wider is better?

beardy wrote: I have done extensive searches and am looking for clarification...?

Why are cats not not wider?
Why not a 10ft wide P16 for example?
....

Mike, Welcome to TheBeachcats.com!

It's all about trailering. In the US there is both a federal max-width of 102 inches (2.6 meters) for commercial vehicles and then each state has their own law. In every case but Hawaii the states use the Federal guidleline of 102 inches.

That's why you end up with three high performance racing classes that all have about the same width despite being 16, 18, and 20 feet long.

F16 = 2.5 meters or 8 feet 2.43 inches
F18 = 2.6 meters or 8 feet 6.36 inches
Nacra 20 = 2.6 meters or 8 feet 6.36 inches

There have been wide beachcats, the famous Tornado was 20 x 10 feet, and recently Nacra introduced the Nacra 20 Carbon which is 20 x 10.5 feet, and then there were the 18 Squares which were very wide because they were a single handed class with very few rules.

But living with a 10 foot wide boat just introduces something extra to deal with 😀

You could watch the classifieds on this site for someone parting out a P-18-2 or P-19, buy their crossbars for, say $100 each, shipping via UPS about $35 ea & widen out the tramp 6" (about $30). So for around $300 you'd have a 8.5' wide P-16. Pete

With 175 pound skipper and an 80 pound crew - you're in good shape for a p-16. You'll have fun once/if you learn to sail the boat.

I just sailed Barnegat bay this evening with my 16 year old daughter (110 pounds) and with my 165 we had a great time in 15+ south wind!

Yep it's all about the trailer. I wouldn't want to trailer anything wider than 8' 6" that almost takes up the whole road as it is. Also realize that the rigging for each boat is sized with the amount of righting moment for that width (plus a pretty large safety factor). So widening the boat could cause you to need larger diameter rigging (probably only about 1/32"). At 170 lbs with a child you should be fine with width of the P16, but you may need a righting bag to right it. Teach the daughter how to trapeze and you will be able to handle even higher winds, and the kid won't ever want to sail without being on the trapeze.

Trailering is indeed the practical limitation. If you can leave a boat set up for the season, then you can take advantage of the additional righting moment of a wide boat. Broader beam gives a higher upper wind range for a boat of a particular length. Eventually, you'll be limited downwind by the leeward bow wanting to go down. I love wide boats, I currently have an 18 square, two Supercat 20s, and an ARC 22, all with big beams.

Dave

Just curious, but if you wanted to go wider than the 8 1/2ft that the P18-2 and P19 would enable, how do you deal with the traveller track? It looks like a custom extrusion that is not easily substituted...
M

I trailer my wide cat all the time.

From outside to outside of my side guide rollers is only 10' 3 1/2" :konfus:

When the road narrows just closes your eyes and drive faster.... 😉

several guys around here have mystere 6.0xl's
they come with wings and 2 sets of beams 8.6' and 10' beams
they also come with a extra wide tramp to use with the 10' beams

I have skippered the 10' beams in 25knots
sailed like a dream - never got over powered

i have also spanked better sailors on 10' beams in light wind... they paid for the extra weight and slower tacks

beardy wrote: Just curious, but if you wanted to go wider than the 8 1/2ft that the P18-2 and P19 would enable, how do you deal with the traveller track? It looks like a custom extrusion that is not easily substituted...
M

Bill,

It's not very often that one sees relativistic effects when trailering. You must drive fast.
:O)

it's also about optimal righting moment and tacking ability

my 8.5' wide old nacra 5.2 is perfect solo for the generally light air lake i sail on

cats go most efficiently flying 1 hull

around 8kn winds i can go upwind flying 1 hull if i come in off the hull and sit on the tramp

10kn, i sit on the hull to fly

12kn it's in windsurf harness on the trap just out from the hull

15kn it's right out on the trap

it's very rare the winds go much above that and that the extra righting moment of a 10' wide hull would be worth the penalty in being unable to fly the hull in lighter winds

then there's the slower tack times of wider boats

seems to me that cat width of half hull length is about perfect. no compromise needed for 16 + 17' cats

but when you get above 18' cats could be a little wider

but the hassle in trailering means it's not worth it

Beardy,

I always mix Lucas Upper Cylinder Lubricant with my fuel in my tow vehicle.

('93 Chev Suburban with 328,494.8 miles on it)

It drives so fast that I get tomorrow news today on my radio.... :banana:

On the beam width question, I believe someone (maybe Bill Roberts) may have opined that a beam greater than 1/2 of the LWL would cause a boat to pitchpole before it flipped to leeward when powered up (or, perhaps overpowered).

Can anyone substantiate this theory?

I agree with Bill. I tow my 21 se wide to the different events we sail at, but most of the time it sits on the beach ready to go. I feel the only disadvantage is it is so darned fast we end up running circles around most of the smaller cats. Very stable and have buryed the bows like the A/C 72 did the other day and they just pop right back up. Go wide- go fast - 😎 have fun!!!!