I am looking for a cat box. I am not happy with the fiberglass ones because they do not have any organized method of carrying rudders and such. They are all just one big box that you pill your gear into and all of it gets bounced around when trailering it. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions. I read a article on a site I came across http://sailinglouisiana.com/?cat=11 that has a very detailed post about a box he made and it looks good. I might go that route.

I am not aware of any really nice organized commercially built cat boxes like that. Best suggestion is to build your own.

Looking at that link however I think that a slightly different approach would be better. One major consideration and a good reason why the commercially build cat boxes are made of fiberglass is weight. Generally the boats are around 300-400 lbs and therefore Cat Trailors are pretty light duty or cobbled together jobs and most people tow using their car (usually with a 4 cylinder engine). Therefore weight has to be a major consideration. In addition, to fit your daggers/rudders/boom/blocks etc. relatively securely they need to be long and are often cantileverd over the or back part of the trailor. So you need stiffness also. Using 3/4" plywood will work but it is very heavy and will likely sag over time and humidity. What I would do is follow the same basic pattern but build an interior frame out of ceder 2x2s (rip a 2x4 in half), screwed and glued with steel angles to reinforce each joint. Then skin the box using 3/8" plywood, preferably pressure treated, although you could use exterior grade plywood if you paint it with oil primer and 2 top coats Again use a construction adhesive (PL Premium) and screw the plywood to the frame. This will stronger than the 3/4" plywood version but maybe 1/2 the weight.

If you have 6 cylinder and a good trailor however the 3/4" plywood approach is probably as good as anything.

Regards,
Dave

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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If you scroll down further on that same page, there is another box that someone constructed that sounds more similar to Dave's suggestion; reinforced with a 2x2 interior skeleton.

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Alex

Prindle 16 "Shake & Bake"
Portland, Oregon
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Or, you can buy one of Beachcats member Kenny Boudreaux's boxes (sailboxes.com) and ask if he'll do the mods you like. Kenny might do custom work...