casioqv
Dr. Diesel
I have to disagree- The Sage 17 is not designed or marketed as a bluewater offshore sailor, but it is built more than heavy duty enough to handle it, and I do sail mine offshore in heavy weather with storm sails with no issues. The entire rig is probably approximately 8x the strength necessary to meet bluewater sailing standards. I own the prototype Sage 17 and am friends with the designer, whom I bought it from.
The deck is an extremely thick carbon fiber arch, that is much much stronger than the compression post system you will find on any other small sailboat. The arch is my favorite design feature, because it means you have an unobstructed queen sized bunk, something you won't even find on most 30 foot boats.
Most small sailboats like Catalina 22s, especially if raced hard will see cracking around the ends of the compression post- not so with the arch system on a Sage 17. I race mine hard, and crank down the backstay hard. Keep in mind this is also only a 1300lb boat- the forces on the rigging are proportional to the displacement, and relative to the forces it can actually experience in heavy weather, all of the rigging is actually stronger than what you will find on a big blue water boat. Every part in the rig can easily hold double the entire boat displacement. Compare to, for example, the famously heavy built Westsail 32 with 9/32" rigging - that is only about 1/4 as strong relative to the displacement as a Sage 17s rig.
I crane launch my Sage 17 from the cabin top mounted chainplates, and each chainplate can easily hold the full boat weight with no deflection, gel-coat cracking, etc. The deck arch system as I mentioned is extremely thick- and the deck is both through bolted and bonded to the hull with large bolts at short intervals, making deck attachments as strong as direct hull attachments, unlike other small trailerable boats. It also has a 42% ballast ratio- also in the range of what you will see on heavy bluewater boats (the Westsail 32 is only 36%) making it very stiff and stable in high winds.
The Montgomery 15 is basically the same design as the Sage 17, with the same arch system, and was sailed to Hawaii from San Diego (see the book "Little Breeze to the West") and encountered some heavy weather on the way.
I have zero concerns about the rig strength for offshore sailing in a Sage 17, but the cockpit is a bit too large for a bluewater design and drains too slow- I did increase the size of the drains substantially on mine, but I still wouldn't cross oceans without, e.g. adding a large foam block to shrink the cockpit volume. The transom hung rudder also needs rope stops added to protect it from slamming if hove to in heavy weather, and the cockpit hatch will take on some sea spray under the leading edge (just a comfort issue really).
Like I said, it's not a bluewater boat, but it is heavier built and more seaworthy than really any of the ultra light sportboats that are popular for racing to Hawaii like the Moore 24, Express 27, etc. Not the right boat design for the job, but it is built heavy duty, and won't actually physically fail from fatigue in heavy weather like most small trailerable sailboats would.
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