Switch to full time power?

[Chotu]

Laughing at the hurricane tie down strap in one of the pics. Ha ha

It would take 500mph winds to lift that boat up and blow it over.

Note: the starboard side looks to have suffered major electrolysis. The sail drive looks to be toast. You could probably get this for a great price and put the new sail drive in

[MaddMatt]

Thanks for the headsup! I will check her out and do some research nutrition certainly seems like it might work for me.

Size is right, needs a little sprucing up but the important stuff is all in good shape

Matt

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by smac999

The fuel bill.

You can buy a lot of diesel for the cost of sails and a rig. Post hurricane, we saw a lot of wrecked sailing cats turned into power cats. Lots of weight and structure removed. Sail charters found most clients were not sailing so now there are a lot of power cats.

Enjoy the water!

[yogitrek]

Originally Posted by Chotu

That boat would be ideal for the OP. Those Yanmars are newish and well maintained. I would know. This is my old boat!! Glad to see she’s still kicking.

Forget the outboards and just run Felix without a mast. Store the mast for later.

Rudders are well protected, the galley is huge for a boat that size, diesels are newish and solid, it has lots of space for that size boat too. Feels like a decent 2 bedroom apartment on the water.

I’ve had her in a gale and she handled it.

Price is looking good too, considering the quality of what you get.

She’s a very slow catamaran (monohull speeds under sail), but a great little efficient power boat. I used to run her on one engine at a time at about 2200 RPM I think? 30hp yanmars sipped fuel.

Hello,
Can you tell me the interior headroom of your past baot?

Thank you so much!
yogi

[yogitrek]

Hello everyone!

First off I hope you all and your loved ones are safe and healthy...

I am looking at buying a power catamaran because. the admiral and I both like the look and space of a cat vs a trawler. We are planning on full-timing and costal cruising with maybe the Caribbean tossed in in the future.

I am hoping the group will have some real-world experience to share with me about the following list of questions:

Is it realistic to buy a sailing cat and motor almost all the time?

I am very tall and i am hoping to find a 40-50 foot cat that he's 6'6" headroom in the cabin and other places if possible.

Would it be "smarter to get a power cat knowing the range might become a limiting factor with regard to the Caribbean?

Any first had power cat reviews good or bad would be awesome!

At present I have looked online powercats like the Prowler 450, a lagoon 43 and a few others. In the lagoon 43 I know the master cabin has very limited headroom and I would love to hear from anyone with any personal experience about this.

I like the look of the lagoon 450 flybridge sailing cat but I do not know how it would fair as if used mostly under ppwer.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts.

Take good care,
Yogi

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by yogitrek

Hello everyone!

First off I hope you all and your loved ones are safe and healthy...

I am looking at buying a power catamaran because. the admiral and I both like the look and space of a cat vs a trawler. We are planning on full-timing and costal cruising with maybe the Caribbean tossed in in the future.

I am hoping the group will have some real-world experience to share with me about the following list of questions:

Is it realistic to buy a sailing cat and motor almost all the time?

I am very tall and i am hoping to find a 40-50 foot cat that he's 6'6" headroom in the cabin and other places if possible.

Would it be "smarter to get a power cat knowing the range might become a limiting factor with regard to the Caribbean?

Any first had power cat reviews good or bad would be awesome!

At present I have looked online powercats like the Prowler 450, a lagoon 43 and a few others. In the lagoon 43 I know the master cabin has very limited headroom and I would love to hear from anyone with any personal experience about this.

I like the look of the lagoon 450 flybridge sailing cat but I do not know how it would fair as if used mostly under ppwer.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts.

Take good care,
Yogi

You may want to look at fuel tankage on a sailing cat vs one designed for motoring. Just a thought.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by yogitrek

!

At present I have looked online powercats like the Prowler 450, a lagoon 43 and a few others. In the lagoon 43 I know the master cabin has very limited headroom and I would love to hear from anyone with any personal experience about this.

I wouldn't.

Probably buy the world capable Domino 20 for similar coin and have an infinitely superior vessel.
(OK, it is a bit more but its a LOT more boat)

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/200...no-20-3495698/

Load carrying capability on a liveaboard vessel is the downfall on the smaller power cats, especially those that were never built light in the first place and then loaded with all the niceties of a 60fter jammed into a 40+ fter.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

I wouldn't.

Probably buy the world capable Domino 20 for similar coin and have an infinitely superior vessel.
(OK, it is a bit more but its a LOT more boat)

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/200...no-20-3495698/

Load carrying capability on a liveaboard vessel is the downfall on the smaller power cats, especially those that were never built light in the first place and then loaded with all the niceties of a 60fter jammed into a 40+ fter.

Matt probably wants two.

[Pauls]

As has been said by previous posters, you want diesel, both for reliability and the significantly increased fuel economy/range.

For a dedicated power boat shaft drive is superior to sail drive because of durability issues and the ability to run larger diameter props.

For a pure power boat you will find that larger diameter/lower RPM props will increase efficiency as well as the ability to power into heavy weather.

You'll need to expand the fuel tankage.

It is true that you can buy a lot of diesel for the cost of a rig and sails. The idea that the wind is free is romantic and manifestly untrue.

Removal of the rig will reduce windage noticeably and will save some weight.

[blazing928]

Why not a kinda motor sailer mix?

I love to sail ,but age says power...

I offer two versions of a mix of sail and power

Garcia GT54 trawler, tha5 uses a sail mostly for stability

https://www.garciayachts.com/en/yachts/trawlers/

And from you tube channel
Motor Sailing for Old Dudes
An Aussie that added a jib to his 13m power cat. 6-7 knots, the sail adds about 1 knot.

https://www.youtube.com/c/CruisingEa...withNormandPip

Maybe a middle of the road between performance and condo cat, with a smallish rig to help it along, the silence of sail if you’re in no hurry. Add electric drives and a lot of solar, it’s the next generation of boats.

[dgmyles]

Have a look at the hurricane damaged boats out of the Caribbean if this is the path you want to take, many are heavily discounted because they need their masts and standing rigging replaced. A win in your scenario.

[valhalla360]

Go hang out on the ICW some time...95% of the sailboats are motoring anyway.

We used a Gemini with a 25hp outboard. Fuel injected so very reliable and averaged around 6 MPG at cruise speed.

It was a great option for doing the loop...big wide stable platform, shallow draft, straight sides make locks easier.

In retrospect, we might have left the mast at home for the trip as the vast majority of the loop, sailing is not practical unless you are obsessive about it.

[sv Stella Maris]

Realistically, boats in the Med de mast all the time and spend months or years up the canals without their rigs.

Don’t be afraid to buy a cat and de-rig somewhere that it can be stored safely and cheaply until you have a need or want to sell it. That would be a perfect time to have it re-rigged and replace the small items like turnbuckles, pins, etcetera.

I’ve considered a similar thing for my Lagoon if we did extended North American cruising.

Diesel engines are worth the extra weight hands down. It is unfortunate that re-powering is so over priced. I typically buy the products directly and bring in automotive mechanics to assist the install. They think my engine room is massive compared to some of the modern shoe-box trucks they work on. All depends where you are though...good luck.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by blazing928

]

And from you tube channel
Motor Sailing for Old Dudes
An Aussie that added a jib to his 13m power cat. 6-7 knots, the sail adds about 1 knot.

https://www.youtube.com/c/CruisingEa...withNormandPip

.

I had a quick chat to Norm about that and he admits, he will never recover the money he spent on that and that it could have been better spent on diesel.

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by MaddMatt

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the responses..... now to find an affordable used cat!

Matt

I understand why you would want a cat. We find moving around on the ocean in our trawler very annoying due to the rolling and pine for our cat whenever we are underway. However, if your main purpose is to do the great loop, you will mostly be in protected water and a monohull would do just fine at a fraction of the cost.