Well, I almost bought the Hobie 18 but decided that with as new as I am to the sport, I might not be able to do all the work to make her sea worthy. Kicking myself now though, she was a good deal.

Looking at a Nacra 5.7 now.

Anyone have input on a Nacra 5.7 good or bad?
Do they make wings for a Nacra 5.7?
What should I look for, beware of when looking at a Nacra?
I noticed that the 5.7 does not have a boom. Is that good or bad?

Thank you for your input.

New to cat sailing. Looking to solo and crew of up to 3.
Mostly sailing lower chesapeake out of VA Beach area.

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Scott Webb
Virginia Beach - Sandbridge
Still looking for my first Cat
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I used to have a Nacra 5.7 but make sure the hulls are solid and make sure it has been sailed and the rigging is less than 2 years old other wise replace it. You will like the boomless mail sail because you don't have to worry about taking your head off with a boom. I probably would go 1990 or newer. You don't have to worry about dagger boards which is nice but the dagger boards aren't too much trouble. I went with a Nacra 5.8 and really enjoy it.

Just had to jump in here. I have a 5.7 a 5.0 and a Hobie 16 (check my avatar) I know...it's a disease. Would like to make a couple points. I"ve sailed and/or crewed on just about every cat out there and wouldn't trade a one of them for my 5.7! I can go out in everything from 5-30+ winds and still have a good time. Daggerless, boomless, clean tramp a great heavy weather boat. It will perform well in almost any condition. I disagree with JETSFA in recommending a 1990 or later. The early models '83, '84 were solid fiberglass and heavy! None produced in '85...retooled in '86 with the newer foam core hull construction. Anything '86 or later would be fine. As an example of performance, this picture was taken last weekend Daughter and I were out double trapped in 30+ winds and had a sustained GPS reading of 21.9 on a broad reach. She had just slid in from the wire before a tack and I caught a pic of the lee hull buried up to the front crossbar. Not many boats would recover from this in 30+ winds. We just shrugged it off and kept sailing. If you can get a 5.7 in decent condition...BUY IT!

Hey Scott, now my two cents. I have the 570 and love the way it sails. Sails good in almost all wind ranges and is very forgiving in the big wind! Probably more power than the H18. Next season I'm planning two big upgrades to make it even better for me. Adding jib furler. Upgrading my mainsheet blocks from the stock 8:1 to 10:1. You will probably love the boomless, daggerless boat. Might give up a couple degrees in pointing - so what!
M

I have a NACRA 5.7, previously had a 5.2, 5.0. 5.8 & I still have a 5.5 uni / with sloop rigging. Have also raced on NACRA 20s. I love the 5.7, it is a great boat, big sail plan, but easily de-powered, and can be single-handed. As the poster NACRAMAN57 demonstrated with his picture, the sheer bows allow you agressively drive the boat at speed, without pitchpoling.
Another really interesting thing about the "ride" : the other older NACRAs have this rounded, flat bottom shape which kind of slaps the water as you move along, across the waves. with the 5.7 sharper hull shape, the skegs, the 5.7 ride is much more springy - it's kind of fells like you're cushioned.

For racing N5.0 & N5.7, the key to pointing these boardless boats is to keep the nose down. It's actually easier in the 5.0 because the shorter hulls allow the rudder to stay in the water at more bow-down angle. I find with the 5.7 especially when singlehanding I can stall the rudder when I put the nose down, not so much with crew.
All the 5.7 are old now, hard to find one good condition, although they make a 570. I think the 570 sail is less race-ready, and 570 jib is smaller than old 5.7 jib.
If the 5.7 mainsail material is still in decent shape, work a lot on the battens (taper for bend) and upgrade the downhaul system, you can get good performance out of the old sails. If downhaul is over 8:1, you may need to change out the main halyard system to the newer locking style, and may need to reinforce the head of the mainsail.
Also, you'll want a mainsail clew traveler for off-wind sailing.

Jim Casto
Austin TX
River Travis (pray for rain so we can have Lake Travis back again)
NACRA 5.7 "wind over water"
NACRA 5,.5 uni "Two Hot"

I have an N5.7(1984, solid hulls), & an N5.0(1988 cored hulls).
From reading your initial post, I would say the N5.7 is perfect for you, with 2 caveats.
Do you want to class race?
There are not great numbers of these boats, & finding a fleet to race against identical boats won't happen. If you don't envision that, or can fun race with handicaps, fine.
Are you in fairly good shape? If the answer is yes, buy the 5.7 if it is in good shape. It will be a handful if you have never sailed before, being nimble of mind, foot & body is an asset. The mast extrusion is 29', plus the top & base castings. Mine stays rigged all year, I would never attempt to raise it solo without the aid of some device, just a thought if you do not have mast up storage.
As a new sailor, (or just new to Cats?) you will end up working harder than you have to. The 5.7 is a 19' boat, with a powerful sail plan. I consistently get 18-20 mph(GPS) & broke 21mph last week with it.
You will dump it, with even a 100lb kid as crew they are easy to right, solo,(I'm 170 lb) I need 20 mph wind, or the aid of a bag to bring it back up solo. It is a handful to sail solo in 20 mph,(especially gybing), over 20, I remove the jib, depower with every available device, or take the 5.0. That said, out of 40 days this year, I soloed it 37.
Furling jib is the BEST UPGRADE you can have when solo, especially if you have to launch/recover from crowded sites.
If you have good crew, they can really be a rush in 25-30, over that becomes more of an exercise in survival.
I have to second what Nacraman says. I have submerged hulls to where a wall of water is coming over the beam, & have only pitchpoled once.
If you sail in reef infested water, boardless is great. Boomless means less worries when you have beginners aboard, you can have anyone working as crew with 5 minutes instruction, & setup is simpler. If not a serious racer, boomless & boardless are academic, you won't notice when moving along at 18+
The 5.7 has high buoyancy hulls, you will have no problem with 4 people on board, though speed will suffer somewhat. The greatest speed I ever attained on mine was with 3 adults, 2 trapped out, myself sitting on hull, foot braced against the rear traveler casting. If you regularly sail with more than 2 you will LOVE the large totally uncluttered tramp.
As J Casto says, when you need to point, get the weight forward & bury the lee bow at least 50%. In lighter wind this means sitting in the middle of the tramp, right near the mast. If you are trapped out, solo, you need a long hiking stik. My Fx-3(8') is not long enough to let me trap out at the front beam, I can only go to the shrouds.
I have never seen wings on the boomless Nacras, as far as I know none are made, you would have to fabricate something.
Go over the hulls, pressing everywhere, On the older solid hulls you will see some oil canning, especially on the sides, but the decks should not be soft. Don't worry about hairline cracks in the gel cote, unless they lead you to suspect deeper damage.
As in any Cat, caefully check the big ticket items.
SAIL-no (or few small) repairs, material should not be soft like well worn T shirt. Batten pockets not torn, & all battens present. Look for excess wear on the clew plates & head plates, indicating heavy use. Check jib zipper for smooth running on its full length, & that stitching on both main & jib, especially head & clew is intact.
TRAMP look for lots of missing stitches, old dull looking fabric, grommets pulled out.
MAST sight up the sail track for trueness
BLOCKS the 5.7 should have lo profile Harken 7:1 or 8:1 ratcheting main blocks, HArken ratcheting jib blocks.
RUDDER ASSEMBLY look for cracks in castings, welds, cracked tiller tubes, & of course the blades themselves.You cannot substitute N5.2 blades, they are to short. The boardless boats have a definite rise in the rear 3' of the hull, they use rudders that are longer, 36" IIRC.
I don't know what the weight differential is between the solid hulls & the newer foam cored hulls. I really would not worry about it, IF the boat/gear are in good shape.
Nacraman got 22mph out of his foam hulls, I have just barely broken 21mph,(21 was a short distance, sustained is normally 19-20 in appropriate wind) with solid hulls, BUT, all my GPS readings were done solo. I cannot hang onto the power available when solo. I would definitely choose an older solid hull boat that had seen light use, & had excellent sails, over a newer cored hull boat that had been driven 200 days a year in Florida.
The 5.7 is not as modern as say an F18, or even its successor the 570, but the price reflects that, & really, it is as modern as a Prindle 18, Hobie 18, or any other boat of that era. If you want a solid, fast, forgiving boat , simple to rig,that can carry weight, but also sailed solo, you will be hard pressed to find something better.
Mine is faster than the Dart 18 around the corner, points as high as a newer H17 Sport,(though I have to work to keep as high a line & match speed). The H17 seems to be pretty close in top speed IF the water is smooth. Once it gets rough & bouncy the larger Nacra hulls win.

Jim Casto- if you are still reading, do you have any detailed photos of your CastoRight setup? Especially how you connect the tube to the DS. PM me, thanks.



Edited by Edchris177 on Sep 26, 2012 - 04:33 PM.

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Hobie 18 Magnum
Dart 15
Mystere 6.0XL Sold Was a handful solo
Nacra 5.7
Nacra 5.0
Bombardier Invitation (Now officially DEAD)
Various other Dock cluttering WaterCrap
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Love my 5.7, love it, love it, love it. It is super stable, hard to pitchpole (haven't even been close) and hard to screw up. Way more foregiving than my 5.2 (which is a little twitchier now that I have a modern sailplan on it). It doesn't point as high as my 5.7 but does surprisingly well for a no board boat. Super huge uncluttered tramp and very comfortable to sail on.

They made wings for Nacras for about 2 years, good luck finding them. I lucked out and got a set for about $1000 that needed new tramps and adjustments to the beam plugs. I have been thinking of a way of homebuiling wings supporting them using an extra shroud on each side for support similar to the boat in this add http://www.thebeachcats.c…tra-performance-cat.html. That would simplify the construction and installation.

I love the boomless design. You might lose a bit of speed because of it, but not having to worry about newbs on your boat or getting bashed with it during a blown gybe is really nice.

First thing I did when I bought it was change out the rigging and install a roller furler. You can do it surprisingly cheaply using this furler: http://www.murrays.com/mm…de=C-MO-RF&Store_Code=MS I was a little concerned but the little furler works great! I just remove the short battens from the stock jib and haven't had a problem on both the 5.2 and 5.7.

The big skeg hulls give you enough floatation for 3 people.

The biggest problem I would look for is stress cracking at the front beam and in the string at the front beam. If you have ports aft of the front beam, make sure you open them and look inside. There is a stringer/wall that goes across the hull under the front beam. It should be undamaged and completely connected to the hull walls. The hulls on top shouldn't show any cracks. You will sometimes see some crazing on the gell coat, that is normally OK, just a consequence of weathering and flexing over the years. Cracking though the gel coat is not. The front beam is the most stressed part of the boat and Nacras tend to die by breaking at the front beam, so pay close attention. The other thing to look for is damaged transoms, if the boat is an early one without pivmatic rudder kickups those can be damaged and are hard to get to for repairs. Most other things can be repaired fairly easily as long as you get a good price.

Damage to the keel near the skegs is common, the gelcoat is usually missing for 3-5 feet near the skeg. I had to repair some small holes in mine and put a wear strip on. Took me about 4 hours total, but I didn't worry about finishing them very nicely (nobody sees the keel anyway I figured).

Minimum main sheet would be a 7:1. 8:1 is ideal for the boat.

Definitely get a righting bag. You have little hope of righting it solo without one. The big hulls and mast mean a lot of weight you have to get over the center of gravity to right it.

Oh and if I forgot to mention it. I LOVE this boat! By far my favorite recreational catamaran. It does so many things so well and can still outrun almost all the other cats of similar price. I had a chance to blow away a couple of H16s this summer and they were just stunned, couldn't believe my big beast could pass them that fast.

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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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