ElizabethCitySailor,

I too am a sailboat enthusiast who owns a 34'boat. I looked and the HCH and decided the best vehicle for me and my needs was the Ford Escape Hybrid. My wife has an 05 Toyota Prius and we love the hyper milage but it doesn't have enough room in it for the mainsail, jib and drifters. We tend to bring these home at least once a year for cleaning and maintenance. I was not only able to pack all of this in the Escape but had room to take the pressure washer up along with 4 scuba tanks and all gear needed to clean the boat. Oh.. an my milage.. 33.2mpg for the trip up and back from the boat and the Escape is only a few days old....

Simply put it was the vehicle that fit my needs.

Fair Winds,

Gene Mohr
Mohr Photography
Martinez, GA

 

ElizabethCitySailor: you a Coastie?

 

I'm glad you posted that comment. I am also a sailor (Catalina 320 is my "other" hybrid... see https://www.greenhybrid.com/share/image412.html )

The boat is the reason that I bought the FEH over a hybrid car. The boat is on Lake Huron -- so it has to spend it's winters "on the hard". Every fall it has to be hauled and cradled, stripped of sail inventory, canvas, and everything inside that could freeze or mildew has to come out. That's sails, bedding, an inflatable dingy, the dingy's motor, etc. and it all takes quite a bit of space -- much more than a car can hold. Actually, it's pretty packed in the Escape too, but with careful packing it does all fit.

I had looked at the Prius II and _expected_ it to be cramped. I was pleasantly surprised that it seems to have nearly the legroom of my FEH (I don't think it's quite as much, but it's close), headroom (about the same as my Escape -- both are quite roomy and I'm 6'4") and the backseat looked like it would have quite a bit of cargo space folded down. Now I'm sure it wont fit half of what I can stuff into the Escape, but it got me to wondering just how much I could fit and could I get buy with it instead of the FEH. In the end I decided not to chance it -- but I do need to replace my 2nd car next year and the Prius II is pretty high on my list, but my other half likes the FEH so much that we're thinking we'd just get a 2nd. We'll have to see when the time comes.

 

We keep our old Subaru Impreza as the 'family truck'.

Between it's hatch, fold-down seats, attachable bike-carrier, and roof carrier, I have been able to haul whatever was required. Sometimes it took a bit of thought, but that was the worse case