Fore of the mast Net or Tramp?

We had a fwd net on the ARC 22, and we removed it after a serious full speed pitchpole. The key to recovery when the lee bow goes under, is that bow's ability to resurface quickly, and flat decks and fwd nets work against that. If you don't push the boat in significant breeze, a fwd net will be fine, although the balance of the boat will be off if you keep much weight up there.

Dave

kernunnos,
People have done this on various cats. The more successful versions are very high and tight to the front crossbar to keep the weight up and close to the middle of the cat. The nets are used mostly for cargo on a camping excursion, rather than a place to sit while sailing. Anything you put there will get very wet, and storing family members tangled in the netting when you pitchpole is not desirable.
Cats with forward tramps for sitting were designed that way... G-Cat, Reynolds, etc.

I have a small rectangle one on the front of my cat - love it. holds my anchor and righting bag

I have never seen it done well, although I did see a nice post on here with a picture of one on a Prindle 18 that looked reasonable. Love the one on my Gcat, the girlfriend doesn't even want to go sailing if I am not taking the Gcat for that reason alone.

Thanks guys, I want it more for when enjoying the lake.."in Irons'

I have a massive front tramp on the 6 metre XL (10' beam).
It is open weave mesh, hardly shows in the photo. I'm sure it;s pretty wet. It goes full width, from the front beam nearly to the bows. It is a factory option, & on the 10' beam you had to have the small diametre cross beam to counteract the force from tightening the tramp

Edited by Edchris177 on May 14, 2014 - 06:46 PM.