Larger Cats Like the 59' / 61' Privilege

[fastcat435]

If the cat is setup to be handled by a small crew it should not be a problem at all, A Atlantic 57 is a good choice with electric winches or a Catana would be fine.
The more that can be handled from the cockpit the easier life becomes.
Presently we are building a 61 ft Carbon FastCat for a customer that intends to sail the world with his wife and all is taken into consideration to make the handling as easy as possible,even the folding keels are operated hydraulic electric with 2 buttons on the steering station.
|It is all about preparation to sail single handedly

[stacy]

My wife and I have a Leopard 46 and even the main on this size cat is intimidating to handle. We do have electric winches so that improves the situation somewhat. Jibing and reefing in high wind conditions needs to be done in a coordinated fashion and good communication is key. We take the time to discuss fully the steps needed to complete each task.
We have not found docking the boat to be too much of a problem but too much wind or a contrary current can make things interesting.

[barnakiel]

Yes it is - if you have the skills, the tools and avoid running into trouble.

b.

[hefestus]

As for handling the main on particular boat is best to have the input from the owner. No doubt that smaller canvas is easier to handle, but even large mainsails could be handled by 1 person. I handle 1000+ sq/ft on CNB 60ft (mono) in all condition for 3 years. CNB have hydraulic winches but it's nearly same as electric on A57. This main is little bigger than A57 mainsail, guess could be easier to handle from central cockpit of A57 than form CNB mono?
A57 have self tacking jib thus no fuss with jibing. For this light cat even this is to much in 30+kn blow, so you have to attach stay sail. Now it comes to seamanship. If you think and act in advance, reduce before getting hard, double reduce at night ... even single handed shouldn't be a problem.

So handling 55ft-60ft cat by couple is possible, and according to this blogs enjoyable.
Outremer Catamaran - Le Grand Voyage : Some trips
Another fine cat Outermer 55. You can read their stories. Mainly sailing couples, blog in French. I personally prefer inside helm station and front work cockpit as on A57 and Gunboat. Autopilot do the work 90%. Keeping watches from the main saloon must be relief. Or I spent 2 many hour in full weather gear.

Well, boat is investment, cat of that size is serious investment. Many ppl don't think that much about depreciation of their future investment. Custom, semi-custom, one off, owner version/exhibition ... depreciate dramatically. As for A57 with only 6-7 build and none on market is had to tell but I believe that could be even 50% more depreciation than with similar Privilege or Catana.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by hefestus

As for handling the main on particular boat is best to have the input from the owner. No doubt that smaller canvas is easier to handle, but even large mainsails could be handled by 1 person. I handle 1000+ sq/ft on CNB 60ft (mono) in all condition for 3 years. CNB have hydraulic winches but it's nearly same as electric on A57.

All good until the smoke escapes from the electrics.

How would you go manual?

I had a couple of sails on this tri when first launched,



all manual and let me tell you, it was a bloody handful and cranking sails was a tag team event.
Seemed like 100 winds of the winch pulled in a foot of rope

[stacy]

we have 2 electric jib sheet winches that can be used to raise the main and if they both go off line we can use the anchor windlass.

[hefestus]

As stacy said there is always a windlass Well, 2 x Harken B70STH is so reliable and there are 2 of them. If central unit or hose or ... go boo boo could loose both, then you still have 2 x 60 manual drums which can handle this sail. Opt for electric one, they die separately. Insisting on everything manual as "what if brakes" hm then you should never fly, who could fix anything on 10k ft in the air. Fortunately airplanes don't drop that often thanx to the maintains. Planes don't go manual, so it's not that new technology that is problem. No one trow the rope to measure speed any more. I personally don't know any prof delivery skipper who carry sextant & tables!?

Every boat need constant maintains and that's the one of the keys for safe sailing. As bigger boat it is it's more complicated and need more care and more $ (lot of $) to keep it running. Lots of things can go wrong and will: toilets, fridges, generators, pumps, ac, electrics, electronics ... running gear don't brake that often, but when they do you need to know right procedure. You don't have to know how to fix everything on boat of this size, just have enough $. But is essential to know how to temp fix rigging or steering, troubleshoot engine (bleed, filters fuel...) basic electric skills ... Lots of stuff
:lol:
Chris White dedicated a generous space for the workbench and tools on A57.

Ppl. spend mil on boats, and even a brand new boat needs lot of debugging and work for serious cursing.

[Agility]

All of the A57's I'm aware of were purchased by couples planning to sail them short handed. Some didn't have much experience and seem to doing fine.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by hefestus

As stacy said there is always a windlass

Yes and the tri above used the windlass to get the sails UP but that doesnt help with tacking, getting the main and headsails in or getting that massively loaded traveller back up the track.

But is essential to know how to temp fix rigging or steering, troubleshoot engine (bleed, filters fuel...) basic electric skills ... Lots of stuff

How does one get the smoke back into burnt out electrical motors or repair blown hydraulics while at sea?

[Joli]

If one winch goes down it is always possible to cross winch. Our main is 1000 sq ft and we never use the electrics for it. It's pretty easy to trim with a 3 to one purchase going to the 98 3 speeds. The genny is about the same size and although we use the electric 100% of the time it is not difficult to trim. It can be tougher when I change lead position and bring the jib sheet to the Barient 48's in the center cockpit. The winches are "doable" for outboard sheet positions but it is an under winched situation.

The only problem we have ever had trimming manually was racing. We can't use the electrics per racing rules. We were sailing upwind with a full main and #1 in 17 true and 11 knots of boat speed, so 28 across the deck. At that point the old coffee grinders would have been a better solution.

Personally I don't worry about smoking a motor or tearing up a winch. In all my years of racing I've never had a winch crap out on me. Keep up the maintenance and you should not have problems.

[Joli]

Was the boat under winched? Nothing worse then an underwinched boat and the loads on a multi are higher for a given length do to it's initial stability.

What size was it? What were the winch ratio's? It looks like a pretty good size boat, I would think they would need at least a ratio of 100 to 1 but then you are talking about a $20k winch.

Originally Posted by cat man do

Yes and the tri above used the windlass to get the sails UP but that doesnt help with tacking, getting the main and headsails in or getting that massively loaded traveller back up the track.



How does one get the smoke back into burnt out electrical motors or repair blown hydraulics while at sea?

[ozdownunder]

Hi Hefestus,

I tend to agree with your word here, I know I will have to rely on Tech gear to do this or I would sail around the world on a dug out canoe with sail, **** if the paddel breaks at least I can use my hands lol.

I also agree $ does help, thou I'm not into throwing money away on things that I can do myself, Ive owned a landscaping business that has Trucks, bobcats, kerbing machine and welders, cement mixers ect, you can pay out a lot of $on these two or learn to fix and service things yourself.

Also to everone else that has posted a reply here, thanks for all your input it is appreciated.

Regards Terry

[Joli]

Now that's funny!

Originally Posted by hefestus

Ppl. spend mil on boats, and even a brand new boat needs lot of debugging and work for serious cursing.

[jzk]

I would not be intimidated by a larger cat. As suggested, an electric winch for the main would come in handy. The real issues are not sailing it, but taking care of it. Scrubbing the decks or cleaning the bottom, etc. Also, one would need to be very proficient at docking. "Fending off" on this level is simply not practical. In my opinion, the glory of sailing a larger vessel is well worth it.

[oscar]

How does one get the smoke back into burnt out electrical motors or repair blown hydraulics while at sea?

Same as a waterpump.

You carry spares and the tools/know how to install them.

Sailboats are ongoing fix-it challenges. Knowing how to keep it all going is part of seamanship.