You may also want to look at a wet pen / mooring option as well. Having to launch every time you want to use the boat becomes very boring after awhile. I used to have a Farr 7500 and even though it was a swing keel we kept it in a wet pen. Nice to be able to jump onboard and 10 minutes later we were sailing and 10 minutes after we returned we were in the bar. Contrast that to 30-45 minutes launching and 30-45 minutes recovering. If you are trying to do it in peak period add waiting in the que 15-60 minutes for your turn.

Plus on a mooring is probably cheaper than hardstanding.

Ilenart

Ilenart said..

...in a wet pen. Nice to be able to jump onboard and 10 minutes later we were sailing and 10 minutes after we returned we were in the bar...

... and that too! Totally agree with you there Ilenart. Nothing like a bad case of the Hangries to ruin the mood while you're standing knee deep in ramp water in the dark wishing you were upstairs at the bar.

Floating Caravan.
I have a 22 foot Sabre trailer sailer in Southport.

The trick is to have the launch and retrieve as organized as possible.
From your avatar I see that you have a roller furling headsail. Big time saver there.
Have every thing in duffle bags and an esky ready to be loaded as soon as you arrive.
Load up. launch and sort things out as you motor out. (prepare main, stow stuff away. etc)

When you come in the main is flaked and in its cover. Bags are packed and ready to be off loaded,
Rubbish in bags and ready to go

Have the trailer in good working order. Rollers, winch. winch line and shackle or snap hook.
Have lines that are the right length to haul the boat on to the lead rollers.
This would be one line from the bow and two lines from the stern quarters.
These lines should have clips so they connect to the toerail.
These don't need to be special material but are dedicated for that job only.

Don't come back in the dark until you have your retrieval down pat,
Practice, get your time down.

For some a trailer sailer is a hassle.
if done right it is smooth and a cheaper way to actually get into the water.

gary

Congratulations and welcome to the joy of a ts.
While waiting for a spot at MBTBC and you can't park at home options are.
1. Park at a Caravan Storage Park mast down and drive to boat ramp .eg Mr. Caravan Storage Or the one on the jacobs well pimpana road for app.$30 pw. Must be some North.
2. Rudy Mass Marina charges $250pm mast up including I understand launching. Also Horizon Shores worth a try.
3. Check availability at QCYC who charge same for non members and cheaper for members but dont know availability.
If you elect to go the wet berth way remember you will have to store the trailer somewhere , get the boat antifouled and if she never has been you will need to have hull prepped .

Achernar said..

FloatingCaravan said..
Thanks everyone.

Wow, would have thought a wet mooring cost more than a hard stand.

A Marina Berth (wet mooring) does cost more than a hard stand at Wynnum Manly Yacht Club. I have had a hard stand and now have a berth at WMYC. My current 9m berth is $5200 per year, and my previous hardstand was (if I recall) about $2200 per year. Best call WMYC Marina to check prices. There is a longer queue for the hard stands than the berths.

Also, if you have a TS, I strongly recommend you store it out of the water, which is what it is designed for. There reason is that if you leave it in the water, something will rot with the keel mechanism, or you'd get growth inside the keelbox, or both, and before you know it, you'll have a fixed keel boat with half the cabin space of a proper fixed keel boat and no means to get it on the trailer so you can drag it home for some repairs.

At my club the hard and wet pens are the same price per metre.

In the 5 years we had the Farr 7500 in the water we never had any problems with rot or keel mechanisms problems. We use to always leave the keel up and regularly used the boat. The yacht was antifouled, including about six inches up the keel opening.

Ilenart

FloatingCaravan said..
Hi everyone,

Just an update for you all as there was an interesting development...

Believe it or not we ended up with a hardstand at RQYS, because they offered a "Pay 9, Stay 12" month option and there was no wait list like the others.

So it ended up costing exactly the same as MBTBC and WMYC.

Now all we have to do is get the rollers fixed on the trailer. First launch took forever to drop and retrieve the boat due to rollers that refused to roll. It took a very long time to drag all 2.8 tonne of boat back home with just a hand winch. Funny how the survey missed these sorts of things.

Have a great week everyone!

Did you have to pay the membership?