Now THIS is a deal. Popped up on the classifieds today.Â
1993 Mystere 6.0 with trailer and wings. I have talked to the gentlemen who posted it.Â
He is hoping to find a beachcat sailors who wants this big boy. I called him because he posted the price at $20 and I figured that was missing a couple of zero's at least. But he can't sail anymore and needs the boat removed from the yard.
Boat and beams are currently stored upside down off trailer (see second picture in ad) since a while back he was intending to do a bottom job. So if you make a deal to pick it up make sure and bring enough muscle to pick up and flip a 20 foot cat onto it's trailer.
He even has the wings! Those were pretty rare on the big Mystere.
https://thebeachcats.com/classified-ad-1385591/1993-mystere-6-0-with-trailer/
I saw the ad over on Facebook and came here. Fantastic deal. Very tempting to pickup on the refinishing project, especially with the wings. Â
@tominpa would love to see someone from here take it on and bring the cat back to life while we follow along.
Although I guess I should caution newbies about the old adage "There is nothing as expensive as a free boat.". LOL
Well, most of us here with 40 year old cats, reglassing and finishing is not our first rodeo. A complete set of rigging, sails, trailer and a previous owner with our grey hair is just an opportunity to shoot the breeze before starting work.Â
I was kinda thinking about going and swiping this Mystere up. The Mystere 6.0 (XL) was my dream-cat that I hoped to find and bring home a few months ago, before settling for an F18.Â
Back when my wife and I were racing nearly every weekend with CRAM and OCRA (ohio cat racing association) in the 1990's, Mike Fahle owned and raced a M6.0 XL with all of us. I think he got it around 1998. That machine was bad-ass. It would hiss on by our H18 like a snake. It actually sounded like a snake. It was impressive. Especially in the open, rough waters of Lake Erie. The hulls were so tall that we'd have to look up to watch Mike and his crew hiss by us while they were laying horizontal from the trapeze. 🤣Â
I'd love to snatch this Mystere 6.0, but I'm working on refitting my C2 F18 in time for late-spring excitement.
This Mystere is only a few hours away from me. Hmmmm. Do I need another boat project? Wife (excellent crew in the past) wants me to build her a sauna, too. The Mystere-project sounds more my speed..... "100mph with my hair on fire" - speed. Twiddling my thumbs while baking in a sauna at 0 mph = boring! 🤣 (better suck it up, Doug.... gotta keep the crew happy!)
This Mystere is only a few hours away from me. Hmmmm. Do I need another boat project?Â
How is that a question? LOL If you have the room and willing to go and gather it up, I'm sure you would enjoy talking to the owner and he would be happy to have it go to someone who appreciates it.
Even if you only put it all back together on the trailer, did a survey, and passed it on to another sailor ready to sail.Â
If you do it, don't forget to bring a helper, turning over that beast will need some muscle.
Psych! Â
My wife and I are going to pick our Mystere 6.0 tomorrow!
I told her about the opportunity and she said "GO GET IT NOW!!!"
So.... ya can't disappoint the crew!
I'll post all the fun and excitement of a 'new' project-boat here.
T'was a long day, yesterday, snatching-up the M6.0 cat.
On the road at 8:30 am, arrived at 1:30 pm.Â
The cat was hemmed-in by a tree that had grown-up since it was placed there and a fence, upside down, within a very-low spot in the yard. Good thing I brought my Cat-Trax!
The Cat-Trax that came with the boat has thoroughly-rotted tires, so of no use in the recovery of the cat, but the tires are easily replaceable.
I had also brought three 2"x8"x12' boards and a 4"x4"x12' to assemble as possibly a crane platform off my truck's rack system, two come-a-longs, heavy tree-climbing/limbing rope, extra trailer wheels/tires.... all completely unneeded.
There was some time pondering and scratching of the noggins on how we (owners Karen and Larry (both in advanced years), me and my wife/super-crew Lisa) were going to right the cat from it's upside down position. After moving the cat to a more clear but sloped area in the yard, I decided to try lifting the low side up so that Lisa could put a two-foot tall Styrofoam block under the starboard deck. From there, I thought lifting the hull up a bit more and stacking another two-foot block on top of the first would help with Larry's thoughts about wincing the boat over with the help of his wife's Jeep winch.
Crazy... I must've been feeling strong or something....as I lifted the hull with Lisa readying the extra styrofoam block and Larry and Karen organizing the jeep rigging, the cat just climbed up to 90 degrees vertical. Oh my gosh!Â
So as I balanced the cat in it's vertical state, everyone else repositioned the crash-pads (old foam mattress toppers) that I had laid out prior. Lisa on near the bow and me at the transom, lowered the cat's hull down to the pads in a slow, controlled fall. Â
Success!
I swear this Mystere's 20' hulls/beams are lighter than my F18 C2's.
The platform seems to be very stiff. Very little flex between hulls, if any.
Yeah, there's going to be a bit of fiberglassing/gelcoating repair work. The decks might even need to come off. The beams' paint is chipping away in places. The mast appears to be straight and true. Standing/running rigging all need to be replaced.
Karen brought out the sails from indoors and asked if I wanted to take a look at them. I wasn't too curious about the sails' condition, merely because I was practically stealing this boat. Larry figured they would be nearly rotted from so many years in storage. But out of respect, I took a peek.
Pulling back the clean sail covers,Â
Oh! My! Gosh!Â
From what I saw, the sails appeared almost brand new! I didn't want to waste any more time with rolling out the sails completely, so we'll have to examine them sometime in the next few days.
Packing and tying down everything was as typical for a beach cat. The trailer tires were muddy from sitting for 15 years and of low pressure, but no visible cracks in the rubber. Hub-Buddy bearings were without caps, but had old grease in them. We'll get to a gas-station as soon as possible!
Sadly, I knew that we were pressed for time, especially since the trailer had no lights. I wanted to get out of Virginia as soon as possible and back into 'safe' North Carolina. Virginia State Highway Patrol are infamously very well known by many reports. NC troopers and LE are far easier to deal with. Anyway, sadly, I got into my 'all business' mode of operation, getting everything ready to travel the 3hr-48min, 236 mile trip back through the mountains.
Larry and Karen have had a very interesting, fun, adventurous life together. I didn't get a lot of detail about his plans for his Mystere, but he was prepping the cat to 'race' it from the Chesapeake to Bermuda! Open ocean race of roughly 1200 miles!
Both of them also were (I think) charter catamaran captain/crew. Maybe something like the 'cattle-maran' charters, as well as trans-ocean deliveries? He indicated sailing 60'-70' cats. Both were a bit private about the details of their adventures. I would have loved to talk with both of them a lot more.
Larry and Karen also graciously gave us a big roll of fiberglass, a gallon+ of epoxy, a yard-box to store the rudders and other items, a big heavy-duty tarp, etc... I hope their move to Florida goes smoothly and happily!
We got on the road at around 5 pm -- rush hour! Inflated the tires at the nearest gas-station. We stopped at a couple rest stops in the initial hours to check on everything.... tires holding up, bearings not too hot, tie-downs snug, nothing dragging.
We arrived home at 9pm. One NC trooper had passed us without any signs of reprimand. Phew!
It had been a VERY hot day for March 11. 88 deg F. in Charlottesville VA.
So yet another Cat project and adventure begins!
Gotta keep dreaming and moving even faster to keep the years from catching up!
Push!!
-doug
This morning in the rain. Tie-downs loosened.
Yeah, she's a little dirty around the edges. She'll clean-up.
@cat-scratch Thanks for the update. Really glad it worked out, the story reminds me of the "reviving an old car found in a field" YouTube videos i watch.
I also got an email from Larry saying...
"The boat was sold today to a very nice
couple who seemed surprised at how good condition the boat was in. We
hope that they can take many pleasurable sails in their new Mystere."
I'd call that a success for everyone involved.Â
Yes I am taking credit for the whole thing. LOL
The Classifieds here are the best place to find and sell a beachcat! Spread the word.
Yes Damon! Keep up your good work here! We all truly appreciate your services on TheBeachCats.com!
Damn, that's a fine story - so far. Love to hear about boats like this staying in the family.
Damn, that's a fine story - so far. Love to hear about boats like this staying in the family.
Yeah, I've knocked off the mud and grime and cleaned her up a bit. The mast looks really good, though I'm not too keen on the non-adjustable spreaders and the simplistic individual spreader-wire adjustment. I may eventually modify that to something like a newer Tornado or F18 type of adjustment system. We'll see.
Heck, the mast has the same dimensions as the pre-2004 aluminum Tornado masts, and most of the running rigging is of those Tornado's arrangement as well.
The bridle wires and bridle apex hardware is missing, and the previous owner hasn't been able to find them. All the rigging needs replacement, as well as the trampoline.
The decks have a lot of gelcoat cracking, and underneath the cracks is some sort of soft-ish bondo filler. I may have to pry-up the deck pieces.  The top of the centerboard wells seem to be not well-joined to the deck. Oh Joy.
The ground-off gelcoat on the bottom hull seams .... well, the exposed fiberglass is kinda rough. Fiberglass laminating, fairing and new gelcoat is required.
The cross-beam/hull bolts came out reasonably easily after 33 years! I didn't yet have any dollies made for each hull like I made for the F18 hulls, so I re-installed the bolts until I can make those hull dollies and completely take her apart and squeeze her into the shop.
The 'wings' will be requiring a bunch of re-welding and added reinforcement of the support tube connections -- a number of aluminum joint cracks. Poor design, or lots of punishment, or both? Just good excuses for firing-up the TIG machine.
The rudder hardware appears to be very serviceable. Rudder blades need just a little cosmetic touch-up as do the centerboards.Â
Even the two telescoping tiller extensions work nicely after some elbow-grease!
It might be a few months before she's sail-ready.
I've been working on the C2 F18 hulls, and hopefully I can splash that boat sometime before the heat of summer hits. The Mighty Mystere might be a bit after. Both cats will be bad-assery!
Cat Fight!
Great outcome for a very promising cat. Â Thanks Doug for the rescue story.Â
Great outcome for a very promising cat. Â Thanks Doug for the rescue story.Â
Yeah! The continuing Mystere refit saga is continuing on the "Mystere 6.0 refit project!" post atÂ
https://thebeachcats.com/forums/technical-help/mystere-6-0-refit-project/#post-345935