If a boat is currently cat 5n, 30 foot mono, what's required to get it up to spec to do Melbourne to Devonport for example? Be good to know rough $$ and what's desirable in addition to absolute regulatory required. Ta.

Welcome to a world of pain.

Read the notice of race and the regs, its a lot of work.
www.sailingresources.org.au/safety/specialregs/
www.orcv.org.au/devonport

You might need a hull scan, stability assessment and scantlings certificate (see section 3.03) depending on the age of your yacht. If your type of yacht never been at cat 2, its hard to imagine a typical cat 5 going to cat 2 for less than $10K, could easily stretch to $40K or more. Others might have different views, but I have looked into to it a few times.

A yacht with a current cat 2 rating, with all the safety gear & systems is worth quite a bit and much easier to keep current than to start from ground zero.

Also suggest you join the ORCV and do the next beyond the bay course.
www.orcv.org.au/training/beyond-the-bay

....and some of the ORCV races have a length restriction, but I think the Devonport is good for 30 footers.

Jon,
first thing, go to YA website and have a look at the Cat 2 audit form, see how your boat stacks up.
Its a big jump going from Cat 5 to 2, have a look at the first aid kit contents for a start.
A world of pain, yeah, but throw enough $$$$ at it and it'll go away.
Mike

Thanks guys, looks like the thing to do is buy a boat at cat 2 (there are reasonable ones at 40-50k) and as you say, join orcv and probably do the sea survival course so that I'd understand what all the equipment was for before having to use it??????

wow - just read the syllabus for beyond the bay - survival course included and no doubt all questions answered. Thanks for the tip.