Hi everyone, I'm new to cats and I have some sailing experience. I bought a pacific cat 19 and I cannot figure how to rig her. Can someone help

Hey, yes!

Do you know if you got one of the earlier P-Cats, or the later one, the P2-18? The P2 had a taller mast, among other things.

Royce's Sailing Illustrated has a rigging diagram for the P2-18. If you go here:

http://books.google.com/b…ad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

You can flip through the book 'till you find the diagram (page 49). It's a pretty cool book for other reasons, so I wound up picking up a copy. It doesn't cost much.

Mine isn't 100% stock, but I've got a bunch of pictures from restoring mine here:

http://www.thebeachcats.c…ictures/?g2_itemId=83700

There's not a whole lot of information online about the P-Cat, so if you don't mind adding to the world's store of P-Cat knowledge as you go, I'd love to see pictures of your boat as you get it set up.

To help you with your Google searches, the Pacific Catamaran has been called, variously: Pacific Catamaran; Pacific Cat; P-Cat; P-Cat 19; P-Cat 18 (it's 18.75' long, hence the confusion), and a whole host of others. Some searches work better than others.

What in particular are you having trouble with? (I'm guessing the jib, but that's just a guess.)

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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Check out Tom's P-Cat SMILODON in this thread;

http://thebeachcats.com/f…ms/viewtopic/topic/11755

...and his photo album here;

http://thebeachcats.com/pictures/?g2_itemId=83700

Hope this helps!

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AJ
Barefoot 12 Proa Outrigger
Coastal NC, USA
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Oops ... Looks like Tom's post beat mine -- sorry for the duplication!

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AJ
Barefoot 12 Proa Outrigger
Coastal NC, USA
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Thanks for the info. I'll be happy to add pictures as I go. Where is the factory plate and any chance of a picture of the main whinch handle. I believe mine is a p-2

Just wanted to say THANKS again. I looked into the two little hatches at the front and found not one crank but two. I also found the org owners manual but I doubt if it can be saved. I'll let you know. In raising the mast does it lay from the bow or stern and what is connected before raising? Hod do I load pictures here?

Hey, if you have an owner's manual, it'd be a huge boon if you could scan it or photograph it!

And awesome you found two cranks. I have only the one. It's already been dropped overboard once, but that was in the harbor so it was a simple matter to dive down and get it. I should probably photograph mine just so I have a pattern to work from when I drop it in really deep water.

The mast on this boat goes up a lot like it did on my Prindle: Move the mast aft, with the masthead sticking way past the sterns and the mast base pointing forward. Rotate the mast 90 degrees to one side and fit it into the mast hinge. Rotate 90 degrees back to forward. This locks the mast in the mast hinge.

Prior to raising the mast, make sure the side stays and forestay are attached to the boat. How you attach them to the chainplates will determine how far forward or aft the mast is raked. Since this depends on the length of your stays, and since mine are after-market, I can't give you any guidelines here. Just keep things symmetric side-to-side.

To raise the mast you want to pivot the mast along a fore-aft plane, and not let it lean side-to-side. Doing this will break the mast hinge. (Don't ask me how I know this. High winds suck for putting up a mast.) Push, pull, do whatever you have to do to raise the mast. When I was sailing a Prindle, I could gorilla the thing up by holding it overhead and walking toward the boat from the stern. I'd then climb on the boat and keep walking forward, pushing it up over my head the whole way.

I can't do that with the mast on the P-Cat. I'm older, it's heavier, and I'm a lot more aware of my own mortality. These days I use a trailer winch hooked to the forestay. I don't have a gin pole (YET!) so I still have to hold it up overhead while my wife cranks on the winch. Once the mast is up at a good angle, the winch takes over and she'll crank until it's upright.

Once the mast is upright, the forestay is connected to the front crossbeam with a pin. Mine came with a clevis pin with a ring ding to lock it into place. I splurged and ordered some stainless quick pins from McMaster Carr. I think you can get these through Murray's for about the same price. I love having one on the forestay. Makes putting a mast up a lot less stressful.

Damon has a good tutorial on how to put pictures on the site as part of his signature. If you see any posts of his, follow the link. Basically you create an album and then load pictures into it. Albums can contain other albums, which makes it easy to organize stuff.

Can't wait to see pictures of your boat!

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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Here is a 1966 photo of Pacific Catamaran fun in Mexico...screamin' fun!

OOOps......lubber forgot the link!

well, I give up.......the link just doesn't show..... bye guys, sorry for the trouble

Wait wait wait! Don't take off yet. I'm trying to collect photos of P-Cats, and would really like to see the link. If you're still here, let me know and I can send you my email address.

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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pcatfan

well, I give up.......the link just doesn't show..... bye guys, sorry for the trouble

What kind of trouble are you having? Is the photo you are trying to show on the web someplace, or is it only on your computer? Anyway, welcome to TheBeachcats.com.

There are instructions for uploading photos and posting them in forums in my signature below. And there is a P-Cat photo album which needs more Pacific Cat pictures here.
http://www.thebeachcats.c…ictures/?g2_itemId=73548

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

How To Create Your Signature

How To Create Your Own Cool Avatar

How To Display Pictures In The Forums.
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Hello All ...

just recently stumbled across this forum and PCat thread, which brings back a lot of memories.

I was a youngster at SWYC in San Diego when Joe Hawkins showed up with PCat #13. I was racing Lightnings at the time, but the speed of the PCat and having that big spinnaker were a lot of fun.

In short order, we had a PCat fleet there. I sailed extensively with Jack Blair (#89, Ramona), and with JoEd Davis (taught them both to sail). Sailed a lot of races and day sailing with both, including Los Angeles area YC's and a fair number of races out of Malibu YC. Later crewed for Bob Baker when the fleet championships were held in SD bay, finished #1 for the regatta (IIRC, that was around 1964).

Malibu YC was little more than a parking lot and beachfront with a Malibu Outrigger fleet. You dropped your PCat onto the sand from the trailer, and when rigged and ready to go, called for muscle to help lift the boat down to the water's edge. Everybody pitched in and generally waited for any stragglers to get them to the water. After that, on your own to head out through the surf, which could be quite a challenge on some days.

I don't recall any issues with the rudders sailing from there; you sailed out a little bit into deeper water, perhaps a lull in the surf, and then pushed the pivoting blades down where they would be held in place by bungee cords. With only a foot or two of water below the hulls, you could put at least one daggerboard into position to get better control of the boat, and then drop it all the way once into deeper water. Coming in, you pulled the boards up and sailed in slowly on the surf; the rudders kicked up when they hit the bottom.

I recall Joe Hawkins, Jack Blair, and Neil Harvey sailing a bunch down in Mexico. Later, Warren Miller did some filming of them for his sailing films. I remember Joe sailing some of the Newport-Ensenada or SD-Ensenada races, although I think they didn't allow the boat as an official entrant. But he sailed anyway, knowing that there'd be a lot of company on the way to assist if needed. He was hours ahead of the big boats every race, never had any trouble. I'd sailed the boats on open water, taking #89 from KHYC to Little Fisherman's Cove on Catalina Island.

I think these boats were pretty stable platforms if you paid attention, even in conditions when overpowered and able to sheet in too much and take it over. I've only been over twice with a PCat, and both times we righted without much difficulty ... although the 2nd time I had the "assistance" of the CG in SD bay, and they insisted upon treating our situation as a major calamity. Couldn't convince them we had the boat under control and would get it back up by ourselves or with their hand at the top of the stick to tip the boat back up, they ordered us onboard their ship and spent awhile lassoing the mast and then righting the boat. With the PCat starting to drift/sail rapidly away even with eased sheets, they finally powered over to it and allowed us to reboard and take control. Of course, the whole scene was a major calamity to them and they had a helicopter overhead adding to their confusion ... and we were just high school kids. I got home and my folks casually asked how the racing went that day, and I was low key about having a couple of firsts and one throw-out; they had a fit because my crew had told his Mom about the capsize and the CG and the helicopter and the whole big deal that they made of it. We were wearing our safety gear ... both in high flotation trapeze rigs, which was enough flotation for my crew to grab the top of the stick and heave it up enough for the sail to start clearing the water after first furling the jib. We were never in any danger on that summer day; even if the boat had turtled, we were still able to sit on the hulls and drift somewhere in relative safety.

The only weak point I ever saw on these boats was the headstay, buried inside the wood for the furling jib. The wood pivoted on the wire and would wear these to a point when they could fail under load. Had that happen with JoEd Davis one day on a race to CYC(Glorietta Bay) and back to SWYC, we were way down in south bay. Tacked, and I hooked up to the wire and started to put a load on it, but the mast slowly folded back. One of the other PCats towed us back to SWYC.

The hardware on those early boats wasn't up to the task. Certainly wasn't Harken stuff, it was undersized old Lewmar and similar bits and pieces of high friction components not up to the task of these boats. The first change was usually to rig the mainsheet with C.E. Sharpnack ice-boat blocks, and then put on better turning blocks and cam cleats for the spinnaker. The early boats didn't have a boom vang, so that was also a needed fitting. When the factory started putting a boom vang on the boats, the surface mounted an eye on the aft flat portion of the mast with two little pop rivets. A good reachy beat and needed vanging would bust those rivets out in minutes. You had to replace this with a larger strap to the sides of the mast with more rivets in shear rather than tension to stand up to the load.

Sure enjoyed sailing big reaches with the 'chute on these boats. I've sailed to the Coronado Islands and back from SWYC, did some fishing from the platform while down in the island area. Had lots of room to do this and the speed to make a day trip out of such an adventure.

I hope you guys with one of these old beauties is keeping it in good shape and enjoying the ride. The solid platform makes for a lot of space for cruising and camping out under a boom tent, on a very beachable boat. I've often thought that these boats would make good inland lake sailing weekenders in summer months.



Edited by sunsprit on Sep 30, 2013 - 09:58 PM.

Hey sunsprit, Welcome to TheBeachcats.com,

That's some good P-Cat memories there!

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Damon Linkous
1992 Hobie 18
Memphis, TN

How To Create Your Signature

How To Create Your Own Cool Avatar

How To Display Pictures In The Forums.
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Thanks for posting, sunsprit!

I'm doing what I can to keep mine in good shape, but I've had to keep it on land for health reasons.

Your comments on the running rigging are right on the money. Most of the old hardware that came with my boat was falling apart. I replaced almost all of it with heavier duty stuff, though the transom blocks for the jib are still stock. And your comments on the boom vang are timely! I've got one of the "newer" boats that came with a vang. But as you said, two tiny pop rivets hold the fitting on the mast. I need to give some thought to making something heavier that wraps around so I can relocate those rivets to the sides.

My biggest problem (aside from the health issues) is that most of the sandy beaches here are strictly no-boat beaches. Swimmers only. So I've got a beach cat I can't beach. I'd love to go camping with mine. I just haven't figured out how.

Thanks again for the post. Glad you were able to fend off the CG and get your boat back on its feet!

Tom

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Tom Benedict
Island of Hawaii
P-Cat 18 / Sail# 361 / HA 7633 H / "Smilodon"
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Tom Benedict (Or any other P-Cat owner) I am a recent owner of a P-Cat. Bought it in great condition and ready to sail. However, the jib zippers on to the forestay. Can you tell me if there is supposed to be a protective tube or sleeve between the jib fabric and the forestay cable? (Seems like direct contact would wear through the fabric pretty quickly...)

Thank you.

im not a p-cat owner but i can tell you that is a standard for beach cat jibs
furling or non furling

iirc hobie 16's forestay is outside the jib but there is a wire inside the jib that takes over as the forestay when rigged, besides that most beachcats have a zippered jib and no protective material (some cats do have hanks that have no pocket like darts, but not typical)

there is not a ton of friction from the forestay on the jib - there is some and with use and time it will wear but your jib will usually stretch and be way out of shape, and tear near spreaders, or overlapping mains before it wears from the forestay. that being said after a few 100 sails .... it may have a few areas that need a patch or attention but again - chances are the jib is well past its healthy life by then (can still be sailed but will not be near optimal and a blown out sail can get u overpowered and may help you capsize in a blow due to its overly full shape)

jibs are not all that expensive and sails do wear so it is not really a big deal

you could add a protective layer of material but that would be very unusual