what cat for a 260lb middle aged sailor

d. I have sailed in over 40mph with 2 other adults on board, that is a little harry, Andrew can attest to that

I am not sure who little Harry is, the 3rd adult was an attractive girl. but yes, we did over 40.. we were all smiling from ear to ear.. the boat handled amazingly well.. even in the gusts (over 40) it held its own. i was VERY impressed with that boat.

thanks again for the continued replies. i'm probably not going to sail with "little harry", but good to know that the boat can handle it when things get a little hairy. not sure i know anything about darts. parts availability, etc are all concerns for me. certainly sounds like a nice boat. feel free to email me more info and pics. i'll need to know a lot more about it.
brad 2out2sea(at)msn.com

andrewscott wrote: If you want wet .. supercats are the way to go..

but i am sure you recall the mast is about 5999999 lbs

wondering now if it's possible to add a tramp to say a prindle 16 or hobie 18 that would be sturdy enough for people to lay on?

can it be done? yes. will the boat sail well... no (maybe downwind, but i wouldn't put weight that far forward ... up, down or sidewind)

only time they were up on the front tramp was when we were just piddling. the sheets were eased and we were in slow motion mode. they loved getting drenched as the hulls dipped under the swells. certainly trying to actually sail like that would have been a disaster. remind me to tell of riding the tramp on a custom 67' cat in 10' caribbean swells off of antigua. wild...

2out2sea wrote: certainly sounds like a nice boat. feel free to email me more info and pics. i'll need to know a lot more about it.brad 2out2sea(at)msn.com

I have never owned a dart, but we have several in on our beach. about 4 years ago, i parked my h18 and went out on a dart18 as the storms were getting crazy. we were doing about 30 with a 10' rooster tail and it was pure bliss.

look into the g-cats, front tramp and pretty fast!

very hard to find any info on the g cat. did a couple of different searches and can't find a dealer. only one pic. the little i could read about the f16 sounds good. no boards, forward tramp, but fun and fast.

andrewscott wrote: front tramps are great for storage (i added one to my cat) but for most sailing situations.. the front tramp is the wrong place to have a person.

that being said the ability to get the cooler, bar, tv, pool table and jacuzzi off the main tramp will free up area for the crew to have more room

It is true though that the Getaway has a little more flotation out front than most beachcats, and the factory front tramp is built to handle passengers, at least small ones.

i meant "real boats" 🙂

(just kidding, rotomolds have their place)

but for just about any stock glass/gelcoat beach cat.. front tramps are for gear as weight that far forward will dramatically effect things like, balance, helm, weather helm, rudders, ability to tack, etc

very hard to find any info on the g cat. did a couple of different searches and can't find a dealer. only one pic. the little i could read about the f16 sounds good. no boards, forward tramp, but fun and fast.

G-cats are not in production currently, and haven't really been for many years. Last year the owner/developer Hans did make 1 new 5.0 but he didnt go into production. He does have a 34' power g-cat for sale. i was on it 2 weeks ago, and if i had the $300,000 i might buy it 🙂

They were designed as a fun and family boat but ended up being pretty darn fast too. there are pros and cons to not having boards (they have hulls like a h16, round and very sharp edge that turns the entire hull into a board.)

as many cats, the rudders and castings are the Achilles heel of this model and replacement ones getting harder to find.

I personally like the boat very much.

Recently I bought a Prindle 18-2, and sail it solo only, I am 6ft4 and close to 290 lbs, at windspeeds from 11 knts up its
really fun to sail. Don't think a prindle 18-2 or 19 is a family-cat and suitable for your demands.Tramp is to small and has lot of lines running. My neighbour at the catclub has a Dart 20(aka Stampede) and I agree with Steve, large tramp, no daggerboards,easy rigging and he sails it solo numerous times even at 22 knts. He is about your size. Don't know if there are much Darts 20 available in the USA, but this could be the one.

damonAdmin wrote: [quote=2out2sea]ok, so the hobie 18 is in the running. question is how hard to rig on the trailer? fwiw my wife is gently nudging towards getting a getaway (groan). "we had so much fun...i don't know if we'll like one that's more complicated..." etc.

Nothing wrong with the Getaway, get the front tramp and wings and you can carry a baseball team.

Not much difference in rigging a Hobie 18 and Getaway, or any other sloop-rigged beachcat. They get a lot more complicated with spinnaker, and a lot simpler if they don't have a jib. Other than that it's all up to how well you know the boat and if you have any help that knows the boat.

When people quote "time to rig" it's almost a random number because of so many variables and peoples different definitions of "rigging" a boat.

What makes much more difference than the boat type is when you have skipper and crew who regularly rig the boat together, both know their jobs and what the other is doing, don't have to talk about it, don't have to figure out how something is supposed to be rigged, don't have to hunt down the parts needed, and don't make mistakes that have to be undone and redone.

That skipper and crew will have a short rigging time regardless of boat.

Unfortunately ALL NEWBIES MUST STRUGGLE 👿 to get to that point, it's just the way it works with anything new you are learning.

Yes Damon,
youre right here, store my p18-2 60 feet from the waterside,
mast up.
7 weeks ago it took me over 70 min. to get out on the water, now its less then 30 min. including neoprene.
Learned a lot from the guys at the club and on this site.
Thank you for that.

i have replied to the thread on the dart/stampede 20 that's for sale, but haven't heard anything back from the seller. i have a business trip to orlando next month so i was thinking of checking it out. maybe it's sold. i see the getaway that's for sale as well. just a little too far out of the budget right now. otherwise i'd probably just buy it.

brad

Nacra 6.0 ? Blast from the past, but a big cat. Simplify the
the tweak lines, make a clean trampoline and it will be fun to sail . A lot of cat!! And a challenge to sail solo.
Must be available in your regions. Downside; daggerboards and maybe a little to much weight to get in / out of the water solo.

i just thought i'd update this thread with a caveat. i was very interested in the dart 20 of steve's, but he was able to sell it before i had a chance to see it. good for steve, bad for me. so in my continued searching i stumbled upon a late 80's hobie 18 that is local. i haven't seen the sails, but it has the magnum wings and is at a location where i can leave it rigged without having to hassle with trailering it back and forth. from a quick look it appears to be in good condition albeit pretty dirty. the gudgeons have no cracks, the daggerboard wells have no cracks, i didn't notice any soft spots on the deck, and the hulls appear sound with no signs of repairs. it also has the epo rudders. the tramps are faded, but undamaged. it's on a trailer and seems that with a little elbow grease it would clean up nicely. the guy is asking 2k for it. is that a fair price? where can i get a cover for it as it will be stored outside? thanks again for everyone's help. i'd love to have gotten the dart 20, but the 18 seems like an ok trade-off. at least i get the wings on this set-up.

brad

the 18 is a great cat.. not a bad first boat at all, just learn how to depower it in heavy air

if the tramp is faded, it may be shot. is it mesh or stock (pleather)? if mesh, i would take a VERY close look at it... use your fingernail and see if you can break a thread .. if you can it needs replacing (you dont want to fall through it ever, esp while stepping a mast) a tramp can cost you a good chunk.. but if everything else is good on the boat i wouldn't let that stop you.

Yes 2k sounds about right for a h18 with wings, but all things are relative..

i personally wouldn't worry about covering a 20 year old cat that is already weathered. if you really want to, you can simply put a couple walmart tarps on it.. but remove them in hurricane winds (they can beat up your cat floggin like heck)

there are several products available that will help clean up old faded gel-coat, and depending on its condition you can even wet sand it back to glory..

just to clarify, it has the "pleather" tramp. the tramps on both wings and the main tramp are all the yellow color. they are all faded, but still felt pliable. i didn't jump up on the tramp since the owner wasn't around. i'll check more closely when the owner shows me the boat. thanks again for all of the good info on this site. i really wish i could have bought stevefisherkeller's dart 20. she looked like a very nice boat at a great price. but, like they say, "snooze ya lose."

I recently bought an 84 18 with origingal yellow (faded) vinyl tramp. It is almost faded white but is still very strong, I weigh 270, and have had 3 crew on with me.

So if structurally the tramp looks sound I would not worry too much about the fade. The Hobie OE tramps are very strong.

Have a great time.

Glad this thread was brought back, I had forgotten about MN3's tramp....... :-O

sailinagin wrote: I recently bought an 84 18 with origingal yellow (faded) vinyl tramp. It is almost faded white but is still very strong, I weigh 270, and have had 3 crew on with me.

So if structurally the tramp looks sound I would not worry too much about the fade. The Hobie OE tramps are very strong.

Have a great time.

Yeah, those tramp's are VERY VERY VERY sturdy....and they are hard to break, on the Prindle 18-2 i first started sailing on, they still have not replaced the tramp...and i think it's a modded hobie tramp.

just to clarify, it has the "pleather" tramp.

yes, not as big a deal... it's the mesh Polypropylene and Polyester stitching that are the ones you MUST be very careful with... the pleather ones seem to be more robust and hold up pretty well to years of UV. the mesh ones have about a 5 year lifespan in the sun (at least around here in africa/florida)

I bought my cat from a very mean angry guy (still reading these threads Dave?) and he bought it from a guy who had stored the boat for years and didn't inspect it at all before he brought his family out sailing... after he couldn't get the center boards down.. he found out why.. a family of wasps had taken up in the board wells... in his (and family's) dancing around on the boat (while being attacked by wasps) he then learned the tramp was shot (as he and his family fell through it....he then hit shallows, and was so worked up and angry about the day.. he sold the cat on the spot to the mean, ugly, angry, opportunist that owned it prior to me...

(just kidding dave, your not really an angry guy... well not till you read this at least) 🙂