Reinventing The Motorsailer

Editor’s note:

The best things about boating start with a casual conversation, although nowadays these conversations are often electronic to accommodate schedules and time zones. This is the way this article was born, as an exchange between two icons, Ted Hood and Skip Allen, Sr.

Dear Skip,

It’s time to re-invent the motorsailer. I’ve been working on the concept for six years; I have designed and built two. The first was a 48 with a few new ideas. The 55 was a big jump in design and performance because I chose to design the boat utilizing details that are penalized by the rating rules. This results in a faster boat, yet it’s a safe, dry, global cruiser. I now have a 50 on the boards pushing the concept even farther with long chines aft like a Round-the-World race boat, but heavier and with considerably more comfort.
Best Regards,
Ted Hood
Dear Ted,
You and I go way back but I never thought I’d hear you talk about changing your approach to design. Tell me more.
Cheers!  Skip

Dear Skip,

Right, it’s not a Little Harbor.  To start with, I’ve drawn a long, narrow waterline, high prismatic hull with very little overhang bow or stern. It has six-foot draft but with all the ballast on the bottom 18 inches of a Scheel-type keel below a fine, thin, low-resistance fin—quite a bit different than the Robins. I do value centerboards and include a small one for better performance upwind that will extend draft to 13 feet.
Here’s another surprise. I would also use twin rudders for good leeway resistance and excellent steering control. I’ve discovered that by designing in slight weather helm, the rudders are always at a slight angle, which lifts the boat to windward even more efficiently than a centerboard.
Finally, I think it should be built as light as possible.
Best,  Ted
Dear Ted,
Skip forwarded me your letter. I had an underpowered (50-hp) 44-foot, 13-ton center cockpit ketch. I loved her when we could sail, but the last year we only sailed five days and motored the rest, and that not very well – 5.5 knots. What sort of speeds, power and sail, should we expect of a boat than can be handled by a couple?
Sincerely,  Marilyn Mower, Editor

Dear Marilyn,

Your 44-foot ketch is old school. We are thinking big, never before seen changes in designs for 50-, 57-, and 64-foot boats. Two years ago our 55 was tank-tested at 12 knots power and sail. But the boat was built very heavy and with solid raised wood-paneled joinery. We also had to add 4,000 pounds of weight in the stern to balance the boat on her lines. Even so, we did sail at 11 knots with no quarter wave and powered at 9 knots courtesy a 300-hp engine with a big shaft and huge folding prop.
Our new designs use duo-prop IO propulsion systems, single or twin. Each engine will be 200 to 300 horsepower. I prefer two small engines for redundancy and the ability to use just one when motorsailing. These IOs will be pulled up like a centerboard into a trunk, eliminating drag while sailing. I anticipate sailing at 12 knots, or better than most same-size sailboats excepting racing machines, and power faster than most trawlers.

Dear Ted,

What’s that rig? It looks like a ketch.
Marilyn

Dear Marilyn,

For the 55-footer, I would prefer a very tall ketch rig with a wishbone roller furling mainsail. This gives better performance and more effective sail area for under 20 knots true. Wishbone support means this sail can be lighter weight than the typical main and easy to trim and to roll up lilke a jib. Total sail area for the ketch is 1,913.5-sq.ft. This boat should weigh 56,315 pounds as a ketch, slightly less as a sloop.
The headsails are high clued with very little overlap to eliminate rig chaff. A high clue allows better visibility forward and eliminates the need move your sheet lead when reefing. It becomes an excellent downwind sail when poled to windward with your spinnaker pole. A few power winches make her easy to manage by a couple. High aspect sails and rig are much more efficient, which is why the racing rules penalize you for using them.
Best, Ted

Dear Ted,

Owners, I find, do not enjoy sleeping next to engines or getting wet while steering.
Skip

Dear Skip,

See the plans for the 50. I think you need at least four good sea bunks near center-of-motion for restful sleeping and out of the way from on-watch activities. I like a design with the owner forward where it is quiet with good ventilation at anchor.
I think all cruisers benefit from a comfortable pilothouse with inside steering under sail or power. Outside port and starboard helms should be well aft of the pilothouse and well outboard for visibility.
I believe it’s time for a motorsailer that gives the joy of performance sailing with the speed under power to outrun a storm or get home quickly, all while saving fuel and delivering peace and quiet. The hull shape that makes a powerboat fast will also work on a sailboat and better disperses weight along the hull. With high freeboard, we get a dryer boat with huge buoyancy up high to resist any capsizing tendency.
I have done a lot of full-size testing and I believe the most important factor is a light, high-speed shape hull combined with a tall rig designed for maximum sailpower. Such a boat would have too high a rating to race.
So what – let’s cruise fast!.
Ted