Considering a Cat

[fergie_mac66]

We dont lose 25% at the front double cabin starboard and heads on the port. No we have no complaint about performance we are not a racer (Short mast and outboard no deisels)
managed to keep 6.5 knot average, This last year 2
complete daylight crossing Falmouth to L'aber'wrach (well anchored Keridaouen small harbour on the other side of the channel) 103 nautical miles 14.1/2 hrs .

Another thing we find easy is anchoring, the wide front makes for easy anchor handling with any sort of a sea running this last year we managed the whole summer without visiting a marina

 

[SiteSurfer]

My daughter has read the comments and is about to start investigating prescription sea sickness remedies (stugeron didn't really do much except knock her out), but the wife looked at a few with me last night and commented how much room there was compared to our 29ft mono (which admittedly is cramped). I'm pleased to hear that the speed on some of the older tugs are reasonable - my boat does 3 knots through the water unless its blowing nicely so anything with 5 knots and no heeling (and pleasant at anchor) would be idyllic.

It also strikes me looking at some of the less ostentatious cats - the width isn't that much wider than some of the modern 36ft AWB's either. Taking on board the family side of things as well, I'm happy to spend hours beating, getting spray in my face but the wife... well let's say that spilling the gin is frowned upon.

 

[C08]

Some very interesting responses, I've been idly looking at some of the older cats and the Prout name crops up again and again - however I have to say, they are not as beautiful as a monohull...

The Prouts sleeping arrangements are different to most other small cats. The double berth is the front of the main cabin not a separate cabin so not as much privacy, separation of bedding/clutter etc Also from the double berth I think you are lower so no sitting in bed with a cup of tea taking in the view. Although plenty of berths the aft cabin(s) look quite dark with just hatches overhead. I think a few Prouts had an Owners version with a separate forecabin.
I am sure some dedicated Prout Owners will be by to shoot me down!
Apart from the accommodation layout I think they are good boats that sail relatively well (for a cat).

 

[fergie_mac66]

You could go for a fast cat, very fast even with a cut down rig loads of accommodation , no marina access huge tramp for kids though.

 

[jwilson]

Back around 1982/83 we chartered a Catalac 8M for a fortnight out of Poole. At the time had children aged one and half and three and a half, nice gentle potter round the south coast to Weyouth/Lyme/Salcombe/Dartmouth with quite a few sunny days beached on sand to make sandcastles and eat icecreams.

The Catalac really was pretty good for that specific task, not nearly as fast to windward as the older long-keel monohull we owned but much more living/cockpit space. I was fairly experienced on fast trapeze dinghy-cats, but this was very different. Had one breezy day when on a broad reach definitely a bit faster than any displacement monohull of similar length, but motion "odd" - funny jerky motion.

I've sailed other more modern cruising cats since briefly and could be persuaded again one day, but ultimately if there's a sea running you're going to pitch and roll a bit in any small-mid-size boat. Even the QE2 can pitch and roll in real weather. I concur with those who say that a traditional long-keel monohull will actually be steadier in a seaway, just steadier heeled 30 degrees or so.

 

[fergie_mac66]

Old long keel 15000£ 20000£ would be steady but would roll on a run , be wet towards the wind and to be steady at 30 degrees not good for children..
Prolly would have to over 30feet to get accommodation.Age would be narrower beam designs with poor accommodation for heavy weight maintenance costs would prolly be high.

Depends on family and type of sailing 30 heel for 7 hours is very tiring

 

[Oldfellah]

My daughter has read the comments and is about to start investigating prescription sea sickness remedies (stugeron didn't really do much except knock her out), but the wife looked at a few with me last night and commented how much room there was compared to our 29ft mono (which admittedly is cramped). I'm pleased to hear that the speed on some of the older tugs are reasonable - my boat does 3 knots through the water unless its blowing nicely so anything with 5 knots and no heeling (and pleasant at anchor) would be idyllic.

It also strikes me looking at some of the less ostentatious cats - the width isn't that much wider than some of the modern 36ft AWB's either. Taking on board the family side of things as well, I'm happy to spend hours beating, getting spray in my face but the wife... well let's say that spilling the gin is frowned upon.

I know nothing about catamarans however as someone who used to get seasick whenever I went down below I can speak with some authority on the matter !! I have found that Avomine completely solves my seasickness problem and can now go below in pretty lumpy conditions to do chartwork of even cook. Whereas I would get dizzy and then sick within minutes of going below I now have no problem at all. I usually get my Avomine on ebay as I cannot find them in a chemist in the UK. Give them a try.

 

[SiteSurfer]

I know nothing about catamarans however as someone who used to get seasick whenever I went down below I can speak with some authority on the matter !! I have found that Avomine completely solves my seasickness problem and can now go below in pretty lumpy conditions to do chartwork of even cook. Whereas I would get dizzy and then sick within minutes of going below I now have no problem at all. I usually get my Avomine on ebay as I cannot find them in a chemist in the UK. Give them a try.

Oh thank you! I will pass this on to her - she's dreadfully keen to sail, and gets so fed up that she falls over after about 30 minutes.
We had a small incident last year (which we didn't see coming as the Stugeron appeared to work) when we got a few hours out of Salcombe, getting into Lyme Bay and realised that the Stugeron wasn't working.. that was the longest 30+ hours of my life making it to Yarmouth whilst she snored down below.

 

[SiteSurfer]

Lots of umming and aahing going on now, been to see a (project) Prout and wife was less than impressed, have seen a reasonable Catalac 900 and watched lots of you tubes, however she would prefer 2 x doubles. I suspect that we will wind up with a 36ft AWB.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

A project Prout is a scary thing to consider, there can be deep issues in those beams, a well sorted and maintained Prout though will be bomb proof.

 

[SiteSurfer]

Yah, it looked really good on the outside but... the sheer size of it (37ft) started to give me the wobblies. I kind of realised that I could either spend 2 years working on it or go sailing. Much as I like fiddling with boats - I think my enthusiasm would probably be dented at the end of year 1.

 

[maby]

Oh thank you! I will pass this on to her - she's dreadfully keen to sail, and gets so fed up that she falls over after about 30 minutes.
We had a small incident last year (which we didn't see coming as the Stugeron appeared to work) when we got a few hours out of Salcombe, getting into Lyme Bay and realised that the Stugeron wasn't working.. that was the longest 30+ hours of my life making it to Yarmouth whilst she snored down below.

Tell her to try Scopolamine patches - under medical supervision... For 95% of the population, they completely cure sea-sickness - the other 5% hallucinate - hence the need for a doctor's approval. My wife loves sailing, but was horribly seasick with any degree of rolling - since she discovered Scopolamine, she's happily navigated a force 8 including cooking food. The good thing about patches is that you don't need to be able to keep the drug in your stomach long enough to be absorbed.

Ignore all the urban myths and scare stories you'll find on the web - yes, the CIA did experiment with scopolamine for brain washing, but they were using much higher doses than the patches deliver. They can make a few people feel unsettled, hence the need to do a test run first on a day when you can afford to switch off if you are one of the few that react badly. Put one on on a Sunday morning and chill out - if you do start to see pink elephants flying, take it off and relax - the effects will wear off quite quickly.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

That's my Sunday afternoon's booked for the next few weeks then, bring on the pink elephants!

 

[Scillypete]

Well you've had plenty of good responses but I'll just add my two penneth. We started out many years ago with a small mono, my wife hated the heeling with a vengeance (she is no sailor and has been a life long sufferer of mal de mar) so I got a cat. We had that boat for seven years and the kids and wife all enjoyed sailing aboard it, although for my wife it was only short trips here in the islands. Both kids suffered seasickness but never refused to go on a trip to the mainland or to France, having the cat did not cure their seasickness but it made it much easier to handle. We briefly had another mono for a couple of years but went straight back to a cat much to the delight of the family. The years have passed and we still prefer to do our sailing on a cat although the kids have moved on so we have lots of space aboard to ourselves now. I took it to the Canaries to spend a winter down there a couple of years ago, my wife joined me in Tenerife. Up until then the longest passage she had managed was just a few miles here between the islands, in the Canaries the passages between islands are much greater and she coped magnificently and was not seasick at all, although she did not feel great once or twice. As a family cruising boat you cannot beat having a cat IMO.
Ours is a Prout Quest 33cs it has a separate king size double berth, there are several out there with this layout as shown below, and for on deck sunlounging get a couple of beanbags they are brilliant at anchor and underway. I don't think she looks to bad under sail or when rowing away from the mooring.

 

[SiteSurfer]

Apologies for necroing my own old thread, but its a year later and the crew is still interested in the cat.

The main interest appears to be in (because of finances) an 'older' version, something like a Catalac or Prout, in the 30+foot region.
I am interested in a couple things which have arisen from my semi-regular trips out into the Solent this last year.

1) The Sonic drive gubbins on the older Prouts, good - bad or still ok to maintain?
2) The wife is keen on 2 x double berths in the hulls, or at least the ability to sleep 2 x couples, research puts me at least 28ft to fit that in - about right?
3) Has anyone replaced the doghouse with a nice spray hood on the Catalac (I have to say it's not aesthetically pleasing) or seen one with it replaced, curious.
4) Assuming a 30ft boat, its safe to assume we can carry as much kit on a cat of similar length? Weight distribution becomes (even more) important though.

Finally - speed. The other boat we are considering is a Sigma 36c, mainly as its a compromise. However, it's very hard to get away from the allure of the space within a cat and reading the comments above - I think if I can get 5 knots SOG (average) then I'd be delirously happy.

I suppose the only thing that concerns me now is that we see so few of them around, I guess that's due to the ratio of monohulls to multihulls in the particular area I sail.
I'm not scared of a bit of work, so we are looking around for something that's solid but need a freshen up - that should keep me occupied for a few months.

 

[Tranona]

Those old cats could not be more different from a Sigma 36! Very unusual to find them on the same short list.

Anyway the old cats you are looking at are generally slow, particularly to windward, can have uncomfortable motions such as hobbyhorsing because of their short length. They do obviously have good points such as accommodation for the length, big cockpits and lack of heel when sailing. Downsides are mooring costs and usually getting reliable auxiliary power.

The small number you see around reflects the lack of popularity when they were new, but they seem to hold value better than monohulls from the same era, probably because there is a small market well matched to the limited supply.

All you can really do is look at the ones for sale and assess them for what they are. Suggest you add the Heavenly Twins model to your list, particularly for the 2*double berth requirements.

 

[geem]

Our first cat was 27ft long. The second was 37 ft long. My wife got seasick on both. We now have a 44ft momohull. I just asked her did she get more or less seasick on the cats? She says the cats made her more seasick. Maybe not a straight comparison as the monohull is larger but you get the idea. The motion on a cat can be quite jerky. A bit like sledging down a bumpy hill in the snow. I would say the motion is different not necessarily better. If you are going to buy a large cat say 40-45 ft (which you clearly are not with your stated budget) then you might get the improved motion you are looking for.

 

[scrambledegg]

Finally - speed. The other boat we are considering is a Sigma 36c, mainly as its a compromise. s

Do you mean Sigma 36c. Does that exist? Perhaps you mean Sigma 362 (cruising version of Sigma 36), or even more wildly, Seacraft or Seafarer 36C?

 

[SiteSurfer]

Those old cats could not be more different from a Sigma 36! Very unusual to find them on the same short list.

It's me that wants the Sigma, the rest of the family want the cat.. hence why its a year and I'm still trying to be persuaded.

 

[C08]

I am very susceptable to sea sickness and in fact was wondering about packing it in but we bought a small cat 14 years ago and it is much better regarding sea sickness. My wife and daughter also feel the same about it. Particularly no rolling downwind, no rolling at anchor, very little heel. A little pitching sometimes.
Under way we leave cups etc on the drainer with no concern about them flying around. It really comes down to a choice between upwind performance or comfort..
I did not realise this was an updated older post and I had already commented.
Re Catalac Sprayhood to replace the rather ugly (but extremely effective "greenhouse" ). There are a couple of 8m Catalacs that have rather good looking full width sprayhoods with an integral mainsheet tubular track. They are far better looking but I have my reservations about visibility forward with the full width strayhood. I quite often look around my doghouse when there is early morning condensation on the windows or there is a lot of spray coming up. It is not like a mono where because of the heel you have a good view up to windward so I think you need to see around the sprayhood.