Hi, I currently have a prindle 16. It has a barber hauler system and I have a furling system for the jib. I like that the boat is light and easy to rig and sail. It is stable and can handle a good bit of weight. It is fine for two-three people. It can handle four, but the tramp gets really crowded. I also don't like the rudder system. I know I could move up to an 18, but I am really trying to stay with 16 because it is easier to trailer.

I have a chance to buy a GCat 5.0 for $1,000.00 with no trailer. The G-Cat is in good shape. Everything is there. The only issue with it is the current owner epoxied the bottom of the hulls. He claims one of the hulls had a hole in it from beach rash and that he added epoxy to the keel of both hulls to "beef" them up. My questions are as follows.

1.) Should the quality of his epoxy job concern me? Any tips on checking it?

2.) Regarding the front tramp of the G-Cat 5.0, my understanding is that the jib attaches to the front crossbar, meaning it sits very low, which leaves very little clearance on the front tramp. Does this render the front tramp less useful? When I change directions, kids in the front will have to somehow move around the jib without getting tangled in the jib line. Also, does it limit my ability to strap a cooler to the front tramp?

3.) One way around that might be to get a new jib from a different boat. In looking at the measurements, it looks like my rolling furler system and prindle forestay would work with the original prindle pigtail. I suppose I could try a prindle 16 jib. Any thoughts on this or somehow converting the G-Cat jib system to allow for a furling system and more jib to tramp clearance?

4.) Last question, since I trailer and don't always go out for the entire day, minimal rigging time is critical to me. I can rig a Hobie 16 in 20 minutes or so. For the prindle, it is a bit more because the boom is not already connected to the main. Is there any noticeable difference in rigging time with the G-Cat 5?

Thanks for your help.

I would stay away from it. Without using glass to repair the bottoms the structure of the boat is compromised. Unless you know someone that's very familiar with those boats..... A P-18 isn't that much bigger to tow. Buying any 30 year old boat is risk.

Does it matter that the hole was extremely small?

Well beach rash on itself is a quite normal phenomenon, especially on a beach with stones and shelves.
When nothing is done against it, it will finally lead to holes in the bottom of the hulls.

So, when there was one small hole you definitly have to look further for total wear and tear of the glass layer under the hulls.

A simple hole could have been fixed by filling it with epoxy compound.
But if you can see the glass structure of the laminate over a considerable lenght, then there has to be done more repair.
(All assuming that the owner didn't paint it all over)

For that matter, bringing on a new wear and tear layer (without need for glassing) is a simple DIY job with thickend epoxy between two tapelines.
If it needs reinforcement of the laminates glassing though, you have to have some experience with laminating.

And about rigging times: I think you worry too much about minutes difference.

Thanks for the insight. The owner told me he had a professional that does hull work for yachts do the bottom job. Am I correct that the worst case scenario here is I would have to keep an eye on it and potentially have to redo the bottom job again?

Well, everybody who sails with a cat starting and ending on a beach should keep an eye on wear and tear of the hull bottoms.

In my spot for instance, I have to tow my cat with my tractor passing sandbanks with a long line. I don't take the risk of getting stuck with my tractor in a seacreek.

Ofcourse I do this protective bottom-layer by myself. Underneath I have placed an extra kevlar-epoxy layer, to be sure.
Last time I renewed the bottomlayer is more than 3 years ago and I sail about 50-70 days a year.

Just a small hole no problem.

I was involved in restoring a G-Cat 5.5 this summer to present as a wedding present to a friend. One of the things we did was to use 3M 4200 to attach a 10 foot section of 1" by 1/8" aluminum strip to the bottom of the middle portion of each hull to prevent further wear and tear. The additional weight was really minimal. I did this because of my 12 years of excellent experience with the same treatment on the Mystere 4.3s that I raced and I knew it would be used often on beaches. The new owner is busy and not experienced with maintaining boats so this will make it significantly easier for him. It also was relatively easy and inexpensive to do.

Mike, I'm very surprised to hear that this holds!

Ofcourse I,ve played a lot of times with the idea of glueing some sort of protective layer at the bottom. But I never thought that this would work in practice.
And not at all with aluminium and 3M 4200, which is hard to glue anyway.

So, thanks for your remark. I learned again....

I fixed 2 old GCat 5.0 boats over the years where the beach rash was a problem. With the design of the hull, the bottom of the hull is a point, so the wear removes fiberglass to the point where the two halves come together(the keel) starts to separate. Sometime the wear will go all the way through, but mostly it flattens out the pointed keel. I filled with Marine tex the first time, and the 2nd time with thickened epoxy. I wouldn't worry about this as it is a simple repair, really no structural separation as there is a lot of glass on the bottom.
Now if it separated and had water in between the layers of glass then we have a different problem.
Its a sturdy boat with a lot of glass, if the price is right then go for it and don't worry too much.

And on the jib at the front, it does cross the front tramp, but no one will care. Pile on the bikinis and a big cooler and go for it.

That is also how Mystere puts the aluminum wear strips on (they do not use 4200 but something similar to it). Never saw a problem with them.

I ended up buying the G-Cat 5. Now I am looking to replace a couple of things. What length/size halyard should I be using for jib and main halyards? I found a diagram and assembly manual, but no parts list. Also, I need a rudder retention clip for the port side. The current one does not stay down real well. Any ideas? I posted on Hans' FB page and he replied by giving me his email address, so I emailed him, but he has not responded to the email.