XCat Catamaran?

[SeriousClown]

I'm hoping this community has some experience to help with my decision. I'm leaning towards an XCat mainly due to it's weight and portability. The boat will be used mainly on lakes (Tahoe,Donner, Pyramid) and other area reservoirs double handed.

I considered a Hobie 16 but the width is not going to work in our driveway and for a few other reasons.

Does anyone have experience or know other owners that have them and can comment on the sailing experience thus far? Is there a close second that can sail shallow waters and will not need a trailer?

Thanks for any insight,
SC

 

[Bill5]

Try Multihull Anarchy and thebeachcats.com

 

[TBW]

If car topping is the plan, I think they might be hard to beat.

 

[VWAP]

 

[VWAP]

If car topping is the plan, I think they might be hard to beat.

 

[Bill5]

Anything that is a part time sailboat or an inflatable will be shitty to sail. Popular Mechanics specials.

 

[CrazyR]

Anything that is a part time sailboat or an inflatable will be shitty to sail. Popular Mechanics specials.

Depends on your definition of shitty.
The boat on the pic finished 2 EC. I can keep up with Lasers. Not as fast as true beach cats, but no worse than Hobie Wave. Points higher. Lighter too. And I can travel with it on airplane and store under my bed. And yes, it will sail circles around inflatable in another post.

 

[Bill5]

Depends on your definition of shitty.
The boat on the pic finished 2 EC. I can keep up with Lasers. Not as fast as true beach cats, but no worse than Hobie Wave. Points higher. Lighter too. And I can travel with it on airplane and store under my bed. And yes, it will sail circles around inflatable in another post.

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Any boat that sails is fun in my books. And if storage is an issue, then I understand the need for compromise. But some boats simply sail better than others. The sailing quality spectrum for boats runs from excellent to shitty. Inflatables would be at the shittier end. No? The Hobie Wave made a bunch of compromises as it was designed for resorts. At 245lbs it must be the heaviest 13 footer on the market. But it fills a niche.

 

[CrazyR]

I don’t want to highjack the thread. But my inflatable was designed as a beach cruising boat and it excels at it. I can load enough provision on it to sustain a month long expedition, I can run it straight onto a rocky shore. I don’t need a trailer or a towing vehicle to get in or out. And I sailed some fiberglass boats made for the same market. Highly revered. Don’t even let me start on a shitty boat subject. Even as an everydays daysailer the boat is good. I can load a party of four and take all of them to a nearest bar. And it sails better than some another highly revered dingy here, which I own too. So, have I ever sailed better boats? Of course I have. I owned A-cat, Nacra F17 and I still have Corsair F27. Have I sailed shittier boats? I have.
And yes, there are shitty inflatables. As well as shitty fiberglass boats, or wooden ones… and yes, every boat is a compromise…

 

[Bill5]

Since the conversation belongs in Multihull Anarchy or Inflatable Anarchy, I think a hijack is not out of order.
Yup, plenty of utility in an inflatable, but better sailing craft are undeniably found in the non-inflatable category. Note a Laser is a shittier sailing craft than an IC, Finn, OK and many others I have never sailed, but I still owned a bunch of Lasers in 6 different decades. I liked the fleets, competition and community.
And I never, ever want to have to put my boat under my bed.

 

[Curious2]

Anything that is a part time sailboat or an inflatable will be shitty to sail. Popular Mechanics specials.

Certainly inflatable dinghies seem to have a fair way to go before they can match the performance of a comparable rigid dinghy, but the Catapult doesn't seem to be shitty; for a 5m cat with a small rig it performs quite OK.

The drop stitch windsurfers seem to be showing the potential of modern inflatable craft

It will be interesting to see if anyone will use modern materials to create a quick inflatable sailing dinghy.

 

[Bill5]

I acknowledge there must be rare exceptions. I see the Catapult has plastic bows and a large aluminum frame - no way that can fit under a bed! And a foiling board is not part of the same discussion. If inflatables were up to snuff in terms of sailing with more common materials there would be a lot more of them around. Wouldn’t there?

 

[VWAP]

 

[breaqnaway]

I just wish the inflatable sail ‘vessels’ would go after the Snark and Sunflower market these boats filled back in the day (did they really sell 48,000 in ‘71?).

A race to the bottom; something that anyone can drag in the water and get it to tack as cheaply as possible sounds way more interesting than ‘performance’ inflatable. Hopefully then those customers would be interested in stepping up to a ‘real boat’ after they get hooked.

 

[martin 'hoff]

I just wish the inflatable sail ‘vessels’ would go after the Snark and Sunflower market these boats filled back in the day (did they really sell 48,000 in ‘71?).

I agree. I in fact own a couple of surprisingly good inflatable drop-stitch SUPs, one of them is a combo SUP / Wing Foiling board.

But the good quality inflatable boards are expensive to make. The portability / weight / stiffness tradeoffs are acceptable, but looks like only on expensive mfg and materials. Hopefully it does come down in price. Or at least, enough people sell their barely used pandemic-shopping-therapy toys at a discount

 

[Puzman]

I'm hoping this community has some experience to help with my decision. I'm leaning towards an XCat mainly due to it's weight and portability. The boat will be used mainly on lakes (Tahoe,Donner, Pyramid) and other area reservoirs double handed.

I considered a Hobie 16 but the width is not going to work in our driveway and for a few other reasons.

Does anyone have experience or know other owners that have them and can comment on the sailing experience thus far? Is there a close second that can sail shallow waters and will not need a trailer?

Thanks for any insight,
SC

I have an X-Cat, have sailed it for a couple of seasons on the LI Sound (I'm in Branford CT). Previously had Hobie Islands (single and tandem). Here are my impressions:

-it's pretty fast (have had it up to about 14 knots), relatively dry (much drier than Hobie Islands) and VERY stable. I sail it solo all the time and would have to work hard to intentionally flip it.
-it points reasonably well, but hates tacking (worse than Islands). You need to sit far forward and have good hull speed, and it takes forever to come about. I often will just jibe onto the opposite tack.
-seems very well engineered, much stiffer than Hobie Islands (no bungees holding everything together). Have broken a couple of shackles on the shrouds though...
- As far as storage and launching goes, it car tops pretty easily (the hulls weigh about 40 lbs each). With a little practice, you can set it up and break it down in about 15 minutes. Maybe longer to get everything and in the car. The bags that hold the cross beams and the center beam are pretty long, so it helps if you have an SUV or minivan (i manage to squeeze mine into a Kia Stinger).
- I keep it partially assembled at a beach club near me. I can step the mast, rig it, and be on the water in 10 mins using Cat Trax.

DM me if you want to know more.

 

[Bill5]

Their own website talks about a max speed of 10 knots which I suppose is OK for a 10 footer…

 

[Curious2]

I acknowledge there must be rare exceptions. I see the Catapult has plastic bows and a large aluminum frame - no way that can fit under a bed! And a foiling board is not part of the same discussion. If inflatables were up to snuff in terms of sailing with more common materials there would be a lot more of them around. Wouldn’t there?

Well, you did say "anything". . The recent improvement in inflatable boards (and kayaks like one I have) may point the way to possibilities for sailing dinghies.

The Tiwal 3.2 is rated by the French national body at about 6% slower than a Radial; slower than a Feva and quicker than a Pico.

 

[Iamfine]

I don’t want to highjack the thread. But my inflatable was designed as a beach cruising boat and it excels at it. I can load enough provision on it to sustain a month long expedition, I can run it straight onto a rocky shore. I don’t need a trailer or a towing vehicle to get in or out. And I sailed some fiberglass boats made for the same market. Highly revered. Don’t even let me start on a shitty boat subject. Even as an everydays daysailer the boat is good. I can load a party of four and take all of them to a nearest bar. And it sails better than some another highly revered dingy here, which I own too. So, have I ever sailed better boats? Of course I have. I owned A-cat, Nacra F17 and I still have Corsair F27. Have I sailed shittier boats? I have.
And yes, there are shitty inflatables. As well as shitty fiberglass boats, or wooden ones… and yes, every boat is a compromise…

Hi @CrazyR . I too own an inflatable catamaran and I can add that it is much more difficult to capsize an inflatable cat. And even when it happens it is pretty easy to right it back.

However, I am a novice in catamarans, so I joined the SailingAnarchy only to learn how and where to sail to eventually be ready for challenges like the EC.