Hello everyone, I recently purchased a 1976 Solcat 18 and love it. It's my first cat and boy is sailing a cat different than monohulls. I can't get enough of it. The only downside is trying to step and de-step the mast. I have to put it up and take it down every time I use it and it usually takes me an hour to rig by the time the mast goes up. Is there an easier way to raise the mast on Solcats?

Hi,dkg4244 i also own a SolCat 18 purchased this spring and thought that the mast was going to be a pain but myself and to of my friends raised it and it was no different than our Hobies or Pindles IMO.One person held the mast in the base and two raised it then the other put forestay in stay.Was fairly easy.I don't know about de-masting as we moor our Cats til late fall then i will find out.

I used to have a sol cat 18 too. It required two people to step the mast. I did not like the base shoe, it did not trap the bottom of the mast enough for a one man stepping. My current 5.7 g cat has a mounting ball with a hole to pin the mast to it, allowing one person to step.

Dismasting usually happens because someone did not use stainless steel stays or a chain plate weld failure. The sol cat I had did not have diamond wires either.

I have had a solcat for several years and yes raising the mast is a pain, I send me PM with your email I can send you some pic's of how raise the mast.

Jeff O

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Jeff O
N5.0
solcat 18(sold),
N5.2,
H16
Camarillo CA
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