Motor Sailers by Philip Rhodes & John Alden

Greek Motorsailer

Not exactly a Rhodes or Aden design, but certainly one that captures that adventurous spirit.

… and the journey continues with a fairy wooden boat, sailing in blue seas, endless horizons, islands with famous myths and civilization monuments, heavenly beauties, it continues in Greece … the sunny Greece…!

The inspirer and owner of “Generalis” guesthouse, having a successful route in the field of hospitality and great love towards the sea, created the continuity of his fairyland by constructing “Generalis Yacht”, a unique, wooden 25m. sailing boat, equal in luxury to the guesthouse.

The “Generalis Yacht” sailing boat was made exclusively by wood and with hack value from 2006 to 2008 in the Argolic valley. The virtuoso naval architect Ioannis Lekkas had the supervision of this construction. Five fully equipped cabins, a kitchen, bar, indoor and outdoor sitting area, water sport equipment and skilled crew, ready to satisfy all requirements and wishes, are only some of the facilities offered for a memorable holiday.

Our sailing boat “Generalis Yachts” sails in every sea, in every myth… everywhere Aeolus blows… in the magical Aegean Sea where Odysseus wandered… in the emerald Ionian Sea… in the Sporades islands of the Argonauts… in the Icarian Sea… in the Myrtoan Sea.. in our islands… in Greece… the sunny Greece…!!

Type: Schooner
L.O.A: 25m (83.25 ft)
Beam: 6,28m (20.6 ft)
Draft: 2.20m
Hull & Superstructure: Iroko
Deck: Iroko
Interior: Oregon & Iroko

Engines: 2 x 320 HP
Generators: 1x60KW & 1x15KW
Voltage: 220V AC, 24V DC
Cruising Speed: 10 Knots - Maximum 12 Knots
Fuel Consumption: 60 ltrs/hour (including generator consumption)

Accomodation: 5 cabins with double beds (1,45m x 2.00m).
All cabins provided with individual TV - DVD - CD- RADIO - USB en suite facilities and fully air conditioned.
Crew: Four (captain, cook, steward, deck hand) in separate quarters
Leisure: Tender Callegari (4,10m) with Suzuki 50Hp , Water Ski, Tubes, Windsurf, Fishing and Snorkelling equipment

...fun and adventrure in the Greek isles...on a wooden motorsailer...count me in

...accomodations

65' Rhodes 'Sargasso'

... a private email I received recently

To RunningTide Yachts

Hi,

My father had such a 65 ft. Phil Rhodes designed steel-hull ketch
commissioned in 1960. "Sargasso" was technically a motorsailer with a
raised salon main cabin with large windows to port and starboard and
three bronze portholes forward. She had a full engine room beneath
the main cabin. The raised center cockpit had excellent visibility
and kept us dry. More importantly, Sargasso sailed better than any of
the "new" sailboats I've been on with their streamlined flattened
cabins, as if they could do 50 knots, when in fact it is more like 7
or 8 in the best of conditions. Sargasso got up to slightly over 11
knots in a broad reach.

Today's naval architects are in a state of denial trying to sell
"racing" boats with dual stern helms to cruisers who use auto-pilots.
Designers refuse to provide hard dodgers or even well designed bimini/
dodgers, the very first thing all owners have to add. The architects
can at least keep photos and drawings of their supposed "beautiful"
lines with no bimini, but not a single one of their boats ever end up
that way. The Jeanneau 43DS came close to achieving that concept but
then abandoned this look for the "sexier" stylized motorboat windows
and pushed down cabin with no visibility forward from below. The
Jeanneau 54DS is an example of such a missed opportunity continuing
the tradition of what I call "dungeon" main cabins with little
visibility to the beautiful anchorage you are supposed to be enjoying.

Multi-hulls on the other hand have wonderfully large main cabins with
large windows. The irony is that despite all that windage, they can
sail or motor at twice the speed of the "streamlined" monohulls that
only give the appearance of being faster. You are right, more has to
be done to bring about a change in thinking. It is sad to see so many
sailors "graduating" to trawlers because they can't find sailboats
that keep them warm and dry in any weather, can motor as well as they
sail, and are seaworthy.

Enjoyed your very good article. I thought I was the only one who
thought that way.

Regards, X

THEY'RE BACK...KKK!!, those motorsailers

Unloved for Years, the Motorsailer is the new Belle of the Ball​

This comes from the latest June issue of Sail Mag....a 4 page article that's not that great, but it certainly goes to show that the mainstream sailing publications are acknowledging that the old motorsailer concept is coming back in style.

...and AGAIN the multihull motorsailer gets left out of the discussion...shame on them

You are talking of this vessel, correct?
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/41714-post14.html

Welcome to the forums. Please give us any personal experieces, opinions if you care to share them

I do not have any personal knowledge of that vessel. If you look back thru this subject thread you will find that she was introduced to the subject by another person.

Rhodes or Alden motorsailer ?

So here is a motorsailer I found at a marina in southern MD a number of years ago. I've not brought it up before on the forums as I had some hopes of acquiring it from an estate....that looks to have changed.

I have never been able to determine exactly who was the designer....but it had to have been either Rhodes or Alden. The fellow who ran the marina was pretty secretive about the owner of the vessel. I could not get a name or contact address. I really wanted to know who was the designer, ..and who was the builder. I still do not know to this day, so how about some help from anyone.

This vessel was about 42-44 feet long. It had twin engines, and a rig that had been taken off and stowed somewhere in the marina. I think the mast was wood. It was built of fiberglass.

Initially I thought it was a Rhodes design...looking very similar to his original 44' Virginia Reel vessels (posting #11 above). The hull shapes and the bow profile are the same. But the deck house on this vessel stands taller, has 3 full windows rather than 2, and of course a bigger flybridge.

Some of Rhodes larger motorsailers had a taller deckhouse and a bigger flybridge as on this 65' Virginia Reel (posting #12). Could this vessel I found be a shortened version of the larger design?? But I still have not found such a dwg, nor a reference to such a vessel of his. The closes reference I have found is a little profile dwg of a vessel called "Moonshell".


Now lets look at a few Alden designs that appear somewhat similar. Certainly the deckhouse and the flybridge on this 57' Alden (posting #20 above) appear more like the one of this mystery vessel. Of course the bow of this Alden design is much different (and more beautiful I might add), but that is not to say that Alden didn't do a few boats with bows much like that of Rhodes...for instance this 64' design (posting #59)

So now you have it, a portion of my delemia...what is she, a Rhodes or Alden??

a few more photos

Discoverer

A yacht designer Tad Roberts has come up with an older magazine ad that seems to be exactly the vessel.

...From Yachting of June 1970

Length Discrepancy

We are still doing a little research on the actual length of this Discoverer model. We have references to it being 52', 47', 46', and possible a little less. Of course the brochure (ad) does not say what length.

I roughly measured the length at LWL of about 40'. So I don't see anyway it could be a 52' vessel.

We've seen a brokerage listing of 46'

And we've made inquiry with the museum in Mystic Seaport that has not answered yet. They should have some dwgs.

Ben has a Rhodes website up here, and he has updated his site with some of this info:
http://astro.temple.edu/~bstavis/pr/816-discoverer.htm

This subject has come up again over on this subject thread...
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/general-yachting-discussion/18184-sailing-bora-bora.html#post146358

...and I found another photo of them getting ready to leave on that trip to the 'South Pacific'

You have to remember that in those days this was a VERY EXOTIC notion,...hollywood even did a big musical production about it titled 'South Pacific'
South Pacific (musical) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia