I cheated today

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
Saw this in my inbox and asked for the price sheet. Don't tell may 310...


Not a normal fan of Cats but this looks really interesting. I can't call it beautiful but does have a sporty look and really good layout.
 
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Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
Looks like a nice boat. Cats do have their uses. We had stayed overnight at a marina where the owners of a cat invited all the boat people to cocktails. Twenty people in the saloon, with room to move around. But I'm not a fan of the motion of a cat in a seaway. In a quartering sea, one hull will go down and forward, and the other hull goes up and back, at the same time. Quick way to seasickness.
 
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JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
I have zero cat experience and have always loved mono hull, but wife really loves the space these big cats offer.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
Those cats are like a condo on the water.
My one experience wa a 9 day sail off the coast of Belize. It was fun. We race a 38 foot monohull on a reach wit our 45ft cat. Smoked him, even if they did not know we were racing. We also beat a smaller cat to the moorings at on of the islands. That got us to the island first and dinner on time.
Cat's can be fun, but I would miss the feel of a mono hull with the wind in the sail. Sitting on the lee side of the cockpit looking out under the sail for the boats.
 
Jun 14, 2010
2,081
Robertson & Caine 2017 Leopard 40 CT
@Tom J I find the rolling, pitching and heeling of monohulls more unsettling. To each his own. Been sailing trimarans since 2001. My next boat will be a cat. There’s much less overall motion in a multihull than a mono, and you’re more upright. It’s less fatiguing being upright.
I chartered a Jeaneau 440 a couple of years ago, because it looked like boat I might like. No sir. I got seasick the first time I went below in open ocean. Messing with opposing cabin doors at 30-degrees heel and trying to do anything at all in the head or galley is ridiculous. (It’s a nice boat, though).
 

JRT

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Feb 14, 2017
2,037
Catalina 310 211 Lake Guntersville, AL
@Captain Larry-DH that is great feedback. We feel in love with the 440 and came close to buying one for captain only charter in St Augustine. We ended up getting lucky and buying our 310 on our lake for the down payment on the 440 instead. It was a perfect move for us and the reality is the cat has some features my wife is now loving
 
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RoyS

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Jun 3, 2012
1,739
Hunter 33 Steamboat Wharf, Hull, MA
Nice for interior space. Where/how do you haul it out? Suppose you need to stay overnight in a coastal slip; do you need to rent two? Good for chartering in the islands, I imagine.
 
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Tom J

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Sep 30, 2008
2,301
Catalina 310 Quincy, MA
Nice for interior space. Where/how do you haul it out? Suppose you need to stay overnight in a coastal slip; do you need to rent two? Good for chartering in the islands, I imagine.
Hauling and dockage are definitely issues with cats. I have seen a couple hauled with cranes, since they wouldn't fit in a Travel Lift. Most marinas will dock a cat on a face dock for the same fee as a mono hull. As a dock master, I once docked a 70' cat on our face dock that almost blocked the channel in front of the marina. I thought the harbor master was going to yell at me about that one.
 

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
@Tom J I find the rolling, pitching and heeling of monohulls more unsettling. To each his own. Been sailing trimarans since 2001. My next boat will be a cat. There’s much less overall motion in a multihull than a mono, and you’re more upright. It’s less fatiguing being upright.
I chartered a Jeaneau 440 a couple of years ago, because it looked like boat I might like. No sir. I got seasick the first time I went below in open ocean. Messing with opposing cabin doors at 30-degrees heel and trying to do anything at all in the head or galley is ridiculous. (It’s a nice boat, though).
There's quite a difference between a tri and a cat, especially one designed almost exclusively for the bare boat industry. As mentioned above, the Lagoons are more like hotel rooms that can move from place to place, most often under the power of at least one engine
I have met quite a few folks who are really put off by the pounding of the bridge deck forward, in anything but well off the wind.
 
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