Hi, I'm new to catamarans and sailing in general. I just bought a 1981 Boston Whaler SuperCat 17. It's in rough shape but there are no major structural issues and I got it for next to nothing from a redneck who wanted to turn it into a pontoon boat.
The most obvious issue to me was the mainsail has a rip in the Luff. Is the sail recoverable? If so, how would I go about repairing it?
The standing rigging is also in rough shape with some fraying of the wires. I've been told standing rigging lasts a while but in its current state, I don't trust it to hold up the mast. is there a good place to buy new rigging for such an old boat or would I have to retrofit some Hobie rigging?
Last question: The running rigging is completely rotted. I can get new lines form West Marine, but the guy I bought it from had removed all the ropes to tie the mast to the trailer. Is there a diagram for the rigging or a PDF of the owner's manual I could use to re-rig the boat?
Sorry for the cavalcade of questions! Any help would be greatly appreciated. The SuperCat 17 doesn't have a ton of info about it online and ya'll on this forum seem to be the only ones who know what you're talking about!
SuperCat Sail/rigging repair
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- Registered: Jan 08, 2023
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Posted: Jan 08, 2023 - 09:09 PM
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- Registered: Oct 15, 2021
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Posted: Jan 27, 2023 - 10:23 AM
Some people implied, but I don't think directly said. Tom Haberman is the owner of https://www.aquarius-sail.com/ is the Supercat guy. I think he has been involved in the supercat products for most/all of their existence and as somebody mentioned currently sells the ARC line of boats which are modernized Supercats.
He sells parts to maintain the fleet and you can get new rigging from him. Just give him a call/email. I will say that he is "old school" and is a bit slow to respond sometimes if he is working in his shop, but he will get back to you and is super helpful when you do get his attention.
For standing rigging he will need to know if you have a roller furler for correct forestay length. And he will need to know if you have the big self righting system highfield levers for correct sidestay length. I have seen Supercat rigging on e-bay from Salty Dog something or another, but he is not terribly helpful and I think his rigging wasn't setup for the self righting system(and he wouldn't make modifications). I am sure his trapeze lines and bridle wires are probably fine.
Somebody posted the Supercat manual which has all the running rigging lengths but the standing rigging is not publicly documented. I have seen 2 versions of the manual and one is definitely a bit newer because it had features my boat didn't have.
I am not terribly helpful on the sail questions. Tom can get new sails made but they will be white "race style" and not classic colors. I don't see used sails come up very often, and I definitely could use newer ones.
He sells parts to maintain the fleet and you can get new rigging from him. Just give him a call/email. I will say that he is "old school" and is a bit slow to respond sometimes if he is working in his shop, but he will get back to you and is super helpful when you do get his attention.
For standing rigging he will need to know if you have a roller furler for correct forestay length. And he will need to know if you have the big self righting system highfield levers for correct sidestay length. I have seen Supercat rigging on e-bay from Salty Dog something or another, but he is not terribly helpful and I think his rigging wasn't setup for the self righting system(and he wouldn't make modifications). I am sure his trapeze lines and bridle wires are probably fine.
Somebody posted the Supercat manual which has all the running rigging lengths but the standing rigging is not publicly documented. I have seen 2 versions of the manual and one is definitely a bit newer because it had features my boat didn't have.
I am not terribly helpful on the sail questions. Tom can get new sails made but they will be white "race style" and not classic colors. I don't see used sails come up very often, and I definitely could use newer ones.