Advice on my first multihull

[lolanreg@smartc]

jrb1978, Hi,Check out the Australian cats. I had a Simpson 10.4 Inspiration for !5yrs, Great designer, great cat, everything you want without being too big. Stable, fast enough,(18 knots once, I raced it often) lots of usable room. absolutely beaut cockpit, very light interior. I hope they're still building them, but I don't know.Wish you luck in your search.The only way to go! Natureboy.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by lolanreg@smartc

jrb1978, Hi,Check out the Australian cats. I had a Simpson 10.4 Inspiration for !5yrs, Great designer, great cat, everything you want without being too big. Stable, fast enough,(18 knots once, I raced it often) lots of usable room. absolutely beaut cockpit, very light interior. I hope they're still building them, but I don't know.

They are: INTRODUCING THE NEW INSPIRATION 11 METRE CATAMARAN, fast and comfortable ideal for charter or extended cruising.

If you bought the kits and self-built, you could possibly have a brand spanking new one for around the $200k mark.

[Eleven]

Hi. You are on the same path as us. Try the Multihullworld site and visit Emsworth (Portsmouth) to see what they all look like.
My budget is a bit lower but an Event 34 or even the old Snowgoose 37 will do nicely.
These older boats, prouts especially, generally come well equiped but will need a reasonable maintenance budget over the years. Sails and electronics have limited performance lifetimes. There are a few bigger old boats about within your budget but mooring costs in the UK are high.
They also have the new Tomcat aimed a day/weekend sailing. No idea what it's like. Be very wary of the charter vessels. If they don't look slippy they are probably won't be. Then be happy with what you do go for, no-one ever has the biggest boat.

[lolanreg@smartc]

Hi, one bit of advice if you're going to buy a cat , make sure it has plenty of air space between the hull and the water or you will get constant wave slapping under your boat and it will really make life unbearable when going to windward. Sometimes even at anchor, bash! bash! bash! We had some cats built here by some that they thought they knew better than the original designer,and thought "here's a good boat ,I just want it longer and I can put more in" regretable extended copies of some good designs that didn't take into account the extra weight etc and consequently sat so low in the water, of course they were cheaper but terrible to sail or at anchor. So don't jump in too quickly,(fall in love with the look of it) find out about the boat and reputation of the designer. I was so lucky, I put a lot of checking and sailing in before deciding which one, I'd had 5 monohulls I'd built or fitted out so I had some idea what I wanted, but there's a lot of cats out there. I loved the look of my cat and the size of everything, like height of the cockpit seats, suited me and my wifes stature, us being a bit on the short side.We dont have those long legs some designers think everone has. It's incredable how many times one has to climb out of the cockpit to go forward,or just step up to have a look see. It's important when cruising for everything to be pretty right as you can get it, as you are there for 24/7.as long as the cruise lasts.A friend (6' 2")who owned a larger 42' cat ended up with two new hips after his cruise. It does make a lot of difference. Of course we are a bit long in the tooth and it may not worry younger crew.I do rave on but I hope it helps. Natureboy.

[Trimaran-Tom]

Anyone own a dazcat and can tell me more about the speed these boats can do?

With regards,
Tom..

Originally Posted by Gludy

I have been on the Dazcat 10 and its a very good boat for a family - I understand they are selling very well.

[Stuarth44]

um look having sailed since age 13, and sailed cats and fact cruising monos, I have learn that a CRUISING cat get there no faster than a mono
To give an example , you see the yacht Nimbus in faces and stuff here, well she is 48 ft on wl, she displaces 19 tonne with her huge fuel range 0f 1800l
In the Darwin to Indonesia rally this year there were 139 entrys, she constantly finished at the top, there were some big cats there too
But back to cats You will need adjust to a strange motion, it could be described as JOGGLE, No matter how large they all have this motion
But boy do they have space, and a big advantage is that when you leave a bay , anchorage, you dont have to attend to every detail, like packing up your weetbix, the girls do that whilst you are underway and fixing the fishing lure out the back(joking)
Most charter boats(you are right) have poor rigs, el cheapo, sails made of cardboard
Cats are the flavour in Au, and seem command huge prices
You would however get a cheaper deal here IF you could sail her home
My advice would be charter one first see how she likes it
This is a fifty I have been asked to build, you can see, flush decked, a huge advantage, she is alloy 16 tonnes disp

[Stuarth44]

dunno why the pic is not here, said it uploaded