Looking to buy a cat, need some advice

James,

In order for people to advise you, we will need some more info from you... How much weight are you going to be carrying and what type of water are you going to be going out in. What type of cat have you sailed??? Are you going to be sailing alone or with crew??? Where are you located??? Some of the members might know a good deal for you, but it might not be a good deal if you are on the oppesite side of the country...

Mark Colby
1973 H16
Jackson, MI

I disagree, clearly, you need to pick up a used Tornado
Al

I live in Maryland, I have sailed 16 and 18 hobies and prindles. I would never carry more than 4 people, but would like to be able to if desired. I would sail with two usually. I will be sailing on the ocean, and on sounds.

Stick with the Hobie 18. Though production has ended, there are still plenty of them out there. They are cheap, tough, can carry four people and can easily be handled by one or two because of the roller-furling jib. In addition they are high-performance enough to give you plenty of Oh-my-god moments. Of course this is only one opinion and though I'm sure many will agree with me, there will be an equal number with their own ideas. Good luck.

4 people will be crowded on almost any beach catamaran. You will have to add a forward trampoline to occomodate the extra people.

Otherwise- the Hobie 18, as mentioned above, would be an excellent choice.

The G-Cat 5.0M or 5.7M would allow you to carry more people, and I've not had trouble keeping up with Hobie 18s on my 5.7M. The only difficulty with this boat is finding one in your area. There aren't so many out there, and the owners aren't easily persuaded to sell!

In addition to the HObie 18, I would look for a Nacra 5.7 or a Dart 20... sometimes called a stampede... These are boardless boats with a decent amount of sail and are designed for what you are looking for