Raf-1200 Posted October 23, 2010 Report Share Posted October 23, 2010 Hi All, Recently bought an 18 foot A cat to replace my Hobie. Once I got it home though the 'fix it up' bug hit me. With a plywood full covered in epoxy (mostly) the hulls were starting to show there age. I've fibreglassed all problem areas but now am considering putting a couple of layers over the whole lot. This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly this will be more a family cat then a racer and secondly I don't want to redo the coating in 2 years time:D Here's a few issues I would like to have people's opinion on. 1) Is the extra strength worth it when you take into account the added weight? 2) A cats weren't designed for jibs or spinnakers (although sailors have added them). If I wanted to add a jib for instance, what are the structural concerns and can fibreglassing offset this? 3) What coat to put over the top of the fibreglass? I'm leaning towards the Jotun product Jotacote 605 and then a UV stabilizer on top. Will start posting pics when I think I've done enough to make it worth it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted October 23, 2010 Report Share Posted October 23, 2010 Once you put the extra weight on it you kill it for racing and once you put your family on it plus weight you may be disapointed. A jib may pull your bows together so you could add a spreader bar to hold your bows. I did up my timber A class, in my opinion all it needs is complete stripping of all the coatings then everdure to seal the wood, two coats of good undercoat, 1 or 2 coats of good quality marine topcoat. It will cost you a lot to do all this on an older boat but not as much as all the glassing your considering, I found it was cheaper and better at the time to have a Stingray for 2 up and A class for 1 up. They both go on the same trailer, the A can sit on top of the Stingray or hang from your shed ceiling. You can get a Stingray for the cost of a new jib and cost of reinforcing your bows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raf-1200 Posted October 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Thanks for the reply Madaboutcats. I'm sure I've seen some of your words of wisdom on other websites as well. I'm not sure that my partner would be all that happy about 2 cats.. The spreader bar could be an addition. The bonus being that I can add it after I get the boat back on the water. I really don't think my cat would be all that competitive these days anyway so I'm happy to add a few kilos if it means I can have more sail area and just relegate it to fast family beach cat. Besides a spreader is there any other considerations like extra fibreglass in areas or even changing the front stay mounts? I noticed that mine are 110cm's from the bow but when I check the ply frame there's more support 20cm's closer to the bow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emmessee Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 Yep, I would not over do an old A-Class. They are great boats and awesome to sail, but I would agree with madaboutcats and keep it as an A-class and get something else for the family if you want to go that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raf-1200 Posted October 24, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 The guy before me did the hulls up only 3 years ago and when I bought it, it already had horizontal splits in the coating. On some areas it had actually split enough to see the ply! They were up to 7cm long. I want to keep this one for a while so don't want to be doing the same every three years. I shouldn't even put in one layer of fibreglass?!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted October 24, 2010 Report Share Posted October 24, 2010 When you look inside your boat it only has little stringers the bows flex upwards, sideways, hence the splitting in your paint. The problem you've got is your boat was made light and with a heavy load like adding a jib, putting family on it when you push into and through a wave, will have enormous load it was never made to have, you have a real chance of breaking the bow of in front of your main beam if you get caught in heavier wind. It's a great fun cat, I would enjoy the boat as it is don't spend any money or time on it you don't have to, BUT if your itching to have a go for the enjoyment of redoing the girl then go for it thats how I learnt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raf-1200 Posted October 25, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 Point taken. Thanks for the advice. I do like to tinker but if I'm making something slower just for the sake of hopefully getting more out of it, it doesn't make a lot of sense. If no one has any objections I think I'll just epoxy/top coat it and get 1 season out of it. Start looking for the next project now. Mwwaahhhahha! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted October 25, 2010 Report Share Posted October 25, 2010 No one can object to you wanting to tinker with your boat, go for it. Also point out to the missus that your saving $1000 and 100 hours by buying a Stingray to sail with her at times, it makes perfectly logical sense and any reasonable wife would have to jump at the opportunity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev.263 Posted January 4, 2011 Report Share Posted January 4, 2011 WOW!!! madaboutcats, by suggesting that there could be such a thing as a " reasonable wife?? " you have shown us all that you truly have gone mad....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madboutcats Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 My wifes more than reasonable she's learnt to roll her eyes a lot, I own 5 cats at the moment and when I told her we were adding an older 5.8 Nacra to the stable so we can do the 2012 Nacra nats in Adelaide she just rolled her eyes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knobblyoldjimbo Posted January 5, 2011 Report Share Posted January 5, 2011 one of the blokes at Manno has a wife, she said "dear the business has done well, why don't you buy a new boat" - just sayin, I want a wife like that!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
QB2 Posted January 6, 2011 Report Share Posted January 6, 2011 my wife said i should call her Boat- that way she'd have money spent on her! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.