Been looking at some small catamarans

[MAJICDAN]

If you are interested in an american made boat, Maincat makes several models between 30 and 40 feet. I saw their 30 ft models, and a 41 ft in Hopetown BA for charter.

[mikedefieslife]

Had a read of some of the Outboard vs Diesel threads, seems it doesn't really matter since they each have their distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Ideally I'd like to but in the med as then I play around there for a season or two before making a crossing, but there's a Comanche 32 for sale just down the road from me (UK), that i think it would be worth seeing, if nothing else, just to get an idea of what they are like. There's another in Netherlands too.

I've decided to view, view, and do some more viewings, to really help me narrow in on what I want liveabord wise. With a view to buying after Jan (once the tax bill is out of the way)

Originally Posted by svfraidknot

try looking at the solaris 42 talk about room ,, i have one in panama 1978 ,, might part with it for mid 40s us money ,, stayed on a catalac for a while and i have been on older mono hulls had more room ,, but to each his own , i almost bought a prout like it but did not like the single motor and scared to death of a volvo outdrive .. mine has 50 hp yanmars in great shape

I have seen your Solaris on the forum. Is it still on the Pacific side? There was one at the brokers I was at on the weekend too. Looked nice, but huge. I suppose once out of Europe it's not an issue. Yours seems a decent enough price if it's practically ready to go, but alas I'm concentrating on Europe at the moment.

[Huey2]

To SMJ.......We love our Catfisher. I was thinking of moving our Privilege 39 to Michigan but not many marinas can handle the 21' beam so we purchased the Fisher a couple of years ago.

[Scout 30]

One of the biggest problems with outboards is keeping the prop in the water. Outboards are designed to run at the top of the water whereas diesel drives will be at the bottom of the hull. When you get into steep waves outboards cavitate constantly & it makes it hard to get anywhere. At the exact time that you need a lot of power you can't throttle up because the outboard will over rev when it cavitates.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Huey2

To SMJ.......We love our Catfisher. I was thinking of moving our Privilege 39 to Michigan but not many marinas can handle the 21' beam so we purchased the Fisher a couple of years ago.

There's a lot to like about the Catfisher. You either love or hate the look, we loved it. I'm guessing the narrow beam and high center of gravity caused what I would consider an exaggerated motion in a swell on the beam.


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[Taichungman]

In the 80's I bought and lived on a HT27 for two years in the Gulf of Mexico from Tex to Fl. Since then I've sailed on a 65' cat, other large mono's and more recently helped deliver a SF50 from Cape Town to Annapolis Md.

So, from my experience I would go with the biggest cat I could afford.

The HT is a sea worthy boat but slow and and motoring with an outboard in the center cockpit is not very efficient. And you will motor if you have one at one time or the other unless you want to bob around with no wind for days. I had a hard time sailing anywhere in the HT unless the wind was on the beam or behind. I will say again the HT is sea worthy and I think the rigging would go before it would ever capsize. You will be able to handle any of the boats you mentioned after a period of time. If you go with a small cat then go with an outboard or maybe two. My choice would be the snow goose with a diesel. Which ever you get, it will be able to take you anywhere you want with a little patience and forethought.
Enjoy

[mikedefieslife]

Went to see a Comanche 32 today. Was in better state than I expected given what I'd seen of the Prouts.







I was impressed with light airy feel of it. No standing room in the Saloon but plenty in the hulls, and masses of room in the heads. Two 'double' berths aft, and storage at the bow.





I didn't find too many problems, but then I'm not experienced at all. From what I could see the bilges looked clean and dry:



Though the marks on the ply there make me wonder

For the most part the standing rigging looked good:





Except the kinks:



Not seen that before.

The running rigging, sheets, and lines were mostly chaffe free, and looked in good order. Some if it was brand new. Likewise the main sail (2015):



The winches on the mast has a bit of play in them, but seemed fine in general.



The wood at the base of the mast and it other places looked a bit suspect. With some funky green rot/mould type effect.




I noticed that this boat had sugar scoop/bathing platforms at the rear. I'm not sure that's standard. The starboard side was fine, but the port side seemed like it was suffering. There was delimitation so definitely ingested some water. Looked like some rot/mould around too.



The cockpit and decking all need repainting depending how much you're bothered by appearances:



Instruments looks old, but functional. There was a garmin chart plotter, but no autopilot.



Another thing that caught my eye was the engine. 9.9 high thrust yahama with long shaft. Now these boats typically come with outboards, but wtf happened when cutting the hole for it:



Only a 25l tank too. I'd need at least about 100l worth of fuel or more.

Other negative bits were the head lining. Generally ok but you'd want to replace it. A couple of windows could do with looking at but nothing major.

All in all it's not too bad but it deinfately needs to be checked with a water moisture metre.

Available for less than £20,000 but would need a lot of money spent bringing it up to a standard for cruising, possibly more than the £10-15k I might be willing to add.

No shower (which means adding a through hull and work to protect the wood in the head)
No water heater, or hot water of any kind
No 220/110v plug sockets (which means no inverter)
No windlass (electric or otherwise)
No roller furling
No autopilot
No fridge
No oven
No doors on cabins
No bimini

Door in head didn't close so something must have happened to the frame there too.

It's only just over an hour from home on the east coast of the UK, so getting the work done would be easy enough I imagine (there loads of boat yards around there), but I really need it to be in Med. I doubt sailing it there would be much fun, and the wear and tear probably wouldn't be worth it.

[smj]

We owned a Cherokee 35, the bigger sister to the Comanche, for about 9 years. Great design and Sailcraft did a good job of the build. I'm sure the Comanche is equal in both aspects. Great find


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[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

One of the biggest problems with outboards is keeping the prop in the water. Outboards are designed to run at the top of the water whereas diesel drives will be at the bottom of the hull. When you get into steep waves outboards cavitate constantly & it makes it hard to get anywhere. At the exact time that you need a lot of power you can't throttle up because the outboard will over rev when it cavitates.

This all depends on how the outboard is installed. Certainly a single, centrally mounted outboard will frequently have it's prop out of the water.

But in a good installation of twin long shaft outboards the props can be at a similar depth to saildrive props.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by svfraidknot

try looking at the solaris 42 talk about room ,, i have one in panama 1978 ,, might part with it for mid 40s us money ,, stayed on a catalac for a while and i have been on older mono hulls had more room ,, but to each his own , i almost bought a prout like it but did not like the single motor and scared to death of a volvo outdrive .. mine has 50 hp yanmars in great shape

Most cat I'll be looking at have a sillette drive. Sow pretty much function the same as an outboard. It's certainly not my first choice.

[smj]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

This all depends on how the outboard is installed. Certainly a single, centrally mounted outboard will frequently have it's prop out of the water.

But in a good installation of twin long shaft outboards the props can be at a similar depth to saildrive props.

From our experience this isn't true. A well placed centrally mounted outboard may suffer a little more cavitation than the twins, but the difference is negligible if any. Key words are well placed!


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[boatman61]

Have delivered HT 26's and the outboard worked fine with just the odd bit of cavitation.. they sit under the seat in the cockpit so well enough forwards to cope with general motoring situations.
Does start to struggle under sail if the wind is forwards of 60degrees and if the sea goes more than around a metre.. then its more like 70degrees.

[salticrak]

Took my wharram tiki 26 for her maiden voyage out in some lumpy northerly chop and can report no cavitation on the tohatsu 6hp long shaft. It gets particularly choppy at the rivers mouth.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by salticrak

Took my wharram tiki 26 for her maiden voyage out in some lumpy northerly chop and can report no cavitation on the tohatsu 6hp long shaft. It gets particularly choppy at the rivers mouth.

Yup.. the positioning is pretty good on Wharrams.. there will be odd times she'll lift out though.

[Scout 30]

We got into a steep chop crossing Tampa Bay on my buddy's 40' Wharram & really struggled to keep the prop in the water or make any headway. I've had this issue with every sailboat I've owned that had an outboard at one time or another.