tiny cruising catamaran

oldsailor7 · Jan 3, 2012

Jakobo. If you do decide on the Jarcat, don't start to build one. Look for a used one in good nic.
I bought one for $8,000, sailed it for three years.Re-painted it and sold it for $9,000.
You could do better.

rapscallion · Jan 3, 2012

rayaldridge said: ↑

I have to admit to some doubt about the biplane rig, mainly because racers are so concerned about sailing in clean air, and the biplane rig seems to have a dirty air problem on quite a few points of sail. Thomas Firth Jones, whose writings on the subject of small multis are my scriptures, built his last personal cat, Dandy, as a biplane. It was not successful until he converted it to a conventional sloop rig. However, he did say that he could put the fear of god into oncoming vessels, running wing and wing with a squaresail hung between the masts.

I think that dory hulls are not much of a impediment to performance if the hulls are reasonably fine. The flat bottoms do seem to have some pragmatic virtues. One reason I used them on Slider is that had I approximated semicircular hulls with chines, the displacement would have been too low for two people and a nice camping outfit. Had I made the hulls deeper in order to get enough displacement, they would have had a lot of wetted surface, making her slow in light air. As it was, I gave Slider more rocker than is fashionable, to get a little more displacement yet. Her empty weight is 500 lbs, and her designed displacement is 1100 lbs. so she has a lot of payload for her size.

As Richard implies, a small cat that's highway legal with fixed beams, like Slider, Miss Cindy, and Jarcat, will have limited stability. With Slider, I wanted a boat that wouldn't require much attention to sail, since I was thinking about a sort of magic carpet beachcruiser that wasn't about sailing so much as it was about the waters we sail. So she has only 140 sq. feet of sail, and I've never lifted a hull. From the viewpoint of real multihull sailors, she's painfully slow, even though she's a lot faster than most monohull beachcruisers in her general size range. (In fact, even with her low-tech rig, she seems to be faster than a Windrider 17 with its fully battened main and rotating mast, even though the sail area is nearly identical, and the Windrider weighs less.)

She was designed as an open boat, and that's the best configuration for a boat this small, in my opinion. However, one of my builders in Malta has experimented with cabins, first going with individual cabins over each cockpit, and later with a center deck cabin.

Recently I decided I might try to sail Slider in the Everglades Challenge. Since my wife has volunteered to sail along with me, I decided to see if I could up the comfort level a little for the off-watch. Because I didn't want to interfere with Slider's principle identity as an open beach cruiser, I built a little removable cabin for one hull. This fits down over the cockpit coamings like a giant Griffiths hatch, and is secured by two lines, one fore and one aft. It takes about 30 seconds to remove the cabin for daysailing or cruising two-up in situations where we can make a shore camp, or want to set up the deck tent. It gives sitting headroom under the hatch, and a berth that's 22 inches wide and 6.5 feet long.

It's pretty oogly, but needs must, I guess. We can still sail out in the air in the port cockpit-- there's room for both seats there, and be able to go below when we need warm dry rest.
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I think slider would be a great boat for the everglades challenge! As for the removable cabintop, I like that too. I also like what was setup on the tiki 21, cooking fat, for the Jester Challenge.

rapscallion · Jan 3, 2012

I think I may have made the window facing forward a bit larger, but he was sailing across the atlantic, and you are going to be in the everglades... so airflow is more important for comfort in your case. I would have the windows "unzip" with screens under them in order to keep the bugs and sun off and still have the breeze..A soft top would also be lighter, and if it was white fabric, cooler, and if dome tent type battons were used it should also be easier to stow when not in use.

jakobo · Jan 3, 2012

oldsailor7 said: ↑

Jakobo. If you do decide on the Jarcat, don't start to build one. Look for a used one in good nic.
I bought one for $8,000, sailed it for three years.Re-painted it and sold it for $9,000.
You could do better.
Click to expand...

the problem is that the jarcat and other small cats arn't that known where i come from.
i have looked whats on the market around europe, but there doesnt seem to be any jarcats.

rapscallion · Jan 3, 2012

jakobo said: ↑

the problem is that the jarcat and other small cats arn't that known where i come from.
i have looked whats on the market around europe, but there doesnt seem to be any jarcats.
Click to expand...

There are a couple of ECOcats in europe, and one of .... aww... can't remember his name.... a guy who fancies himself a multi designer... anyway, he had a design similar to a jarcat/ecocat that was built in greece. I think the ecocat is also being built in greece. Bertrand Kohler, the designer of the ecocat, has a yahoo group you may want to join. There is a Jarcat yahoo group as well.

I found this in the jarcat group... I kinda like it.... but I still think Janet C is the sexiest girl at the dance

redreuben · Jan 3, 2012

Chris Ostlind, the boat is Gato Especial, here
http://www.lunadadesign.com/

Manfred.pech · Jan 3, 2012

rapscallion said: ↑

You should check out the DUO 480. It's Bertrand Kohler's version of Miss Cindy
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Hi Raps, can you please give the Link to the design of B. Kohler ? Was not able to get more info about this little cat from the HP of Bernhard.

rapscallion · Jan 3, 2012

The pictures are from his Yahoo Group, called K-designs. He answers questions in the group frequently. Join the group and ask him about it

rayaldridge · Jan 3, 2012

rapscallion said: ↑

I think I may have made the window facing forward a bit larger, but he was sailing across the atlantic, and you are going to be in the everglades... so airflow is more important for comfort in your case. I would have the windows "unzip" with screens under them in order to keep the bugs and sun off and still have the breeze..A soft top would also be lighter, and if it was white fabric, cooler, and if dome tent type battons were used it should also be easier to stow when not in use.
Click to expand...

Good points. I have a 6 inch deck plate on both ends, for cross-ventilation, though in March it's rarely that hot. It's true the fabric dodger is lighter and easier to stow, but because there is no place in my cabin to drip--it's all bunk when the seat is removed-- I felt it was important to be sure that leaks were pretty much impossible, and I've never been good enough to make a leakproof fabric dodger. Because it's so small, I thought it important to have lots of light, thus the big windows-- the hatch is clear plastic topped too.

In summer, it will be way too hot, but okay if I'm sailing by myself. because I'll only use it to sleep, or maybe to sail through rainstorms, etc. I'm thinking about adding a detachable push-pull tiller to my set-up so I can steer from inside.

One thing I'm looking forward to is using my netbook chart plotter. Leakproof space!

Hey, congrats on the G-32. That's a very interesting boat.

Manfred.pech · Jan 3, 2012

rapscallion said: ↑

The pictures are from his Yahoo Group, called K-designs. He answers questions in the group frequently. Join the group and ask him about it
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot. I joined and hope to be accepted to ask my questions. Bernhard is a born German from Apolda in Eastern Germany.

rapscallion · Jan 3, 2012

rayaldridge said: ↑

Good points. I have a 6 inch deck plate on both ends, for cross-ventilation, though in March it's rarely that hot. It's true the fabric dodger is lighter and easier to stow, but because there is no place in my cabin to drip--it's all bunk when the seat is removed-- I felt it was important to be sure that leaks were pretty much impossible, and I've never been good enough to make a leakproof fabric dodger. Because it's so small, I thought it important to have lots of light, thus the big windows-- the hatch is clear plastic topped too.

In summer, it will be way too hot, but okay if I'm sailing by myself. because I'll only use it to sleep, or maybe to sail through rainstorms, etc. I'm thinking about adding a detachable push-pull tiller to my set-up so I can steer from inside.

One thing I'm looking forward to is using my netbook chart plotter. Leakproof space!

Hey, congrats on the G-32. That's a very interesting boat.
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i didn't even think about the leakproof variable. That's an amazing feat, on a 16' catamaran...

I love the G32! Hands Down the easiest sailboat to own, set up, and sail that I know of.... and it's pretty kwik too.

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tiny cruising catamaran

oldsailor7 Senior Member

rapscallion Senior Member

rapscallion Senior Member

jakobo Junior Member

rapscallion Senior Member

redreuben redreuben

Manfred.pech Senior Member

rapscallion Senior Member

rayaldridge Senior Member

Manfred.pech Senior Member

rapscallion Senior Member

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