I'm not half the trailer sailor I thought I was

[1st Sail]

We are close to selling the company and doing the USA great loop, (RV+Mac). Now I feel inadequate!

[NiceAft]

Only one Mac. couple has done the loop, and two are in the midst of it. Those three couples are the one's you should be conversing with. Everyone else can just theorize.

Ray

[ris]

We are still on the loop 3800 miles so far. Feel free to pm me and we can talk on the phone. Chinook and Sumner are very knowledgeable long distance travelers who I am sure would talk to you. Doing the loop is just Fun. You meet some great folks on the loop. The guys in 40 or 50 foot trawlers cannot go to some of the neat backcountry places we can go. They spend a lot of time worrying about there depth. But they do have a lot more inside room then we do. One of the main reasons we left the mast at home was so we could have a extra large dodger, and 6.5 feet tall Bimini with a complete enclosure.(there are pictures here on this site).

[miamistyle]

I think you might regret leaving the mast at home when you could be sailing in the great lakes.

[ris]

There was some great sailing days in the north channel but Lake Michigan was sort of calm or 4 or 5 ft lake waves which are nothing like ocean swells. Also in Lake Michigan ports or inlets are 20 to30 miles apart so when you leave one you have a 5 to 6 hr straight line trip to make before the weather gets bad so you have to add any time you tack out of the straight line to your 5 or 6 hour day. Check with Chinook and see how many miles he sailed out of over 6000 miles. If you eliminate motor sailing and the time in the Bahamas, I would be surprised at anything over 500 miles of pure sailing. Also there is all the time you travel with the mast stepped down because of low bridges.

[BOAT]

I did it as a kid with my mom and dad - we were all over the US and Mexico towing a 23 foot sailboat. Only we did not have a motor home - dads other thing was a travel trailer that my mom really liked. I never much cared for travel trailers so I have always been a motor home guy as an adult.

Now, I do tow my MAC with a motor home - I have become very comfortable with launching 'boat' with a motor home. If you don't mind launching with a motor home I say your in fine shape.

Most folks that cross country with the boats use the boat as a caravan (a travel trailer) as they criss cross the highways - and as I said - that's how we did it when I was a kid, BUT - I can tell you that the whole experience is a LOT nicer using a motor home.

It's very nice to have all those homey comforts of hot showers and a big fridge and comfy couches and so forth at the end of a day of sailing. When I am retired I can only hope I will also cross country with the boat. I always knock on wood that my health will hold up that long. If you want to do it you should do it if you can.

Sumner has experience on the road and so does mastreb but I don't think mastreb reads here anymore.

[Chinook]

I haven't tallied up the miles of pure sailing, but they were not that many. Main reason is the distances needed to cover on this trip, plus the great percentage on inland waters where course is constantly changing. The primary benefit to having the mast and sails along, for me, was the motor sailing I was able to do. Whenever I had a favorable angle to the wind the jib came out, and if I could anticipate steady conditions I'd raise the main. One of the big advantages of having mast and sails along is being able to steady the boat in rough and/or rolling seas. That said, RIS makes good points regarding his decision to go mastless. I've seen his boat, and that tall bimini/dodger is really nice, as is the high cabin roof stanchions and railings he installed. His approach is working very well, and a very reasonable option.

[sailboatmike]

I must admit motor sailing can seriously improve your fuel economy, even the 75Hp only sips from the tank when we motor sail

[1st Sail]

So our possible version of the 'Great Loop' is to RV tow the Mac around the USA & Canada and sail all the lakes and reservoirs we can. However, not quite the RV-Trailer combo I'm thinking of......
http://forums.sailboatowners.com/index. ... or.180946/

[sailboatmike]

I would love to see a Mac on top, would make for a very long load