i understand what you mean about the bridle loose change however as you can see in the photo there is not much room for more then the stay on the attchment point and i have nothing that resembles the bridle that you mentioned. front stay attachment point being the photo with the rope hanging off the stay wire.

there are more then likely many ways of attaching things that i am unaware of loose change as i am so new to this. i am sure it will all come together over the next couple of weeks. i am just so interested to know how an all aluminium hull is going to sail. will it be faster because it is lighter or will it go turtle easier because it is lighter . questions questions questions.,

Might be set up for single handed sailing in mind and does not run a jib. Above is the paper tiger. Perhaps the builder used the plans but didn't include the daggerboards?

Paper tiger is 14 feet long.

i would have thought that to except it came with a main and a jib sail

Maybe in an earlier time in it's life it had alternate rigging for either single handing with the main sail alone, or with a crew and in order to give them something to do they could pull some strings on the jib.

if the other guys with the cat knowledge are still able to come over on the weekend and enlighten me as to whats what perhaps they will post there understanding of it and explain the things about it that i clearly can not. i can definitely see the resemblance between the design of this hull and the paper tiger that you posted though loose change

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ives said..
i would have thought that to except it came with a main and a jib sail

Maybe the bridle fitted on the twisted D shackle and the bridle got lost or it never had a jib fitted. My cat came with a spare main and jib that were eventually going to cut down to size to fit but the previous owner never got around to it.

Could also have a cross member (round or square ally tube ) bolted in across the 2 mounting points and the stays fitted to that, do you have anything like that ?

By now you probably wish you asked the previous owner to take you for sail test.

previous owner never sailed it harb he bought it to convert into something else using the hulls but ran into building and skipper ticket issues for what ever it was he wanted to do so he just dropped the whole project and along came me. curious more then concerned about the jib anyhow cause in the grand scheme of things it will be only me sailing it for a bit of fun and since ive never sailed i cant see me working 2 sails by myself though it would be pretty funny watching me try i think.

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ives said..
will it be faster because it is lighter or will it go turtle easier because it is lighter . questions questions questions.,

Both. I'd invest in a Babby or Mama Bob if you plan to sail alone because it sucks to right a cat on your own out of South Freo or Coogee and sucks to clean dry mud from your sail after the mast got stuck in the mud and has ran down your sail after you right it up.

yea sounds like a good idea since im one to test the limits of things i imagine tipping it will be the first thing i do . in shallow ground of course lol

It's hard to tell how wide this vessel is from the photos but at 16 feet long I'm sure its about the same width as a 16 foot Prindle. I had a 16 foot Prindle I used to race singlehanded with a cat rig. It was a pleasure to sail but I was always concerned about righting the boat after a capsize. I never did capsize but if I did I'm sure I would not have had enough weight out on the righting rope to get the boat up. After some research into the problem I discovered that there was a lever available to get my weight out further, I picked up a Windsurfer boom from the local recycle shop. Opened it out to a V and made a pivot point either side under the front beam. The end of the boom stuck out under the rear beam and was held there with a jam cleat. Rope underneath tied up out of the way was deployed to pull the lever out 90 degrees to the hull in the event of a capsize. It was then possible to swing out to the end and increase the righting moment drastically. Once up, haul the lever back up out of the way.


This is a similar system but for $20 or so the Windsurfer boom is an easy option.

www.catsailor.com/power_righter.html

I would right the 14 footers on my own with only the rope in my younger days but it wasn't much fun and sometimes took multiple attempts and bruised shins. A Bob would have been good and an extension tube to leverage the righting would have been great.

Ives,

If you get a chance, come down to Nedlands Yacht Club at about midday on a Sunday. We have a fleet of Hobie 16s that sail every weekend and someone in the fleet will be keen to help you out. If you want to gain some cat sailing experience there are plenty of skippers who will take you out as crew - just report to the management rep in the club house and get your name on the crew board.

There are also some very experienced sailors who can help you out with your boat. They may recognise it, but even if not, will be able to help work out how to rig it most effectively. We do have a ramp that you can use, but cats launch straight off the beach - we have wide green lawns and white sandy beaches bordering the river just in front of the bar.

Mike

good to know microbe i will definitely have to look into that thanks

i agree ramona a lever of some sort would be an advantage sailing alone. i was planing on relying on the craft being lighter then most being all aluminium and myself having a long reach out at 6 foot 2 and weighing 110 kg to tip the balance (excuse the pun) when righting the craft

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ives said..
i agree ramona a lever of some sort would be an advantage sailing alone. i was planing on relying on the craft being lighter then most being all aluminium and myself having a long reach out at 6 foot 2 and weighing 110 kg to tip the balance (excuse the pun) when righting the craft

It's usually the mast weight that is the problem. Boats like Hobie 16's and Prindles have a crew of two to right the boat and very heavy masts. I would suggest taking Microbe's advice and head down to the Nedlands club. Check how they rig their cats and see if you can get a day out on their rescue boat to see how they recover Hobie 16's after a capsize. Also pick up some pointers on how to tack these things. The catamaran forums are definitely worth perusing if your new to catamaran sailing.

Further to what Ramona said, check that the mast is water tight because if it's not and it fills with water no amount of levering will get it upright again. All Hobie masts are sealed and will float, makes it easy to roll the shrouds around the mast when in the water.

You may want to check the water tightness of the hulls as well either by screwing the bungs in and parking the boat in the sun and after a while loosen the bung and listen for the expanded air to come rushing out. Another way is take the bungs out and put the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner up there and spray soapy water around the hulls, looking for frothy bubbles indicating a leak.

Interesting comments about righting catamarans.

Having sailed and coached predominantly cat sailors, it is technique and not much else, other than the correct set-up.

I have sailed mosquitoes, both Mk1 and 2, and A class cats and have not had an issue righting them. A's tho can be problematical if mast is over 30' long tho.

Enjoy the learning curve and the fun .... but maybe join the local cat club, pick their collective brains and work what works for you.

thx for all the advice and offers of help everyone . i think i shall be ok now. took the cat down to funcat hire on the swan river and a top young bloke there was kind enough to help me take it off the tailer and show me what dose what. he rigged everything up for me . raised the sail and even took it for a test sail for me. completely above and beyond what i was hoping. great place great people at funcats hire. had some issues ie broke off a rudder that did not kick up when it should have. tore the tramp which was old anyway and snapped the telescopic bit on the sterring arm (also old ) . better these things happened under the watchful eye of an experienced sailor on the river then to me offshore in the ocean. so all in all it sailed quite well ( much like a windrush im told whatever that means ) . i shall putt around the river a while until i understand how wind works and how the cat reacts before i go to the beach i think. thanks again for all the advice here and offers to teach. o and one more thing as it turns out im told that it is actually a 14 foot cat with a 16 foot sail and mast.

Well done Ives, and a great plug for funcat. We did a work social day at funcat and had a ball, culminating in a race with 15 cats. The staff are great and really helpful.

yours does look like a copy of a Windrush 14 and they are great fun cats.

thx free radical . i think i would like to see a race with that many cats together sometime. must take some serious skills to move about in a crowd like that without hitting each other. do not exactly have brakes when you get some speed up . lol.