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LIFE WITH AN OLD MOTORSAILER Lawrence ZeitlinMotorsailers are a vanishing breed. Every year sees the dropping off of one or moremanufacturers from the field who, if not in actual Chapter 11, usually convert their  production lines to make tugboat trawler lookalikes. In the words of Rodney Dangerfield,"we moto-sailors don't get no respect."In my area of the Lower Hudson there are only two true motorsailers in a fleet of severalhundred recreational boats, both made by Willard a full generation ago. The company hasrecently given up producing recreational boats in favor of craft for the military. Judging by market demand, who can blame them.It is hard to define a motorsailer. Francis Kinney, who revised "Skene's Elements of Yacht Design", gives a general rule that says a motorsailer is a yacht with enough engine power to achieve hull speed AND enough sail power to claw off a lee shore. Insurancecompanies conclude that this requires at least a sail area equal to the LWL squared,divided by two. Thus a motorsailer with a 40 ft. LWL should, for insurance purposes,have at least 800 sq. ft. of sail area. Less than that and it is basically a powerboat withsteadying sails. Juan Baader, in "The Sailing Yacht" has a much more pragmatic rule. Hesays that if a yacht is faster under sail than under power it is an auxiliary poweredsailboat. On the other hand, if it is faster under power than under sail, it is a motorsailer.All current motorsailers feature a pilothouse with full headroom and an internal helm. Infact this feature almost defines the class. Several manufacturers, including PacificSeacraft, build boats with identical hulls and differing deck moldings. Those with a pilothouse are called motorsailers, those without are called auxiliary powered sailboats. Thetype is much more popular in Northern Europe where typical boating conditions are suchthat most American yachtsmen would be heading for the nearest bar in search of a hottoddy.Most motorsailer owners slip onto the class as a waystation between sailboats andtrawlers. They figure they can use their hard learned sailing skills in the air conditionedcomfort of a full powered trawler. They couldn't be more wrong. I've been there, I know!A motorsailer has twice the maintenance problems of the average boat. Not only do youhave a full mechanical plant to agonize about but you also have sails and rigging toconsider. These take up space on deck and impose the ever present threat of getting hit bya wildly swinging boom when jibing about. Jibing, as I tell my non-sailing friends, isroughly the equivalent of backing your car into a garage. Easy when you know how butthe learning curve is full of dents and dings.I have an older Willard Horizon motorsailer, PUFFIN, essentially the Willard 30 trawler hull with a mast and sail. This 30' hull has been produced by Willard Marine, Inc. of 
 
Anaheim, CA since the Jurassic, or at least since 1973. The hull was in production until2004 as the Willard Passagemaker 30, although like most of us, it had grown slightlyheavier with age. It has been fitted with a variety of topsides moldings ranging from acommercial fishing boat through a luxury liveaboard for people who are content to residein small spaces.
Figure 1. Puffin at anchor.
Puffin's LOA is 30 feet but the boat feels larger. The LWL is 27.5' with a displacement of 16,000 lbs of which 4000 lbs is internal ballast. On my boat there is a wide, short bowsprit and a full width stern boarding/swimming platform. Overall length between perpendiculars would be about 35 feet. The beam is nearly 11 feet and the draft a measly3'6" thanks to a full length broad keel. The hull shape is vaguely similar to a Colin Archer turn-of-the-century lifeboat with a high bow and a canoe stern. Like the Colin Archer designs, the Willard has very good sea keeping characteristics, a necessity since it cannotoutrun any storm. The rounded bottom gives it a tendency to roll in a beam sea, morethan harder chine trawlers, but not as much as most sailboats under power. It is certainlyseaworthy but not altogether comfortable in bad weather. Boat motion is excessive in beam seas of 3' or more and it is unwise to have breakable crockery on the table or open beer bottles on deck when passed by a powerboat.
 
Power is supplied by a Perkins 4-107 driving an 18" x 14" prop. The boat carries 260 sq.ft. of sail on a low aspect rig, a large foresail and a smaller main. This is only about half the sail that a cruising sailboat of similar specifications would carry and PUFFIN can beconsidered to be sailing under perpetually reefed conditions. It can best be considered a30/70 motorsailer.Maneuverability under power is exceptional with the sailboat sized rudder, a 3.25 squarefoot half inch thick bronze plate mounted immediately behind the prop. The inertia isfairly high given the hull's mass but if you have the dexterity of a six ball juggler,manipulation of the engine controls and rudder will let you turn 360 degrees in the boat'sown length. This is convenient in crowded marinas.The specifications were established when fiberglass construction techniques were still influx and err on the conservative side. Trawler mavins speak of the Willard as the "pocket battleship" of trawlerdom and judged by solidity of construction, they are certainlycorrect.
Figure 2. Hull plan. Note large rudder and long shaft.
My boat is laid out like a cross between a cruising sailboat and a contemporary trawler. Ithas a conventional standing headroom forepeak with two sleeping berths. Immediately aftand up a couple of steps is the pilothouse with full engine controls and navigationalequipment. There is a complete electrical panel with circuit breakers for all onboardequipment and a 110v. distribution system for the infrequent times we use shore power.The engine lies below the pilothouse floor at about the midpoint of the hull. It is easy toreach by raising a hatch but all maintenance has to be undertaken with head hangingdownward. Not good for someone prone to headaches. Fuel is stored in two 60 gal. black iron tanks on either side of the engine. The engine's central location requires a 13 footlong propeller shaft with two support bearings, each of which must be greased
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