Choosing a cat

[ausnp84]

Ok great - back on the topic at hand please.

Another other thoughts on the two boats? We're heading down tomorrow and will likely place an offer afterwards.

N

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Andrew Grace

Good reason not to buy a lagoon , what a crazy statement , there are a lot of situations when sailing that you will want the main down on a cat and lagoon are stating its dangerous for their rig????

Its called Covering Ones Ass..
Very popular in the American Pharma Industry.. this WILL fix your problem but.. you could die off liver failure, heart attack, blah, blah X BLAH instead..

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by ausnp84

Ok great - back on the topic at hand please.

Another other thoughts on the two boats? We're heading down tomorrow and will likely place an offer afterwards.

N

Go with your gut.. not with your Adrenalin Surge...
One keeps you alive.. the 'Oh F*** It it'll Feel so Good' factor so often does not..

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Go with your gut.. not with your Adrenalin Surge...
One keeps you alive.. the 'Oh F*** It it'll Feel so Good' factor so often does not..

Thanks Phil - I'm leaning towards Boat #2 frankly. It's a bit more sensible, not quite as visually attractive (the "rowing away from" factor), but has a similar SA/D, an excellent designer and will still be light years faster than the previous boat

Update to follow once I've made the offer; we'll see whether the seller accepts the fact that his boat is a project and not a touch-up-and-go.....

n

[Southern Star]

Good luck ausnp!

Brad

[ausnp84]

So.... we went down for a look at Boat #2 and made an offer.

To be honest, I don't think the offer will be accepted - the seller is still living under the illusion their 1986 cat that needs a full refit is worth £50k, and the broker is enabling that illusion by insisting that the cat "fully done up will easily get £150k" and massively underestimating the work required.

This is for a cat with a small cockpit, thin hulls, no standing headroom in the salon, and needing a full (and I mean full - wiring, plumbing, complete interior, external repaint, re-rig, both engines potentially scrapped) refit.

Some brokers, eh?

n

[Stumble]

I have seen it before. Usually it just means you check back in a year or so if you haven't bought another boat and make the same offer. Some people, at least initially, are trying to sell their dream, not your reality.

[44'cruisingcat]

Yeah, just keep looking. There's plenty of boats out there, not so many buyers....

[boatman61]

Just walk away.. you've already spent 5yrs rebuilding your current boat.. get something you can fix as you sail..

[smj]

So give it up, what kind of cat was it?


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[ausnp84]

Boat #1 was a Dazcat 12m (race version, not the cruiser), and Boat #2 was an Eric Larouge Ville Audrain 42.

We've pretty much moved on now and the hunt continues. There's a Prout 33 going for buttons that's going to need a full internal refit, but part of me still thinks if we're going to go for a cat, I'd like something with a bit of pep to it....

n

[Stumble]

It's a bit of a departure, but if you want speed and to stay around 50,000. You might want to look at a Corsair 31 Trimaran. Even compared to a fast cat they are crazy fast, and the 31 has reliably done blue water coastwise cruising. Some have been take across oceans, but I am not sure I would want to go quite that far.

[ausnp84]

Originally Posted by Stumble

It's a bit of a departure, but if you want speed and to stay around 50,000. You might want to look at a Corsair 31 Trimaran. Even compared to a fast cat they are crazy fast, and the 31 has reliably done blue water coastwise cruising. Some have been take across oceans, but I am not sure I would want to go quite that far.

Thanks Greg - we did consider the Corsair and Dragonfly tri series, but would prefer to stay with a cat.

The £50k figure isn't really that much of a sticking point - a good boat costs what a good boat costs. If the boat's a project though (as both these are), the project needs to be a reasonable cost such that once the refit's factored in, you're not sitting there with bills totaling considerably more than the boat's worth.

Two other brokers have priced the Lerouge at £25-30k (taking into account it has sat there for 10 years while the owner was ill), but sadly the broker in question holds most multi listings for the UK south coast, and frankly doesn't have a scooby.

n

[ausnp84]

So options.

#1 - Hold out a year for the Lerouge to come down to a reasonable price, then spend 6 months getting her back to a reasonable shape.

#2 - Pick up something else smaller, but readily available. There's a cracking Prout 33 in the same yard that needs a full internal refit and engine, but will be had for nothing. There's also a Flicka 37 and a couple of smaller French numbers for very competitive prices.

#3 - Shop further afield. Imi Loa is still available and can be had for a very competitive price, even factoring in having a delivery skip bring her back via Panama to the UK (Phil, I'm looking at you ). That whole adventure would seem a bit counter-intuitive, given we're planning on heading back to the Carib in the next few years anyway, but would mean we'd have the boat on the UK south coast and be able to break it in / setup her up for a few years before heading off. The occasional Crowther Spindrift 37 crops up as well and while they don't have the most volume, they would be a good speed / comfort compromise....

n

[Stumble]

See if you can find one of Richard Woods Banshees lying around. They may be a little smaller than you were looking for, but they are very impressive. I almost bought the bridgedeck (Scoota I think it's called) version, but the guy who was selling it got an asking price offer before I could fly down and see it.

Richard Woods is also easily accessibly to answer questions, and seems to know the build history of each of his boats quite well.