Catalac 10m for Circumnavigation ?

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by fyodor1564

S/V Immanuel - how do you find the comfort level when in a swell as one critique ive heard repeatedly about catalacs is that they can have a very uncomfortable side to side motion? Would you confidently take your 10m blue water?

I think you might have misunderstood.

[smj]

Originally Posted by fyodor1564

S/V Immanuel - how do you find the comfort level when in a swell as one critique ive heard repeatedly about catalacs is that they can have a very uncomfortable side to side motion? Would you confidently take your 10m blue water?

We spent some time on a 10m and I remember there was something about the motion I didn't like, just can't remember what. Then again I really liked the motion of the 8m.

[fyodor1564]

Make no mistake about it, im a big catalac fan, but ive heard that they can hoobyhorse or worse yet, given the right circumstances, hop from hull back to the other. I always assumed this was possibly due to their shorter beam? As someone who is prone to sea sickness at times, i was curious as to others experiences?

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by fyodor1564

Make no mistake about it, im a big catalac fan, but ive heard that they can hoobyhorse or worse yet, given the right circumstances, hop from hull back to the other. I always assumed this was possibly due to their shorter beam? As someone who is prone to sea sickness at times, i was curious as to others experiences?

There's no discernible side to side motion on my boat. However, with a LWL of 25.5 ft, she will hobbyhorse in short seas. But that's not uncommon in that LWL for any boat. Longer waterline = smoother ride.

You should get out on one and see for yourself.

[Immanuel]

Originally Posted by fyodor1564

S/V Immanuel - how do you find the comfort level when in a swell as one critique ive heard repeatedly about catalacs is that they can have a very uncomfortable side to side motion? Would you confidently take your 10m blue water?

When I spoke of comfort level it was from the perspective of living aboard, size, space etc. I have experienced the side to side motion when taking seas on the beam, but I always compensate by steering out of that situation when possible. With that being said, so far in all my excursions I ( We- my wife ) have felt safe in this boat. I must admit though, we have not really ever been out in conditions that exceed my comfort/ skill level. We're taking it slowly. I know one day we'll get caught in a squall or a bad turn in the weather. Until then, I'll keep reading & learning to develop my skills.
NO, I would not RIGHT NOW take her out to open blue water cruising with the exception of staying near shore to places like Cape Lookout. We do hope some day to take her to the Bahamas. In the mean time I will stay plugged into this forum and I welcome input to get better at this thing called cruising.
Remember, I went from a 14ft. Hobie to the 10m. Still learning! I still believe this is a great boat and just right for us.

[boatman61]

Hey... don't worry about taking her down to the Bahamas... she'll do that no sweat... when the winds good go coastal... when its unfavourable hop into the ICW and motor... its just down to knowing her limitations.... wind between 10 o-clock and 2 o-clock she'll struggle and slam... anything aft of that she'll be fine....
Get out there and have fun....

[jannpage]

Greetings. Having owned a 85 model for most of 10 years and traveled some 2000 miles in the USA an 3500 in the Med (2500 of that over 5 months) I can make a few observations. Jan and I faced 2 serious squalls in her with never a moment of concern about the boat. I worried a bit about the Starboard engine because at that time, it was operating on a cooling system more or less patched together with bandaids. So since it started instantly, I shut it down when I did not need it and tried to keep it headed a bit to port. In short, the 10M is not a pounder or slammer but don't overload the ends . Particularly if you are also more or less over loading the boat.

6 ft waves or more. Very little pounding or hobby horsing. The 10 M is not the same boat as the 8 or 9. It has much more freeboard. the weakness of the boat"

It is almost invites overloading the ends. With an abundance of big lockers at each end it is easy to put to much weight in them - particularly on such a thing as an Around the world trips. And overloading invites hobby horsing and the banging around that brings. Add a heavy dingy hanging out over the stern does not help either.

Window leakage. this boat has an abundance of wonderful windows the really vent well. All those window cutouts invite a bit of flexing of the upper hull that loaded the glass area with the need for permanent sealing to reduce the flex. But the nearly 30 years of sun and drying has caused the old fiber based window caulking to shrink and crack and allow more flexing causing more loosening ( and leaking). It is a major very time consuming job to clean the glass well enough to insure high strenght re-attchment of new sealing materials needed to result in permanent waterproofing. That is where and why the rain water gets in. (by the way, I have seen old Prouts that seem to have lost a lot of their window area to amatuer attemps to seal them too.

And they badly need feathering props it you want to sail to the wind. Yes the shallow (3ft) draft lets her slide more than I like but but feathering props add at least 15 degrees to your windward ability.

Bottom like. For a poor man, it is nearly imposiible to beat a 10M for nasty seas day after day.

Of course, I find 50- 60 mile days and a restaurant in the evening mixing with the locals with a week or two now and then to visit an areao take all the time I can find to be aboard.

Remember a 30 year old boat is about like a 30 year old car. Not very modern. Wiring will look like a pasta kitchen after a food fight. Most systems will be obsolete or fixed wrong. "Serendipity" had a 6 gal residential hot water heater -hookup up wrong, A refrigerator and an autopilot that was about unserviceable, leaking hydraulic steering, headlining needing replacement, old old mattresses, floors that were original, etc .etc. If you find one for under $120,000 do not assume a lot is not wrong and needing immediate attention. My parts and materials bill alone exceeded $60,000 and I am good at buying what the big Marine suppliers list for $1000 for around $700.
Cheers

Lefty2

[Tropic Cat]

Ahhh Page, you're taking the romance out of it.... Tell Jan I said hello. For others who may be interested Page wrote the review on the Catalac 10M. You can read it ...

Catalac 10M Review