I've only sailed a few times With my Uncle and loved it. The price of gas today had me considering a sailboat.
Well I just Purchased an old AMF Alcort Trac 18. Boat and trailer was $850. Boat has newer rigging and the tramp is in great condition. Hull does have a couple minor repairs and has a flat spot at the stearn from sitting on the trailer straped down to tight.
I live in Manchester NH There is a few lakes around me and was considering taking this beast out this weekend.
Is there anything I should possibly be aware of? It will be just me and my wife and she has never sailed and with my little experience should I wait and find someone with experience?
In general Im a learn as I go kind of person.
Welcome to the wide world of cat sailing... the fastest 15mph you can ever experience
watch out for:
storms, higher wind (over 15 for a newbie), loch ness monsters, and especially sarcastic responses :)
also: old rigging should be replaced (esp if rust or frays are found on the wires, or ropes)
have saftey gear (pfd's, whistle, flashlights, (cellphones OR BETTER VHF), righting line, knife, sunscreen, WATER, etc)
It is advisable to have others around you as you learn. even if in powerboats... someone to assist in-case of problems (actually you want a few people around.. .as it is VERY hard for a solo skipper to leave his boat to assist if needed)
sailing a few times with experienced sailors is a great way to learn the ropes... if you can find any. going to local yacht clubs is a great way to meet "the fleet" and get some experience.
IF you dont have a "chase boat" BE SURE TO tell friends and family your plans (so they can call the coast guard if you don't return as expected)
Thank you for the advice.
I do have all the important things including flashlight,first aid kit,knife,sunscreen,cell phone etc, and all mandatory things required by our coast guard (whistle, pfd's,
lines are all recently replaced and everything looks to be in top condition.
15mph winds are our normal where I'm at. (until I launch then there will be no wind with my luck) lol
once experienced how strong of a wind can these boats handle?
I dont know much about that cat specifically but we have a track 14 here that "kills it" in 20.
I have been on a dart 18 and a dart 20 in 30-40 mph winds... scary fast! but carnage happens at those wind speeds (broken battens, torn sails, deflated ego's etc).
typically:
5-10 MPH, nice fun day... almost enough to get a hull out of the water (1omph)
10-15mph is fast and fun
15-20 VERY fun and fast but can be overpowering (need crew and knowledge how to depower your cat)
20-25 VERY FAST, borderline out of control - capsize easy (with just one little mistake)
25-30 VERY top range for most cats. flips expected, gear failure possible.. survival mode
30-40 only for the insane.... (been there, got the shirt)
My second experience of even being on a sailboat was when i was going to purchase my current boat. My third experience i was at the helm. Give it hell!
It may be best to drag along a third person for your first outing. So long as people you ask aren't scared of the water, its usually not hard to talk them into it
First, Welcome to TheBeachcats.com, glad you found our community.
Have you rigged the boat yet, raised the mast? You need to make sure you know how that all works and that you and your wife can handle it, with just two people it can be hard to raise and connect the mast on an 18 foot catamaran, and several ways you can hurt yourself or boat.
Make sure you understand how the mast sits on the beam. Masts on beachcats can rotate, so they have ways to temporarily connect to the mast step while being raised. I'm not familiar with how the Trac 18 works, maybe someone else here is.
Would be extremely helpful to have someone with you experienced in catamarans along for the maiden voyage, but if you can't find someone just make sure you fully understand the process and maybe do a dress rehearsal in your yard.
Ask anything that you don't understand as you go along here.
Im not a 100% on the terminology but the mast is held on the beam with the downhaul line. This line holds the mast on the ball durring raising and keeps it on the ball while sailing. The way its designed allows the mast to rotate on the ball.
There is an album in "Beachcats Identification" for the AMF Alcort Trac 18 but it doesn't have much info. It would be great if you could add some detail rigging pics once you get your boat in the water and fully rigged.
You wouldn't have any literature with the boat? Brochures, assembly manuals etc.?
No I don't have any manuals but the guy I purchased it from walked me through the whole process on stepping the mast and raising the jib. I could do a step by step photo album when I get good and efficient at it .
I saw that boat on craigslist - looks like a great deal. I have sailed a Trac 16 for about 12 years and recently upgraded to a Nacra 5.0. Here is a link to the Trac 16 manual (the 18 should be similar): http://www.thebeachcats.com/files/trac_16.pdf
A few tricks for the Trac 16:
Tie the mast to the crossbeam when raising the mast, so it doesn't kick out.
The mainsail connects to a hook at the top of the mast to hold it up. It can take a few tries to get the sail hooked by pulling on the halyard and rotating the mast.
The jib also has a hook that connects to a loop - check the manual for a photo of how to install the halyard.
I would start off in 5 - 10 knots of wind until you are confident in handling the boat. I wouldn't go out if thunderstorms are predicted as the wind could quickly come up to 40+ knots. Check out the book: Catamaran Sailing from Start to Finish by Phil Berman for much more information.
Before raising the mast make sure to look up and check for power lines. Before leaving the beach make sure you have a righting line and have an idea of the procedure for righting the boat.
welcome to the club
I have a AMF Trac 16, and the downhaul line is tied to the mast via an eye strap and is used to tie the mast to the crossbeam to keep the mast on the ball while stepping the mast. Once the mast is stepped and secured by the stays(standing rigging) the downhaul is untied from keeping the mast on the ball, since the mast is now held on the ball by the stays, while the downhaul line is still tied to the mast via an eye strap and then looped through the tack of the sail and through another eye strap on the mast and up in to a jam cleat on the mast to apply the downhaul on the mainsail.
This process must be reversed in order to unstep the mast. Must retie the downhaul to the crossbeam before detaching the headstay.
NOTE! There is a specific way to tie the downhaul line for keeping the mast on the ball while stepping, if done incorrectly you can pull/rip the eye straps off the mast and/or crossbeam!
I'm still rather new to sailing as well, so once I take my Trac 16 out this weekend I'll take some picture of the process I attempted to explain above...
Edited by aaronhall555 on Jun 16, 2011 - 05:17 PM.
-- 1984 AMF Trac 16, First year of sailing, Central California --
You may be 100% correct in saying you use the down-haul LINE, but the downhaul is used (as said above) to pull the bottom of the sail dow n(by the tack) to flatten the sail while sailing
This is how my downhaul line is secured when ready to transport on the trailer:
This is how I position the mast before I secure it to the crossbeam to hold the mast on the ball:
This is how I start to tie the mast to the crossbeam, the downhaul line is tied to one of the eye straps on the side of the base of the mast with a bowline knot, then fed through the forward side of the mast eye strap and down through an eye strap on the crossbeam:
The downhaul line then goes back through the forward side of the mast eye strap and down through the other eye strap on the crossbeam:
Then to finish tying it off I go back through the forward side of the mast eye strap again and do a clove hitch knot(or what should be a clove hitch knot) around the mast:
Here is how it looks when the downhaul line is applying the downhaul on the mainsail. The downhaul line is tied to the eye strap on the side of the mast base without the jam cleat with a bowline knot and then fed through the tack of the mainsail and through the eye strap on side of the mast base with the jam cleat and fed in to the jam cleat to cleat it off:
Edited by aaronhall555 on Jun 19, 2011 - 08:29 PM.
-- 1984 AMF Trac 16, First year of sailing, Central California --
Great pic and description. I didn't do it quite that way but similar. I went out sunday we had 15 knot winds with gusts up to 23 knots. Im still alive didn't tip her and learned how to take the power away quick. I was sailing circles around the mono hulls . Lol I must have been going three times the speed of them at least it seemed that way .I'm forever hooked on this sport. .
