Mystery Easy

[Lawler]

Hi everyone!

Does anyone know any more about this boat than the very minimal info on the ad?
https://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for...r-snell/299620

I’m looking for a cheap cat with at least two beds, at least one of which is a Queen or larger, easy to sail short handed and capable of comfortable bluewater travel if one makes the necessary upgrades.

So really, this post asks two questions:
1. Is the boat linked above likely to be worth a look?
and
2. Is an Easy 10.5 able to safely do long passages given a few dollars?

Cheers.

[Fore and Aft]

Lawler most Easys were home built out of plywood and the quality can be a bit hit and miss.

Cheers

[Tupaia]

Peter Snell is a good designer, so from that stand point it will be more than capable of meeting your needs.
As Fore and Aft mentioned a lot will depend on the attention to detail paid during the build. Some will be excellent, better than production standards while others will be very poor. Maybe get someone to have a look first or at the very least ask for a detailed set of photographs before committing to a visit.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Lawler.


Snell Easy 10.5 ➥ https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...5-a-73531.html

Snell Easy Catamaran Owners ➥ https://www.facebook.com/groups/553413452112150/

About “Popao”:
'Popao' is a 2006 Peter Snell designed Easy 37ft (11.3m) catamaran ...
➥ https://sailingpopao.com/pages/about-popao-1

[catsketcher]

Gday Lawler, and happy new year,

Easy's are great boats, they distill the attributes of a successful cruiser into a tidy package. Some facets I like are

- outboards - diesels and folding props can be a pain and very expensive to buy and maintain. Cats under about 40ft can be powered by Yamaha 4 stroke outboards. I would be more wary of other outboards only because of the props, although larger sizes can be successful. The large props of the Yammie 9.9 allows them to be a good fit on a cruising cat. (You can get okay props for Hondas and such but it can be a little tricky)
- simple layout - the boats have a well laid out interior and cockpit setup. One reason is that Peter Snell is a reall cruisers designer, he built and then lived on a large range of the Easy designs. Last time I saw him he was cruising on a 40ft Easy.
- great rig - the rig is easy to manage with a smallish monohull type mainsail and an inner forestay. What this means is that you can ease the main right out on a square run (something many/most cats can't do) and pole out the headsail to make a great downwind rig. Also the inner forestay carries a staysail so you can plug to windward in a big breeze really safely with the genoa furled. Again the designer's real use of the boat shows through.
- lightweight - ply is a great material. There are people who look at it through the lens of pre epoxy build techniques but built well and maintained with a little care, ply is a strong and long lived material. So you get a boat that can sail faster than a solid core glass layup.

As stated above, the Easys were built by amateurs, but most of them are better built than the amateur moniker would suggest. You will need someone to look over the boat with you, checking the epoxy covering inside and out and looking for places water could enter the ply endgrain. It is not rocket science but steady application produces a great result.

An Easy of this size would be fine for a run to the Lousiades - or to Noumea. I would suggest you simply do what we did for a few years, waft up the coast to somewhere north in Queensland in the winter and then back again in the summer, it is a wonderful cruise. Keep the cats on the boat and you would be fine with quarantine, going offshore with cats would be a bit of a problem.

Watch the sailing channel Take it Easy - they have a slightly larger version - the 11.6. They bought it from a nice couple who sailed it around Melbourne to places north who have a nice blog about their time - they also had a cute little cat on board.

So yes the boat can do what you want. Ask the owner for lots more shots and then get someone who has built some cats or knows them to look it over with you. A quick appraisal can be done in the water before a more detailed survey on the slips. If you lurk on the Aussie multihull sailors facebook group, you may find a local multi builder who can look over the boat with you.

https://www.youtube.com/@SailingTakeItEasy

https://sv-anui.com/cruise-stories/o...-take-it-easy/

cheers

Phil

[Lawler]

Thanks GordMay for the links and thanks Phil for the longer reply!

I had expected there to be plenty of to-and-fro when we’re ready to actually buy something. Plus at least one good survey.

I’m curious: what *are* the implications of having a pet on your boat overseas if the pet never leaves the boat?

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Lawler

Thanks GordMay for the links and thanks Phil for the longer reply!

I had expected there to be plenty of to-and-fro when we’re ready to actually buy something. Plus at least one good survey.

I’m curious: what *are* the implications of having a pet on your boat overseas if the pet never leaves the boat?

IMHO pets on boats are a big pain. Australia is one of the worst countries to turn up to with pets. Even if they are from Australia retuning with your pet is a major problem depending on where you have been.


In other countries it matters not whether they remain on board, even after correctly following the rules and paying lots of money, you may still have to keep them on board, or refused entry altogether.



Failure to declare can lead to you having your boat papers endorsed or even having your boat impounded.

[Lawler]

Huh. That’s less than ideal.

[Teleman]

Easy's are excellent boats and good value for money. I particularly like the sensible cruising rig. As with any home-build, a survey is a must.

If you go catless cruising on a cat, most ports will have some level of fishing activity. Where there's fish, there will be cats. You can befriend a few for a few days.