We had several threads earlier about how the market drives the design
of boats.  Earlier we discussed the beamy boats demanded by the buying
public as opposed to the efficiencies of a long narrow boat.  It
appears that market demand has again spoken.  In October 2004, a major
producer of long range boats announced a motorsailer design and a
drawing of it appeared in Passagemaker magazine.  While the company
almost exclusively builds trawlers now; they started out designing and
building Mason sail boats.  With such a diverse background, I was very
interested in seeing the new motorsailer.  After the discussion here
about power boats with sails, I went back to their site only to find
that they've removed the design.  Apparently it is "on hold" because of
lack of interest.  I hope that some of the boats here under discussion
work well and stimulate the market.  With fuel prices the way they are,
I think this design has a lot of potential.

Phil Eslinger

There were also people who commented on the design and I believe that
Nordhavn took those comments seriously. Charles Neville has a beautiful
motorsailer design in the 50 to 60 foot range. He was kind enough to send a
drawing, but said that the resale value of a motorsailer was low. Many folks
bought McCurdy and Rhodes designed motorsailers in years gone by as well as
designs by Rosenblatt.

Perhaps with the increase in  fuel prices, the motorsailers will come out
again.

Ron Rogers