New Catalac owners / mast question

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by rickm505

Fortunately Naples has a way of pushing such weighty matters into the backround.

It's the weekend and Italy is not such a bad place to be.

Weekend it may be, but I am still working

[sam_uk]

Hi All.

I am considering buying a catalac 9 or 900. I need to know the air draft with the mast down.

I am hoping to get under a 7ft 8inch bridge. Is this possible with either of the 9metre models?

Thanks

Sam

[Talbot]

I am sorry, but don't have that piece of data amongst all the spec sheets that I have, and never really looked at that as a piece of data before.

I would suggest asking an owner, and there is a 900 for sale here click this

[sam_uk]

I have been told that the 900's have a roof height of 89 inches. I understand that the 900's have no tabanacle and a higher roof than the 900s

I got this back from a 8m owner;
Have measured boat this morning and is 60"
from water to coachroof and another 32" to the top of the bracket that
carries the spindle to lower the mast - this shown in the pic showing
in-mast furling. This means the air draft would be 7' 8" but lower with
more weight on - a bit tight!

Would the 8m and 9m be the same height?

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by sam_uk

Would the 8m and 9m be the same height?

I concur.

[Talbot]

Rick

wheelhouse roof on the 9m is significantly different to that on the 8m. I would suspect that the 9m is slightly taller than the 8 by several inches.

However, there are some 9m that do not have a solid wheelhouse. It is designed so that you can remove it if you want.

You could then add a folding cover. but this would not address the problem of needing to raise and lower the mast as the tabernacle and mast are situated above the roof line (slightly).

prouts are much lower to the waterline, but do not have the ability to raise and lower the mast relatively easily. (and they are more expensive unless you get a Quest 31 - but would then need to spend a fair amount of money)

[sam_uk]

A 9m owner has now responded with; "From the tabernacle to the waterline : 2.60m" (8.5ft)" Which is a shame for me as it makes it too tall for the bridge I was hoping to use

[Talbot]

You would need a lot of weight to lower the boat 10 inches !

Could be done with water containers if this is a once a year exercise.

[sam_uk]

I really don't want to give up on this idea!

How much weight would I need to lower by 10"?

I could get some large ones of these
Underwater Salvage Lift Bags: Fuel & Water Bladder Tanks For Boats And Aircraft: TurtlePac

And put them down the side of each hull on the deck, _if_ the deck would be strong enough..

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by sam_uk

I really don't want to give up on this idea!

How much weight would I need to lower by 10"?

I don't believe this idea is feasible.

The hulls have a knuckle, by design, and widen at the waterline. Take a look at my icon and you'll see what I mean. It's why these boats can carry heavier loads than their counterparts. I'm not a marine engineer, but the weight involved would probably be in the thousands of kilograms and could result in unintended consequences.

[sam_uk]

I guess 10" is a fair bit...

I suppose the other option would be to modify the tabernacle to be removable. I guess this would require some thinking about but might be possible.

So long as it was well designed and over engineered I think it must be possible.

[Talbot]

The fundamental question here is whether this is a once a year problem.
Temorary removal of tabernacle and wheelhouse roof is not an impossible consideration. You may then have issues of re-sealing the roof and tabernacle.

You could also change to a more usual mast step and a foldable roof. You would also need to modify the chainplates. None of these is a particularly difficult modification.

The downside is that you will lose the ability to lower your mast yourself. I lost this when I added behind mast reefing. and possibly more important, you will lose the built in mast carrying system when the mast is lowered.

You will also lose the great wheelhouse,

On the other hand you will probably improve the windward performance as you will reduce the windage!

[Talbot]

Originally Posted by Tropic Cat

I don't believe this idea is feasible.
The hulls have a knuckle, by design, and widen at the waterline. Take a look at my icon and you'll see what I mean. It's why these boats can carry heavier loads than their counterparts. I'm not a marine engineer, but the weight involved would probably be in the thousands of kilograms and could result in unintended consequences.

Rick

I have seen 8m that are 6 inches lower due to overload as liveaboard.

10" is rather a lot! - it would be a lot of water! anyone care to do the math assume 29ft long, each hull 2ft6" average down by 10"

rough estimate is 600 gallons = 6000 lbs I am sure I have this wrong!

[sam_uk]

The plan is to get a 9m as a livaboard vessel in Bristol docks. Generally the mast would be down and stowed on the roof. (potentially a modified tabernacle could be removed as well.)

I hope to cruise the inland kennet and avon canal occasionally (Air draft 7ft 8)

I would also wish to be able to sail in the severn estuary and Bristol Channel at least monthly. With longer coastal cruising as we get more experience.

So I would need to be able to raise and lower the mast myself (with help obviously).

[Talbot]

In terms of mast raising and lowering, The catalac is the easiest to do this on your own. However this is not the whole story, lowering with the pivot t the tabernacle is simple, but this leaves the mast significantly unsupported and sticking out astern. You need to lift it forward about 2.5m. I have done this on my own when I was younger, but this is not for the faint hearted!

Another problem is that this position will raise the roof line by about 6".

You will also have the mast sticking out ahead and astern, and will need to remove the shrouds and backstays.

I believe you need to re-think your overall plan.

Operating a catalac 9m on the canals is not impossible, although the width may cause a few problems in passing other boats on the canal.

operating in the estuary with an occasional movement into the max height area is also possible, but would be easier leaving the mast ashore.

I believe that the method of operation proposed would soon become a real pain in the *************.

I dont have a solution, but believe you have to understand the problems in order to find your own solution.