Sell me on your favorite cat

[44'cruisingcat]

Why our boat is perfect for us...

I built it, so I know every system intimately.

With outboards, daggerboards, kick up rudders, we can operate in knee deep water, and dry out with the tide.

Sailing performance. We can sail at very percentage of windspeed. We can sail when others are motoring. We also sail to windward very well.

Even though light skinny boats like ours supposedly can't carry a spare toothbrush, the fact is we live very comfortably, plenty of water for hot showers every day, a full queen size bed with latex mattress, etc etc.

Haven't seen another boat we'd swap for.

[smj]

Originally Posted by snort

I'll wait for the definitive answer when SMJ chimes in. He's owned them all.

Personally, for the price and size, I like a Seawind1000. Lots of space & comfort, good helm position & you can get an all around view in the bridge deck cabin when you go inside.

I don’t need to chime in now as you’ve already given a good review on what is probably our favorite all around cat.......though our Searunner is slowly gaining ground[emoji1303]

[Kita]

But one thing that you didn’t mention was budget. If I had the money I would have bought a lagoon 380 but I've never sailed one. Budget constraints brought me to a Gemini 105 MC and I really like it. I love the fact that I can get in very skinny water and get out of other people's way. It's a little smaller then a lot of the other catamarans but it's also considerably cheaper. With an unlimited budget I would have definitely bought something bigger but with a limited budget I like my little Gemini. I believe it to be one of the only cats that get into really shallow water & is great for where I was planning to go through Florida & maybe the Bahamas. ..

[contrail]

Originally Posted by resistor

What was your impression of sailing with the forward helm position and forward line handling cockpit?

I assume you mean on the Gun Boat. The helm was actually behind a big window that could open and next to a door out to the cockpit, so no need to get wet. The forward cockpit, for line handling, seemed fine, but I didn't have the opportunity to see how it was in really miserable conditions. I had the opportunity to do several ocean crossings on that boat, but my now-deceased mother was in her final years and I felt I couldn't be that absent, so I settled for much shorter stuff. A great opportunity missed.

[amiller]

Originally Posted by Cat White House

I have spent thousands of dollars on marine grills. The best is not a stainless "marine grill" but a Weber Q-Grill mounted on a fish cleaning table somewhere aft.

Amen to that. We have a $100 knock off and it works great too. No more rusting on the back rail...just stow it away when not in use!

[Lance Reynolds]

Hi , check my post above yours about improving performance .(a big priority of mine).
I have owned three good sized cruisers around the 39 ft range ,all good boats and yet all quite different .
I have said this before try not to get mixed up about what you WANT and what you actually NEED thats the fastest way to blow a big portion of your budget .
My current Whithaven 11.7m (listed here for sale) has met all our needs for our latest 12 month 6,000 mile cruise from Australia to Thailand and I believe is one of the best value Cruising Cats on the market .
Lots of superior positives in the design and construction.
Message me for an honest comparison of the three Cats I have owned and others I have sailed on, good luck , there are plenty boats outside the box to consider.

[Mark424]

Originally Posted by resistor

Request: Sell me on a cat that you have personally sailed, whether you own it or chartered it. Tell me why you think it’s great, and why it’s great FOR YOU.

Why I like the Maine Cat 38:

• Performance: I don't need to go 15 knots all day long, but I'm a sailor at heart and from time to time want a couple hours in the teens. With a nice Code 0 would like to hit the high teens once in a while for a thrill. Just as important, when it's light air, want to be able to put the sails up and ghost along, I can do 4-6 in 6-8. From the BVI to the remote islands of Tonga, I've seen a lot of the charter type cats motoring when others were sailing.
• View under way: I'm really annoyed sitting in the cockpit and either staring backward or facing forward at the back of the house. They are getting better in the last few years with larger windows, but the reality is that most of the time you are on autopilot, so you want to be able to sit anywhere, lift your head up every 5-10 minutes and look around to look for traffic and go back to reading, chatting w/ friends, etc. Might not seem like a big deal on a short charter, but if you are on an 8 hour, or 8 day passage, it gets really old having to walk all over the place to get a 360 deg view and check for traffic or hazards.
• Bridge deck: I like the single large area, unless I'm cooking, I'm not inside, so why break up the space into two? You can set up the bridge deck any way you like. Helm forward, helm aft. big chairs, little chairs, table, no-table, there is room to do yoga or have a dance party in there if you want. While other cats can close the cockpit, most are not really great to sail that way, the maine cat is designed to close up, turn the heat on and have a comfy passage.
• Simple and solid: Having done my fair share of repairs of cats while on charter, have seen some strange stuff, crazy amounts of plywood in the bilges, cheap fittings, stuff broken on boats < a year old, etc. Dick's boats aren't cheap, but after 20+ years in business, his owners all praise the quality and durability. I always liked to charter bigger and faster boats, after sailing the Catana 50, I finally said, this boat is just too big and heavy for short or single handed sailing to be fun. I stumbled across an old classic book, "Sensible Cruising: The Thoreau Approach", and it really struck a chord on being comfortable and safe, but the downside of getting too big is the exponential increase in size of gear, cost, maintenance.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Kita

But one thing that you didn’t mention was budget. If I had the money I would have bought a lagoon 380 but I've never sailed one. Budget constraints brought me to a Gemini 105 MC and I really like it. I love the fact that I can get in very skinny water and get out of other people's way. It's a little smaller then a lot of the other catamarans but it's also considerably cheaper. With an unlimited budget I would have definitely bought something bigger but with a limited budget I like my little Gemini. I believe it to be one of the only cats that get into really shallow water & is great for where I was planning to go through Florida & maybe the Bahamas. ..

You beat me to it. We also went with a Gemini but we need to know more to give the OP a good idea of what matters.
- If you have a $50k budget, no point in even bringing up Gunboats.
- If you only anchor out, massive beam can be a nice feature but if you like the convenience of tying up, fitting in a normal slip is handy. (hate the 6' freeboard on some of the larger cats. Makes it tough to get off on some floating docks.)
- Super shallow draft is great on the east coast as there are a lot of really shallow side channels and bays that you can anchor in.
- How many people? While our Gemini had 3 cabins and you could convert the dinnet to theoretically sleep 8 people, it really was best suited for a couple or maybe a couple and a small child for longer term cruising. The extra cabins became a pantry and a storage room for us.
- Kickup rudders and boards. When you do bump bottom, you have a chance to recover before getting stuck.
- Simple systems that are easy to maintain and repair. (of course, it doesn't look as fancy, so depends what your priorities are).
- We liked the solid bridge deck. Nice for anchoring duties and for events (like fireworks), you can set up some lawnchairs or cushions to hang out very comfortably.

The downsides:
- It's not a gold plater. Spidercracks in the gelcoat are pretty much a given. Not a structural issue but an appearance issue.
- Load it up for cruising and double digit speeds will be hard to come by (strip it of weight and she can really move along).
- If you want to bash to weather, the bridge deck will slam. (bear off 20-30 degrees and it usually settles down).

We also had a Catalac 10m and while it served our purpose, when we get another boat it will almost certainly be a Gemini.

[resistor]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

You beat me to it. We also went with a Gemini but we need to know more to give the OP a good idea of what matters.

I deliberately didn’t provide any constraints. I want to know why you like your cat, and cost is a totally valid reason to love it. My hope is to get a better sense of “cat X is good if you value Y”, for varying Ys.

[Ozifrog]

Hi.
I'll not only sell you on my favourite cat,
I'll sell you my favourite cat!

https://m.apolloduck.com/boat.phtml?id=554683

Cheers

[Sparx]

44'cruisingcat, your post got me looking at the pictures you have posted of your boat. Very Nice! I see lots of features there that I would choose also were I building. Respect to you for pulling it off.

Brent

[Iaangus]

Originally Posted by contrail

I assume you mean on the Gun Boat. The helm was actually behind a big window that could open and next to a door out to the cockpit, so no need to get wet. The forward cockpit, for line handling, seemed fine, but I didn't have the opportunity to see how it was in really miserable conditions. I had the opportunity to do several ocean crossings on that boat, but my now-deceased mother was in her final years and I felt I couldn't be that absent, so I settled for much shorter stuff. A great opportunity missed.

But a once in a lifetime opportunity capitalized on.

[Sparx]

Mark424, Glad to see your post on the Maine Cat 38.

Something I would add is the helm is completely integrated into the social heart of the boat. The person on the helm is fully part of the on-board conversations and social activity.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Sparx

44'cruisingcat, your post got me looking at the pictures you have posted of your boat. Very Nice! I see lots of features there that I would choose also were I building. Respect to you for pulling it off.

Brent

Thanks!

[Kita]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

You beat me to it. We also went with a Gemini but we need to know more to give the OP a good idea of what matters.
- If you have a $50k budget, no point in even bringing up Gunboats.
- If you only anchor out, massive beam can be a nice feature but if you like the convenience of tying up, fitting in a normal slip is handy. (hate the 6' freeboard on some of the larger cats. Makes it tough to get off on some floating docks.)
- Super shallow draft is great on the east coast as there are a lot of really shallow side channels and bays that you can anchor in.
- How many people? While our Gemini had 3 cabins and you could convert the dinnet to theoretically sleep 8 people, it really was best suited for a couple or maybe a couple and a small child for longer term cruising. The extra cabins became a pantry and a storage room for us.
- Kickup rudders and boards. When you do bump bottom, you have a chance to recover before getting stuck.
- Simple systems that are easy to maintain and repair. (of course, it doesn't look as fancy, so depends what your priorities are).
- We liked the solid bridge deck. Nice for anchoring duties and for events (like fireworks), you can set up some lawnchairs or cushions to hang out very comfortably.

The downsides:
- It's not a gold plater. Spidercracks in the gelcoat are pretty much a given. Not a structural issue but an appearance issue.
- Load it up for cruising and double digit speeds will be hard to come by (strip it of weight and she can really move along).
- If you want to bash to weather, the bridge deck will slam. (bear off 20-30 degrees and it usually settles down).

We also had a Catalac 10m and while it served our purpose, when we get another boat it will almost certainly be a Gemini.

The idea or stress levels of running aground were very high on a boat that had a 4ft draft,the Gemini is a different critter..I had only a few days sailing experience on a 30ft mono as a mate before I flew out to Texas to solo sail back to Tampa Bay. .I really loved the idea of using the shallow draft to get to places where I knew most everyone else couldn't get to..so I was kinda using the shallows to hide for protection from other boat traffic,,like in the intercoastal you can get off to the side & sleep fairly safe... I got into marinas that are normally not available to sailing vessels for same reason.. docks in a standard size slip,very handy for some fuel stops..& I am setting up the same as yours with one aft cabin as a pantry & the other as storage. .I am solo so far but I absolutely agree that it's good for a couple comfortable. And the bridge deck is extremely nice to watch fireworks or whatever or laying in the Sun. And the Rudders kick up and you can still steer with them while they are up. The one thing that I didn't like about it so far is if you do run aground you can't back up because the Rudders kick up so easy that by the time you realize what's going on if you're not watching your depth gauge you can't back up because they act like a trap but it really isn't that big of a deal because by that time you're in about 18 in of water and you really should know better by then. LOL....don't ask how I figured that one out!