Early hobie 16. Hulls on backwards, left to right. Bows have been reshaped. Rails and beams on backwards, mast step at rear. Other than that it lo...

Nope, attaching 4 kegs together to replace the hulls of your cat is out of control!! This is just good fun! 😉

Oooh, yeah setup port and a bracket to hold one of those mini kegs. Just a standard pull pump system would work. You could mount the tap on the fron...

The 5.7 shouldn't need the mast raked back much more than 1 ft. It could also be that you mixed the 2 rudders assemblies up when assembling. The way...

The nice thing about the adhesives (5200 and 292) is that you can cut through them with a sharp knife or razor when you need to remove the decks. I w...

If you are talking about the hiking stick then you are correct. That is why you have to practice tacking and gybing over and over. It's like a dance ...

Old fishermen trick. Get a mesh bag and enough rope so that it doesn't reach the bottom of the lake. Put beverages in bag and drag it behind you. I...

Myerchin makes the best rigging knives in the business with 1 handed open on the folders. Blades are 2.2-2.8" long. Marlinspike is invaluable for und...

Apparently the solcat 15 could be purchased with a 30 sqft jib kit the 160 sq ft you are referring to is the ENTIRE MAIN SAIL area. That's a prett...

And the getaway has HUGE hull volume (hence being able to have a usabable front tramp. The getaway was designed to be one of the most stable and dura...

Great stuff! The 5.5 is a reasonable boat to singlehand but it has boards. As always I would suggest looking into a Nacra 5.0 or 5.7, no boards, no b...

Yes, the newer DS rods look too high. They aren't. Rigging isn't too tight unless you are unable to manually rotate the mast past about 45 degrees f...

I haven't done it myself but the decks on most cat's including yours are structural. A flexible adhesive/sealant (like 5200) wouldn't do it for that ...

Try it with the one trap to start with and see how it goes. If you don't find any problems you may just be able to get away with a double trap. ...

All good advice! Sailing in the gusts is all about small adjustment and finess. It certainly isn't easy, but thats half the fun! Learn to flatten t...

Agreed, you probably could put a double trap on the boat, but you really have to think wether you should. Unless you have some serious sailing skillz...

Good idea to have a good knife attached to you when on the boat too. Not that it would have save the person mentioned above, but at least if would gi...

Sorry guys, if you want me to stop or tone it down I will. 😕 I'm just trying to get mystelf to that damned chief ranking 🙂 !

EC I would buy one, I have all kinds of 4x, 10x and 15x loupes I use for goldsmithing and stone setting (yes I have many hobbies). A 30x loupe would ...

So what is supposed to be wrong with those spreaders? They look better than the ones on my boat.

You could have just patch one with duct tape and kept the tramp! FTW! :ficktmich: Wait a sec, that smiley isn't giving me the thumbs up is it?Edi...

Well Sunrise does sell blue polypropylene mesh trampolines, but I haven't been able to locate a retailer that stocks that mesh.

Sailrite should have blue material that would work. Phifertex Plus is one possibility for a mesh that comes in blue as is the Blue Vinyl Naugahyde the...

You may be able to squeek the bar out if you drill out all the casting rivets on the front beam and slide it out. Maybe. A listing of the lines ...

If you have the original rig then the only purpose of the downhaul is to tension the sail and remove wrinkles. This allows it to form a solid wing sh...

Yes, that just keeps the mast from jumping off of the step while you are raising it. You could leave it in while sailing but if you ever dismasted du...

That is a pivot block with cam cleat. You can get them at pretty much any sail shop. Here is one at Murray's marine on-line. . Just so you know th...

That is a SMALL lake to sail on. I would certainly not get a boat with boards. An 16' or even a 15' boat would work and pop up rudders are a must. ...

Hey its not like I put 1/4 holes right around the mast!! 😉 Unless you are losing more than about 20% of the area around the circumference it is extre...

Agreed, I can easily right my N 5.2 by myself but EC needs at least 4 extra double dees to right his N5.7. I never thought there would be that much d...