Characteristics of a Circumnavigating Cat

[jurzeyfresh]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Welcome to CF jurzeyfresh... Glad you found a thread you like.

One of the things you will come to accept is thread drift and differing opinions. It is part of the mosaic of CF and of the internet. Can't stifle opinions and when you disagree with someone else's point of view, you are welcome to debate within the guidelines of the forum.

Trying to dictate who says what is pretty much gonna be frustrating.

If you see an off topic or rude response you should hit the report button and let the mods know about it. They get paid fabulous salaries to stop the kids from fighting.

I bet the salary is almost as glorious as mine on RS25.com and BRZPost.com! I think becoming a moderator is punishment for spending too much time on the site.

[Stella Polaris]

I realise that this thread is dead and buried, but to those interested, I just bought a new boat Due to the area I will be cruising in: Norway, Svalbard, Iceland, Greenland, I bought an Ovni 435.

I did a lot of thinking and talking to people with cats up here, and decided against a cat due to the difficulty of keeping them warm and dry. It is of course possible, but it takes a lot more energy than it does with an insulated monohull.

I'll be casting off on a new circumnavigation in 2017 with the Ovni, but until then will be exploring the pond outside my door (North Sea) Funny to think that when I cast off, 9 years will have passed since I set sail with the cat.

Here's a little video I put together from that trip:
https://vimeo.com/122750544

- Andreas

[pathlesschosen]

Congrats Andreas on your new cat!


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[colemj]

Originally Posted by pathlesschosen

Congrats Andreas on your new cat!

You mean half-cat…

Mark

[pathlesschosen]

Yeah. Should have read closer.


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[Stella Polaris]

Thanks

[Steadman Uhlich]

Andreas is one of a very rare breed of cat: A Cat who changes to a Half Cat later in life.

Andreas, there is another saying: "You lucky dog!" = "This is good, admirable, enviable." or "I wish I could do that!"

Truly, I think it is great that you get to do what you are doing. I like both monos and cats and an Ovni 43 is one of my dream boats.

Bon Voyage!

[freetime]

You said you could go anywhere anyday in a ovni..
Before you bought the cat ☺

What more insulated boats did you look at this time

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[KylieDoggo]

Originally Posted by Kapena

Galley down. Lots of cabinets, bookcases and storage lockers. Easy access to decks from the cockpit (this will eliminate a few choices!). No small or sloping side decks. A single helm INSIDE the cockpit and out of the weather. 2 heads with SHORT and DIRECT runs to holding tanks or seacocks. A seperate shower. Easy access to engine compartments and lots of space to work around them. Prefer access to engines from INSIDE rather then outside through a deck hatch. Twin engines, inboard, (no sail drive) each around 30 hp and a small diesel gennie of about 2kw.
A cockpit hardtop you can walk on and solar panels on the hardtop. All lines run to the cockpit. Dinghy davits...not the main boom extension using the main halyard. Pretty hard to single hand the davit down with this method.
A near ratio of 2:1, length to beam, but no more then 24 feet wide (fits travel lifts). A trampoline. Large anchor locker and large bow and stern lockers. Sufficient bow bouyancy.
A large open cockpit with a fold down table and lots of space to walk around.

Pretty much leaves the african cats out of the picture.

Cabinets, an undercounter fridge and separate undercounter freezer, water heater, small range, possibly a Bosch mini dishwasher(only for the reason that they only use 8L of water per cycle), etc weight a good amount. You are on the right track, with a galley down it keeps more of the weight low in the hulls adding to stability and even a slight increase in righting moment. Other items to be low in the hull, engines, all tankage(water, fuel, waste), house battery bank and starting batteries, generator, water maker near the kitchen and water tank, etc. Any seating, cabinets, in the helm/saloon area should be made with Nomex core or foam core composite panes with real hardwood veneers as they are crazy strong, ultra lightweight, and ridged. Do you need two heads? Having a second head increases weight, complexity, and if you are only a couple traveling the world with occasional guest(s) it might be something that can be done without. A forward enclosed helm is a must with all winches and lines at the helm. I read that the sweetspot for overall L/B ratio is 2.1, however cats more recently have L/B ratios of 1.6-2.06, I am not sure whether these more beamy cat are for extra space on the bridgedeck/saloon or for stability to carry more sail, I am leaning toward the extra space as lots of production cats have become bloated, heavy, luxury houses on two hulls.

[Tupaia]

Welcome to CF, you are responding to a very old thread. It maybe worth starting a new thread that would be more relevant to your particular interest.


Most modern "small to medium" sized cats exceed 2:1 L/B ratio. Earlier designs were restricted by materials technology limiting the beam. The issue with exceeding this is the increased chance of pitchpole so careful hull design is required. Larger "or very" large cats are typically within the 2:1 L/B ratio again due to technical difficulties and impracticality of increased beam.