There's a Gcat 5 for sale here in the classifieds...a mere 60 miles away. Can anyone share their opinions on early 80's Gcats? Currently sail a P15, sometimes we sail forwards! Thanks in advance.
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Hank, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, P16 - "Sideways"
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Gcat
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 01:16 PM
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 02:47 PM
g-cats are a great fun and family cat.
they can be zuppped up and be extremely competitive in racing too
like ALL cats they have pros and cons
off the top of my head
Pros:
no boards
front tramp
nice rudder system
cons
no boards ;) (can make tacking a bit more work)
can be prone to pitching (you can NOT bury the bows)
most of the parts were made by different places and now many of the parts are not identical
getting replacement rudders seem to be an issue -
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 03:27 PM
Thanks Mr. Scott! very good stuff. My P15 won't tack, so not a problem - backwinding works, mostly. Thanks again and set sail!
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Hank, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, P16 - "Sideways"
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 03:38 PM
ps is it a 5.8 or 5.0? -
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 03:44 PM
backasswards, the g-cat looks like it holds a lot of beverages. you will miss the thrill of sailing backwards through all those piers though. does this mean you are shopping new boats? oh goodie!!! the g-cat looks like a great cruising boat and could hold your growing son too!!!here you are going "foreward"!
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bill harris
hattiesburg, mississippi
prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON"
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 04:51 PM
Mr. Scott - 5.0.
CoastRat - yes I'm shopping "new" boats, more like window shopping new boats. BUT since it's in Biloxi, if we looked at it and thought it could truely help the fleet, I might be able to swing it. do you want to go look at a boat with me in the near future?
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Hank, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, P16 - "Sideways"
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Posted: Jul 14, 2010 - 05:10 PM
i am not a huge fan of the 5.0. but thats just from what i have seen, i have never sailed one.
btw Hanz (designer/owner of g-cat) made 2 different 5.0 race versions. neither worked to well enough to go into production.
a pro had very poor results with the first one, and equally as poor results this past year at the f16 global challenge. on the plus side it did get into a port/starboard collision with a taipan and beat the snot out of the taipan (broke its bow off). -
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Posted: May 14, 2016 - 11:02 PM
The G Cat 21 was pretty awesome. It raced in the Warell 1000 and did very well, as I recall. It was stout and simple, and Hanz stuck with his beardless designs longer than anyone. The G-Cat 21 had a forward tramp (before anyone else) so it was a cool mix of racing and cruising beach cat, and I think Hobie borrowed the some inspiration from it for the H-21. -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 01:01 PM
edited
Edited by bradinjax on May 15, 2016 - 03:35 PM. -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 01:24 PM
edited
Edited by bradinjax on May 15, 2016 - 03:35 PM. -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 02:31 PM
edited
Edited by bradinjax on May 15, 2016 - 03:35 PM. -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 02:32 PM
I have sailed a few times on a G-Cat 5.0 and own a G-Cat 5.7
Other posters have accurately pointed out the obvious pro's and cons of the boardless double tramp design. I love the boat because of the large hull volume and V hull design which makes for a much drier and more comfortable ride and also a much larger potential crew weight. I have had 4 adults and a large cooler on my 5.7 and all were quite comfortable. Performance was only slightly compromised by the heavy load.
As far as racing goes the PHRF is considered quite favorable and in the recent Mug Race in Jacksonville, FL a G-Cat 6.1 (Worrell Model) won the division with a 5.0 (Hans) taking second.
Overall I would rate it very highly as a cruiser with some good capability as a racer.
Brad in Jax
G-Cat 5.7 (needs work)
Hobie 18 (needs more work) -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 06:14 PM
Another blast from the past thread revisited, I'm glad. I have had my Gcat 5.7 almost 3 years now, but usually sail my H16 because it's Mast up on the beach. I mostly use my Gcat for cruise camping but I'd like to get a little more oomph out of it.What are some good upgrades? I'm going to get a crispy P18 sail for it, haven't decided on square top or not. Was going to add a P18 boom while I was at it. Probably do roller furling on the jib. Are the barber haulers standard? I don't really like them but it's really the only jib adjustment I have. I do worry about replacement parts, I'm sure I'm going to destroy the rudders/tiller system eventually, I don't see any reason I couldn't add maybe Prindle 18 Hobie 18 rudders, castings, tillers, or am I missing something.. I'm sure adding a H18 spin kit is on the upgrade list as well -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 07:03 PM
Hi jalex.
My 5.7 came with original sails for cruising and a modified Tornado squaretop from late 90's for racing. I like the squaretop so much I use it all the time and just have the original pin as a spare. I also swapped the original jib for a Hobie 18 jib and added a roller furling. Total sail area added with the squaretop and larger jib was about 40 square feet. Big difference in light wind performance but it becomes a handful to solo when wind is 15+. Two man is required over 20mph wind. I have decided to keep it boomless as I often sail with beginner sailors and it is just one less thing...
The cast aluminum rudder gudgeon cracked at the bottom which I am told is a well known problem. I chose to reinforce the gudgeon with welded bars 3 inches wide top to bottom on both sides and have had no problems since.
The installation of the roller furling and H18 jib took away the need for the barber haulers and I removed them. The H18 jib has a foot 2 or 3 feet longer which caused me to remove the through-tramp jib wire and move the jib blocks back to re-attach to the tramp lacings. I only made this modification a month or so ago but so far I really like it.
I looked at the cost and complexity of adding the spin kit and decided it cuts into my future ownership plans for a Stiletto 27 too much.
Brad in Jax
G-Cat 5.7 (needs work)
Hobie 18 (needs more work)
future Stiletto 27 owner -
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Posted: May 15, 2016 - 08:11 PM
Thanks Brad, all good ideas. I like the Hobie 18jib idea, guaranteed to be roller furling ready. FYI I'm just a few hours away in Tallahassee and my family keeps an Ericson 29 on the ICW at Beach Blvd in Jax so I'm over there a lot. I don't bring my cats over too often but when I do I usually launch at Huguenot. Maybe our paths will cross one day
-john -
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Posted: May 16, 2016 - 12:46 AM
Hi John,
I have crewed on an Ericson in St Augustine for the St Aug YC Wed night races and have a ton of respect for the boat. Great racer.
Please let me know when your in the area and we can figure it all out.
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