Some quick background: While I have played around a few times on Hobie 16s and Waves (and windsurfers and kiteboards), I have not owned a cat before. I started out looking at used 16s, but when this Nacra 5.0 came up for sale on craigslist, I did some online research and liked what I saw. I'll be doing recreational sailing in south Puget Sound (western WA State), about 75% solo, in winds typically 10-15 mph that occasionally increase to 16+. Being 60 years old, and 175 lbs, I want something I can rig and right myself, with performance I can grow into as I get more experience.
Overall the boat seems in decent shape. It has a new tramp. The lines and wires look good, but probably haven't been replaced in years, so I will likely want to do that. The sails still have some stiffness and look OK, though the main has a large ugly red stain where it looks like a red telltale bled, probably when rolled while wet. The specific areas which concern me are as follows; I'll elaborate with pictures below.
1) Cracks and repair of shroud chainplates
2) Mast dent
3) Soft areas on top of hulls
4) Crazing in gel coat
5) Gouging and wear on keel
6) Loose diamond wire spreader
Issue 1: There are cracks where the shroud chainplates enter the hulls. On the starboard side, there was clearly a fiberglass repair done, outside and probably inside. There is only one inspection port installed, on the starboard hull just inside of the shroud chainplate, likely to facilitate repair. About a 2-foot square section on the side of hull was refinished, though the added gelcoat (or maybe hardened marine paint) is flaking in places. On the inside it looks like a lot of epoxy was added; can’t really tell how much glass fabric was used. On the port hull a series of rivets were added on the outside of the hull to reinforce the port shroud chainplate, presumably to avoid a repeat of whatever happened on the other hull; there is no inspection ports on the port hull.
Issue 2: There is a dent in mast just above the mast foot, slightly larger than a thumb print. It looks like it is dented just above the internal flange of the mast foot casting. Otherwise, the mast looks straight and in good shape aside from some scratches and nicks.
Issue 3: When I press down on the top of the hull just forward and aft of the forward beam, the surface flexes noticeably. This happens on both hulls. The rim of the inspection port on the starboard side is cracked in multiple places around the rivets, likely from flexing. I know this model is fiberglass, rather than foam core sandwich, so I expected flexing in the sides of the hull, but thought the tops of the hulls should be stiffer. Pretty much in all the wider non-skid areas on top of the hulls, there is flex; the more narrow areas near the bows are rigid.
Issue 4: There is crazing in a foot-sized area of the gel coat on the outside surface of the starboard hull, slightly forward of the forward beam, near the top of the hull’s side.
Issue 5: There is wear along the entire length of both keels, and some small cracks and chips on the vertical edge of both bows. This isn’t too surprising and doesn’t look serious. But in some aft areas of the keel there are gouges/voids in what appears to be the seam where the two halves of the hull are joined. Sorry, but the only picture I got of this isn’t in focus. It seems like I could fill these voids with Marine Tex, and perhaps use Marine Tex along the entire keel to minimize further wear. There are also some gaps showing in the seam between both hulls on top, between the non-skid surfaces. It looks like whatever Nacra used to cover the seams (gel coat?) has gotten brittle. I see a few short (3-6”) cracks in places on the non-skid, but no lengthy longitudinal cracks which would indicate separation of the hull halves.
Issue 6: The diamond wire spreader, which is the straight version which goes through the mast, is fairly loose. It looks like it was sealed at some point, but it is not anymore.
If you’ve read this far, thanks in advance. I’ve found a little information on each of the above issues in my searches, but not quite enough for me to evaluate whether all the above are normal wear and tear on this boat. The shroud chainplate issue concerns me most. I also haven’t seen any other Nacra 5.0 boats advertised for sale recently, in the USA at least. Don’t know if that’s because owners love them and never let go, or if they’ve reached their end of useful life. Parts also seem difficult to come by, though it seems like some parts are interchangeable with the other Nacra models
Any advice on this boat appreciated.
Dave
