a hull flying. The boat comes with a main and a jib; a spinnaker, douse kit, trailer, and beach dolly are optional features.

• More: 21 - 30 ft , Boat Gallery , monohull , Sailboat Reviews , Sailboats , under 20 ft , used boat guide
• More Sailboats

Pre-Owned: 1988 Hylas 47

Catalina Introduces the 6 Series

Sailboat Preview: Elan GT6 Explorer

For Sale: 1984 Camper & Nicholsons 58

Point Your Compass Due South, Bitter End Yacht Club Reopens October 23rd.

Understanding Wind in the West Indies

• Digital Edition
• Customer Service
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Use
• Email Newsletters
• Cruising World
• Sailing World
• Salt Water Sportsman
• Sport Fishing
• Wakeboarding

Boat Profile

The Rhodes 19

An uncommonly enduring one-design

From Issue   Small Boats Annual 2022 October 2021

T he Rhodes 19 is a daysailer with a strong and enduring history as a competitive one-design. It began life soon after the end of World War II as a wooden centerboarder designed by Philip Rhodes and called the Hurricane. It didn’t catch on back then: there was only one fleet, at Greenwich Cove, Connecticut, and it soon faded. The design resurfaced, however, in 1947, when the Southern Massachusetts Yacht Racing Association (SMYRA), seeking a new one-design class, commissioned the Palmer Scott Yard of New Bedford to finish out a fleet of bare Hurricane hulls, fitting them with keels rather than the originally specified centerboards. The new boats also had aluminum masts. Renamed the SMYRA class, a fleet developed on Buzzards Bay and around Martha’s Vineyard.

In the 1950s, when fiberglass was gaining favor as a boatbuilding material, a company called Marscot Plastics took a class-sanctioned mold from a SMYRA-class boat. Marscot later joined forces with American Boat Building of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, and George O’Day, a gifted sailor from Marblehead who at the time was importing molded wooden dinghies from England. The fiberglass SMYRA became popular, and by 1958 O’Day had sole proprietorship of the boat’s production. That year he obtained Rhodes’s approval to rename the design “Rhodes 19,” and he immediately sold 50 of them; the first Rhodes 19 in Marblehead, sail No. 41, went to Dr. Randal Bell of the town’s Corinthian Yacht Club. Through the 1960s, sales skyrocketed and fleets were established in various locales—including Marblehead’s Fleet 5. The first national championship took place in 1963, and the first meeting of a new national class association was held at the Larchmont (New York) Yacht Club in 1965.

O’Day was a particularly skilled, even fearless, downwind sailor. He gained his racing chops in a hand-me-down Starling Burgess-designed 14’ cat-rigged Brutal Beast in Marblehead. He was not afraid to push his boat to the limit—and beyond. On one particularly eventful July day in 1942, having graduated from Brutal Beasts, he capsized his 24’ C. Raymond Hunt-designed 110-class sloop, VINCEMUS, under spinnaker. He was inspired in his downwind sailing by the great British dinghy sailor, designer, builder, and author Uffa Fox, who pioneered the concept of planing in dinghies. Years after his formative years in Marblehead, O’Day would establish his eponymous boatbuilding company and join forces with Fox, who designed the now-ubiquitous O’Day Daysailer. The Daysailer is a step down in size, in the early O’Day fleet, from the Rhodes 19.

Dr. Randal Bell brought the first Rhodes 19, sail No. 41, to Marblehead in the 1950s. Sales of the boat skyrocketed through the 1960s.

O’Day’s foundation years in his Brutal Beast and 110 gave rise to a sailing—and sailing-industry—legend: he would go on to collect national championships in several different classes, including the 210, Firefly, Jollyboat, and International 14. He also won gold at the Pan American Games in 1958, gold again in the 1960 Olympics at Rome in the 5.5-Meter class, and he served in the afterguards of the winning AMERICA’s Cup crews in 1962 (WEATHERLY, designed by Rhodes) and 1967 (INTREPID, designed by Olin Stephens). He founded the O’Day Company in 1958 and built more than 30,000 fiberglass-hulled boats that would bring the sport of sailing into the financial reach of the middle class—and in the process change the face of sailing at Marblehead and beyond. Uncounted kids in Marblehead and elsewhere learned to sail in the company’s Widgeon-class sloop (a Bob Baker–designed 12-footer of refined shape and proportion); Marblehead’s Frostbite fleet sailed in tiddly O’Day Interclubs for many years, and the Daysailer model remains popular on the New England used-boat market to this day. The Rhodes 19, however, has endured in popularity like no other O’Day boat. Most of the one-design fleets at Marblehead have diminished in number since the 1980s, but the Rhodes 19 fleet remains strong.

Facing rising materials costs and a poor economy, O’Day had discontinued production of the Rhodes 19 by 1980. That could have been the end of the class, but its officers kept calm and carried on for the next four years, through fits and starts with new potential builders. In 1984 Stuart Marine, a company set up by a Rhodes 19 sailor, Stuart Sharaga, for the express purpose of building the class, turned out the first of its Rhodes 19s.

Jim Taylor, a Marblehead-based naval architect, developed the production methods and tooling that allowed Stuart to turn out quality boats at a profit. One of these early Stuart boats was displayed at the Corinthian Yacht Club during the 1985 national championship and was roundly applauded by the fleet cognoscenti. Stuart boats did not replace the O’Day ones: although a Stuart model won the nationals in 1995, 1996, and 1997, an O’Day won in 1998, and the two models remain competitive with each other to this day. Kim Pandapas, a former Fleet 5 president and current scorer, noted in a 2010 Marblehead Reporter interview, “The old ones can be restored to peak competitiveness.” Pandapas sails an O’Day-built Rhodes 19, sail No. 982.

The list price of a new Stuart-built keel model is $39,800; classic O’Day examples routinely appear on Craigslist in the $5,000 range, and commonly require new floor timbers, brightwork refurbishing, and hull and deck paint. There is also a long-popular cruising version of the design, called the Mariner; it is fitted with a small cabin rather than the Rhodes 19’s low-profile cuddy. O’Day built many Mariners, and Stuart continues the tradition.

The Rhodes 19 carries 175 sq ft of sail on a 27′10″ mast. An outboard motor of up to 6 hp can also be carried for daysailing.

U nlike some higher-performing one-designs, the Rhodes 19 has comfortable bench seating and, with its varnished mahogany coaming and well-proportioned cuddy, has good protection from spray. Sailing the boat doesn’t require excessive physical exertion, which makes it a level playing field for sailors of all ages. Many teams are composed of husbands and wives; one skipper about five years ago retired from the helm at age 84.

I raced Rhodes 19s as a kid, beginning in the late 1970s. My brother Frank and I would ride our bicycles on Saturday mornings from our home in Salem, Massachusetts, to the Boston Yacht Club in the adjacent town of Marblehead. There, we’d meet our mentor, Dick Welch, a Rhodes 19 sailor, who would assign us to a boat in need of crew. We bounced between the Rhodes 19 and Etchells 22 fleets, mostly, with an occasional foray into the Lightning, 210, or Town Class fleets, until we eventually landed full-time slots in competing gold-hulled Rhodes 19s. Mine was called TRISCUIT and was skippered by Davis Noble. Frank’s was SAFFRON, sailed by the husband-and-wife team of Peter and Debbie deWolfe. With Frank, then 15 years old, as crew, SAFFRON won the nationals in Chicago in 1978. Those were heady days for us, and especially for Frank, with that victory. But it wasn’t until much later that I came to really appreciate the significance and brilliance of the Rhodes 19 as a pure sailboat.

Lately I’ve been lingering on advertisements for used O’Day models. It has been many years since I sailed a Rhodes 19, but the mechanics of sailing this boat are muscle memory for me. In its basic form, the boat is a wholesome daysailer with a form-stable hull and iron-ballasted fin keel—although there is a less-popular centerboard model, too. The off-the-shelf rigging is quite simple, but the fractional rig, along with fine-tweaking with the addition of a mainsheet traveler, twings, barber haulers, cunningham, jib-luff tensioner, and adjustable jib leads—all led to a control console—give incremental speed advantages and keep the competition in this fleet hotter than one might expect.

The standard Rhodes 19 rig is quite simple, though numerous sail controls, including a jib-luff tensioner, cunningham, twings, Barber hauler, and traveler can be added to increase competitiveness.

I recall their light-air performance, which was aided by bringing the aftermarket Harken traveler well to windward and easing the mainsheet. Conversely, in heavier breezes the traveler was let down and the sheet strapped in tight, with the boom brought to centerline and the top batten parallel to the boom. Hiking straps along each bench seat allowed us to keep the boat flat in those conditions, though the iron ballast gave plenty of reassurance if we eased up on the effort.

Three Rhodes 19s ghost downwind under spinnaker in a regular-season contest of the Marblehead Racing Association.

The competitive boats looked like Harken catalogs. The stock layout had two long molded fiberglass seats that served as flotation chambers, but the added Harken traveler was mounted across these, just ahead of the helm station, dividing the cockpit. The console bar, studded with cam cleats, was typically slung under the after edge of the cuddy, with the sail controls within easy reach of the crew. The foredeck was spacious and the hull relatively stable, making end-for-ending the spinnaker pole, while jibing, a relative breeze. Spinnakers were typically launched and retrieved from the cockpit.

I sailed a different Rhodes 19 during the week in those days, too. This one had been a donation to the sailing camp where I taught for several years, and that boat had not been fitted out for racing. With its simple cockpit layout and sheeting, it provided a great contrast to the tricked-out racing version on which I spent my Saturday afternoons. It could comfortably carry six adults, and I recall one of my colleagues camp-cruising in it a few times with his wife and child. Indeed, a proper boom tent fitted over the cockpit of a Rhodes 19 would really open up the boat’s range.

One of the appealing features of the Rhodes 19 is that it does not require excessive physical exertion to be competitive. Some crews are composed of three generations of the same family.

Jim Taylor noted two more reasons for the Rhodes 19’s enduring popularity. First, “the boat is really well suited to intergenerational sailing, so that in addition to the husband-and-wife crews, there are lots of parent-child teams, too.” The second reason he noted is that that these “underpowered 40-or-more-year-old boats with fat bows and bad keels are drawing former college sailors who are accustomed to, and enjoy, sailing boats that are all equally slow. The competition continues right to the finish line.”

The 2014 NOOD (National Offshore One Design) Regatta at Marblehead, Massachusetts, saw a healthy fleet of Rhodes 19s. The class has flourished at Marblehead for more than 50 years.

The Rhodes 19 remains well represented in Marblehead. In fact, the nationals were held there this past summer; Steve Clancy and Marty Gallagher from the south shore of Massachusetts won the event. And No. 41, the boat that started it all in Marblehead, is back in town. Marblehead resident Peter Sorlien found her located in New York City and for sale on Craigslist.

Matthew P. Murphy is the editor of WoodenBoat magazine.

This profile originally noted the ballast was lead, not iron, and that Marty Gallagher’s sailing partner was Chris Clancy rather than his brother Steve Clancy. The text above has been corrected and we apologize for the errors. —Ed.

Rhodes 19 Particulars

LOA:   19′ 2″ LWL:   17′ 9″ Beam:  7′ Sail area:  175 sq ft Weight:   1325 lbs Draft, keel version:   3′ 3″ Draft, centerboard up:   10″ Draft, centerboard down:   4′ 11″

The Rhodes 19 is available from Stuart Marine with a full keel for $39,800 or rigged as a centerboarder for $39,600. Used Rhodes 19s are also available via listings on the Stuart Marine website.

Is there a boat you’d like to know more about? Have you built one that you think other Small Boats Magazine readers would enjoy? Please email us!

Share this article

Join The Conversation

We welcome your comments about this article. If you’d like to include a photo or a video with your comment, please email the file or link.

Comments (8)

Very enjoyable and informative. Thank you

Steve Clancy was actually the skipper of the Rhodes 19 2021 National Championship. I was his crew. His brother, Chris Clancy, competed with his own boat.

Marty Gallagher

Thanks, Marty, for providing the correct identity of your skipper. The correction has been made to the text. —Ed.

We were helping run the Navy Regatta in Corpus Christi, Texas, back in 1995 and Skipper’s friend Anne entered her Rhodes 19. For the regatta it was a requirement that all boats carry at least one military crew on board. We assigned our friend Chuck to Anne’s boat; Chuck had experience sailing from his time at the Naval Academy and several Newport-Bermuda races. Anne and Chuck won the overall event, from a fleet of over 50 boats!

Just build a dodger and boom tent for a full-keel Rhodes 19 that now lives in St.Thomas and I sail an O’Day Mariner 2+2

What a great article. It would interesting to hear about the current Rhodes 19 production team led by owner Dave Whittier in Maine.

I am in the process of buying a Mariner 19 from Dave Whittier at Stuart Marine. Spoke to him the other day. He was on a ski lift in Utah. Said the powder was good. Too funny. I’ll be bringing the boat to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where the missus and I are relocating to. Twenty years on the West Coast, it’s time to get closer to New England my birthplace. Now, I have the boat, I should probably find a house to live in. I think the v-berth may be too tight for a lengthy stay. Had to get the boat first, it’s important to set one’s priorities, eh. Happy sailing everyone!

Question to the readership…

Rhodes 19 centerboard or Oday DSII? Pros/Cons? – Which is more seaworthy under all conditions?

Thanks, John in VA Beach, VA

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Stay On Course

More From This Issue

Facing rising materials costs and a poor economy, O’Day had discontinued production of the Rhodes 19 by 1980. That could have been the end of the class, but its officers…

The plans for the Ellen from Brooks Boat Designs are on 12 sheets and include full-sized patterns for the molds, transom, rudder, and other parts. No lofting is required. The…

The barn-door rudder is 24″ long, 16″ tall, and 1-1/2″ thick. I made mine of three layers of 1/2″ ply. Its bottom edge is even with that of the skeg…

Sponge Docks Skiff 13

When I happened across the Sponge Docks Skiff 13 by Bedard Yacht Design, I was immediately intrigued by the simple, practical interior and the gently curving sheer and transom sides.…

I have been impressed by the solid feel and stability of Penny Fee. Lightly loaded, the transom is well clear of the water, promising good load-carrying capabilities without added drag.…

rance’s rugged Atlantic coastline is a popular and challenging cruising ground, but it was not so long ago that countless fleets of small workboats called its remote harbors and rocky...

Expedition Rowboat from Angus

fter 20 years spent building, then sailing our beloved 38′ ketch, a Herreshoff Nereia, on the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River, there came a point when Louise and I...

In light winds, you might normally sit well forward while going upwind, but with the Goose, the square bow needs to be out of the water or you will be…

The JiffyV-22 is 22′ 6″ long, has a beam of 8′ 6″, and draws just under 2′. With its cabin, it is reminiscent of classic Maine lobsterboats, and is designed…

Conrad Natzio originally designed the 14′ Sandpiper for a workshop and demonstration at the Boat ’99 show in the United Kingdom. The first four of these attractive little sailing and…

Boat Trailering Tips

To deal with breakdowns on our long-range trips, we carry a grease gun, rags, either a spare set of grease-packed bearings or a hub with bearings already installed, along with…

Reader Built Boats

He started with a wedge shape for the hull: a plumb stem to part waves and a flat run for planing. As he explored the shape with a model of…

Surf Crabskiff

The hull is designed for simplified chine-log construction, which eliminates the necessity for a strongback or jig. All the plywood parts except the rudder fit onto just four 4′ x…

The boat handles beautifully in most anything I’m comfortable taking on in an 18’ boat. It turns exceptionally well when I’m cruising winding rivers, and on hard turns at speed…

Down East Workboat

Gardner drew the design in 1981, basing it on old photographs and measurements of an 18′ workboat from Washington County, Maine. He described the design as a double wedge, the…

The Crawford Melonseed Skiff

The cockpit is a little over 6′ long—big enough for two people and a picnic. There’s room up under the deck for a cooler, anchor, and other gear, and a…

Designed to be light, the Savo 650D’s keelson, gunwales, and frames are made of pine or spruce. The fully equipped boat weighs in at just over 100 lbs. The length…

The Wittholz Catboat

The plans for the 17′ 1″ plywood catboat include 11 sheets with good construction detail: materials, dimensions, fastening schedules, notes, and comments. Several alternatives are included: self-bailer instead of deep…

Don’t Tell Me I Can’t

“A little too big” came back to me as I stood in a lumberyard collecting the first of the materials for building a Greenland skin-on-frame kayak, but the echoes of…

Elfyn sails very well without the daggerboard, even tacking into the wind. When returning to our launch ramp against a light headwind, I raised the daggerboard and Elfyn kept on…

In a word, my overall impression of the boat’s performance under way was: “Easy.” With 300 lbs of crew (my daughter and myself) and 200 lbs of foam-wrapped lead ballast…

Dan has been drawing, painting, and sculpting for the better part of his life and has an artist’s eye. He recalls, “I got to thinking that wood could be an…

Built by the Book

The lockdown in New Zealand began on March 23 and David stayed home to do his part in slowing the spread of COVID-19. He focused on his canoe projects and…

A Kid-Built Curragh

In 2019, Ric took on a more ambitious project, a currach, with his fourth and fifth graders. The frame of their version of the traditional Irish rowing boat, built without…

More Boat Profile

The Shaw & Tenney Whitehall

The Shaw & Tenney Whitehall is a glued-lapstrake-plywood interpretation of a general-purpose workboat dating to the early 19th century. A pure recreational boat, the contemporary version is lightweight and beautiful.

John Harris, the proprietor of and chief designer for Chesapeake Light Craft, designed the PocketShip as his personal boat. “I'd owned a production fiberglass pocket cruiser, which sailed well but…

Crawford’s Gunning Dory

Roger builds his boats one at a time. The Gunning Dory is hand-laid fiberglass starting with rolled-on gelcoat. The layup for the bottom includes biaxial fiberglass cloth, a 1/2″ foam…

BUNDUKI is a sport boat built to Australian John Georgalas’s Deep V 16′design. Initially, the design was to be a one-off for an American friend, but the drawings have since…

Subscribe Today!

Become a subscriber today and you’ll recieve a new issue every month plus unlimited access to our full archive of backlogged issues.

Already a subscriber?   Sign In

Subscribe For Full Access

Flipbooks are available to paid subscribers only. Subscribe now or log in for access.

• Pontoon Boats
• Personal Watercraft
• nauticalknowhow
• Nautical Knots
• Tools and Calculators

8 Best Daysailers Under 21 Feet – Buying Guide

SAFFIER SE 33 UD

It’s a sunny day, and you want to take a spin around the harbor. What better way to do that than launching a daysailer?

These sailboats are traditionally smaller than a cruise ship or yacht, but considerably bigger than kayaks , catamarans, inflatable dinghies , and other smaller boats. Owning an open sailboat shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg, but expect to spend some top dollar.

Here are 8 best daysailers that are 21 feet or under.

CATALINA 16.5

Let’s kick things off with the Catalina 16.5 sailboat. It might come as a surprise to find a Catalina boat listed among the best daysailers under 20 feet because the name is more known for bigger cruiser yachts. But there are a whole lot of small boats built by Catalina, too.

The Catalina 16.5 is one of the most versatile hand-laminated fiberglass sloops from this designer and can be purchased with the option of a 4-feet 5-inch shoal-draft keel or a centerboard that draws 5-inch with the board up.

Consider choosing the lead-keel option if you want to park it on a mooring or at the dock. It is built to remain stable in such conditions. On the flip side, getting the centerboard version is most suitable if you want to store the boat on a trailer.

Catalina builds all their boats with a self-bailing cockpit, and the 16.5 is no different. It comes with a huge self-bailing cockpit. There is a waterproof hatch and a stowage space forward of the boat. The boat also comes with standard hiking straps and a tiller extension if you want to step on to the side deck for some spray in your face and good visibility forward.

You can get out on the water with around ten grand or more. Check out current listings for Catalina 16.5 .

 Boats  →

Teaching your kids or anyone to sail requires a low-maintenance and very steady boat. This is where the Hunter 15 shines. It is a perfect knockabout sailboat that can take a lot of rough beating without breaking, thanks to its high freeboard and fiberglass construction.

The boat has a wide beam that ensures she’s steady no matter what. Crew-weight shifts or sudden crazy jibes that may happen along the way won’t do a thing to this boat. And even the most fearful and unsteady learner won’t fall out of it. It will take a tremendous effort to capsize this beautiful boat, making it one of the best daysailers any daysailer (or intending daysailer) would want to have.

But stability and durability are not the only pluses for the Hunter 15. It has a self-bailing cockpit that allows any water that gets into the boat to exit quickly. There is room enough to comfortably accommodate up to four people.

Getting a durable and high-performance sailboat that will cruise smoothly on the water is one thing; finding convenient storage is an entirely different ballgame. Thankfully, you don’t have to spend extra cash when it comes to this boat. The sailboat can fit into your garage while sitting on a trailer. And here’s another good thing with Hunter 15; you don’t have to worry about varnishing wood afterward.

But perhaps the best part of the Hunter 15 is that it is a very affordable boat. Although sailboats don’t come cheap, you don’t have to break the bank to own one of the beauties.

Prices for a new one range from around $10k, and you can find used ones for less. Check out the listings of Hunter 15 and other equally excellent models of the Hunter sailboat.

Ready for some painless daysailing? Renowned designer, Chuck Paine, has something classy and beautiful for you. The Paine 14 (obviously named after the designer) is a trailerable sailboat with exceptional performance and purposely styled after the traditional Herresholf 12 1/2 boat, except for its size. Paine 14 is a lot smaller in all aspects, which accounts for its considerable lightness.

It is fitted with a modern spade rudder and fin keel, giving the boat more agility and speed as she sails. And even with a lead-ballast keel almost her total weight, this sweet, small vessel maintains stability at top speed.

But why is a boat with an old-time appeal be listed among the best daysailers? Simple. It is a blend of the classic old and modern performance. Indeed, it is constructed from cold-molded wood with varnished gunnels and transom, but don’t be fooled by that century-old look.

Chuck Paine worked some modern magic into this cute beauty with the inclusion of a carbon mast and an extremely easy way to attach sails to it. Setting up sail is quick and simple, and you can get it done and over with in only a couple of minutes.

The boat can be gaff-rigged, or you can use a Marconi rig. Got a standard car? That’s all you need to trailer this light sailboat, and you are good to go.

Check here for Paine 14 listings .

 Chuckpaine  →

If you want a sailboat that will get your adrenaline pumping and bring out the competitive sailor in you, perhaps you should take a look at the Laser .

The 13-feet 10-inch Laser boat is not included on the list of the best daysailers for nothing. It is raced both as club races and as an international sailing category, featuring in world-class competitions, including the Olympic sailing championships.

However, you don’t have to take part in a competition to enjoy sailing this boat. And you definitely don’t need it for exercising. The Laser is a great choice even if you simply want to enjoy plain smooth sailing just for fun.

The Laser boat has an incredibly lightweight build with fiberglass and a powerful sail. It is an excellent choice for a single cruiser and works well for two adults, too. Be warned, though. It can easily capsize because it is lightweight, but it will also recover just as fast, too!

The boat is easy to transport, launch, and store, thanks to its kick-up rudder. Laser Performance built this model to have a single sail, two-part mast design, with a daggerboard.

This sailboat is very affordable. Prices start from $7k for new boats, and you can find used ones for far less than that. Check here for Laser boat listings .

You can’t go wrong with a design that has been in existence for over five decades and with more than one hundred thousand boats launched since it debuted in Southern California. The Hobie 16 is a long-lasting design that has stood the test of time and attracts quite a following.

This sailboat weighs only 320 pounds, so it is conveniently trailerable. It has ample room to accommodate a crew of four without straining it. The hulks are built from asymmetric fiberglass sandwich and come with kick-up rudders. This gives you the option of sailing all the way to the beach.

The Hobie 16 is designed to have great speed, thanks to its abundant high-speed gear. But that’s not all. It is also equipped with a spinnaker, a trailer, and a douse kit. The main and jib offer a wide sail area of more than 200 square feet.

Both adults and kids will enjoy having lots of fun in this spacious sailboat, especially in the summer. Little wonder it is one of the very best daysailers available on the market.

The Hobie 16 is a high-performance boat with starting prices for new ones in the $12K range. You can find used ones at a little less. But if you want a simpler, smaller, and more affordable option, take a look at the Hobie Cat Wave . It is not a high-performance design, but it offers loads of fun, too. It comes with roto-molded hulls and fitted with a boomless mainsail. This smaller version costs almost half the price of the 16’s, which is a pretty good bargain.

NORSEBOAT 17.5

Looking for one of the best daysailers that will stand out from any crowd? The Norseboat 17.5 might just be the perfect sailboat for you. Dubbed as the “Swiss Army Knife of Boats,” this one-of-a-kind sailboat can be sailed or rowed.

But wouldn’t it take a lot of effort to row this boat? No. Not with the boat’s sheer. The fiberglass hull has lots of sheer – a deliberate and apt design to make rowing easy-breezy. So, even if there’s no wind, you can still have fun rowing while getting some exercise in the process. And if the wind is strong enough, you can relax and let the jib and mainsail do their thing.

The Norseboat 17.5 is the perfect choice for daysailers searching for a high-performance boat that comes with beautiful traditional lines. But even if you are a sea kayaker who is looking to move up, or a cruising sailor seeking to downsize a bit, you’ll find this legendary pedigree to be a good fit for you.

Some of its features include a fully battened mainsail, pivoting carbon mast, shallow draft, furling headsail, and a signature curved headboard. The lightweight boat comes with two rowing stations and performs excellently well, whether wind-powered or rowed. Plus, it has plenty of room to stow stuff.

The boat’s light weight makes transportation easy. All you need is a mid-sized car, and you can easily tow it. Storage is equally hassle-free, as the sailboat can fit into any standard garage.

Check out the current listings for Norseboat 17.5 .

 Norseboat  →

Traditional daysailers are small sailboats that you can take for a quick spin around the harbor. They lack accommodation primarily because they are not designed for spending the night (it’s even in the name!). But all that has changed over the years, and that distinction is almost non-existent with modern designs such as the Fareast 18 .

The boat is a Simonis Voogd design with incredibly high performance, high speed, low maintenance, and comes at a comparatively affordable price. The mainsail has a fully battened square-top and an asymmetrical spinnaker. This is an excellent choice for buoy racing with enough room for a crew of six to compete.

While you typically will not spend the night in a daysailer, there’s nothing wrong with taking a short break below deck. The boat can comfortably sleep up to three just in case you decide to spend the night on the water.

Fareast 18 design features a foam-core hull/vacuum-infused fiberglass, a carbon-structured contemporary bulb keel, and vacuum-infused foils. This high-tech boat is small enough to be rigged and launched by a single sailor.

Even with only one foot of water, this boat will float with the keel retracted and the rudder off. And it is quite easy to trailer this boat.

Check for the current price of new Fareast 18 boats .

 Fareast  →

If you are in the market for a top-class daysailer, you might as well take a look at the Saffier Se 33 UD . Hennevanger brothers, the designers, threw in a lot of know-how and investment to bring this dream boat to reality. The production facility shows in the vacuum-infused build and quality finish of the boat.

Saffier has a collection of models that range between 21 feet and 37 feet, with each boat thoroughly tested to ensure seaworthiness. Considering the size of these boats, one will naturally assume they will be difficult to sail. But that’s not the case with these boats. Even the largest models can be sailed single-handedly and quite easily.

The Se 33 UD was launched in 2014 and done a sporty design. It sails smoothly in all weather conditions, thanks to its solid sprayhood. The sailboat features a practical self-draining cockpit to expel any water that gets into the boat. Included in the cockpit are a folding transform and two-meter benches. The boat is spacious enough for a crew of four, and you can even take a quick nap below.

This top-class boat is an excellent choice if you have deep pockets. Starting prices are in the range of $150k for new boats. You can also check out the new Se 27 model if you want something that is serious fun. The new models can clock up to 20 knots.

For more on pricing, you can check out listings on these boats.

How to Choose the Best Daysailers – Buying Guide

With well over a hundred different daysailers on the market, it can be daunting to pick just one. Here’s what to look for when deciding on which open sailboat to buy for yourself or family use.

Ease of Sail

How a boat behaves when the wind blows up can make it easy or difficult to sail. A lot of modern sailboats are incredibly fast and are great for racing, but can be quite tricky to handle.

You want to look for an open boat that is tamer and stable. This is the perfect choice for a family day sailing boat, especially if you want to encourage kids to learn to sail. Look for a boat that is heavy enough to remain stable regardless of the crew’s acrobatics. It should be easy to rig, launch, and sail, even by a single person.

Reliability

While it is okay to take proper care of your boat, it is equally important to choose a boat that is easy to maintain. Go for boats with hulls designed to a beating without breaking down. Pay attention to the sails, too. Select one with tough sails that won’t easily blow out of shape after just one season of sailing.

Choose a Daysailer with Safety Features

Whether you will be sailing alone or with your family, safety should come first. Pick a boat that can cope with trouble in any condition or weather, and both on rivers or open waters. Look for a sailboat with positive foam floatation. Even if the hull gets filled with water or is punctured, the boat shouldn’t sink.

But because you cannot completely rule out manufacturing errors, even the best daysailers with safety designs can still capsize. However, you should look out for one with a “self-rescue” feature. In other words, choose a boat that rides very high even when it capsizes, so that the weight of her crew will quickly get her to recover without external help.

High Performance

Safety and stability are great, but that shouldn’t translate to a dull boat. You want a sailboat that provides safety as much as it offers some level of fun and exciting challenge even with your family on board.

Ample Space

Daysailers are typically small sailboats, but they should provide enough room to suit your purpose. Whether you want to sail with your family or a few friends, choose a boat that can comfortably accommodate the entire crew.

While not a requirement, a few modern designs include overnight abilities. Consider choosing these types if you spend a lot of time in the open water, even if you are primarily using an open daysailer. You never know when you will be tempted to spend the night cruising in the open water.

About Chris

Outdoors, I’m in my element, especially in the water. I know the importance of being geared up for anything. I do the deep digital dive, researching gear, boats and knowhow and love keeping my readership at the helm of their passions.

Categories : Boats

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

More in Boats

What Is A Gunwale?

131 of the Best Hawaiian Boat Names

167 Patriotic Boat Names

The 138 Best Boat Names for Dog Lovers

The People’s Poncho Review and Ratings 

Oru Lake Kayak Review

About Boatsafe

Established in 1998, BoatSafe is your independent guide into the world of boating, fishing, and watersports. We provide expert insights and detailed guides to help you find products tailored to your needs and budget.

Contact Boatsafe

• Address: 4021 West Walnut Street. Rogers, AR 72756
• Phone:  (479)339-4795
• Email: [email protected]

Site Navigation

• How We Test
• Corrections Policy
• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Editorial Policy
• Affiliate Disclosure

Our Reviews

All content is © Copyright 2024. All rights reserved.

My Cruiser Life Magazine

7 Best Trailerable Sailboats for Cruising

Many sailors balk at the idea of leaving their boat in the water at a marina. Slip fees are expensive, and maintenance bills get bigger the longer you leave a boat in the water. However, if you want a boat under 30 feet long, there are trailerable sailboats that will fit the bill.

Like any boat purchase, you’ll need to analyze precisely what kind of trailer sailer you want. Will a simple weekend sailboat suffice, or do you really need the best trailerable cruising sailboat you can find? 

Here’s a look at some of the pros and cons of the best trailerable sailboat. Plus, we’ll look at how to compare them for your purposes.

Table of Contents

Best trailerable sailboats, easy to launch trailerable sailboats, quick setup time, towing weight, catalina 22/25 “pop-top”, com-pac horizon cat for classic coastal cruising, marshall sanderling — small, portable, classy, west wight potter 19 — the tiny go-anywhere sailboat, seaward 26rk with retractable lead keel, corsair f-24 trimaran – sporty sailing, macgregor 26m — maximum speed meets maximum living space, long-range cruising boats, 7 best trailerable boats – a recap, what’s the best trailerable sailboat for a cruise, trailerable sailboats faqs.

• Catalina 22/25
• Com-Pac Horizon Cat
• Marshall Sanderling
• West Wight Potter 19
• Seaward 26RK
• Corsair F-24 Trimaran
• MacGregor 26M

We’ll get into more detail about each brand in my post today, so hang tight!

What Is a Trailerable Sailboat, Exactly?

For this article, the priorities for a trailerable sailboat are:

• Easy to launch
• Require minimum setup to launch and store
• Lightweight enough to be towed by the average vehicle

Before you can really classify a sailboat as trailerable, you need to evaluate and narrow your search criteria. Truthfully, 50-plus-foot ocean-going sailboats are regularly put on trailers. But that’s done commercially, on a big rig, with special permits for oversized loads, and even led cars.  

That probably isn’t what most people mean when they think of a trailerable sailboat. But what is the priority here, the trailerable part or the sailboat part? Compromises are going to have to be made somewhere. 

If you’re looking at the 20-foot-and-under sailboat crowd, finding a trailerable example should not be hard. Most sailboats this size are designed for trailers anyway since they aren’t the sort of boats people want to pay to leave in a slip year-round.

Things get more interesting when you look at the 20 to 30-foot boats. In this class, there are stout ocean-going cruisers with deep keels and lightweight centerboard trailer sailboats designed from the get-go to be trailered by the average car or SUV. The differences between these boats are night and day.

Sailboats often have a hard time at boat ramps. First, deep keels mean that the trailer must extend farther into the water than the average boat ramp allows. This means the ramp needs to go back far enough, and the trailer tongue needs to be long enough not to swamp the car. 

If you have a boat like this, you’ll need to find the right boat ramps. Unfortunately, not all ramps are created equally. If your boat draws more than two or three feet on the trailer, you’re going to be limited to steep, paved, and high-quality boat ramps. Unfortunately, those aren’t standard features, so your cruising grounds are going to be limited.

Usually, ramps aren’t built steeply because they are often slippery. Your tow vehicle will need excellent traction and torque to pull your fully loaded boat out of a steep ramp. The steeper the ramp, the more trouble you’ll have. 

The alternative to finding steep ramps is to use a trailer tongue extender. This lets you get the trailer into deeper water without swamping the tow vehicle. But it also means that the ramp needs to extend deep enough. Many ramps end abruptly. Allowing your trailer to sink off the edge is an excellent way to get stuck or pop a tire.

Pick a boat as easy to launch and retrieve as a similarly sized powerboat to remove all of these boat ramp problems. The soft chines of most sailboats will always require a little more water, but a swing keel and the hinged rudder raised mean that the boat can sit low on the trailer bunks. That way, you only need one or two feet of water to launch, an easy feat at nearly every boat ramp you can find.

The next consideration for a sailboat to be portable enough to call it “trailerable” is the amount of time it takes to step the mast and get it ready to cruise. 

To accomplish this, you need a mast that can be stepped by a two-person team–maximum. Ideally, it will have some tabernacle hardware to enable one person to do the task for solo sailing.

There is an entire family of pocket cruisers that could ideally fit on trailers. But you won’t find the Fickas or the Falmouth cutters on my list, simply because they aren’t easy to launch or easy to rig. But, of course, they’re also too heavy for most vehicles to tow, which leads us to the final point of excluding them this trailable pocket cruiser’s list.

One of the most significant financial burdens the trailer sailer faces is their tow vehicle. You are all set if you already drive a two-ton dually diesel pickup truck. But if your daily driver is an SUV or light pickup, you need to think long and hard about the math of the towing equation. 

Whatever boat you buy cannot exceed the towing rating limits of your tow vehicle. If you don’t have a tow vehicle, you’ll need to buy one. This will double or triple the cost of getting a trailer sailer in most cases. For the same money, you may want to look at a boat that stays in the water at a traditional boat slip. For the cost of a trailer sailer and a tow vehicle, you can probably step into a nice boat that is larger and more comfortable than any towable.

If you have a tow vehicle, you need a light enough vessel for it to tow. Most modern SUVs tow less than 2,500 pounds. Anything more than 5,000 will require a full-size pickup. Remember that the tow weight isn’t just the boat’s displacement—it’s the empty hull weight, plus the weight of the trailer and any extra gear you need to pack into the boat. 

Finding a vessel that fits these limitations on weight isn’t easy. If the manufacturer’s goal is to make it towable, immediate limits are placed on the materials they can use. This means less seaworthiness since boats are built light and thin. As far as stability goes, lead keels are generally out, and water ballast systems or centerboards might be used instead. It doesn’t mean these boats aren’t safe and fun, but they aren’t designed for rough conditions, crossing oceans, or living on in the water full-time .

7 Best Trailerable Cruising Sailboats

There are more trailerable sailboats out there than you might imagine. Here’s a look at seven popular options of all shapes and sizes to give you a taste of what you might want to take to sea.

The boats here are selected for their storage and living space. With these boats and a little outfitting, you can spend weeks gunk-holing in the Chesapeake Bay or island hopping the Bahamas. If you broaden your scope to include daysailers with no cabin space, there are countless more options.

One of the worst parts of a small trailerable sailboat or pocket cruiser is the lack of stand-up headroom. One clever solution that you’ll find on some weekend sailboat types is the pop-top. 

The pop-top is simply an area around the companionway hatch that extends upward on struts. So when you’re at the dock or anchor, you get standing headroom down below—at least right inside the pop-top.

You can build a canvas enclosure for your pop-top to use it in all weather. A pop-top makes your boat feel much larger than it is and allows you to move freely to cook or get changed down below or even do a nice boat bed area. 

Later models of the Catalina Sport 22 and Capri 22s lacked this cool pop-top feature, so if you want it, you’ll need to seek out an older model on the used market.

Com-Pac has been building small sailboats since the early 1970s. They currently sell two lines, each with various-sized boats. All are well built, and a majority of their boats are trailerable. 

Most interesting at the Com-Pac traditional catboats . The rigging is more straightforward than modern sloops, with only one large mainsail. Com-Pac boats come with a unique quick-rig system to make getting on the water fast and simple.

The Horizon Cat Coastal Cruising has a displacement of 2,500 pounds with a 2’2″ draft when the board is up. She has a separate head forward and space to lounge either topside or down below. The smaller Sun Cat has slightly few amenities but shaves off a few feet and pounds, making it easier to tow and it is one of these amazing small sailboats. Com-Pacs features stub keels, so their centerboard and hinged rudder do not take up space in the cabin.

On the sloop rig side, the Com-Pac 23 comes in a 3,000-pound traditional sailboat or a very interesting pilothouse. Both are incredibly livable for their size , with shallow two-foot-long fixed keels and high-quality construction.

Another option if you like catboats is the Marshall Sanderling. This salty 18-footer oozes traditional charm , all while being easy to sail and easier to tow. And while she has wooden boat lines, she has a modern laminated fiberglass hull.

The Sanderling has a 2,200-pound displacement, so tow weights will be around 3,000 pounds. At only 18-feet, she’s on the small side for cruising. The cuddy cabin has no galley, and the portable toilet is not enclosed. But that small size means a simple boat that’s easy to maintain and take anywhere. 

An electric motor package is an exciting option on this weekend sailboat!

View this post on Instagram A post shared by @marshallmarinecat

You can’t mention tiny trailer sailers without touching on the famous West Wight Potter . These 15 and 19-foot pocket cruisers have earned a worldwide reputation as the ultimate go-anywhere coastal cruiser.

The West Wight Potter 19 offers the most living space for staying aboard and cruising. So even though its dimensions are diminutive, this little boat packs a lot in. There’s a single burner hotplate and sink and a porta-potty tucked under a cushion. Yes, it’s tight—but the company claims the little boat can sleep five people. Any more than two will feel pretty crowded, however.

The boat comes standard with a mast-raising system that a single person can manage alone. It has a daggerboard for a shallow draft of a half-foot when the board is up. The total towing weight is around 1,500 pounds, which means nearly any car can tow a West Wight Potter.

This little-known trailer sailer is produced at the same Florida factory that makes Island Packet Yachts. That should give you a little bit of an idea of what sort of boat it is—trailerable, yes, but also high-quality, beautiful, and built for cruising. In other words, it’s one of the nicest all round pocket cruisers and it feels like a much larger boat.

The Seaward is easily the saltiest boat on this list . It’s beefy and seaworthy. Instead of a lightweight centerboard, Seaward fits the RK with a bulb-shaped retracting keel. Other big-boat items include a Yanmar diesel inboard motor and an enclosed head. The spacious cabin of the boat features a double berth and is ready for salt water cruising.

According to sailboatdata.com , the tow weight of the 26RK is 6,000 pounds. With the keel up, the draft is 1.25 feet.

Multihull sailors need not feel left out from the trailer sailer club and the pocket cruiser. Beyond the ubiquitous beach Hobie Cat, there are not many options for catamarans. But trimarans are uniquely suited to be towed.

Why? For one thing, performance oriented boats like trimarans are based on it being built light. There is no ballast—a trimaran’s stability comes from its two outer hulls. Additionally, the living space is entirely housed in the central hull–the outer floats are small and sometimes foldable. Finally, there are no keels on tris, so they are extremely shallow draft and perfect for trailering.

If you’re looking for adrenaline-pumping sporty and fun sailing, it’s impossible to beat what a trimaran will offer. Let’s not beat around the bush—most of the trailer sailers on this list have hull speeds around five knots. The Corsair has no such limits, routinely sailing at 15 knots or more .

The new Corsair 880 trimaran has an unloaded weight of 3,659 pounds. It is trailerable behind a big SUV or small pickup and is probably the most fun sailing option that is trailerable at all.

An even more portable option is the older Corsair F-24. It has a light displacement of under 2,000 pounds—so nearly any SUV can tow it.

MacGregor owns the market on trailerable motor sailers since they more or less created the product to fit the bill. The MacGregor 26 is not like other boats. The design combines a planing powerboat with a centerboard sailboat. Imagine scooting along at 20 knots or more when the wind is down or enjoying a sporty sail on a breezy day–in the same boat.

The entire boat is built from the ground up for towing and long-range sailing. So if you want a big sailboat that you can tow behind pretty much any SUV, the MacGregor has to be on your list. 

Depending on the model, the 26-foot-long boats have incredibly light dry weights of between 1,650 and 2,350 pounds. Considering the massive volume of the roomy cabin, the ability to tow such a large vessel opens up an entire world of opportunities for owners. 

It’s not all good news, of course. MacGregor owners love their boats, but they are built light and are not ideally suited for offshore cruising or rough weather. But in bays and for coastal sailing on nice days, few boats can get as much use as a MacGregor. 

The motorboat capability of the 26M and 26X might not appeal to hardcore sailors, but for those looking to maximize their use of the boat depending on the weather, their mood, or location, it makes a lot of sense. 

MacGregor shut down in 2015, but the daughter and son-in-law of the original owners took over production and renamed the boat the Tattoo 26 . The company will soon release a smaller version, the Tattoo 22 .

If the 26 is a bit big to make your list of best trailerable small sailboats, consider the smaller Powersailer 19. It’s nearly identical to the 26, just smaller and lighter.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Dale Roddick (@droddick33)

What Do You Want Your Trailer Sailer To Do?

After you’ve settled on how you will tow and launch your trailer sailer, now it’s time to dream about what you want it to do. Where will it take you? 

The beauty of a towable boat is that you can travel anywhere. A boat in the water might take weeks or months to move a few hundred miles. But if you can attach it to your car and do 65 mph on the interstate, you could sail on the Pacific on Monday, the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, and the Atlantic on Friday.

We can divide our trailerable sailboats into three groups – daysailers, weekenders, and cruisers.

These are designed with open cockpits and no space to sleep. This is a majority of the sub-22-foot boats on the market. They are designed to be launched, play for the day, and return to the ramp or dock.

A weekender will have rudimentary sleeping facilities. Think of it as a floating tent—it’s not a five-star hotel, but you can sleep under the stars or get out of the rain. Conceivably you could stay aboard indefinitely, but it doesn’t have much room for gear. So most people are ready to get off after a day or two. 

A cruising boat has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities built-in. These might be small and simple, but in any quantity, they mean you can disconnect from shore for a long time. Unfortunately, squeezing all of this into a tow-friendly package isn’t easy, and very few boats do it well. 

The best trailer sailor for your adventures will depend on many factors. Like any boat, whatever you decide on will be a compromise – boats always are. But there are plenty of choices out there, no matter what size your tow vehicle is and no matter what sailing adventures you have in mind.

What size sailboat is trailerable?

Even large yachts are routinely transported by towing across land, so the question is more of how big a sailboat can you tow? Your tow vehicle will be the limiting factor. The upper limit for most large SUVs and trucks is usually a sailboat around 26 feet long.

Sailboats are generally very heavily built, with ballast and lead keels. Sailboats specifically made to be trailer sailers are lighter. They may use drainable water ballast tanks instead of fixed ballast and have fewer fixtures and amenities.

To find the best trailer sailer, you need to balance the total tow weight, the ease of rig setup at the boat ramp, and the boat’s draft. Shallow draft boats with centerboards are the easiest to launch and retrieve.

Is a Hunter 27 trailerable?

No. The Hunter 27 is a one of those fixed-keel larger boats built from 1974 to 1984. The boat’s displacement is 7,000 pounds, not including trailer and gear. That alone makes it too heavy to tow by all but the beefiest diesel trucks. 

Furthermore, the fixed keels had drafts between 3.25 and 5 feet, all of which are too much for most boat ramps. In short, the standard Hunter Marine 27 is too big to tow for most people.

On the other hand, Hunter has made several good trailer sailers over the years. For example, the Hunter 240 and 260 were explicitly designed for trailering. They have drainable water ballast and shallow keel/centerboard drafts less than two feet. 

Is a Catalina 22 trailerable?

Yes, the Catalina 22 is easily trailerable and makes a wonderful weekend sailboat. In fact, there were over 15,000 Catalina 22s made and sold over the years. 

The boat’s displacement is 2,250 pounds, which means your total tow weight with trailer and gear will be under 3,000 pounds. This is within the capabilities of most mid to full-size SUVs and light trucks. Be sure to check your vehicle’s towing capacity, of course.

The centerboard on the Catalina 22 is another factor in its easy towing. With the board up, the boat draws only two feet. This makes it easy to float off the trailer at nearly any boat ramp. You should avoid fixed keel versions of the 22 for towing unless you have access to extra deep ramps. 

Matt has been boating around Florida for over 25 years in everything from small powerboats to large cruising catamarans. He currently lives aboard a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat with his wife Lucy and adventure dog Chelsea. Together, they cruise between winters in The Bahamas and summers in the Chesapeake Bay.

Can someone tell me why no other manufacturer makes pop tops? Those who have them, love them. Makes sense for head space with a trailerable boat too. Catalina stopped making them decades ago, yet people still swear by them. So, why isn’t there any newer models?

MacGregor put pop tops on many of its trailerables

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Search Please fill out this field.
• Newsletters
• Water Sports

West Wight Potter 19 Sailboat Review

An Easy Sailing Boat

© Judy Blumhorst

The West Wight Potter 19, like its smaller sister the 15, has been a popular pocket cruiser sailboat for over three decades. Inspired by an original design in the U.K., it is now built by International Marine in California. A number of improvements have been made over the years, while the boats still retain the original look and have attracted a large, dedicated group of followers. They are still shown at select major boat shows in the U.S.

The Potter 19 is popular not only because it's a tough little boat that is easy to sail but also because it's a lot of boat for its length. Its hard-chine hull offers good stability and has a high freeboard to help keep the cockpit dry, and it's a very easy and forgiving boat to sail. The cabin is big enough for a couple to "camp" in comfort for short cruises. The Potter 19 has even been sailed across the Atlantic and from California to Hawaii!

Description and Features

Description.

• Length overall: 18 feet 9 inches
• Length waterline: 16 feet 4 inches
• Beam: 7 feet 6 inches
• Draft 6 inches (keel up), 3 feet 7 inches (keel down)
• Displacement: 1225 lbs
• Keel weight (ballast): 300 lbs
• Mainsail: 89 sq. feet
• Headsail: 53 sq. feet (jib), 93 sq. feet (genoa)
• Mast height: 22 feet above deck, about 27 feet above waterline
• Standard trailer weight: about 500 lbs
• Can be found used in good condition for about $5000 and up

Key Features

The following comes standard with a new Potter 19 in the select package. Not all features were standard in previous years, so used boats may vary.

• Galvanized keel retracts vertically with easy-to-use cockpit winch
• Kick-up rudder allows for beaching
• Anchor rode locker with hawsepipe/air vent
• Mahogany companionway door
• Adjustable transom motor mount
• Teak handrails on cabin top
• Stainless steel swim/boarding ladder
• Running lights, anchor light
• Butane-canister single-burner stove
• 15-gallon water system with deck fill
• Sink with hand pump
• Marine porta-potty in built-in cabin area
• Custom galvanized trailer
• Stainless steel mast crutch (for trailering)

Optional Features

• Opening ports with screens
• Built-in 36-quart cooler
• Jiffy reefing system
• One-person mast-raising system
• Colored hull and/or deck
• Colored sails
• CDI furler for headsail
• Singlehanders package (lines to cockpit, etc.)
• Genoa winches
• Asymmetrical spinnaker

Sailing a Potter 19

Because it is a small, lightweight boat, the Potter 19 is easy to trailer without a special vehicle. The deck-stepped, hinged mast can be raised by one person with the mast-raising system, or two without, making it a simple matter of less than an hour's work to do everything before launching. Since the boat draws only 6 inches with the keel raised and the rudder hinged up, it launches easily at almost all boat ramps.

Many owners have led the lines to the cockpit to enable sailing without having ever to go up on deck, assuming you have the CDI furler as most owners do. Even to raise the mainsail without the halyard routed aft, a tall sailor can stand inside the cabin on the side berths just behind the mast and easily pull up the main and cleat off the halyard. Sail slugs attached to the boltrope are advised and make this a one-handed operation that takes only seconds.

The hard chines of the hull mean that the boat is slower to heel much beyond 10 to 15 degrees than boats with a rounded or V hull, and the chines also tend to throw bow spray out to the sides instead of back toward the cockpit. The trade-off, the one disadvantage when sailing, is that the boat pounds its nearly flat hull when sailing into waves or the wakes of other boats.

On any small sailboat, it is important to position crew and passenger weight to advantage (i.e., most weight on the windward side to minimize heel), but this is not a problem with a cockpit large enough for four adults to be comfortable. The relatively heavy drop keel, unlike the lighter centerboards of many trailerable sailboats, provides good, deep ballast for increased stability. Under full sail with a genoa, the boat may begin to heel excessively with the wind over about 12 knots, but the main is easily reefed and the jib partly furled to reduce heel. The P-19 moves well in as little as 5 knots of wind and quickly reaches its hull speed around 5.5 knots in a 10-knot breeze.

Most owners power with a 4 to 6 HP outboard. The long-throw adjustable motor mount allows using either a short- or long-shaft outboard. Unless there are significant waves or a strong headwind, the boat powers easily at 5 knots with the engine well under half power.

The Potter owners association includes many stories written by different Potter sailors about their experiences. There are very few reports of capsizing or serious problems, always due to a mistake by the sailor, such as forgetting to lower the keel or cleating the sails in tight and then turning broadside to the wind. When sailed correctly, the Potter is probably safer than most sailboats of its size. A brand-new sailor, as with any sailboat, is advised to have some form of sailing instruction before venturing out the first time, but the Potter 19 is a good boat on which to learn the basics.

The Interior of a Potter 19

The Potter 19 makes good use of its interior space. Although cruising on any small sailboat tends more toward camping than the luxury of walk-around space as on a larger cruising boat, the Potter 19 is more comfortable than others its size. Its four berths are all almost 6 and a half feet long, and there is good storage underneath. Still, it would be a rare foursome that would cruise more than a night or so. But there is plenty of room for two to sleep and use the other berths for gear duffels and provisions.

The single-burner butane stove works well for one-pot meals, and the sink is handy for limited use. (There is not a through-hull drain, however: you carry off or dump your "gray water" from its reservoir bag.) Many owners have been quite creative in arranging storage bins and otherwise making use of the available space. A cooler can be slid under and behind the companionway steps, for example, if your boat lacks the built-in cooler.

Bottom Line

Of the wide variety of small trailerable sailboats on the market, the Potter 19 better meets the needs of owners who want to do some cruising than almost others, which at this length are typically designed more for daysailing than overnighting.

Because Potters have been around so long, it is not difficult to find one used in many areas. But because they are also very popular within their niche, they also sell at somewhat higher prices than other trailerables even up to 22 feet or more. If you can afford it, it's worthwhile to stretch for Potter if you like its looks and want its space - you won't be disappointed.

If you’re thinking about a trailerable sailboat like the Potter 19, remember that one of the great advantages is the ability to easily take it to other sailing destinations, such as heading to the Florida Keys in the winter.

See the manufacturer's site for more information.

Related Articles

More related articles.

• Click to Link to Our New Website

Stuart Marine Corp.

• Specifications
• 2016 Packages
• Boatbuilding Pictures
• Option Index
• Rhodes Sailboats
• Deck Level Options
• Rigging Options
• Covers & Cushions
• Painted Trailers
• Galvanized Trailers
• Convenience Packs
• Tohatsu Motors
• Nissan Motors
• Yard Services
• Gel Coat Colors
• Parts List .pdf
• Documents & Awards
• Mid-boom Sheeting
• Jib Sheeting
• Mast Rig (1959-81)
• Mast Rig (1982- )
• Rudder - Keel Model
• Rudder - C/B Model
• Centerboard
• Wood (1959-81)
• Wood (1982- )
• O'day Rhodes 19 Keel 1959-1981 PARTS ORDER FORM
• O'day Rhodes 19 C/B 1959-1981 PARTS ORDER FORM
• Stuart Rhodes 19 Keel 1982-Pres PARTS ORDER FORM
• Stuart Rhodes 19 C/B 1982-Present PARTS ORDER FORM
• Replacement Parts
• Repair Pictures
• Transportation
• Timbers & Frames
• Keel & C/B
• Bottom Painting
• Deck Options
• Mast & Rigging
• Bright Woodwork
• Gelcoat & Paint
• Rudder & Tiller
• Sail Repairs
• Outboard Motors
• • Keel Model
• • C/B Model
• Trailers & Dollys
• JC 9 & Stuart 9 List .pdf
• Mariner Sailboats
• Mariner List .pdf
• Spars & Rigging (1962 - 1968)
• Spars & Rigging (1969 - 1971)
• Spars & Rigging (1972 - 1980)
• Spars & Rigging (1980 - 1981)
• Spars & Rigging (1982 - Present)
• Wood Parts (1962 - 1968)
• Wood Parts (1969 – 1971)
• Wood Parts (1972 – Present)
• FRP Hatch Covers
• Covers & Cushions (1962-1968)
• Covers & Cushions (1969-1971)
• Covers & Cushions (1972 - Present)
• Galvanized Tailers
• O'day Mariner 1962-1968 PARTS ORDER FORM
• O'day Mariner 1969-1971 PARTS ORDER FORM
• O'day Mariner 1972-1980 PARTS ORDER FORM
• Stuart Mariner 1982-Present PARTS ORDER FORM
• Repair Pricing
• Special Offer
• Used Boat Sales History
• Used Part Sales History
• • Website Admin
• Boatshop & Beyond Pics
• NE Boat Show Pix
• US Sailboat Show Pix
• • SMC Brochure .pdf
• Parts Information
• Boat Repairs

STANDARD EQUIPMENT

Best Bluewater Sailboats Under 24 Feet

Looking for a sailboat but don't want to bear the high costs? The best bluewater sailboats under 24 feet are trailerable and require low maintenance.

Many sailing enthusiasts cannot afford a large boat due to the docking fee and maintenance costs. Fortunately, bluewater sailboats under 24 feet, also known as pocket sailboats, are affordable small yachts that are trailerable to your choice of destination, so you don't have to bear the unnecessary docking fee.

The best bluewater sailboats under 24 feet are the Pacific Seacraft Dana 24, Norseboat 21.5, Catalina 22 Sport, Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20, and West Wight Potter 19. These sailboats have ample space for a couple and even a moderately-sized family along with all the amenities you may need.

A roomy cabin, galley, and settees are necessary to go cruising in the bluewater. However, sailboats are a cheaper and more convenient way to enjoy the shallow waters as all you require for sailing is a hull, rudder, mast, and sail. The sailboats on this list make your sailing experience even better with accommodations such as bedding.

We are a bunch of sailing enthusiasts and spend most of our weekends trailing our pocket sailboats, traveling to various offshore destinations. With years of knowledge, we have drafted a list of the best bluewater sailboats under 24 feet and discussed them in detail, so you can make an informed decision before buying your sailboat.

Table of contents

‍ Our Top Picks

West wight potter 19.

{{boat-info="/boats/west-wight-potter-19"}}

The West Wight Potter 19 is one of the most popular sailboats and has been at the top for over three decades. This sailboat is manufactured in California by International Marine, known for making reliable and robust sailboats.

Over the years, the West Wight 19 has seen significant changes in its design, making the boat easy to sail and increasing the storage space while keeping the design compact and available.

The 19-footer is the smallest sailboat on this list, but it doesn’t keep the boat from offering accommodations to make your experience comfortable.

Small sailboats are more about sailing instead of cruising with luxury. However, the Potter 19 offers several luxurious amenities.

The four berths allow you to camp in for a couple of days instead of spending only a day out on the water. Each berth is around six and a half feet long, with two settees and a v-berth.

The storage space under each berth and the ample walking space in between provide enough room for a small family to spend quality time. A small sink, stove, and mobile head increase the boat's functionality and ease the voyage.

The West Wight Potter 19 is far from disappointing when it comes to its sailing chops. Due to its lightweight build, you don't need a powerful truck to trail this sailboat to your preferred destination.

The hull and deck are fiberglass, which keeps the boat steady against rough water. A high freeboard keeps the cockpit and the deck dry.

The West White Potter 19's design is ideal for lake, river, and coastal sailing. However, this boat is up for the challenges as an individual has sailed from California to Hawaii, making history for the Potter 19.

You can buy West White Potter 19 from  Sailboat Listings  for $6,900.

Specifications

• Hull Type: Lifting keel
• LOA: 18.9 ft.
• LWL: 16.9 ft.
• Beam: 7.5 ft.
• Displacement: 1225 lbs.
• Ballast: 370 lbs.
• Sail Area: 115 sq. ft.
• First built: 1979
• Developer: International Marine (USA)
• Designer: Herb Stewart

Catalina 22 Sport

{{boat-info="/boats/catalina-22-sport"}}

The Catalina 22 Sport has quickly become a hot cake sailboat since the Sport version of the 22 feet hull was recently released. A retractable lead keel in the upgraded version makes it easier to haul the boat.

Other than that, the vinyl seating, a chrome fence, and a more dynamic frame give the boat a sporty yet exclusive look, putting it above its close competitors. That is why the Catalina 22 Sport has become a common sight at harbors across the state.

The update maintains the superior quality of the original Catalina yacht with a robust built, easy and comfortable sailing, and several accommodation features. The hull is made from hand-laid fiberglass bonded with a hull liner.

Beautiful single-piece fiberglass makes the deck a sight for sore eyes. It is treated with non-slippery material to keep the passengers safe from injuries.

A complete standing rig with an upgraded stern rail with controls keeps the boat sailing steadily. But the absolute joy of sailing this beautiful sailboat lies in an exclusive cockpit design. Raised contoured coamings keep the cockpit high and dry.

This boat is not just all about the looks and easy sailing. As mentioned earlier, it also has a roomy cabin with accommodations that can allow you to spend a couple of days on the boat. Two full-length berths measuring over six and a half feet are comfortable for full-grown people to sleep peacefully.

The V berth makes a bed for two where children can rest. Even though the Catalina 22 sport has enough space for a family of four to walk around without stepping on each other's toes, it is ideal for a couple to get away for a refreshing couple of days.

The best thing about Catalina releasing a newer model is that it boasts a 12 Volt electrical panel. You can keep electrical appliances working for a comfortable sailing experience.

Besides that, Catalina offers several optional features to enhance your experience on the 22-footer. These include a mast carrier at the front and rear, fabric cushion upgrade, headsail furling gear, and more.

Since the Catalina 22 Sport is made on order, you can contact dealers from  YachtWorld  to get the price of this boat.

• Hull Type: Fin w/spade rudder
• LOA: 23.62 ft.
• LWL: 19.32 ft.
• Beam: 8.67 ft.
• Displacement: 2,380 lbs.
• Ballast: 550 lbs.
• Sail Area: 110 sq. ft.
• First built: 2004
• Last built: -
• Developer: Catalina Yachts
• Designer: Gary Douglas

Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20

{{boat-info="/boats/pacific-seacraft-flicka-20"}}

The Pacific Seacraft Flicka is the most convenient and trailerable sailboat on our list, with an overall length of 20 feet. If you like a minimalist lifestyle and want the same in your bluewater pocket sailboat, this one's for you.

A functional galley with a sink and a counter and a small sink, toilet, and shower provides you with the basic amenities you and a couple of your friends and family need for a few days offshore.

There's more to the accommodation you can expect from this 20-footer sailboat. This boat has four berths, including a v-berth, so sleeping comfortably or stretching your legs occasionally is not an issue. A pop-up dining table and a chart table within the cabin make eating and other activities doable.

Nevertheless, most people underestimate the Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20’s ability to handle offshore rigidity, and they are often surprised at what this boat has to offer. A full-ballast keel, hull shape, manageable rig, and a self-draining cockpit ensure satisfactory offshore performance by the littlest contender.

Moreover, we find its outstanding standing headspace one of the boat's best features. Unlike other pocket sailboats, the Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20 has a six ft. headspace. You don't have to duck every time to save your head from banging against the roof.

The Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20's size and its minimalistic yet fulfilling features are why this boat is in high demand. With only 400 of them ever made, you will have to dig deeper and longer to find one worth buying. Due to this, the price of this boat is also slightly higher.

You can buy the Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20 from  YachtWorld  for $29,900.

• Hull Type: Long keel
• LOA: 24 ft.
• LWL: 18.75 ft.
• Beam: 8 ft.
• Displacement: 6,000 lbs.
• Ballast: 1,750 lbs.
• Sail Area: 261.89 sq. ft.
• Fuel: 12 gallons
• Fresh Water: 20 gallons
• Engine: Yanmar
• First built: 1974
• Last built: 1994
• Developer: Pacific Seacraft
• Designer: Bruce Bingham

Pacific Seacraft Dana 24

{{boat-info="/boats/pacific-seacraft-dana-24"}}

The Pacific Seacraft Dana 24 is the best overall sailboat on our list. This one is the larger of the two Pacific Seacraft sailboats mentioned. It has an overall length of 24 feet but provides you with loads of amenities.

According to the features listed, the boat might seem insufficient for an overnight sail on the water. Once you are on the boat, it won't occur to you that you are on a sailboat that is just 24 feet long.

While only four feet longer than the Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20, it adds enough space to make the cabin roomier and another berth for one more person. Not only that, the extra length provides more space to the galley.

You have increased movement and work it better. However, the length still keeps the sailboat maintaining the qualities of a smaller sailboat, allowing you easy maintenance and mobility.

Despite being larger, Pacific Seacraft Dana 20 is faster than the smaller one. As surprising as it may sound, this is because this boat's engine is more powerful and helps the hull sail faster. A high bow flare and freeboard ensure the deck remains dry unless high tides take charge.

It is ideal for a pair, especially couples who do not look for much except spending quality days offshore with the basic amenities on hand.

The Dana 24 were sold as kits and bare hulls. No one knows how many of these sailboats exist and how many of those are factory assembled. Due to this, you might also find slight differences in the build from unit to unit.

You can get the Pacific Seacraft Dana 24 from  YachtWorld  for $49,000.

• LOA: 27.25 ft.
• LWL: 21.42 ft.
• Beam: 8.85 ft.
• Displacement: 8,000 lbs.
• Ballast: 3,200 lbs.
• Sail Area: 361.22 sq. ft.
• Fuel: 18 gallons
• Fresh Water 40 gallons
• First built: 1948
• Last built: 2007
• Designer: W.I.B Crealock

Norseboat 21.5

{{boat-info="/boats/norseboat-21-5"}}

Do you prefer an open sailboat with a rugged design to keep your sailing experience raw? Get your hands on the Open Cockpit Norseboat 21.5. This boat has no cabin.

Simple sailboat design with settees on the side and enough storage room for a couple of passengers to enjoy a voyage across the lake or cruise near the coast.

But that's not all. The Norseboat 21.5 also comes in a cabin design that offers enhanced comfort. Whichever version you prefer, this boat offers a rugged design with carbon-fiber material instead of fiberglass, making it stronger than most sailboats.

However, you will have to compromise on the beauty part. Still, the boat provides a steady sailing experience with all the necessities you might require.

The Norseboat 21.5 sits lower near the water, and with a simple handling sloop rig and fully battened mainsail, it sails light and quick against the light wind. The boat is highly responsive to the tiller, requiring minimum effort from you to put it in the right direction.

Both versions of Norseboat 21.5 are lightweight, making them easy to haul and trail. You won't need a large truck to trail this boat to your favorite spot.

A mid-sized vehicle will do the job. On the other hand, their build maintains a strong presence uplifting their seaworthiness while a foil-shaped stub keel maintains stability.

You can buy the Norseboat 21.5 directly from  Norseboat .

• LOA: 21.8 ft.
• LWL: 19 ft.
• Beam: 7.1 ft.
• Displacement: 1,750 lbs.
• Ballast: 275 lbs.
• Sail Area: 197.2 sq. ft.
• Developer: NorseBoat Limited (CAN)
• Designer: Kevin Jeffrey/Mark Fitzgerald

Easy handling, low cost of maintenance, minimalistic designs, basic amenities, all while going offshore — these are the main selling points of pocket sailboats. All the boats mentioned above will serve you well if you are looking for the best bluewater pocket sailboats. Choose wisely!

Related Articles

Best Bluewater Pocket Sailboats

Best Bluewater Sailboats Under $100k

Jacob Collier

Born into a family of sailing enthusiasts, words like “ballast” and “jibing” were often a part of dinner conversations. These days Jacob sails a Hallberg-Rassy 44, having covered almost 6000 NM. While he’s made several voyages, his favorite one is the trip from California to Hawaii as it was his first fully independent voyage.

by this author

Best Sailboats

Most Recent

What Does "Sailing By The Lee" Mean?

Daniel Wade

October 3, 2023

The Best Sailing Schools And Programs: Reviews & Ratings

September 26, 2023

Important Legal Info

Lifeofsailing.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies.

Similar Posts

Affordable Sailboats You Can Build at Home

September 13, 2023

Best Small Sailboats With Standing Headroom

December 28, 2023

Best Bluewater Sailboats Under $50K

Popular posts.

Best Liveaboard Catamaran Sailboats

Can a Novice Sail Around the World?

Elizabeth O'Malley

June 15, 2022

4 Best Electric Outboard Motors

How Long Did It Take The Vikings To Sail To England?

10 Best Sailboat Brands (And Why)

December 20, 2023

7 Best Places To Liveaboard A Sailboat

Get the best sailing content.

Top Rated Posts

© 2024 Life of Sailing Email: [email protected] Address: 11816 Inwood Rd #3024 Dallas, TX 75244 Disclaimer Privacy Policy

90 DAYS OF FREE SEA TOW COVERAGE

Peace of mind, built-in. learn about our warranty options.

• New Dealer App.
• Aggressor Boats
• Warranty Inquiry
• News & Events
• Our Partnerships
• Merchandise
• Find a Dealer
• Build My Skiff
• 19 Ultra Elite
• 21 Ultra Elite
• 22 Ultra Elite
• 23 Ultra Elite
• 24 Ultra Elite
• 26 Ultra Elite
• E16 JVX Center Console
• E16 JVX Tiller Handle
• E18 JVX Center Console
• E21 DLX Kit Boat
• E24 DLX Kit Boat
• EV180 Sea Skiff
• EV198 Sea Skiff
• EV218 Sea Skiff

• Specifications
• Features & Options
• The best just got better.
• Length Over All: 17 'ft 6 "in
• Beam: 96 "in
• Gunnel Height: 23 "in

• Length Over All: 19 'ft 2 "in

• Length Over All: 21 'ft 1 "in

• Length Over All: 23 'ft 2 "in

• Length Over All: 25 'ft "in

• Length Over All: 16 'ft 2 "in
• Beam: 79 "in
• Gunnel Height: 19 "in

• Length Over All: 17 'ft 8 "in

• Length Over All: 18 'ft 11 "in
• Gunnel Height: 28 "in

• Length Over All: 20 'ft 9 "in

• Length Over All: 21 'ft 11 "in
• Gunnel Height: "in

• Length Over All: 22 'ft 11 "in
• Beam: 98 "in

• Length Over All: 23 'ft 11 "in
• Gunnel Height: 21 "in

• Length Over All: 26 'ft 0 "in

• Length Over All: 15 'ft 11 "in
• Beam: 78 "in
• Gunnel Height: 17 1/2 "in

• Length Over All: 17 'ft 11 "in
• Gunnel Height: 20 "in

• Length Over All: 21 'ft 0 "in
• Beam: 93 "in

• Length Over All: 24 'ft 1 "in

• Length Over All: 18 'ft 1 "in
• Beam: 95 "in

• Length Over All: 19 'ft 8 "in

• Length Over All: 21 'ft 8 "in

• Lorem ipsum dolormet

• Specs & Features
• Choose Your Color
• Build Your Boat
• Request A Digital Catalog
• Length Over All: 19 FT 2 IN
• Beam: 96 IN
• Gunnel Height: 23 IN
• Boat Weight: 1900 LBS
• Fuel Capacity: 30 GAL
• Transom Size: 25 IN
• Draft (approx): 7 IN
• Maximum Weight: 2374 Lbs
• Maximum Person: 8
• Maximum HP: 140 HP

Introducing the 2024 model year 19 LS – a versatile center console that easily navigates lakes, large rivers and bays. Designed with families and fishing in mind, the 19 LS is packed with amenities for adventure. For anglers, the 19 LS has six flush-mounted rod holders at the console as well as velcro rod savers under the gunnel, an 18-gallon stern live well for bait and plenty of onboard storage space for supplies. For families, safely and easily climb in and out of the 19 LS at your favorite swimming spots with the folding 3-step telescopic ladder or relax in the sun on the spacious bow and stern decks. The 19 LS safely accommodates up to eight people for years of family, fishing and fun. Find a dealer today to get your very own 19 LS!

• 100% Fiberglass/Composite Construction (No Wood to Rot)
• Molded Fiberglass Deck Liner
• High Density Fiber Core Foam Transom
• Fiberglass Grid System
• Non-Skid Deck and Floor Surface
• Stainless Bow Eye
• (2) Stainless Stern Eyes
• (4) Stainless Flip Up Cleats
• Plug In LED Bow and Stern Lights
• Rigid Rub Rail with Black Chrome Insert
• Premium Gelcoat
• Starboard and Port side Velcro Rod Savers
• Bright Kromex Carolina Skiff Logos
• Bright Kromex Model Numbers
• Port & Starboard Coaming Pads
• Diamond Pleated Upholstery
• Cockpit Gravity Fed Overboard Drain
• High Speed Pickup
• Binnacle Control Shifter
• Teleflex Shifter Control Cable
• Stainless Steering Wheel / Tilt Helm
• Teleflex No Feed Back Premium Steering Cable
• Wiring Harness
• Instrumentation Panel (Speed, Fuel, Volt, Tach)
• Lockable Access Door
• Stainless Grab Rail
• (2) Stainless Cup Holders
• Quick Disconnect Windshield
• Marine Horn with Stainless Cover
• (6) Flush Mount Rod Holders
• Stainless Cooler Frame Helm Seat with Adjustable Back
• 70 Quart Removable Marine Cooler
• Cargo Storage Bag
• Front Passenger Seat with Baitwell
• (2) Passenger Grab Handles
• (2) LS Series Decals
• Marine Board Lids with Stainless Latches and Friction Hinges
• Molded-in Anchor Locker w/tie off cleat
• Molded Bow Storage with Overboard Drains
• Trolling Motor Battery Storage Area
• (1) Diamond Pleated Fishing Seat with 11” pole
• 12/24V Trolling Motor Plug with Trim
• (2) Flush Mount Jump Seats
• (2) Stainless Cup Holder
• (2) Passenger Grab Handle
• Approx.) 18 Gallon Bait Well w/Lid & Friction Hinges
• Fuel Water Separator
• 500 GPH Bilge Pump
• 800 GPH Aerator Pump
• Pop Out Service Hatch to Electrical Busbar
• Splash Well Service Hatch
• Swim Platform with 3 Step Telescopic Ladder
• Battery Switch

Make it your own

NOTE: The (NAP) Price does not include Dealer freight, Dealer prep, trailer, aftermarket accessories, options, registration fees, taxes and any other required fees in your purchasing state. Please see your local dealer for a full breakdown of pricing and availability. Price, materials, colors, options and specifications are subject to change without notice.

• Power Grip Stainless Steering Wheel $240.00
• Ultra Leaning Post with Anodized Frame $1090.00
• Ultra Leaning Post with Black Powder Coated Frame $1090.00
• Ultra Leaning Post with French Vanilla Powder Coated Frame $1090.00
• Raw Water Washdown System $430.00
• Maxi Air Recirculation System $170.00
• Stainless Bow Rail $440.00
• Bow Cushion Set $610.00
• AM/FM BT Radio w/ 4 Spkrs/ USB/ AUX Plugs $730.00
• Bimini Large 80 $570.00
• Bimini Top 90 $580.00
• T-Top w/ Canvas Top $5110.00
• T-Top w/ Fiberglass Hard shell(Matching Hull Color Underside). T-Top includes LED lights, Storage bag and E-box $5980.00

Color of Top

• Red (Bimini or Canvas Only)

HULL STRIPE COLOR OPTION

• Small Stripe $520.00
• Full Side $680.00
• Complete Hull $1020.00
• BayStar Hydraulic Steering with Tilt Helm $960.00
• SeaStar Hydraulic Steering with Tilt Helm $1310.00

Powder Coating- T-Top / Leaning Post

• French Vanilla

YOUR BOAT FEATURES

Custom build features.

• Submit a Quote

19 LS Gallery

You’re one step closer to getting your dream boat. Please fill in the remaining information to request a quote with the boat features you selected! One of our representatives will reach out to you within 24 hours!

• Brand: Carolina Skiff
• Model: 19 LS
• First Name*
• Country* Select... United States Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bonaire Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote d'Ivoire Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia French Southern and Antarctic Lands Gabon Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and McDonald Islands Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia (FYROM) Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Micronesia Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Islands Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand The Bahamas The Gambia Timor-Leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wallis and Futuna Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
• State/Province* Not Applicable Select... Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming
• ZIP/Postal Code*

Boat Request

Please send me a quote for a Carolina Skiff , 19 LS with the following features:

FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM

Sign up for carolina skiff's newsletter to receive regular updates from our team.

* denotes required fields

• New dealer application
• Request a Digital Catalog
• Dealer Login

Email First Name Last Name

• Subscribe Now
• Digital Editions

What it’s like on a €70,000 per week, 80ft motor yacht charter

• Cruise Safer
• Top stories

Charter company Lumi Yachts is named after the Finnish word for snow, but a few days on board its brand new Princess Y80 is enough to melt anyone’s heart

What would be your ideal holiday if you lived in a country so cold it had 40 different words for snow? How about sunbathing on the deck of a brand new Princess Y80 while a smiling crew member topped up your gin and tonic? It would certainly be very near the top of my list and I am guessing it’s the same for the two Finnish businessmen who bought the very first Princess Y80 off the production line, set it up as a charter business and called it Lumi – one of the many native words for, you guessed it, snow.

Sitting on its home berth in Cala d’Or marina, Mallorca, Lumi certainly looks as clean, white and sparkling as freshly fallen snow but the sun warming our backs at the tail end of October tells a very different story. We’re here to spend a few days on board so we can experience what it’s like to be a charter guest on this very special boat.

It’s rare enough to spend any length of time aboard an 80ft motor yacht but three days and nights on a brand new model we haven’t even sea trialled yet is next-level lucky.

Skipper Paul Askew and stewardess Liz Jepson are on hand to greet us, chilled champagne at the ready to help erase the memories of our Ryanair flight – most guests opt for a rather more exclusive means of arrival! I’ve met Paul before when he was working as a charter skipper for Boats.co.uk so we know we’re in safe hands and Liz seems equally happy to meet us.

After a quick tour of the boat, and to the surprise of absolutely no-one, my wife and I opt for the midships master while our friends Dan and Victoria settle for the forward VIP. That still leaves two very comfortable ensuite doubles free for other guests without anyone feeling like a second class citizen.

Recommended videos for you

A spotless-looking Lumi on her home berth in Cala d’Or, Mallorca

Not that there’s any danger of that in our party. Dan and Victoria are experienced sailors but their idea of boating is night sailing across the Channel in a 30-year-old bilge-keeler, so sleeping in a king-sized double bed with hot and cold running crew is all rather overwhelming. Luckily, Victoria seems to be getting the hang of it just fine, especially after the second glass of champagne!

Dan is proving a little more reluctant to embrace the dark side (all motor boats are regarded with a degree of scepticism) but soon warms up when talk turns to today’s cruising itinerary. The plan is to potter gently south along the east coast of Mallorca, stopping off at a couple of pretty Calas en route for a bite to eat before heading out to the national marine park of Cabrera, some 10nm further south, to spend the night on a buoy.

Easing along Cala d’Or’s long, slender entrance channel, lined on both sides with what looks like an entire year’s output of the combined European boat building industry, is my idea of heaven even if the girls seem rather more smitten by the luxury villas keeping watch over them from the hillsides above – each to their own!

Sheltered as we are from the prevailing southerly, it comes as a bit of a surprise to witness white horses on the peaks of the waves as we nose out of the entrance into the rolling swell. At this time of year you do have to take your chances with the weather, unlike the wall-to-wall sunshine that is all but guaranteed between May and September.

Smiles all round greet another of Liz’s magnificent lunchtime spreads

The plus side of cruising here in October is that the sea is still a balmy 24 degrees and the beaches, marinas and restaurants are far less crowded than during the peak summer months. Besides, it will take more than a few white caps to spill your drink on a boat as large and seaworthy as this one.

Cala hopping

Safely ensconced up on the flybridge we settle into a relaxed canter, gently rising and falling with the motion of the waves, blissfully unperturbed by the occasional bursts of spray being thrown out from Lumi ’s bow. Even from the co-pilot’s sea, it’s clear this is a very capable sea boat.

Right on cue, Paul points the bow in towards another narrow fissure in the cliffs called Cala Figuera. This one’s barely any wider than the boat is long and the further we crawl up its narrowing channel, the more impressed I am by Paul’s close-quarters control. One false move and we’ll be graunching the metalwork on the cliffs. When it’s clear we can go no further, he spins Lumi on its axis and heads back out the way we came before pushing on south towards Cap Saline, the southernmost tip of Mallorca.

Article continues below…

Cruising Croatia on a 160ft stunner: €100,000 per week superyacht charter

Princess 88 charter: The €49,000 dream yacht vacation experience

Before we leave the shelter of land altogether, Paul tucks up under the lee of Cala Lombards, dropping anchor but leaving the stabilisers on so we can enjoy our first lunch on board; a fabulous spread of fresh tomatoes, basil and burrata with serrano ham, rocket and parmesan. Served in Lumi ’s aft cockpit, it’s a perfect opportunity to admire how the Y80’s longitudinal dinette arrangement gives everyone a much better view than the usual athwartships layout. It seems so obvious that you wonder why it took so long for designers to come up with it.

Fully fed and watered, the girls retire to the teak sunloungers with a book and a glass of rosé, while Dan and I join Paul at the upper helm for the passage across to Cabrera. Yomping along at 10-12 knots with the engines purring away and the silhouette of the islands gradually growing larger on the horizon, it’s an exhilarating feeling.

Cala Figuera is barely any wider than the boat is long and the further we crawl up its tapering channel the more impressed I become

Cabrera nights

Less than an hour later, we’re passing through the gap in the outer islands, the low-lying sun casting long shadows on the ochre-coloured earth of this beautiful but barren landscape. Pretty as they are, the islands hide a dark history; in 1808 some 9,000 French prisoners were abandoned here but intermittent supplies from the mainland and few natural resources to rely on meant only 3,600 of them survived long enough to be repatriated in 1814.

These days the whole archipelago is a protected national park inhabited only by a handful of staff who look after it and manage the visitors’ moorings in the large natural harbour.

A buoy in the shadow of Cabrera’s castle provided a memorable overnight stay

Paul has pre-booked one of the buoys and it’s here, in the shadow of the 14th-century castle perched at the entrance to the bay, that we find our spot. Once secured, Paul wastes no time launching the Williams Sportjet 435 from Lumi ’s hydraulic platform and whisking us across the bay to visit a large natural cave. Steadying pole removed to reduce our air draft, we penetrate deep into the mouth of the cave, voices echoing off the rocky walls as the light from the entrance fades to a pinprick behind us.

By the time we return, the sun has set and Lumi is lit up from the inside like a giant glass lantern. A more welcoming sight is hard to imagine, especially with the aroma of Liz’s cooking drifting out from the midships galley. There’s just time for a quick swim in the illuminated pools of Lumi ’s underwater lights before supper is served; chilled gazpacho followed by an authentic Spanish paella with succulent octopus and prawns the size of cigars. Heavy with food, wine and the excitement of a day well spent, we collapse into the embrace of our wonderfully soft, cosy beds.

Angled sofas make for a really sociable layout in the saloon

Windy weather

Waking to the gentle gurgle of water lapping against the hull, two things quickly become clear. First, the wind has started to pick up and second, even though I can feel the stabilisers working, both the fins and the generator are all but inaudible in the master cabin – a major improvement on previous boats I’ve slept on.

With the forecast predicting 30-knot winds this afternoon, Paul recommends heading back to the safety of Cala d’Or and spending a day in the marina, exploring the many onsite restaurants and bars, which we happily agree to.

There’s no point getting beaten up just for the sake of sticking to a pre-planned itinerary; far better to go with the flow and make the most of the boat and location. In fact, we all rather enjoy a quiet day checking out the local beach, dining at a fabulous fish restaurant and coming and going from our luxury floating hotel where there’s always a hot shower and a cool drink at the ready.

The view that greets you every time you wake up in Lumi’s magnificent master cabin

The next day dawns bright and clear and after another fine breakfast of freshly baked croissants, scrambled eggs and locally sourced yoghurt and honey, we’re all keen to get back out to sea. The wind has died but a residual swell provides another chance to admire the Y80 in action, including a quick burst of throttle to see what those big 1,900hp MAN engines can do – an impressive 32.5 knots is the answer albeit at the cost of over 700lph (something to bear in mind when planning your own itinerary).

At Paul’s suggestion, we’re popping a few miles down the coast to Cala Mondrago, reputed to be one of Mallorca’s prettiest anchorages, with a pristine beach and wonderfully unspoilt surroundings. We arrive just as a small fleet of sailing yachts are leaving, freeing up a spot right at the head of the inlet where it splits into two natural coves. With practised efficiency Paul and Liz drop the hook in water so clear you can see the anchor settling into the white sand below. Minutes later the platform is lowered, the tender launched and an array of water toys is at our disposal, including an ever popular Seabob.

Cala Mondrago deserves its reputation as one of Mallorca’s prettiest anchorages

Cala Mondrago

Dan and the girls drive straight in, while Paul takes me off for a tour of the Cala in the Williams to find the best angle for photographs. This is truly Instagram heaven with hidden inlets, rocky promontories and a handful of spectacular villas providing the perfect backdrop for the Y80, occupying centre stage at the heart of the action. There’s no denying that Lumi is a very pretty-looking boat and it’s hard not to feel a little bit smug at all the envious eyes pointed in our direction.

We return to the boat just in time to hear gales of laughter from Victoria as she scoots around the boat behind the Seabob. Dan is quick to follow, heading off to the rocks where the waves have worn a natural tunnel through the cliffs. We watch him disappear cautiously into the gloom before reappearing 30 seconds later on the other side of the headland. It’s moments like this that make a charter holiday such an unforgettable experience.

The Seabobs and Williams Sportjet means there’s plenty to keep guests entertained

Feeling suitably refreshed, we ask Paul to drop us off at an old landing stage on one side of the bay so we can walk around the two long branches of the Cala. A coastal path leads up through wooded headland before working its way back down to the fine sandy beach where the last of the season’s holidaymakers are splashing about in the sapphire blue waters. It’s hard to believe that today is 1 November.

We pick our way along the rocks at the head of the bay then along the cliffs to the second beach before calling Paul to pick us up from an old boat house tunnelled into the rocks on the other side. With consummate skill, he manoeuvres the 435’s bow close enough for us to hop across from the rocks before whisking us back to the boat in our very own waterborne limo service.

Mallorca’s many Calas mean there’s always an attractive sheltered spot to drop anchor

Porto Petro

For our final night, Paul has booked a buoy in the neighbouring natural harbour of Porto Petro so after another glorious lunch under the shade of the flybridge hard top, we weigh anchor and head round the corner to this pretty little fishing village. Once again Paul is on hand to drop us ashore for a beer or three in a quayside bar, where we watch the sun set over our floating home from home. Tomorrow we’ll come crashing back to reality but for the moment all four of us are living the dream and relishing every moment of it.

Chartering a boat like this doesn’t come cheap but being able to share precious moments like this with family and friends while being royally looked after by Liz and Paul is a truly unforgettable experience. Even hardened sailor Dan has fallen for Lumi ’s charms, while secretly cursing me for setting such an absurdly high bar for any future boating holidays. I know how he feels, my 22ft Karnic sportsfisher will never feel quite the same again but even if this proves to be the peak of my boating career, I will go to my grave knowing that for a few dazzling days I’ve lived like a royalty aboard the ultimate Snow Princess.

Prices: October-April €63,000 p/w, May-September: €70,000 p/w APA: Additional 25% of charter fee (deposit for fuel, berthing and provisions) Crew tips: At your discretion but up to 10% of the charter fee is the norm Contact: lumi.yachts

If you enjoyed this….

Motor Boat & Yachting is the world’s leading magazine for Motoryacht enthusiasts. Every month we have inspirational adventures and practical features to help you realise your sailing dreams, as well as tests and news of all the latest motorboats.

Plus you’ll get our quarterly Custom Yachting supplement where we share the last on offer in the superyacht world and at the luxury end of the market. Build your knowledge with a subscription delivered to your door. See our latest offers and save at least 30% off the cover price.

World’s Coolest Boats: Mochi Dolphin 64 Fly – Pulse-Pounding Pastel Panache

Watch: makai m37 sea trial – £720k cruising cat like nothing you’ve seen before, pearl 82 tour: must-see £6m ‘mini superyacht’, latest videos, princess s65 sea trial and tour: £2m sportsfly ticks all the boxes, watch: beneteau swift trawler 54 sea trial – £1.4m cruiser is the ultimate home.

• Work & Careers
• Life & Arts

TikTok warns of ‘staggering’ consequences from US divest-or-ban law

Keep abreast of significant corporate, financial and political developments around the world. Stay informed and spot emerging risks and opportunities with independent global reporting, expert commentary and analysis you can trust.

Try unlimited access Only $1 for 4 weeks

• Then $75 per month
• New customers only
• Cancel anytime during your trial

Keep reading for $1

Explore our subscriptions

Find the plan that suits you best.

Professional

Premium access for businesses and educational institutions.

• Get Started

Check if your university or organisation offers FT membership to read for free.