Quote:
Originally Posted by Fence Man
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I went to see this boat last Wednesday, back when it was still listed in an eBay
auction. The Hirondelle cat is a pretty remarkable design all in all, and I am glad I drove nearly two hours to finally see one. Built like a tank, surprisingly spacious belowdecks (standing
headroom in the hulls for me (5' 8") and the 10' beam does wonders for the space), and some well-thought-out ideas - especially given the time it was conceived. All lines lead aft, dual companionways, lots of
storage lockers and cubby holes, and worthy of some distant adventures yet all in a small trailerable package. I think a multihull-only cruising couple on a strict
budget would be happy with one of these.
This boat is a MK 1, which means it has the taller rig and greater sail area. That said, if you want/expect stellar performance this boat will still disappoint as it is heavy. MK 2 models have a shorter rig as the home waters of the North Sea and Solent were possibly a bit too windy for the MK 1 much of the time. The MK 3 has hollow fixed keels and a bit more space below at the expense of bridgedeck clearance.
This MK 1 has clearance of ~12" at its lowest, slightly better than an older
Gemini. This boat also had a nice but not great
trailer with new tires and hubs, 9.9 Suzuki extra long
motor, two crispy
sails, a few nice
electronics with newer
electric panels, and fair
bimini; the
dodger looked shot. The topsides were okay, the
deck and
cockpit needed
sanding and painting soon, and belowdecks needed
sanding, painting and updating everywhere years ago (pretty depressing). Most of the blocks were the original brown Tuffnol, The traveler was original and shot, the original daggerboards were cracked, the rudders were simple bare planks of
wood and their cassettes were solid but ugly. The gudgeons and pintles looked undersized but were newer. All of the newer plexi windows were beginning to craze and were screwed instead of thru-bolted into place with questionable bedding - inviting leakage. Clearly, much is necessary before this boat can earn the asking price. Sure, others may hold a different opinion; but I wrote this to save people time and effort.
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