Smaller Nauticats - what are they like?

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Babylon

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The Missus doesn't like the claustrophobia of conventional yachts and is prodding me to look at a Nauticat so she can see out the glass rather than get wet and frightened in a cockpit.

Early days (plus my current mooring is limited to 32'), but I'm curious as to how well they sail and handle.
 
There are two types (neither of which would fit your mooring). The 33/331 is the traditional double ended motor sailor style with loads of accommodation, big wheelhouse and exposed outside steering position on the aft coachroof. early ones are definitely more motor than sail with a big Ford diesel and later Yanmar, but later ones (331) are bit more sail orientated but with a low aspect ketch rig so better as wind moves aft. Very comfortable and extremely well finished, but expensive. New £300k+ used from £40k for old 33 and from £110k for 331. If you are in the pipe and slippers stage of life very suitable.

The very different 32 is a scaled down of the 37/42 using a similar very sail orientated hull design derived originally from an S&S design. Very desirable, but even more expensive and rare.
 
Mate of mine used to have a 33, one of the last before the 331. One of the few boats I'd consider moving to from my current Bavaria. As Tranona says, well built and great layout below with an amazingly spacious feel to the boat. Downsides are appalling pipe runs for things like tank breathers (fresh water tanks routes from the galley floor, then via the forward head compartment then aft along the hull deck join to exit to a fitting near the stern....) and the engine is not easy to work on. And it will not go backwards in a straight line even with the bow thruster to help! Sails well enough but needs a stiff breeze to get it moving. If your wife wants a wheelhouse boat that feels as safe as houses, then it's one to consider.
 
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We sailed in company with a 33 Gothic Perpendicular. It was obviously a capable and comfortable boat, but I think I would prefer the Fisher 34. We also met another Nauty 33 that had been sailed from home to within a mile or two of Greenland single-handed, but I think it would roll too much for me.
 
Tranona said:
If you are in the pipe and slippers stage of life very suitable.
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I like the look of Nauticats, and there are a lot around the West Coast, especially as you head north, but as a whippersnapper in my 50s I appear to be at least twenty years to young to have one. One day ...
 
JumbleDuck said:
I like the look of Nauticats, and there are a lot around the West Coast, especially as you head north, but as a whippersnapper in my 50s I appear to be at least twenty years to young to have one. One day ...
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My knowledge, such as it is comes from a good friend who is a long term Nauticat owner. Lovely, very powerful 42 in his younger days and now a 331. He is one year older than me!
 
We have a Nuaticat 33 which is currently for sale. There are photos and a full inventory at www.bit.do/nauticat33

We've kitted her out very well over the past few years, with new sails, running rigging, recaulked the teak decks, new electronics etc. We also replaced the rusted mild steel fuel tanks with new tectank polypropylene tanks and replaced the engine mounts at the same time.

They are great boats, very good sea keeping qualities, stable and safe. Knowing that you can sail the boat from the dry wheelhouse (with wipers going if needed) and a 90hp engine to get you where you want to go at seven knots means that we were much more confident with going on longer passages, even if we had to be back at work on Monday morning! The space and accommodation down below is amazing for a 33 footer - feels bigger than a lot of 40 foot yachts. She doesn't point to windward as well as a fin keeled sports boat, but the ketch rig is really versatile and the new sails, being a much better shape, are a great improvement.

PM me if you'd like to come and have a look at the boat which is in Dartmouth.
 
Having crewed a Nauticat 33 on a wet, choppy, cross-channel and return, we blessed the enclosed wheelhouse, but hated the rolly, corkscrew motion of the boat. This was exacerbated on the example we sailed by the absence of any sea-berths with lee cloths for the seasick. A friends wife found curling up in the heads to be the most comfortable place. It was superbly equipped, and sailed quite well, but the engine had to be run continually to power all the electronics and domestic demands. An interesting experience, but it just confirmed our prejudice towards KISS sailing.
 
Followed a 33 once. I was standing in my cockpit, both hands round a cup of coffee. I was nearly seasick watching her roll. The owner's wife later said"Never again!"
For God's sake,try before you buy!
Both under engine, by the way.
 
The NC33 may roll depending on the sea state but the later deeper keel ones may not roll so much. Many other yachts roll downwind hence the flopper stoppers and the like. The NC32 has a different hull form to the NC33's. Does anyone know whether it has a tendency to roll?
 
My wife and I are the fortunate owners of a 28-year old Nauticat 35 - the precursor of the 351. We bought her in Breskens nine years ago and currently sail for 5 to 6 months of the year in the Mediterranean. I suppose we more than qualify for Tranona's 'pipe and slippers' tag (I am 76 and my wife is 74), but in fairness, we don't wear slippers and I am trying hard to get her to give up the pipe.

We use both helm positions: mainly the upper deck, and retire to helm down below during the occasional wind-driven heavy rain storms. Only problem being that - whilst the arc of vision from below is good (some 300 degrees) - you still have to imitate a meerkat and periodically poke your head up out of the entrance hatch to check aft.

I'd agree with Tranona's view of the sailing abilities of the smaller Nauticats: the 35 is also based on the Sparkman & Stephens design and performs well under sail - although Duncan's remark on sailing backwards rings true. In any sort of a cross wind we would much rather moor stern-to when nobody is looking!

The 35 is not at her best in light airs, but comes into her own in 8 to 10 knots of wind, and will sail much closer to the wind that the traditional motor sailor. She is a good sea boat that has never given us any anxiety under a range of weather and sea conditions from The Netherlands via Biscay and Gibraltar and across the Med; our own sailing abilities of course are another matter.

One thing that did surprise us when we got to the Med was her suitability for the climatic conditions. Having thought of her as a North Sea boat, at anchor she stays remarkably cool down below, provided the hatches and glazed areas are kept shaded. And if your wife has her say in the choice, she would find the space and comfort of the interior a clincher: but at 35ft she wouldn't suit your current mooring.

As already mentioned, Nauticats are well-designed but expensive. We started off looking for a 33 and our searches took us around the UK, and to France, Greece and Turkey, without success. The boats we saw were either beyond our budget or in a condition which needed too much work. Mark you that was ten years ago, and no doubt the secondhand market now is more favourable to buyers than sellers.
 
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JumbleDuck said:
I like the look of Nauticats, and there are a lot around the West Coast, especially as you head north, but as a whippersnapper in my 50s I appear to be at least twenty years to young to have one. One day ...
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Well I am 1962 vintage and have been very pleased to be a Nauticat owner for more than ten years now.....

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Wheelhouse yachts are as different to open cockpit yachts as catamarans are to monohulls. The compromises they make are much more obvious than on say a Bavaria which is reasonably good at most things whereas a wheelhouse yacht is much better at some and hopeless at others. We have a young family so the safety of a 15 inch toerail and 1.2m high handrail with wide side decks is important. So is a fully enclosed wheelhouse- I know the weather this year has been pants but it's been a hell of a lot better on our boat, six weeks of sailing the south and east coast and I've only ever worn shorts and t shirt, we see cockpits with sailors in full oilskins and smile. But then they have a wonderful open space outside for sunny days. They also sail to windward, in light airs and don't roll as much in a quartering sea. So far this summer we've sailed from Norfolk to Dorset and when we're motoring or motor sailing then so are the yachts around us; when we're sailing then so are they but they do it better and faster. So what, life is choice and compromise.
The Nauticat 33 is a beautiful boat and holds its value like all wheelhouse yachts because there aren't any new ones being made and people want them. It's quite narrow for its type, 3 feet narrower than a Colvic Watson 34 for example. Irrelevant if it's just the two of you. There are so many things to love about a wheelhouse but of them all my favourite is after a day on the beach or reading on the aftdeck, sitting at anchor in the wheelhouse, the view is incredible, but we don't all have to share the space because there's a whole other saloon down below. A close second is that we share passages, from six years old to the skipper we are all in the wheelhouse, convivial and oilskin free. Lots of compromise but it works for us.
 
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