Pros and Cons of Ketch?

[dfelsent]

Originally Posted by pcmm

Ok, I’ll bite...if you’re using halyards as a Triatic, how do you get them back down when you want to use them as...halyards? You can’t be climbing to the top of your mizzen mast all The time.

I put together a string of flags, and a strong line in parallel of the same length. I put one end of the line on the main halyard (or topping lift) and the other end on the mizzen staysail halyard.
I then put a retrieval line on the mizzen staysail halyard. I clear the bitter end, leaving slack. Then hoist the main end of the string. Then I hoist the mizzen end. The retrieval line stays cleated, but with the slack removed.

To lower, I ease the mizzen while pulling in on the retrieval line, then lower the main.

At all times I have fairly strong lines tied to each other and to the deck. Low risk, no climbing.

[Hillbillybuddha]

We have a 42 ft Ketch, well, we actually just sold her. She sails beautifully, but the things I didn't like about the ketch rig. Getting on and off tune boat is more difficult, unless you are boarding from the transom, there's shrouds to maneuver around, the same for heading to the foredeck. It's a spiders web of rigging to negotiate. Setting up a bimini is almost impossible. At anchor we "tent" the cockpit which works well but I'm totally exposed underway. The cost of rigging goes way up. But the number one think I don't like about the ketch is the added weight aloft. It takes some getting use to the motions created when the wind is blowing and the sails are down.

[Perfect Ride]

Owned a smaller sloop in my 20's, moving to 47' sloop in my 30's, single handed a 56' ketch in my 40's for three years and then couple-cruised a 44' cat in my 50's for 5 years. Loved them all and would sail each of them again. Being on the water comes first, the boat type is a distant second.

[OkiMike]

We have a 1973 Spencer 53’ ketch.

For us, the pros were:
1. The most beautiful boat we found in all our searching.
2. Going 10 knots with the canvas up.
3. Ease of handling with our new-to-sailing family/crew.

Cons:
1. Extra chainplate/maintenance cost.
2. Birds treat the mizzen perch like their personal toilet. We’ll be installing some anti-bird spikes shortly.

[Manateeman]

We thought long and hard about a schooner. John Scarano design of course.
Bruce King did a wishbone ketch for his personal boat.
So there are two well executed designs.
Cons?
We have a 10’ Trinka aft the mizzenmast. The manatee crew have greased all the blocks on that boom and can swing pallets of beer aboard as we sleep. They hide the beer in the chain locker and every nook until the waterline disappears.
So I guess I’d say the downside is that you look like a cargo ship during WW2 or a scene from On The Waterfront.
The Fierce Bad Manatee Crew.