Motorsailers
NEW MOTORSAILERS
WEBSITES & CONTACT INFO
Nauticat 331, 38 & 44: nauticat.com
Vancouver 34 & 38 Pilot: www.northshore.co.uk
Fisher 25, 24 & 37: genmarel@aol.com
Island Packet SP Cruiser: ipy.com
Mandarin 52: mandarin52.com
Bruckmann 50 & 65: bruckmannyachts.com
Nordhavn 56 Motorsailer: nordhavn.com
Atoa 64 Motorsailer: atoa64.com
Hood Expedition 65: portsmouthmarine.com
NAVAL ARCHITECTS
Trevor Bolt: trevor@trawler.ca
Sam Devlin: samd@orcalink.com
Dave Gerr: dgerr@abycinc.com
Chris Hancock: hancock@dryzone.ca
Michael Kasten: michael@kastenmarine.com
Chuck Neville: chuck@nevilleboats.com
Sam Devlin, whose modestly sized trawlers have
been featured in PMM, is a big fan of motorsailers, and
one of his designs has three different configurations. He
has envisioned the same boat as a conventional trawler, as
well as two variations of a gaff-rigged pilothouse schooner.
Just looking at these examples of motorsailer designs
conjures up images of bluewater passages to faraway
destinations, of mornings at the helm in a cozy pilothouse,
sipping a mug of hot coffee and watching the sun rise
on the ocean.
These knowledgeable professionals are a great
resource from which to learn about the many
characteristics and trends in motorsailers and how
one of these hybrids might fit your cruising interests.
TRY BEFORE YOU BUY
Chartering a vessel that you might be interested in
owning is an excellent way to determine whether the
style, accommodations, and performance meet your
long-term needs. I prefer a crewed charter for this
purpose, as your focus can be on the vessel and its
operation, rather than the constant attention required
in carrying out the many chores involved in a bareboat
charter. For a reasonable fee, you can spend a few days,
usually in a wonderful boating location, being catered
to by a professional crew and observing the vessel’s
operation, maintenance, and performance.
For a crewed charter with four or more guests, fees
run from a low of $250 per person per day to as much as
you want to pay. My own experiences with charters have
averaged in the $500-per-person range. Working with
an experienced charter broker is the best way to find
the right boat. This may be a worthwhile consideration
when evaluating a motorsailer for your own use.
As I researched the availability of motorsailers, I
was not surprised to find that charters are not easy to
come by in the United States. In the Mediterranean,
however, it’s a different story. I spoke with two very
knowledgeable and helpful representatives of charter
companies there that specialize in these uniquely
designed craft. Turkey and Greece provide marvelous
cruising opportunities but can also be subject to high
winds and lengthy calms. Perhaps it’s the sailing
conditions in the eastern Mediterranean that have made
the motorsailer one of the most commonly used boats in
that region. Gulets (from the French word for schooner,
goelette) are constructed of wood from an ancient but
modified design and are well suited to the vagaries of
Mediterranean weather.
A good friend, Fred Doery, is an experienced
yachtsman. He and his wife circumnavigated the world
under sail, taking nine years to make the trip. Fred
chartered a gulet in the spring of 2002. He describes
the experience:
“The staterooms are spacious compared to the usual
ocean liner cabins. The vessel is heavy enough to
take the swells with comfort, but sometimes the
captain may want to take a direct route to his
destination instead of a more comfortable one. Being
an experienced sailor, [the captain] let me take the
helm for a few hours one day. It was a bit rolly, so I
took about a 10-degree angle off the direct course.
The change in course lessened the impact of the beam
seas, and the increased effectiveness of the sails as a
stabilizing influence provided a much smoother ride.
The guests were happy, but the captain asked why I
was not headed directly for our next port. He was
satisfied with my explanation, and we continued on
until we came about for the anchorage.”
Interested in the availability of motorsailers through
the mainstream brokerage community, I spoke with
Missy Johnson from Northrop and Johnson, one of the
leading brokers of crewed luxury charter yachts. She
sent me five listings for motorsailers ranging from 75 to
135 feet. The larger the boat, the more crew is required
and the higher the fees. One motorsailer caught my
eye: the 75-foot Amneris, built of aluminum by Palmer
