Good day, all!

Some folks are all about racing the newest one design and others just want to sail something they built themselves. Myself and my family are in a strange subgroup that likes to homebuild fast boats on a budget and go race.

Once our Gcat was toast, I found a set of 18HT hulls w/ crossbars and tramp at an awesome price. With this as the basis of a new cat, here are the design ideas for a nice 18ft DPN raceboat-

1. Skipper is 75 and needs a comfortable drivers position, so no double trap. Hope to have a few more years driving competitively.

2. Low cost at all costs! Lots of horse trading and used parts deals.

Reuse rigging, mast, rudders from Gcat. Traded for spin gear and H17 wings. Used sails, squaretop main, spin.

3. Bias towards light air that is predominant on inland SE lakes.

A small front tramp will go on to allow comfortable crew position forward and cooler space <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />


18 feet
8' 2" beam
Weight under 400 (yes. the al. stick and wings add weight over the stock 18HT setup.)
Sail area M/J around 225sq ft.
same for spin
Wings- either full length or possibly shortened to just helm position.
1 trap

If the rear beams are too low , then we can raise them.


I hope to be able to keep up w/ F18's around the course.

Long term it would be nice to actually have a carbon stick.

sorry to keep following you around on this <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
are you running a jib on the boat to start with? if not, change the forestay to something that joins a lot higher for the bow bridle. This does not need to be expensive. use 1/8 vectran or dyneema for the bottom and 5/32 for the top part and put eye splices in them. Cheaper by 10c a foot and don't need to swage them.
I love HTs and don't wanna see the hulls get crunched unnecessarily <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Edit: however, if you aren't going to ever be double trapped and don't anticipate high wind and therefore high mainsheet tension then you might be alright.

yes, jib. See the part about front tramp? Crossbar at the bridle mounts. It will be pushed hard if we get the chance.

I think that would work.. I saw the part about the front tramp but there was no mention of the bar in the post. I hadn't thought of a bar (usually think of a bridle foil/bar.
nice...

Thanks. I know we add drag if it is seriously stuffed, but there is a decent amount of hull forward of the bridle mounts so hopefully that will be a rare event. It will be an odd looking setup compared to current boats, but as long as it is fast I can handle it. Hull volume vs. total weight will be another interesting factor...

the HT hulls are relatively narrow- esp at the rear end. The guy who owns my old HT is 230 and when he goes to the back of the boat to deal with the rudders the entire transom goes under the water, even over the ports <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> .
of course that is when most of the weight as at the corner though...

Minor update- Flat top trailer: Trailex AL trailer, treated ply deck (8x8), 1x8 side rails and outdoor carpet.





And a long term project- I20 main that we can cut down for a modern square top mainsail.

Minor update-

Fixed the broken tiller crossbar, dialed in a tiny bit of toe-in. Then we played with the front cross bar/bridle quite a bit to find the simplest way of setting it up and not impacting the original design. So we wound up just cutting small slots in the bottom of the bar so the fittings on the hull go up, into the bar. We then used a hole saw to cut access holes slightly inboard on top of the bar to have the bridle come into the bar and connect to the boat with a set of stainless shackles (screw-in pins). The shackles prevent the bar from coming off and we can easily remove it. The bar is an old boom section so we can use the slot to set up a front tramp. Not exactly pretty but will do the job. Since the fittings on the boat have a round base, the bar does not touch the deck. It looks just like the pics on the trailer- like it is just sitting on the hulls.

Looks like the rig is going to work.
Kinda like putting a flathead V8 in a NASCAR chassis...

We will need to work on the spreaders and probably be sailing w/out the spinnaker for now.

So,
An 18HT + G-Cat = 18GT?

just wanted to see if you have anything to support the middle of the forward beam from bending when you put load on it.... most 5.8/6.0's have un upsidedown dolphin striker on the top of that front beam to keep it from bending when you sheet in.... would hate to see the mast or hulls get damaged....

It is the same section size as what was on the g cat and that never exhibited any bending.

Shortened spreaders (straight) to better clear the big overlapping G-cat jib. Extended tongue on trailer and made new mast upright w/ spare Al. section. (Thanks Trey!)

Not sure if we will be able to hit Catfest, but it won't be for lack of trying.

Just sail w/ jib and Main, 1 trap. Gotta love tuning a new setup on the race course...

Towed up to Lake Norman for Catfest 2008 saturday morning.



The daggerboards arrived Fri. midday. BIG thanks to Bill Vining! (and Trey Brown for the trailer tongue!)

Awesome weather Saturday- 10-15 knots and about 83*.

Leading the first race, second lap, just started to trap out and the tiller crossbar broke! Bummer. Missed out on 5 great races. Fixed the tiller ashore (temporarily) with the sawed off aluminum handle of a brand new paint scraper.

Went out after 5 for a quick check of repair and some adjustments to cleat angles and a few other small tuning changes.

Raced on Sunday, light air race 1. 2 minutes late to the start but managed to finish 2nd.

Second race was a drifter, hot. Still pulled out a 2nd.


What did we learn on the show tonight, Craig?



Well, let's see...

Hulls kick butt, points well, accelerates quicker than the ol' G-Cat and certainly tacks easier. Transoms are always in the water, even with me way forward on the leeward hull.

Jib sheeting angles are not so good, not happy with the overlap and the jib block location. But, I do have to admit that reaching with that big genoa vs. TheMightyHobie18's and a P18-2 is a decided advantage.

Mast is a true Frankenstein and needs to be retired. Broken, spliced, not so straight and even a bit inverted. Not light, either. But- it is very strong with the double diamond. The shortened spreaders clear the jib. The eyeball measurements worked out.

Need new crossbar for rudders and improve mount for tiller extension.


Maybe start working on spin setup.


As is, seems to be sailing with the Prindle 18-2.


Moe than one racer said we should use the I20 main we have on a taller mast, lose the jib and go back to a uni with spin.

Hmmmmm,

We raced at the Outback Cup in abysmal conditions- drifter extraordinaire.

Hard to say how the boat compares to others in such a crapshoot AND the expert drifter was not feeling well so he had me driving. I could not call a shift or layline right all weekend. Oh well. At least we did better each race.

We have a fresh, F18 small jib to use. Looks like it will sheet nicely to the crossbar. While it will help upwind w/ no overlap and correct sheeting angle, we will be giving up 30 sq ft of sail.

For downwind we have a couple of choices-
An F18 spin w/ endpole snuffer

OR

E-Scow reacher which is a little bigger but cut flatter and could be used as a hooter on a furler. If we went w/ the reacher it would be bag launched at first.


Comments?

"Cheap Trick" has been sitting quietly this winter and I have done a little bit of work.

Found a 10" carbon fiber tube remnant online that fit our broken end-snuffer pole (from I20) and also grabbed a Harken pivot exit block for the halyard off eBay. Epoxied the pole back together and will start playing with rigging it when it warms up a bit.

Also found some foam battens which should shape the main much better than the battleship heavy fiberglass battens.

Front tramp should be ready by spring.

Looks like we may have a new rig to try out. I will know more by the end of the week. Carbon stick, matching squaretop main. Same area as the Gcat main. Should be a nice performance improvement.

Sweet, now you have Carbonfrankenboat! You know your rating just dropped by 3 or 4 points!

Yup. I would have been OK w/ just a clean Al mast but could not find one so a cf mast w/ matching main will just have to do. Have to fix it, of course.

New Main!!

Now I have to fix the matching mast. Woo Hoo!

So we have the front tramp on. Most serious cat sailors are probably saying "ugh". But hey, it does have a purpose.

DISCLAIMER- At no time were any HT hulls damaged in the frankensteining. No holes drilled, so it can all come off if wanted.

Front tramp-


And playing with a jib and spin/reacher/hooter setup.

We can do the learning curve on the old, cheap sail before moving up to a snuffer and spinnaker. Since this mast and rig is so worn out, the nice, high aspect jib is also staying in the bag until the new mast can be put up.

I know, not exactly a fast shape on that "spin". If we screw it up, no big loss.