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A trailer sailer is a type of sailboat that has been designed to be easily transported using a boat trailer towed by an automobile. They are generally larger than a Dinghy sailing.Royce, Patrick M.: Royces Sailing Illustrated, pages 52-57. Delta Lithograph, 1993.
They occupy a space between smaller trailerable sailing dinghies which are intended for day use and larger boats which can only be removed from the water with specialised equipment such as .
Sails on trailer sailers can also be lowered easily on water unlike dinghies which are often rigged fully on the shore.
Towing is also a relatively fast and efficient way of reaching new destinations from which to sail. Trailer sailers are generally more lightly-built and ballasted, making them incapable of tackling open oceans, confining them to coastal and protected waters.
Due to the limitations of trailer capacity, towing vehicle size and weight, as well as highway width limitations, most trailer sailboats are limited in size to about in length and beams of .
The advent of mass production fibreglass boats in the mid 1960s saw an expansion of trailer sailer designs, such as the Aquarius 21 Boomerang 20, Cal 21, Careel 18, Neptune 16, and Pearson 22. The Catalina 22,launched in 1969, is particularly notable as it continues in production, with over 15,000 built.
Trailer cabin sailboats appeared on the US market in 1970 and were sailed on small lakes and rivers. A large number were initially sold in North America in areas such as Arizona, New Mexico and the Great Lakes region.
Trailer sailer masts must be lowered for towing. This becomes difficult on larger boats with heavier, longer masts. Such boats require complex mast raising systems.
Some sailboat designs for trailering incorporate special features. The MacGregor 26S, for example is a boat in length, but that weighs empty and dry and carries of flooding water ballast in tanks which are filled when the boat is launched and drained when the boat is removed from the water, thus making the boat lighter to transport than if it used more traditional iron or lead ballast. The design also has a pivoting centreboard, plus a pivoting rudder and easily rigged mast to make getting the boat from the trailer to the water easy to accomplish. It also has a beam of , under the width limit for highway trailers.
On the design limitations of trailerable boats with flooding water ballast, Cruising World writer Bill Lee said in 1996:
One method is to use the boom as a gin pole, laying the mast on deck, with the boom at right angles. Hauling on the boom then raises the mast. This method has the advantage of using equipment that is already on the boat. A second method is to attach two poles called shear legs in an A-frame configuration with poles running from the sheer to meet above the boat. The mast can then be hauled upward using the forestay. This method requires additional equipment. A third method is to attach a pole to the winch post on the trailer and haul the mast upwards once again with the forestay, which also requires additional equipment.
As the mast is being raised, it must be tensioned laterally. In many boats, the sidestays are not attached to the deck close to the axis of rotation of the mast and therefore tighten or loosen as the mast raises. The mast can be either held straight by a second person, or with temporary babystays mounted close to the masts axis of rotation.
Outboard motors used for trailer sailers need to be geared down as trailer sailers sail at slow displacement speeds compared to the higher planing speeds of powerboats, which are the most common application for outboard motors. Outboards are often mounted on the transom, with some boats mounting them in a well, also at the stern. Outboards may be mounted on a lifting mount, to allow them to be raised up out of the water. Long shaft outboard motors are advantageous, as they prevent the propeller from exiting the water and over-speeding when the boat rides over waves.
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