ICW in a trailer sailer?

[Grith]

Thanks great idea. Shouldn’t be too much issue registering our trailer as it’s a state of the art with electro hydraulic stainless steel brakes controlled from the car and a top class roll on roll off aluminium trailer and with yacht and stuff onboard it weighs about 7000lbs due to the yacht using primarily water ballast. It uses rubber suspension so no rusting springs and has the largest possible triple seal marine wheel bearings.
We have towed it thousands of miles around Australia.
Whilst our current tow tug is also unusual our previous one was just a regular large SUV.
The second photo posted upside down!
Most have recognised it came from down under!😂

[Mike Crothers]

A very impressive yacht you have made and I don't see any issues with cruising the east coast of the US and the Bahamas. I like the ICW with lots of beautiful scenery and towns to visit and with your shallow draft you have unlimited anchorages to pick from which is great when we get big thunderstorms or hurricanes.



As far as paperwork the United States can be a pain, you may want to start in Canada or Bahamas where 1776 is not an issue.

[smacksman]

Old boats in the US are cheap so I would fly there and buy one and use it for a 3 months visa then either sell it or pay $500 +- storage and return for another 3 months cruising. For the ICW I would leave the mast and sails in the container! You will be motoring 90% of the time. I sailed 3000 miles on the ICW and loved it. So many nice people and places to see. Between the 30 ft. sailboat and the 27 motor cruiser I sailed, I would go with the motor cruiser and its 8 ft. air draught and 2 ft. water draught every time. Stopped for nothing! Both craft were bought for <$7k and easily sold when it was time to go home.

[Carriage Boy]

The America's Great Loop and touring "3 countries" on the west coast have already been suggested, I'd recommend doing the eastern half of the Great Loop & Bahamas by the normal seasons.
Summer (Jul, Aug, Sept) in the Canadian Georgian Bay/North Channel/Trent Severn & Rideau canals, traverse down the Erie/Chesapeake to the ICW in the fall (Oct, Nov, Dec-- hopefully insurance during hurricane season wouldn't be an issue for a small trailerable boat) and cruise over to spend the winters (Jan, Feb, Mar) in the Bahamas.
Reverse the trip by cruising back up the ICW in the spring (Apr, May, Jun), rinse & repeat the cycle as many times as you wish.
Links the great Eastern small boat cruising grounds, keeps you within 1 or so months of the prime cruising weather windows for each area and keeps you out of the visa poky by changing countries every 90 days.

[SuW]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

Grith I wonder if its easier just to get 6 months visa for each country? You could start in Vancouver, do the great lakes. Then join the intercoastal waterway once you have crossed the New York state border. Then the intercoastal waterway. Finally cross into Mexico cruise Mexico and drop your boat of at Manzanillo port and fly home. Thats three countries and 18 months
The biggest issue I can see is registering the trailer in whichever country you choose to start from.
Cheers

Um...the Vancouver & West Coast region (great cruising country) is about 3000 km from the upper Great Lakes, by road. It's a fairly tough drive with a trailer too.

Cruising in BC in the winter is dark, cold and rainy, if not worse.

Cruising the Great Lakes between September and May is not practical because of sub-zero temperatures.

So cruise for a few months, lay up the boat and go somewhere else. Repeat?

[lestersails]

Congrats on your lovely boat. It looks like you have it very nicely outfitted and customized to your individual preferences. I can definitely appreciate why you want to ship it rather than buying someone else's problems! Fair winds.

[Grith]

Thanks all. Regards going by motorboat I just couldn’t do it. We have cruised many hundreds of miles on inland waterways as well as our extensive inshore offshore cruising. It’s amazing how much more you see just drifting under furling Genoa with electric outboard assistance when required than when just motoring with an ICE which we also do.
Having a manufacturer built in mast lowering/dipping system than can be easily used underway by one person from the cockpit with boom and sails still attached eliminates the majority of the issues that those with yachts usually have.
For really low clearance issues we can drop the mast right down without setting foot on land to achieve this and still use the whole yacht comfortably.