Bluewater Sail Cats Under $250k?

[multihullsailor6]

If you like the Schionning cats, you surely will also like the Erik Lerouge cats Erik Lerouge International and the Dazcats Dazcat home page.

Good luck
Roger

[44'cruisingcat]

One of the boats i posted a link to is a Lerouge. In the price range too.

ERIK LEROUGE AZULI F40 boat details - BoatPoint Australia

[CSK Cat]

My CSK Cat is pretty fast and is nice on the inside. Factory built foamcore/ fiberglass, for sale in Latitude 38 under multihulls. Great condition and price $45,000.00 great sailing boat.

[windhorze]

That Azuli looks great! And the exchange would be in your favor (granted you are a Yank).

[rob denney]

Originally Posted by slippery kitty

Hi all, I really like the Schoinings and the more recent Graingers they seem great.Looking at length I'm thinking at least 37 but no more than 45.I realise that I will not be doing 20 knots everywhere but would like to think with a nice breeze it should be more than capable to.Thanks for the help ,are there any others I should be keeping an eye out for?

G'day,

If you are prepared to look outside the box, the 15m/50' harryproa at

YouTube - Visionarry Sailing

ticks most of your boxes. The one in the video cost $US250,000 as a custom built boat ready for cruising. We have simplified the build considerably and are currently building one for a little over half this.

Doesn't have gallery up, but this could be changed. I have just got back from a cruise in company with the Brisbane Gladstone race on this boat and we hit a top speed of 17.3 knots in a 20 knot puff on flat water. Got beaten by the 50' cats in the light stuff when they put up spinnakers and screechers, but went past a Grainger 37 with ease. Held onto a Farr 40 upwind. A corroded ss rudder pintle broke and ended our cruise prematurely.

More to the point for cruising is how easy the boat is to sail. You steer from a sheltered position, with the single lightly loaded sheet close at hand. Downwind, you ease the sheet and the rig presents max surface to the wind. Gybing accidentally is not a worry, nor is getting fingers caught in tracks or winches, or getting knocked about by flailing sheets. The boat is light (3 tons) so the sail area is small, but the righting moment is the same as a 12m Scionning. Payload (1.7 tonnes) is low for a 50'ter, but plenty for family cruising.

The mast flexes so the first reef is automatic, further reefs are done with the rig weathercocked and the boat stopped. Could not be much easier. The unstayed rig is also far less maintenance than a stayed one, so your running costs and chances of a catastrophic failure are lower.

regards,

Rob

[imagine2frolic]

No doubt a fine sailor, but what about comfort for long term cruising? What does it offer in that area?. Love to see some pics of the interior, or at anchor mode for comfort of lounging.......i2f

[imagine2frolic]

I am sure that will work for some. She sails sweetly, but I will stick with my barge & the storage I can't fill.............i2f

[rob denney]

Originally Posted by imagine2frolic

No doubt a fine sailor, but what about comfort for long term cruising? What does it offer in that area?. Love to see some pics of the interior, or at anchor mode for comfort of lounging. I am sure that will work for some. She sails sweetly, but I will stick with my barge & the storage I can't fill.......i2f

G'day,
There are some internal photos at harryproa / Visionarry - report 14 January 2006. At anchor, there is more usable deck space than most bridge deck cruisers, all at the same level. Couple of bean bags and you could spend a lot of time outside, or inside on the 2 x 6' seats with plenty of ventilation or seated under the cockpit cover, which is where we spent most of our time during the Gladstone cruise. The lee hull of this boat is empty, apart from the mast in the middle. That gives unused volume of 45' x 4' wide x 6' high. That is a lot of storage space.

regards,

Rob

[clockwork orange]

Originally Posted by DWT

You could try and find an older Catana. I looked at buying a 1992 40' awhile back. When you stood back and looked at this thing, it looked like an over sized hobie cat. I do believe it could of hit some of those higher speeds your wanting as long as you did'nt load it down.
Good luck finding your boat. Let us know what you end up buying.

I dont think so, i did a trip to the Bahamas back in 1999 on a Catana 48 which had all the "necessary" cruising gear added, ie,a large Rib with 15hp honda etc on davits,1000amps of battery storage,wind gen,solar array,4 staterooms with,4 heads(wtf) yada yada yada, we did a lot of motoring but when we did sail we had plenty of breeze and the thing was not fast at all,certainly not faster than a like sized performance cruising mono. It was a very nice boat though that just had too much junk on board. I have to agree with those that say you cant have both performance and all the stuff. If you want the 20 knot potentional speeds you need to practice resraint with the accomodations and equipment.
Steve.

[son_of_a_sailor3]

I know that 18 knots of boat speed is just plan out INSANE! What I think people are missing here is a mono hull with a breeze of 10 knots of wind, will not get to 6 knots of boat speed, unless your hull is empty! This is where i want speed, I do not want to do 3 or 5 knots if I am doing 10 or above that is fast for sailing! I can remember when I was racing mono hull everyone had to sit still and everyone would have their place to be! In light air you were not suppose to move or talk! This to me now after being on a Multuhull is not sailing! If there is light Air you want to make sure your boat will still move, unless you turn on the motor!

I think sailing should be fast but not extreme unless you get yourself a Hobie Cat to play around in! But reall its the WInd compared to boat speed is what I am talking about and maybe others as well! If you can match the wind speed then you have a awesome boat!

[sww914]

At those speeds inertia becomes an issue. I spent plenty of time on a Nacra out in the Pacific doing 20's and 30's, we spent quite a bit of time in the air. I can only imagine 20's in a cruising boat. Canned peas, coffee, beer, cereal and cat food whirling around in the cabin like in a blender!
Will it blend?

[sandy daugherty]

But steady is how you cruise. And steady is slower. A 200 mile day is in the most benign conditions is probably the upper limit. Expecting something faster is not in the books. And this can be done by several production cats under 50 feet. It also means that long ocean passages can be made by 3 crew (not counting smaller children) without herculean effort. That's sailing several days, up to a month standing watches, and waking everyone up for a sail change.

For the purpose of this discussion, what are the boats to look for under $250k? What are the parameters?

[slippery kitty]

37 to 45 foot,galley up,twin wheels ,head and shower separate,internal access from bridge deck to hulls,centre boards,650mm plus of bridge deck clearance,2 x diesel engines.With true wind at 120*, in 20knots capable of doing 20knots, and under 250, blue water capable.

The plan is to keep the boat as light as possible all the time.

[Seas The Dream]

Hi,

We are Kiwi's living in Oz who have recently brought a Leopard 38 catamaran to sail from the Caribbean back to Australia...............check out a website called Boats.com or Catamaran Company in the US and look for Moorings Boats out of Tortola, you should find Leopard Cats in your Price range coming out of the charter fleet.Otherwise call Richard, the broker at the Moorings in tortola, British Virgin Islands, he should be able to assist you. Cheapest Cats we found were in tortola.

Galley Up, won't do 20kts. Centreboards need continual adjust as the wind varies eg Dolphin Cat from Brazil has centreboards, fully down at 5kts, halfway at 7kts, fully up at 9 knots! so you may like to think about these issues.

Five year trip you say, I'm looking for a few home comforts, so a cruising cat is ideal. 20kts, you comprise your comfort levels ( long term thats a problem for me) if you can find a Cat that can do 20kts good luck to you!

Good luck with your search

[slippery kitty]

I very much enjoy trimming a boat ,making sure the sails are set,boards are at the correct adjustment etc....To me ,its half the reason for having a sail boat.I want to see the world from its oceans.But I still want reasonable speed in 5knots of breeze and knot have to start the noise makers up.I have looked at the
moorings option but there sailing ability is the wrong end of the spectrum for me ,thanks for the recommendation.