Condor 16' catamaran
Adriaan Joubert
anybody know anything about this cat and where I can get more
information. I've seen one for sale with an upgrade kit to a hurricane,
but am pretty clueless and would like to find out more.
Cheers,
Adriaan
Pete
>
> Hi,
>
> anybody know anything about this cat and where I can get more
> information. I've seen one for sale with an upgrade kit to a hurricane,
I no longer have any reference material to hand, but for sure, you're
looking at an old boat - at least pre-1980 I'd guess.
ISTR the Condor was the precursor to the Hurricane 5.5 (certainly not
the 500 or the 5.9) and was probably available in glass or ply. Either
way on, you're looking at a very old cat and unless you know it to have
an excellent provenance of not being hammered, always being carefully
stored and maintained etc., I'd have a look for posterity and walk on
by.
Watch out for:
(1) fatigue in hull and decking, all joints and dagger board cases &
joints,
(2) knackered rigging,
(3) blown out sails and broken battens,
(4) missing or clapped-out fittings. (If you're new to cats, beware the
need to replace many fittings as the relatively high loadings involved
tend to put you at the Harken end of the shelf rather than the "little
plastic thing" end.),
(5) missing or dead launching trolley,
(6) missing or worn out trampoline,
With any cat, you should be able to pick one bow up off the floor and
there be virtually zero flex between the two hulls, laterally or
diagonally. If the vendor claims that the tramp "just wants tightening
up", make him do it and watch for any improvement.
Get hold of the chain plates, the eyes which locate the jib blocks and
any other deck fitting and give them all a tug. You don't want a boat
where the self-tappers are the strongest bits!
Are you looking for a cat or simply tempted here by what looks like a
lot of boat for not very much money?
Don't get me wrong, I think cats are the dog's nuts. I've never ridden a
motor bike but I wouldn't go out and buy a 20+ year old Japanese 650cc
cafe racer as my first one.
HTH
Pete
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pete....@virgin.net
www.the-proof-reader.co.uk
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Adriaan Joubert
Thanks a lot -- this is exactly the information I was looking for! Yes,
I saw one cheap, but I think I will stay away from it. I sailed a hobie
about 15 years ago on the sea in South Africa, and it was just amazing
fun. I finally figured out that I cannot take kids on my surfboard, so
want to get a cat to take them sailing. We live in Cyprus, and there is
not very much wind around here, so I figured I'd need a cat to get it to
move at all. And yes, I know very little about cats, so your hints are a
great help!
Thanks again,
Adriaan
--
--------------------------------------+-------------------------------
Dr Adriaan Joubert | Phone: +357-2-750 652
APL Financial Services (Overseas) Ltd| Fax: +357-2-750 654
3 D. Vikella St | e-mail: a.jo...@albourne.com
1061 Nicosia, CYPRUS |
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Pete
Good to hear from you, and glad to have helped.
Assuming your Hobie experience was sufficient for you to feel competent
with high performance cats, my advice would be to consider the
following:
1. Who's likely to sail it mostly - just you, you and another cat-happy
adult, you and an adult beginner or you and the kids?
2. What sort of sailing do you intend - cruising, racing in class fleets
or racing in handicap fleets?
3. Your prevailing weather conditions?
4. Your launching/landing facilities?
5. How much are you interested in maintenance?
6. Are you a born fiddler, or do you like a simple layout?
I don't claim there to be any wrong answers here, I'm just helping you
to engage before some smartarse sells you a totally unsuitable cat.
Being in Yeew-rope, you have access to a wider range of different makes
of cat - there being several from Germany, Italy, France and
Switzerland. Look out for a magazine called Multihulls which is largely
about our type of cat (not the type with beds and a lid!) and which
is/was published in France.
Picking up your point about light wind conditions, the traditional
Hobies - 14, 16 & 17 were relatively heavy boats and all other things
being equal, it might pay you to look at something lighter.
Good luck.
Pete
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
pete....@virgin.net
www.the-proof-reader.co.uk
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right
to say it." Attributed to Voltaire.