What Makes A Sailboat, A Sailboat?

[scoobert]

apart for the blatantly obvious, sails, keel, rudders, rigging.
displacement hull, for most of them.
rounded hull?
has anyone converted a larger power boat into a sail boat with success?

[S/V Illusion]

Why would you want to?

[scoobert]

Conversation, that is all.
Wouldn't you love to sail the world in something odd?
Outfit an old fishing trawler with a big sail and go to Miami?

[snort]

How about a MacGregor?

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by snort

How about a MacGregor?

thats very different!
never seen those before.
looks like my bayliner with a sail?

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by scoobert

Conversation, that is all.
Wouldn't you love to sail the world in something odd?
Outfit an old fishing trawler with a big sail and go to Miami?

Only If I wanted to enter an ugly, poor sailing boat contest.

Is there a difference between being embarrassed in Miami vs. somewhere else?

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Only If I wanted to enter an ugly, poor sailing boat contest.

Is there a difference between being embarrassed in Miami vs. somewhere else?

I picked a random place.
ugly things can be fun.

[boatman61]

This used to be a classic old motor boat till I got my hands on it... stuck a stub each side and planted a mast... Boom Boom...

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by boatman61

This used to be a classic old motor boat till I got my hands on it... stuck a stub each side and planted a mast... Boom Boom...

and how does it handle compared to a classic cookie cutter sailboat?

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by scoobert

and how does it handle compared to a classic cookie cutter sailboat?

Ahhh... that was just a bit of torro merde...
She came like that... but that chine and flat centre section between the keels made her fast and I reckon with the mast and keels off.. a decent engine she'd have been a flyer..
The boats a Magyar 7 from the 60's.. Hungarian..

[Kettlewell]

When I was a kid I made a sailing rig, leeboards, and a rudder and put them on a 12-foot aluminum fishing skiff and it sailed surprisingly well considering zero engineering and just eyeballing everything. The sails were made from sheets of poly and duct tape.

[frank_f]

Originally Posted by scoobert

thats very different!
never seen those before.
looks like my bayliner with a sail?

Only the newer ones. My old Mac sails very well and she looks like a sailboat when she does it, thank you very much

If you took a BCC or a Hunter and stuck 2 -200hp Mercs on the back of them, would it surprise you that it didn't work well? Why?

With a few exceptions, mono hull sailboat bodies are not meant to plane. Their weight is kept heavy and low to counteract the heeling force of the sails. The new Mac's do it with water ballast. Weight that can be added or removed depending on the circumstances (try that with your C&C, Bayliner or even my old Mac).

Powerboats are meant to plow through the waves. That's why powerboats, for the most part, don't have to run a zig-zag course to windward. That's why powerboats have shallow draughts.

A power boat with a sail usually has a riding sail to help out with lumpy seas or anchorages.

Can it be done? Yes, just don't expect any 150nm+ 24hr passages, the hull wasn't designed for having sails on it.

You would probably have the most comfortable, luxurious, slow-assed passage though.

[charliehows]

sailboats have a pretty long history, and frankly the only answer to that question is 'it has sails'. There arent many shapes and sizes of hull that havent had a sail strapped on them at some point. But the idea of sticking a rig on a modern motor boat that was designed for...motoring...is...why? There are plenty of motor sailer designs that are very good, plenty of out and out sailboats which also come equipped with really effective engines, but putting a rig on a motor boat?

[daddle]

A sailboat is a vessel that, in almost all conditions, sails better than she motors. I know this is a narrow definition, eliminating many vessels that look like sailboats, but anything else is a power boat or barge.

[scoobert]

Originally Posted by charliehows

point. But the idea of sticking a rig on a modern motor boat that was designed for...motoring...is...why?

because someday fuel will cost so much, that either powerboats will be worthless, or modified to sail.
what would you do with a 55' aluminum Chris craft if fuel was $14 a gallon in the US? scrap it, but then whats left?