Getting a Cat for the first time

[snoozy814]

getting Navionics and Satellite weather for the Ipads. Boat has no operating wind
instruments at all so definitely sourcing stuff and stripping our boat of instrumentation it has. As the recent owners had not really used her as a sailing platform but more of an Airbnb we definitely need to do certain upgrades to make passage making safe. Fortunately we will have a couple of weeks to do some of the minimal upgrades, but she's definitely way more dependent on electric power than we're liking. Wind generator and more batteries for sure, working wind instruments and gps a necessity and we do want AIS on her as well. Her radar supposedly works. We will see what is actually working when we get down there but bringing a lot of gear off our boat and fortunately there's a ton of marine supply stores in the keys. If anyone knows of a good one let us know.

[snoozy814]

and yes, hard to sail her by the numbers with no manual! Would rather reef sooner rather than let her get overpowered! They tend to have more windage than a monohull anyway, and head upwind not so great (although she does have a centerboard of 6'5" to help with that.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by snoozy814

and yes, hard to sail her by the numbers with no manual! Would rather reef sooner rather than let her get overpowered! They tend to have more windage than a monohull anyway, and head upwind not so great (although she does have a centerboard of 6'5" to help with that.

If your boat is of a standard design and a recommended rig then you could try contacting Derek Kelsall directly derek@kelsall.com. He may have that information for your boat or may be able to help you with a reefing guide.

Otherwise, develop it yourself. Refer to https://catamaranguru.com/education/...on-a-catamaran and use their guidelines as a starting point. Their guidelines match our reefing guide quite closely, though since we have a self-tacking jib we carry it longer than those guidelines.

[mark_morwood]

Originally Posted by Sos

We just use a single bow line and a large round fender right at the bows to rotate around. Otherwise all as IT has described. I will normally come into the berth this way as well.

That is how we did it. A couple of notes:

- if you get the balance right between reverse on the dockside engine and forwards on the seaside engine, there is little to no load on the bow line, but there is lots of load on the fender. You are trying to push the dock to shore with the bow, which rotates the stern out. We still always used the bow line to try and make sure we didn't roll fwds or backwards off the fender.

- if its really windy, and your rudder gets the wash from the prop, putting your helm hard over towards the dock will help turn the boat, but you need to straighten up quickly before you start to reverse off. For simplicity, keep the helm neutral.

- depending on the shape of your bows and sterns, you may be better reversing the process and rotating off the stern

- when coming into a berth against the wind using this method, there is lots of load on the bow line, and no load on the fender. You are trying to pull the dock to seaward with the bow, but it doesn't move so the stern rotates in instead. Fwd on the dockside engine and reverse on the seaside one.

- no need for any midship lines, they'll just get in the way

[kellyh]

There are three major differences between sailing cruising cats and sailing monohulls. My husband, a.k.a. Cruising Dad, shares a few techniques concerning tacking, sailing upwind, and sailing downwind here...

http://cruisingmomblog.com/living-on...-cruising-cat/

[Phil_Fr]

Bonjour !!

FYI, I found (if you have not found) the blog of the former owners from July 2010 to September 2011.
It's in French, but ImTranslator or "Gogol Translation" can help you.
Yours truly,
Philippe from France
Sauvageon dans le Pacifique

[snoozy814]

"FYI, I found (if you have not found) the blog of the former owners from July 2010 to September 2011."
@ Phil Fr....thanks SO much. I've reached out to them. Seems they had quite the adventures in traveling on her!

[snoozy814]

[QUOTE=kellyh;2885131]There are three major differences between sailing cruising cats and sailing monohulls. My husband, a.k.a. Cruising Dad, shares a few techniques concerning tacking, sailing upwind, and sailing downwind here...


Having sailed trimarans we've found the wing on wing great for downwind sailing. I'm not so concerned as much with all of that having dealt with multihulls, and as we're doing some sea trials with her before leaving that should be ok with all of us practicing sail handling/motoring with her so any one of us can deal single handed on watch.

More concerned with the fact that she's so much an electric boat and under powered for that. We are going to add a wind generator to her but probably not before the passage north, so it seems that there's going to be a bit of motor sailing to do or running generator. Jerry cans of extra diesel for sure!
Fortunately not going too far off shore as we want to keep her light so re-provisioning certain things a possibility. I would like to pick up a manual water maker as well as again don't want to be dependent on electricals other than GPS/etc. Bringing our wind instruments from our old boat as the ones on the boat aren't working and we definitely need that! Also bringing a butane stove as don't want to be dependent on induction cooking. Between that and the grill hopefully hot food up north will work! We are still getting cold evenings up north (40's to 50's) so lots of fleece,long underwear and foulies, down blankets, etc. While there is electric heat, again, too much power draw.

[snoozy814]

well holy crap, this has been interesting! So many of the systems on the boat were screwed up/wired wrong/not working right so we've been more than two weeks stripping things, buying out the local marine stores and re-doing the electrical, navigation, sat phone, 12 volt, etc. It's getting there....slowly but surely. Figuring another 4-5 days to our first sail from Key West up to Marathon to try her out. To say it's been a cluster F#%k is an understatement. Fortunately two really good mechanics for this trip!

[contrail]

Frankly, I am always puzzled by the fuss about spring lines. Seems to me to be a relic of monohull thinking....if I use a spring to get off the dock, even once a year, that's a lot!


I use my engines as the spring. In other words, one is in forward, and one is in reverse, being very careful to not allow the boat to move forward or aft, almost down to the inch. I practice being able to hold the boat in position, because it's so handy to do so in many situations. On my boat, it is also much easier to pivot the bow off with a fender astern, than the reverse. And, I have a large round fender on which to turn.



So, the process is to let the lines go, leaving the stern line, which I have really tight, till last. I get on the boat and go to the helm, quickly. I then go forward on the dockside engine, and reverse on the outside engine. When I had Max Props, I used about the same RPM on both to hold position. With my current Flex-o-folds, I use about 50% more power on the outside engine, which is in reverse, to compensate for the difference in efficiency between forward and astern.



I hold the boat in exactly the same position, fore and aft, relative to the dock. If I move forward or aft six inches, that's a lot. Having already checked to make sure everything around is "clear", I am simply staring at the dock to hold my position. I use only as much thrust as is necessary to start getting the bow out. If there is more wind or current, then I have to use more throttle on both engines, but I am not in a hurry.



When the bow is out sufficiently, I give a final glance forward, put the outside engine in forward, and off I go. I usually give a very shot burst in forward on the OUTSIDE engine, to keep the stern from dragging on the dock as I go forward, but it's only a very short burst. If you don't do this, you may touch the dock with your stern. The ahead on both.



This is dirt simple. I do it all the time singlehanded and can't imagine all the fuss about springlines. My students learn in about two minutes. Drive the boat like a cat, not a mono.....that's one of the advantages, for which you bought the boat! End of rant :-) !

[Snore]

Originally Posted by contrail

Frankly, I am always puzzled by the fuss about spring lines. Seems to me to be a relic of monohull thinking....if I use a spring to get off the dock, even once a year, that's a lot!


I use my engines as the spring. In other words, one is in forward, and one is in reverse, being very careful to not allow the boat to move forward or aft, almost down to the inch. I practice being able to hold the boat in position, because it's so handy to do so in many situations. On my boat, it is also much easier to pivot the bow off with a fender astern, than the reverse. And, I have a large round fender on which to turn.



So, the process is to let the lines go, leaving the stern line, which I have really tight, till last. I get on the boat and go to the helm, quickly. I then go forward on the dockside engine, and reverse on the outside engine. When I had Max Props, I used about the same RPM on both to hold position. With my current Flex-o-folds, I use about 50% more power on the outside engine, which is in reverse, to compensate for the difference in efficiency between forward and astern.



I hold the boat in exactly the same position, fore and aft, relative to the dock. If I move forward or aft six inches, that's a lot. Having already checked to make sure everything around is "clear", I am simply staring at the dock to hold my position. I use only as much thrust as is necessary to start getting the bow out. If there is more wind or current, then I have to use more throttle on both engines, but I am not in a hurry.



When the bow is out sufficiently, I give a final glance forward, put the outside engine in forward, and off I go. I usually give a very shot burst in forward on the OUTSIDE engine, to keep the stern from dragging on the dock as I go forward, but it's only a very short burst. If you don't do this, you may touch the dock with your stern. The ahead on both.



This is dirt simple. I do it all the time singlehanded and can't imagine all the fuss about springlines. My students learn in about two minutes. Drive the boat like a cat, not a mono.....that's one of the advantages, for which you bought the boat! End of rant :-) !

There are many ways to get a cat off the dock. Yours works in many situations. Getting a cat to sidestep is a fun exercise.

As a delivery guy- when it is blowing or if I make a fuel stop on the ICW and the current pins me to the dock, a spring is a clean and effective way to get the boat off the dock— with the gel coat still on her.

Yes I know one “shouldn’t” stop in spots like that, but if that is the only fuel stop- or if that is where you pick up the boat, one deals with it.

[snoozy814]

"Bonjour !!

FYI, I found (if you have not found) the blog of the former owners from July 2010 to September 2011."

Similar Cat but not the same one. Forward angle much narrower, looks like a shorter boat. Thanks though, appreciated looking at the pic!