bobcat cat

[whiteflame]

hi all,
I'm thinking of buying a bobcat as a project, any advice, critacisim would be greatly appreciated.

cheersAdam

 

[Boathook]

Plywood and all the associated problems. Great family boats but don't really go to windward.
You might be better off buying an 8 or 9m Catalac that has the same hull shape but is GRP and with the same sailing qualities ! The sailing bit can be improved by decent sails and sail trim !

Me, a 9m Catalac .............

 

[Croak]

I'm selling one.

 

[prv]

(OK, I thought it was funny )

Pete

 

[whiteflame]

I'm selling one.

how much and where

 

[Croak]

PM sent

 

[stav]

When I was a lad my Dad spent ages looking at bobcats but never actually bought one. Not many around today it seems but it would be good to save one I guess but logic would say go for the 8m catalac if pennies stretch that far.There was a great story of the Lacs taking two bobs to Mount St Micheal.

From what I can remeber and over and above general ply problems the cross beans need lots of attention and even with boats in the 80's they could be a deal breaker.

Good luck with it.

 

[Searush]

FWIW, I had a dinghy cat (which I loved) but even that, at 14' x 7', used to sit with either hull on different waves. It was designed to flex with 2 x mast sections separating the hulls & a laced canvas trampoline holding them together, but even so, it was interesting to watch the two hulls moving semi-independantly.

Anyway, my point is this, cats are subject to quite high stresses in rough water & although designed to take these stresses, I would always recommend checking out where the beams join the hulls for any sign of gelcoat crazing. Most cruising cats will be reinforced for rigidity, but some designs (like the Wharram range) will be intended to flex. These are very different stresses to those met in a monohull.

 

[wilkinsonsails]

We owned the last 10 metre Bobcat in the the 70s.It was the last one built.A.great famliy boat ,we had long holidays down in Brittany from Faversham.
The twin forestays moved the front cross beam so that was fixed with a galvanised angle mounted on the edge.
Apart from that a good boat for cruising with kids, and certainly we had some fast trips up to 12 knots at times.Even when the boat got caught on top of the jetty on an extreme floodone hull in the air the other in the mud, she had minor damage to P bracket but fine otherwise.
The ply was always a maintenance problem but relatively easy to replace ,Sheathed hull no trouble ,so if it was decent ply to start with and framing not in to poor condition and you have a lot of time on your hands go for it .
Cindy

 

[simonfraser]

"The ply was always a maintenance problem but relatively easy to replace ,Sheathed hull no trouble ,so if it was decent ply to start with and framing not in to poor condition and you have a lot of time on your hands go for it ."

+1

I have a ten yr old ply epoxy trimaran, easy to repair if needed imo.

Saw a 25 yr old ply epoxy cat in devon which was still sound appart from the deck, again that was straightforward to fix.
Main prob with that one was the "improvement" the not very well off latest owner had made, he owned a 'four candle' shop

 

[Tropic Cat]

I think it depends where you're located. In Great Britain ply will last much longer and require less maintenance than in the Caribbean or any Tropical climate. The '60s to '80s vintage ply boats don't look very good these days down here.