To me boats are very much like musical instruments. Irrespective of the kind of instrument, if you get alternative junk you will most likely end up hating music rather than learning and enjoying anything. These last two toys that you shown will never be nearly as decent as your laser in my opinion, same as a decent wood recorder will play real music but a bamboo sax from the craft fair just won't. Now you want to play electric guitar instead of flute. That's fine. Just try to get a real one, that's all I'm saying.
I would say that you don't know what you are really looking for, you are relying on the assumption that you need two hulls for some reason, but these small cats would take you far away from what most of us assumed were your motivations to choose a catamaran. I would dig into that in the first place if I were you.
A decent cat will provide speed and excitement. But planning on a monohull is really exciting too. A toy cat will give you none of that, sooner or later you will feel embarrassed of having spent your money on that, I'd say. I used to sail a katyak when I was a kid (long ago..), trust me.. that wasn't sailing. I enjoyed it a lot of course. Toys are fun if you don't add wrong expectations. But when we changed to Laser II, after the very first acceleration, before even fully sheeting in, I understood immediately how miserable we were before. And, as with real musical instruments, we never reached perfection, there was always room for learning and refining, and there's such a lot of fun on that too. A toy will never give you that either.
Google the "frankenlaser", that could perhaps be an option for you:
- Solo
- Mobility
- Enjoy modifying it and reinventing at your will
- Wait until you get it planning on 15 or 20 knots... that will be REAL fun and real sailing. Very comparable to speeding your H18 in my experience.
Edited by Andinista on Jun 11, 2015 - 12:30 PM.
Possible move from H18 to another cat
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Posted: Jun 11, 2015 - 12:19 PM
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Posted: Jun 11, 2015 - 12:36 PM
And as it would be cheap, maybe you could consider to keep your H18 for multiple day trips. -
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Posted: Jun 11, 2015 - 03:14 PM
I totally understand what you are talking about. Plus the toys I mentioned are not cheap by any means. I tried looking for Laser II long before thinking of catamaran but they're hard to find. Thanks for the intro to Frankenlaser! Not sure about excessive pressure on the mast step! I think I should simply stay with H18 through the season and give it a chance as some have suggested. I'm now getting more interest with people wanting to go out etc. so having help will offset the labor involvement. Besides: I've not mastered this boat so there's still more to learn including how to right it. I at least want to try using my righting pole to see if it works. I think the Wave would be a strong consideration especially since 1) its backed by major manufacturer who will most likely be around for years, 2) parts availability 3) resale value etc. Thanks for all the help and input.
But like motorcycles, ones for different purposes, you can't have too many boats either...
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Goodsailing
Laser-Standard Rig (Sold 6/15)
H18 (Sold 7/15)
Building 19' Tacking Outrigger
Balt-Wash Area
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Posted: Jun 11, 2015 - 05:56 PM
About mast step, i don't think so, you need stays and i'd add diamond wires. Basically a Laser II Set up. Easy to make if you don't find a used one. The extrusion would be straight but it works.
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