Catalac 11 meter catamaran boat review

Catalac 11 Boat Test
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Edited by Dave Greenwell
Who said cats don't heel, but she showed
no sign of flying a hull, even in the gusts.
Clear side decks and lifelines at a sensible
height make light of a trip to the foredeck.
S
he started life as a ten-metre catamaran but when Hythe Marine
Services bought the moulds and
building rights, they decided that a
pair of retrousse, sugar-scoop transoms
would improve both her looks and
sailing ability. They also looked closely
at her interior with an eye to updating
the accommodation. So, on a rather
blustery day with a good F5 gusting
F6, I made my way to Hythe to
investigate their new generation
Catalac.
This was not the first time I had sailed
aboard this class of cat. But my previous
encounter had been some years ago, sailing
out of Christchurch, accompanied by Tom
Lack of Tom Lack Catamarans. Even then,
the 10m Catalac showed herself to be one
of the better Catalacs as far as sailing abilities was concerned. But her. pronounced
rocker and uncompromising displacement
hull form tended to encourage her to squat
when pushed. Also, even then, although the
workmanship was of a very high quality
(Tom would have it no other way) the interior design was beginning to show its age.
So, when Hythe Marine Services took her
42
Classic Cat
DAVE GREENWELL SAILS THE HIGHLY
on, they were only too aware that there
would be little merit in simply reproducing
the 10m Catalac in her original form. The
idea of extending the sterns was floated and
they had an existing owner who was keen
to have his cat converted. The job was a total
success and was immediately adopted as
the new standard design. With it, of course,
had to come the renaming - after all, they
couldn't sell her short, and the 11 Meter
Catalac was born.
However, it was not just a matter of
increasing her waterline length and giving
her a smart new set of boarding steps into
the bargain. On the original design, no
attempt had been made to flair out the rocker which meant that under sail, she tended
to drag her transoms somewhat - due to
the angle of the water breaking away from
their bottom edges. The extended transoms
tackled this problem head-on, and a glance
at the sheer plan in the specification box
clearly indicates that they have used this
extended area of bottom to streamline the
flow, and as a consequence, have also given
the transoms a certain amount of dynamic
lift to prevent her squatting at speed.
When it came to updating the interior
design, they were faced with the dilemma
which many British boatbuilders will recogPRACTICAL BOAT OWNER
Sailing off the wind with sails well reefed,
she's comfortable and easy on the helm.
Comeback
SPECIALISED ELEVEN-METRE CATALAC
nise only too well. That of achieving per- es. It is, of course, up the the individual to
ceived quality whilst using plywood as the judge their success, but it has allowed them
main building medium, and without resorting to offer an interesting alternation to other
to the highly sophisticated mass-production cruising catamarans on the market, and at
techniques, adopted by many Continental the same time, extend a level of choice that
boatbuilders. Mass produced interiors would be difficult to equal.
certainly have their place, and French
First impression
builders in particular have demonstrated what
can be achieved, but the other side of the I joined the test boat in the close confines
coin is less flexibility and less customer of Hythe Marina and was initially struck
by the very solid appearance she projects.
choice, and the team at Hythe Marine were
By no stretch of the imagination could she
determined to offer a virtually bespoke
be called sleek or streamlined. But she's
interior. Their solution lay in close nevertheless well balanced aesthetically
attention to detail, both in the way they and is far from the ugly duckling that perhandled the plywood, and the finishNo 341 MAY 1995
haps some would have us believe. Certainly,
the new sterns help a great deal, being nicely in harmony with the forward sections,
and completely dispelling any impression
given by the original, that the designer got
to the back and simply stopped.
I climbed aboard and stepped down into
the spacious cockpit which is very well protected by a doghouse extension running back
from the cabin superstructure. Standing at
the wheel, the first thing that struck me was
my inability to see either of the bows. Indeed,
until I got used to looking through the pilothouse section of the cabin, I found forward
visibility quite restricted. But as I stood, pondering the situation, I gradually discovered
that I could, in fact, see far more that I had
at first thought possible. For although I had
no direct view of the stemheads, I could judge
exactly where they were from the position of
the pulpit. Also, lowering the screen, immediately forward of the wheel, meant that I
was then only looking through one pane of
glass rather than two, which seemed to make
things a lot easier — if only psychologically. I
would have liked there to have been an opening hatch above the steering position.
However, I understand that such a hatch is
to be offered as an option.
Final preparations were made to leave
the marina and the engines, twin 18hp
Yanmars, were started, and the shorelines
cast off.
Under power
The engines, driving through their Saildrive
units, certainly gave delicate control for
manoeuvring from the marina berth. Indeed,
by gentle adjustment of revs and direction of
thrust, there is scarcely any need to use the
helm. So when used together, there is very
little difficulty in making her do exactly what
you want. Of course, a lot of this is down to
careful initial adjustment of the engine control levers, but they seemed to have it just
right. I could envisage problems docking
bows-to onto a low pontoon, but that could
be solved .with the help of signals from a reli43
Above: Well protected foredeck with four good lockers for warp stowage.
Below: A two-section door leads from the cockpit into the bridge saloon.
able foredeck hand. Alternatively you could
adopt the approach used on our return and
manoeuvre in astern. Like many large
yachts, she motors astern every bit as well
as she goes forward, and going in to a tight
spot astern always makes the option of
pulling out forward, that much easier.
The Saildrives certainly made a neat
installation but if she were mine, I would
investigate the practicality of fitting some
form of guard-wire to protect her Saildrive
from submerged debris. Also, no attempt had
been made to deaden engine noise which was
not excessive by any means but could have
been reduced further quite easily.
Under sail
We had soon locked out into Southampton
Water and immediately hoisted sail with
two reefs in the mainsail. The rig, with its
Above: Her bridgedeck saloon area is light and has a welcoming feel.
Below: The navigator is well looked after amidships in the port hull.
fully battened mainsail fitted with lazy
jacks, had all its control lines led back to the
cockpit, making easy work of the task. This
was quickly followed by the headsail which
was reefed with a few turns of the rollerreefing spar. The wind was more or less
northerly so we began by running down
towards the Solent. After all, I thought, if
as rumour would suggest, she couldn't tack
back successfully, we still had two jolly good
engines to force our way to windward.
We really could have done with a bearing out pole, because I found it quite difficult to keep her happily gull-winged without being able to see what the mainsail was
doing from the helm - another good reason
to have a hatch above the steering position.
Nevertheless, we made good progress and
a couple of controlled gybes passed uneventfully. She made reasonable speed down
wind, certainly better that would have been
expected from an equivalent monohull, and
with perfect directional stability.
The distance between us and our home
port quickly built up and it was soon time to
turn to windward. On rounding up, it quickly became apparent that we had underestimated the power in the wind. But unlike
some catamarans that give very little warning that a reef is needed, the Catalac left us
in no doubt that we should be reducing sail.
This is due to her underwater hull shape
which is deeply veed, and when pressed, will
quickly immerse for just a few inches. Once
her chines begin to submerge, however, it
then takes a great deal to force her down any
further. The result is that, when pressed, her
leeward hull sits into the water and she
adopts a noticeable amount of heel, without
lifting the weather hull to any degree. This
Construction
T
here's nothing unusual about the construction of the 11m Catalac. They simply use well tried and tested techniques. Her
hull is a one-piece moulding comprising a
2
double gelcoat followed by a 450 g/m skin
layer of chopped strand mat (CSM), then, in
2
the topsides, two laminations of 300/800 g/m
2
Fabmat and one of 450 g/m CSM; below the
waterline, strength is increased by an extra
2
lamination on 300/800 g/m Fabmat. Around
the skeg area, this is increased by massive
proportions. The decks incorporate areas of
sandwich construction using end-grain
The one-piece hull mould, ready for action.
balsa. All laminating is done with isophthalic
resins both in the main layup and the gelcoats. The hull-to-deck joint is formed by a
bonded-over flange on the hull. The hull
has three main bulkheads: one dividing off
the engine rooms and in line with the companionway, the other two at the mast station, one athwartships the other on the centreline, extending forward. It is obvious from
the finish, that a great deal of care goes into
the construction of these craft which are
moulded by Blondecell and completed by
Hythe Marine Services.
Specification
LOA....................................35ft 9in
LWL................................... 28ft 3in
Beam ................................ 15ft 5in
Draft.................................... 2ft 9in
Weight ..............................13,000 lb
Displacement....................14,500 Ib
Sail area - main ...............290 sq ft
-Headsail ..........333sq ft
Engine ... 2 x 18hp Yanmar 2GM20
Fuel tankage ................. 2 x 130 litre
Water tankage (fresh) .. 2 x 350 litre
Water tankage (foul) ... 1 x 100 litre
Price (inc VAT)...................£128,900
Designer ........ John Winterbothom
Builder. Hythe Marine Services Ltd.,
19, St. Johns Street, Hythe,
Southampton SO45 6BZ. Tel:
(01703) 848780.
Her electrical panel tucked just inside the
companionway is easy to check at a glance.
increases the wetted area of the leeward hull
causing an inevitably reduction in speed. And
all this happens long before there's even the
remotest danger of flying the weather hull.
A few more rolls in the headsail and she was
happy once again.
Considering the amount of windage on
her superstructure, she was surprisingly
close-winded, and we made good progress
back towards Hythe. She tacked through
the wind without hesitation, but smart handling of the sheets further improved matters. However, her rudders are relatively
small and so you need to be quite positive
on the helm. Here again, she's obviously not
a performance cat, but compared to the average monohull of equivalent length, she will
give an extra knot which makes up for any
slightly reduced heading ability.
Accommodation
To say that the llM Catalac has spacious
accommodation would be a clear understatement. Even though they have given
over a great deal of room to house the iron
horses in two separate 'engine rooms' the
bit left for human habitation is nothing
less than vast. I'm very tempted to describe
her as a floating cottage, but I'll refrain
because some may take that as a criticism
of her standing as a yacht and I infer nothing of the kind.
The best way I can describe her living
arrangements is 'homely'. Instead of the
T
rather dark mahogany finishes of earlier
models, Hythe Services have chosen teakfaced plywood panelling, all with proper
hardwood edgings and not a hint of iron-on
veneer strips or bare edges.
The general layout of our test boat was
divided into three distinct areas. The galley is amidships in the starboard hull with
a double cabin forward and a single, pilot
cabin aft. A very spacious nav' area, with
large chart table, is accommodated amidships in the port hull, with the owner's double cabin forward and the heads compartment aft. The main bridgedeck living area
centres on a U shaped settee surrounding
a rectangular table.
The longer I spent on board, the more
comfortable I found it. And having the
engines divided off from the living area by
a solid bulkhead means that you don't have
to disrupt cabin furniture to change the oil.
But it's up to you, and they are perfectly
happy to ring the changes.
Overall impression
As a comfortable, steady cruising catamaran, she works well and provides an interesting alternative to the approach adopted
by other cat builders such as Prout and perhaps even Solaris. She may not be a greyhound but neither is she a sluggard and is
surely capable of holding her own against the
same length of monohull, with the added benefit of bags more space and level sailing. •
WHAT DO THE FIGURES MEAN?
he figures opposite, derived from formulae
published in PBO issue 296, simply indicate the
windspeed at which the weather hull will
begin to lift. If such an event occurs in a
cruising catamaran, capsize is imminent, some
would say, likely. From the calculations, it can
be seen that if nothing is allowed for wind gusts
and the fact that the craft is passing
through the water, the 11m Catalac, under
full genoa and mainsail will begin to lift a
hull at 29.5 knots of wind when unladen
and 32.2 knots when in cruising trim with
around a ton of stores and gear aboard.
To calculate the dynamic stability which
takes account of wind
No 341 MAY 1995
A well equipped galley with cooker, sink and
a proper draining area should please any cook.
gusts and wave action, we multiply these figures by a factor of 0.6, giving the safe working
windspeed. The results are 17.7 knots and 19.3
knots respectively. The conclusion is that when
in cruising trim the 11 m Catalac should begin
reefing at F5.
It has also been suggested that one should
also look at the sail area to displacement ratio
to discover whether or not stability is being
achieved by excessive beam and not a sensible sail plan. In the case of the Catalac, this
seems hardly necessary, but for interest, she
has a SA/displacement ratio of 14.2 which puts
her almost down in the motor sailer class.
Stability
W = Cruising weight (Ib), Ht = Height of
centre of effort above the centre of lateral
resistance, SA = Sail Area, C-C Beam =
Hull centreline to centreline beam.
Stability - unladen displacement
When W= 13000 Ib, C-C Beam = 9.6 ft
SA = 623 sq ft and Ht = 22.6 ft
Windspeed in knots = 14 ×
= 14 ×
13000 × 4.8
623 × 22 .6
W (0.5 × C − CBeam )
SA × Ht
= 29.5 knots
Dynamic stability
windspeed
= 0.6 x 29.5 knots
= 17.7 knots
Stability - cruising displacement
When W= 15500 Ib, C-C Beam = 9.6 ft
SA = 623 sq ft and Ht = 22.6 ft
t
Windspeed in
knots = 14
W (0.5 × C − CBeam
SA × Ht
= 14 ×
15500 × 4.8
623 × 22 .6
= 32.2 knots
Dynamic stability
windspeed
= 0.6x32.4 knots
= 19.3 knots
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