From Sailboat To Straigh-Out Powerboat

[minaret]

Originally Posted by BillAU

I forgot to add in my earlier reply, like Tony B, I too like me home comforts, at almost 70 years of age and having worked hard all my life, I think I've earned them
I got to thinking about converting a Full Displacement Hull mono sailboat after reading about MV Focus, a powerboat built like a sailboat that is now for sale, MV Focus is a beautiful yacht by anyones standards, loads of space and quality built, from bow to stern she ticks all the boxes for me and I would love to own her but I believe she's well out of my price bracket

Bill
Australia

Designing a "powerboat built like a sailboat" from scratch is one thing, retrofitting a sailboat designed to be a sailboat is another completely different idea and not a good one IMHO. I have been involved in a few attempts to do this well, and it always ends poorly in my experience. For me the prime example was the "Skookum Queen", a 53' Skookum that we rebuilt for the owner. We removed the rig, built a custom flybridge, installed Wesmar roll stabilizers, a steadying sail, etc. etc. The owner had sailed her for many years and felt he was too old to continue sailing her. The stabilizers were installed about year two after the conversion in an attempt to minimize the roll, which was heinous. Vast sums of money were poured into the project. When the owner finally passed on his family was left with a massive boat of little value to anyone other than it's previous owner. I don't know what happened to her, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone bought her to restore to proper Skookum glory, also at vast expense. And these are boats which were designed to motor well, with a more "pure" sail design I'm guessing it would be a disaster in most cases. If the owner in this case had made the move to a trawler we would still have a classic sailboat and a nice trawler on the market. As it is the Boss sent another one of his kids to college on the expense involved and someone else will have to do it again to make the boat right. Some clients you just can't talk sense into...

[BillAU]

Originally Posted by minaret

Designing a "powerboat built like a sailboat" from scratch is one thing, retrofitting a sailboat designed to be a sailboat is another completely different idea and not a good one IMHO. I have been involved in a few attempts to do this well, and it always ends poorly in my experience. For me the prime example was the "Skookum Queen", a 53' Skookum that we rebuilt for the owner. We removed the rig, built a custom flybridge, installed Wesmar roll stabilizers, a steadying sail, etc. etc. The owner had sailed her for many years and felt he was too old to continue sailing her. The stabilizers were installed about year two after the conversion in an attempt to minimize the roll, which was heinous. Vast sums of money were poured into the project. When the owner finally passed on his family was left with a massive boat of little value to anyone other than it's previous owner. I don't know what happened to her, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone bought her to restore to proper Skookum glory, also at vast expense. And these are boats which were designed to motor well, with a more "pure" sail design I'm guessing it would be a disaster in most cases. If the owner in this case had made the move to a trawler we would still have a classic sailboat and a nice trawler on the market. As it is the Boss sent another one of his kids to college on the expense involved and someone else will have to do it again to make the boat right. Some clients you just can't talk sense into...

Thanks for that advice, I do understand converting a sailboat to a powerboat, such as adding a flybridge and stabilizers as you mention, could lead to a number of problems with the boat. My idea was to keep everything as-is, apart from reducing the size of the mast, sail and rigging.
The sail would be used as a steadying sail and help a little while motoring between moorings. Converting a sailboat to a powerboat was just a matter of curiosity on my part. I have seen a few 40' to 50' Hartley and Roberts sailboats set-up as pure powerboats...No sail/s or rigging. That got me thinking why other owners of full displacement sailboats do not convert their boats to straight-out powerboats, so I asked the question...After all, most, if not all sailboats do spend a lot of time motoring between moorings.

Bill
Australia