hello everyone! i've been lurking these forums for months now, and i think i may have finally convinced the wife that a beach cat would be the ideal boat for us. We have previous sailing experience on small monohull dinghy's, a hunter 30, and a venture 21 (first boat & last boat). we found trailer sailing to be a miserable experience, setting up the boat at the ramp was awful (with experience we got the prep time down to about a half hour, and then another half hour to break it down at the end of the day, and it was labor intensive to do it in that time frame).

I have a handful of questions, mainly, how much trouble is the set-up? i saw a video of a guy single handedly setting up a hobie 18, it looked like it took him about 20 minutes so i'm sure its easier/quicker with another person, but how much time am i realistically looking at to set-up/tear down?

I see the beach cat wheels, how well do they actually work? i'd have to push the boat over maybe 50-100 yards to get it from the trailer to the water. how difficult is it to get the boat off the trailer and onto the beach wheels?

Thanks in advance.

20 minutes is quick on a hobie 18. But set-up varies greatly depending on the boat. A hobie 16 is a 20 minute deal but a Nacra 20 is gonna often run 2 people an hour.

Beach wheels are great and are worth each penny to me. Getting the boat off the trailer is not a big deal with cradles or good rollers.

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Greenville SC

Offering sails and other go fast parts for A-class catamarans
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how do the wheels attach to the catamaran? i've been leaing toward the hobie 18. there is a hobie 18 magnum in my local craigslist that _looks_ like its in decent shape.

Friction is all it take...the boat just rests on the cradles. You can tie them to the shrouds if necessary, but I haven't needed to.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Well I'm happy for your beachcat decision, but I'd honestly say:
- never sail when you don't have more time than you need.

Why?
- well it's not as much fun when you rush
- you can't enjoy a beer while you're rigging the boat
- while you're rigging the boat invaribily someone will come to inquire, or just talk about sailing, or ask advice, or offer advice.. .you need to have the langiappe free time to tend to these as a friendly sailor
- you may make a mistake when rushing
- mistakes can lead to bad things on the water (oops, forgot that line, that pin, etc, etc).

So while for a LONG time I was a RUSHED SPASTIC gotta get on the water in as little time as possible dude.... now I plan for it all to take longer, and realize up front I may spend LESS time on the water than I planned, but it's also about enjoying the prep time, etc.

My Hobie 18 with spin sits on the beach, the spin's in the sock, the jib is furled (and covered) and I'm on the water in 20 minutes easily.... literally, remove the boat cover, the spin cover and the jib cover, screw in plugs, roll to the water and raise the main... except for the friendly conversations...

Cheers,
Rob.

Robpatt is spot on. It's essential to enjoy rig time & conversation with anyone who comes along--and sometimes they can be helpful at a critical moment. Pete

Agreed.

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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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so what are the rules of leaving you cat on the beach? i suppose it's different depending on where you live? anyone have any input on my locality? venice, fl?