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Nicholson58 · 21-07-2023, 07:12

1968 cat. We popped 25 knots yesterday. Great on all points of sail. Can be a bit wet.

Intentional Drifter · 21-07-2023, 07:15

You might want to pick up one of Charles Kanter's books. Kanter is (was?) a surveyor and cruising sailor of cats who published several books in the early 2000's that discussed the pros and cons of various design choices and gave critiques and observations regarding a number of specific models from that era and before.

There are a number of boats from that era I would choose before some of the contemporary ones. They were more focused on the sailing experience and safety than on the living experience, nice though it might be while at anchor or on the dock.

Another good resource is Multihull Dynamics, which gives performance metrics from a large database of cats, including many older ones.

ID

Talbot · 21-07-2023, 07:18

Most people immediately think of the Prout Snowgoose when talking slow dragging cats
However, later Prouts were much better. The Prout Escale is well worth a look, although interior is rather dated. The Prout 45 was more up-class,
Broadblue 415 and 435 are also basically later Prouts. All built for ocean and bad weather.

Privilege 39, 37, 395, 41, etc Built solid not performance.

cupofjoe · 21-07-2023, 07:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intentional Drifter

You might want to pick up one of Charles Kanter's books. Kanter is (was?) a surveyor and cruising sailor of cats who published several books in the early 2000's that discussed the pros and cons of various design choices and gave critiques and observations regarding a number of specific models from that era and before.

There are a number of boats from that era I would choose before some of the contemporary ones. They were more focused on the sailing experience and safety than on the living experience, nice though it might be while at anchor or on the dock.

Another good resource is Multihull Dynamics, which gives performance metrics from a large database of cats, including many older ones.

ID

Great suggestion! Thank you!

MartyB · 21-07-2023, 07:42

10,000 nm in the last year and half on my brand new Fountaine Pajot Astrea 42 and the only warranty claim so far is with an air con…
I’ve sailed the Bay of Biscayne, the Med, crossed the Atlantic and sailed from Martinique to Boston and the boat has been a beast!
Who said the FP, where not built well?????

WantTo · 21-07-2023, 07:45

Manta 42! We had a Manta 40 from 2009 to 2015 and and made two trips to Caribbean and went all the way to Trinidad. We bought a 42 earlier this year. Not only a great boat, but an owner's group that gives great advice on upgrades and repairs. You have to be a past/current Manta owner to join the Manta@Groups.io site. There is also a Facebook Manta owners social group. They even have gatherings at different places like Annapolis and Lorraine's (Black Point, Exhumas, The Bahamas).

GALAWA · 21-07-2023, 08:28

PRIVILEGE 435 designed in 1996
A beautiful cat with good performance and superb joinery.
But many mistakes were made by the designer which had limited experience of Cat layout and accomodation at the time.

On my P435 built in 1999, I had to buil a rigid bimini, a proper freezer, raised the guardrails 1 foot, a double seat at the helm with, large openings in the "wind shield" above the saloon (which otherwise amounts to a 6 square meters green house unbearably hot in the tropics), all weather ventilation in the cabins (there was none usable in any significant sea or rain), a cut out in the transom for easy access to and from the dingy, etc..etc...

I could not have sailed 6 years in tropical seas had I not made these changes .

ralphmarx · 21-07-2023, 08:58

There are several cats of the generation of 20 years ago that I have significantly better sailing characteristics compared to today's generation.....Nautitech 44/47, Danson Outremers, Venezia 42/Belize 43, older Catana's....started looking after Covid only to find the market was very tough. Feel like I really lucked out in finding a Bahia 46 that was in good shape. Love the boat, light (9.7t), lots of sail area(124 m2), roomy with power hull shapes. Just sailed her 2,000 miles and not disappointed at all. Saw good speeds and she holds weight well.....in Gibraltar, blew by an Elba 45 so fast I thought it was a 40. There are other boats from that generation that are lighter and waiting for a good refit to bring them to a modern standard.....most of the decent cats today are very pricey.....why go down that route?

**Capt Clark** · 21-07-2023, 11:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wilyum

Im glad you added no Prouts, lets keep their value down so I can pick one up cheap when the time comes to sail around the world.

SV_FlyingTigress · 21-07-2023, 12:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by GALAWA

PRIVILEGE 435 designed in 1996
A beautiful cat with good performance and superb joinery.
But many mistakes were made by the designer which had limited experience of Cat layout and accomodation at the time.

On my P435 built in 1999, I had to buil a rigid bimini, a proper freezer, raised the guardrails 1 foot, a double seat at the helm with, large openings in the "wind shield" above the saloon (which otherwise amounts to a 6 square meters green house unbearably hot in the tropics), all weather ventilation in the cabins (there was none usable in any significant sea or rain), a cut out in the transom for easy access to and from the dingy, etc..etc...

I could not have sailed 6 years in tropical seas had I not made these changes .

Great submission, I have some of those mods on my P39 but others are great considerations.

daydreamer · 21-07-2023, 20:46

Privilege 42. The P42 replaced the P39, and was replaced by the P435. Very well built. Very seaworthy. Sails well. Large cockpit - which we like better than P435 design. Lots of usable storage. Fabulous anchor locker. Galley is down, but not as isolated as on TPI 42.Ours is a 1998 model and is holding up very well.

Jeannius · 22-07-2023, 00:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by GALAWA

PRIVILEGE 435 designed in 1996
A beautiful cat with good performance and superb joinery.
But many mistakes were made by the designer which had limited experience of Cat layout and accomodation at the time.

On my P435 built in 1999, I had to buil a rigid bimini, a proper freezer, raised the guardrails 1 foot, a double seat at the helm with, large openings in the "wind shield" above the saloon (which otherwise amounts to a 6 square meters green house unbearably hot in the tropics), all weather ventilation in the cabins (there was none usable in any significant sea or rain), a cut out in the transom for easy access to and from the dingy, etc..etc...

I could not have sailed 6 years in tropical seas had I not made these changes .

Like the mod to the port sugarscoop. Boarding from a dinghy was not the easiest with the standard configuration. Higher guardrails was a factory option I specified on mine. Double seat at the helm was standard certainly by 2002. Ventilation, yes totally agree. If I was starting out now it is still the boat I'd buy.