Old, Solid, Slow but Reliable Cats - Which Would You Choose ?

[Boracay]

A link to the "Good cat, Bad cat" article is here.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

At 150 you can have a Privilege 36, Catana 381, FP ... .....
The Catalac is very ugly and has pretty successful interior, probably not to everybody's tastes....

LOL..... The boat voted the best live aboard catamaran in it's era and the only boat to survive the Queens Birthday storm at ground zero without damage or injuries, and 25 years later is still crossing oceans..... is not for everyone?

That's one amazing observation from someone who has most likely never been aboard the boat. I would fully agree that the Catalacs are dated by comparison to today's models. yet they are the most successful line of catamarans built, and are well respected boats for a reason. For what they cost these days, there are damn few boats that compare to them.

Out of curiosity, to what do you attribute your comment? And what do you think the criteria for an affordable cruising catamaran should be?

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Tropic Cat,

Discovered your site long before I joined this one. You have a great site and search engines give it great billing, I think I just typed "cruising catamarans", it was on the first page near the top..

Thank you. My website is a labor of love, and to be clear is a non profit information website.

My intent is to expand the website to include more boat models of what have now become affordable catamarans.... and which are sea worthy boats. Unfortunately, I maintain the site in my spare time, and it's a lot more work than it appears.

On the up side, I've been aboard more cruising catamarans than most people and have made friends with some of the boat designers, and have sailed with some of them. Over all, it's definitely been worth it.

One last comment which I'll stick here because I don't know where else to put it. Catalacs built after 1980 will maintain speed up tp 30-35 degrees apparent depending on wind speed and sea state. I've had more than one mono guy sail my boat and watch their amazement as we point up. It's all a matter of learning the boat and the proper sail plan and of course, how to sail the boat, which I'm pretty sure is no different than learning to sail any other boat.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Tropic Cat

Thank you. My website is a labor of love, and to be clear is a non profit information website.

My intent is to expand the website to include more boat models of what have now become affordable catamarans.... and which are sea worthy boats. Unfortunately, I maintain the site in my spare time, and it's a lot more work than it appears.

On the up side, I've been aboard more cruising catamarans than most people and have made friends with some of the boat designers. Over all, it's definitely been worth it.

I appreiciate all your efforts, must be tough if cruising. I also have a forum, and when cruising, plan to keep it going. I have assigned two of the members the job of moderator and the other the job of administrator. I will run a high gain omni antenna for Wi-Fi, with the rf unit right at the base of the antenna to minimize coaxial cable losses, to still be a part of my forum when anchored out. Looking forward to your inclusions of other affordable, blue water capable, cruising cats on your fine web site. Your site must have been up for quite awhile, because the search engines sure give it "respect".

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

I appreiciate all your efforts,..... Your site must have been up for quite awhile, because the search engines sure give it "respect".

thanks again. Yeah the site's been up a few years. it began as a single webpage and at last count I now have over 110 pages there. To be clear, it's not all me. These days I'm less of a writer and more of an editor. We have some terrific articles and boat reviews written by folks who love their Catalacs. Incidentally, the reason so few Catalacs are for sale at any given time is because, owners won't sell them! Personally, I'd like a larger boat, but haven't found one that makes sense yet. I won't sacrifice quality for size, and it's been a limiting factor.

[barnakiel]

I have read that article. Quite interesting. THX.

b.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Tropic Cat

thanks again. Yeah the site's been up a few years. it began as a single webpage and at last count I now have over 110 pages there. To be clear, it's not all me. These days I'm less of a writer and more of an editor. We have some terrific articles and boat reviews written by folks who love their Catalacs. Incidentally, the reason so few Catalacs are for sale at any given time is because, owners won't sell them! Personally, I'd like a larger boat, but haven't found one that makes sense yet. I won't sacrifice quality for size, and it's been a limiting factor.

If I go the Catalac route, I hope to be a contributing writer to your web site in the future. BTW, you have a PM from me.

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by Tropic Cat

yet they are the most successful line of catamarans built

I'm not disparaging Catalacs but I just can't agree with the above statement. With 1100 Geminis built and over 650 Lagoon 380s which is just a portion of Lagoons huge output I would say that these manufacturers are the most succesful line of cats built. I am impressed with Catalacs production numbers and would guess that they are in the top 5 all time builders (number 3?) which is something I didn't know until reading your excellent website. I wonder where Leopard and the other large builders ranks? BTW I like the 12m. BOB

[smj]

Originally Posted by snort

Going by hearsay only, Sailcraft catamarans. They seem to have the bridgedeck clearance needed and are probably faster than most of their generation. The Iroqouis (30 feet) apparently had a tendency to turn turtle, but the larger sisters look to be pretty good cruising boats. Can't wait to see one in person someday soon.

I would agree Sailcrafts are great boats. We owned a Cherokee 35 for 9 years and loved her. Quite a bit faster than the Prout or Catalac and very spacious. I know of a nice Comanche 32 for sale at a good price.

[Curmudgeon]

I'm surprised that no one has mentionned Privilege, the 37 or 39.

[jannpage]

Hello. We have an 84 10 meter Catalac. I still recall the first time I saw one. Ugliest darn thing I have ever seen. Little did I expect that 5 years later my better half had led me to this one. No regrets except for the time lost in getting there. Frankly, there are few 40ft Cats with as much usable room for 2 plus a couple of guests now and then. As far as slow is concerned, rarely do we not end up in the same ports at night as other "fast" cats, aften afor them. Seems that most of the liveaboard-cruising cats I see are overloaded and are not so fast unless they are running the engines. And while the good cats/bad cats arguement make sence, we have had ours in spots we should not have without even discomfort. I frankly, am not enough of a marine engineer to validate the arguement. I do know I have berthed in marina's all over the Med and the US often at rates far below what the wide cats cost. Between prout and Catalac I see several differences. Walk all over the very top of 10M Catalac and then try that on a Prout. Or look at the bridgedeck clearance of a 10 meter Prout. We the 12 meter Catalac. I think it is pretty large for just a couple. Remember one more thing. These are old boats. everyting is old. They sort of need some new and modern equitment. And they sure need some professional quality varnishing and upholstry and a new matress or more. It does not take much to add 10K or more to your cost.

Anyway, I almost envy your position. We would love to have the last 10 years over again. Darn clock just keeps ticking away.

Page

[Southern Star]

The 'Good Cat, Bad Cat' article makes some valid points, but it is clearly intended to favour FP cats (which are featured not only by the brokerage, but in the article). The quick dismissal of boards and narrower hull beam are, IMO, indicative of a bias in favour of interior volume and load carrying capacity over performance that not all sailors share.

At the other end of the spectrum, the dismissal of cats with less than a 50% BOA to LOA ratio is also suspect: the article fails to consider factors such as freeboard, CG, and the CE of the sailplan, which are typically much lower on most of the earlier British cats that fell below this ratio.

Prout, Catalac, Sailcraft and Solaris all built very solid boats with deserved reputations for making safe offshore passages. While typically more expensive, the Privilege 37 and 39 have a similar reputation in a somewhat more modern package. Of course, as one's budget increases so too does the range of available boats and the Lagoon 380 has certainly proven to be a capable boat for many cruisers; finally, altlhough not relevant to this thread, as the budget for the boat alone moves to about $250K, the range of available boats becomes quite large indeed.

Brad

[limejucer]

My Brand choice is clear. But my experiance of a 20 year old boat is everything breaks.. so get a good hull and outfit your self, then you will know what it all is how it works and have sutable confidence in it.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by limejucer

My Brand choice is clear. But my experiance of a 20 year old boat is everything breaks.. so get a good hull and outfit your self, then you will know what it all is how it works and have sutable confidence in it.

Heck, if it was a 5 year old boat, things still break. It's a boat!!!!

However, this is a good point, and I agree with it. If you buy an older boat at the right price point and refit her yourself, you know the boat and all her systems intimately. When (not if) things break, you'll be able to affect repairs.

I've heard the argument over the years that "I'd rather be sailing, than refit the boat". Yet I know of no one who actually does this. Folks buy a boat and then take time to learn to sail and get used to her, (with some exceptions) they don't just jump on board and head for the islands. Might as well learn the boat inside and out.. it pays off handsomely in the long run.

I guess the whole point I'm making is that a cruising catamaran doesn't have to cost $250K ++. People are crossing oceans with older boats while we sit here and type.... Lastly, my Catalac 8M was sailed to America from England... ponder that for a minute...it's 27 feet long...

The trick to boat shopping is in learning which boats can cross oceans safely. I would cross an ocean in a good Prout, Solaris or Catalac because I know these boats. The British design and build good boats and no matter how 'ugly' folks might think they are, they are boats that have a well deserved reputation.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by jannpage

Hello. We have an 84 10 meter Catalac. ...

Page

Hi Page!!

Page wrote a fine Catalac 10M boat review that can be found on the website in my sig... he doesn't know it ....but he's living aboard my next boat!!