Worstest Catamaran Nominations?

I bought a new Hobie 16 and I think that the dealer at La Trinite went through his store and put every single faulty piece of junk together that he could find. It took ages to get the wreck up to speed. I deepley hate that individual boat - it messed up a whole youth career!

Big fan of Hobie 16s in general though.

I have a couple of candidates.

The proa (it has 2 hulls) that two guys had built out of aluminum ducting from a description on the internet. They tried to sail it but, the main hull just folded up and it sank. They were going to leave it, but the Deputy that patrols the park had a talk with them and they hauled it away.

The cheap inflatable catamaran (vinyl round hulls, no centerboard, flat plywood rudders) I heard that one of the local discount places was selling them for $99. I saw 4 or 5 of them in the late 80's. In no case did the sail go well.

The tunnel hull Moth. Think 75 lb Hobie Bravo with a good sail rig. The Class Association outlawed all forms of multihulls. If they hadn't outlawed them, we would have a real 12 ft sailing class now.

My vote would go to the Moth Class Association as lower than the cheap inflatable.

How about that one that was made with 2 windsurfers.. 3 PHds thought it up and wrote a paper on it but I can't find it.

You mean this?

ya that one

Aqua Cat...

Floating lawn furniture

remember this thing?

What about this one? They only raced it twice and then couldn't even give it away.

Originally Posted by Scarecrow

What about this one? They only raced it twice and then couldn't even give it away.

I'd say that WAS one of the best (Most expensive and costly to maintain but still...) until a couple of weeks ago.

what ended up happening to alinghi 5?

The Macgregor 14 that I picked up in 1977 for $250. Aluminum rudder blades the bent when the rig was powered up. It would also submarine on you. I guess that is better than pitch-poling it.

I remember someone telling me ~1973 that if you could not afford good wooden rudders, aluminum rudders were better than the fiberglass. Both the aluminum and fiberglass rudders bent but the aluminum ones could be bent more times before they broke

Aqua Cats get picked on a lot. They certainly look like bad news, but does anyone have any actual experience sailing this infamous craft?

Yes- Spent a week of a holiday trying to stop it from a pitch-pole.