How Far We've Come

 

  The footage above is what started my thoughts on building and eventually buying this model of boat. As a matter of fact that's the very boat you've seen in these pages. This was during her debut at the 2011 Rend Lake Messabout. The very same where she was fresh from the builder yard, was sailed with her designer aboard and made history as the sailing prototype. Seeing it new means we can look back at the changes that were done to the vessel over the years. It won't be an exhaustive list but as the current owner I'll hit the highlights. I think a numbered list should do it. 

1. Colors-The tabernacle and main hatch are white. Both are bare wood now. The side decks are bare wood and are painted today. The paint scheme remains the same but the color is now a navy blue with buff accents. 
2. Sail Attachment-The sail here is attached as per plan, simple rope loops. Currently the boat sports a spiral luff attachment that is adjustable. 
3. Mast Tabernacle-I can't be certain but I believe the pivoting tabernacle was a later upgrade. Jim actually has a whole post on this. But it does make it far easier to set the mast. 
4. Motor-Here you see the original 1954 Evinrude Lightwin that originally equipped the boat. We're electric powered currently. 
5. Sail Size-Original polytarp sail of 136sqft. Kat Boat sports a wonderful tanbark 145sqft today.

Those are just the things you can see. I can tell you the lamp cord electrical system has been updated. Benches and hatches improved. But she still cuts through the water just as well. Notice how the foot of the bow is out of the water. That makes for a wonderful smooth ride. The bow will cut waves the boat can't go over. 

 It's nice to look back on his boats life. It's documentation throughout it's career means better work moving forward. Mike did a find build and I hope it continues to get better as the years progress. 

Mike S. and I in Beaver, Utah where I took over as caretaker for the FatCat 2 prototype.

Built for Messing About

 

Second Reef in Smoke

Note: This particular entry acts as a companion piece to  video I did which you can find HERE.

  The sail of a catboat is one of it's most iconic features. It is true that a gaff rig is not a requirement of being a catboat per se, it is a feature most identified with the breed. And the FatCat 2 is no exception. This is a tale of two sails and how the FatCat 2 #1 came to wear a bit more laundry then what she was designed with. 

 If we look at the sail plan of the FatCat 2 which according to the plan sheet #3 originally drawn in December of 1996 the vessel sports a sail of 138sqft. (Foot of 13'9", Leech 17'5", Head 10' 6", Luff of 8' 6") This was the sail that the then Julia L. was launched with. The first sail of the boat was polytarp and by all accounts did a very fine job. In fact during the boats maiden outing at the 2009 Rend Lake Messabout the designer Jim Michalak got to sail aboard with it's creator Mike Sandell. You can read the account of this excursion on the plans page for the design on Duckworks. The one thing I would like to draw attention to is Jim's closing sentence NOW, I gotta tell you that I sailed a bit with Mike and the boat struck me as being light with a really big sail, so don't skimp on the reef points! While i don't disagree with the need for reef points I'd like to discuss a bit more how this boat has handled in my experience. 

 Traditionally the shallow draft of a catboat is combined with weight down low and a good centerboard. I've had the opportunity to sail a few different catboats and while my experience isn't vast I'd like to think I've got a decent handle on what they feel like as a sailor in the interior of the Rocky Mountain west. One thing they all have in common from a Beetle to a big Crosby is they pull like a draft horse. But by the same token they'll settle down nice if you reduce that sail area. And the FatCat 2 is no different. I think this unfortunate wording in the boat description may have put potential builders off the design. And that is a shame. 

 According to the plans page the maximum degree of list before you go over is 50 degrees. Kat Boat is equipped with an inclinometer and I don't think in the almost five years of sailing the boat I've seen over 15 degrees. Sure it could happen but that's the same on any boat. The fact is there is so little submerged displacement in the hull the boat will loose leeway before it heels. The sure sign your over canvased is you just stop sailing well. Trying to sail the boat flat will give you the best results and pushing for heel to go faster is a fool errand. The vessel will lie hove to quite nicely, a common quality in catboats, and as I've often said on these pages has no ill manners I've yet found. 

Original boom and Dacron sail

 

 So what does this have to do with the sail? Sometime before June 2011 the Julia L. acquired a Dacron sail from the Duckworks loft. That was the sail I purchased the boat with. After two years of sailing the decade old sail needed some work and was ready to be retired. I asked David Grey of Polysail to craft for me a new sail about ten squares bigger using the same spars. He obliged and from his shop emerged the new sail for the boat. Two seasons later I ordered a Dacron sail from Duckworks to those specifications with the work being completed in tanbark by Really Simple Sails. The result was just what I wanted and it makes not only for a very aesthetically pleasing boat but a very functional one too. 

 I think this sail is now a far more correct size for the boat. We move along in light airs with authority at full sail, have no issues under a single reef in about ninety percent of the conditions I've sailed and double reefed I've yet to encounter an issue where I'm unable to sail if the rig is set up right and that is the goal for the moment. My finest sailing yet was under second reef heading across the lake. It was fascinating screaming along at hull speed with such a small amount of sail up the bow of the boat shouldering the waves aside and the whole craft a living thing. 

 It should be noted I've also altered the rudder with less depth and more length, straightened the  position of the lee board a touch as suggested in the design page, added a much stouter boom then stock, and tried to optimize the rig for the type of sailing I do. But I can't think of a better boat in it's class for the work. And I wish more people would get to know this fine boat. The lack of ballast has not hurt my safety if taken as an encompassing theme. That is to say we may not be serious sailors but we sail seriously. We understand and do our best to mitigate what risks we can and ensure skill when risk finds us. If there is a boat I think could do the Texas 200 well it's this one and am surprised no one has built one and attempted. As a solo or couples overnight gunkholing boat it's great. It would shine as a family day sailor or a kids first "big" boat. It'll teach you what you need from the construction to it's sailing.

 I'm pleased to be the current caretaker of such a boat. We stand as an oddity from our sail rig to our design. We're not quite somethings but we definitely are other things. We turn heads wherever we go and the amount of appreciation we garner is always satisfying. Not to mention cameras always seem to find us along the Yacht Harbor dock. And I'm okay with that. 

The FatCat 2 is perfectly designed for simply messing about in boats. 

 

Life on the Hard

Seeing another vessel should be a cause for happiness and celebration

 What is it about sailing off to somewhere were not in waters known or unknown that holds us in such a grip? As I look out my window now a light snow falls and I can only imagine what my familiar waters look like right now. Well the posts by MT Icebuds tell me plenty. I'd need a catboat on skies in order to go sailing. Something to consider I guess. But here we are nine days in to 2023 and I'm already gearing up for the next season. Not only for the work and sailing I'm going to do in my own boat but the sailing I have planned on other boats in far away places. I've dug the boat plans out and stare at them mentally running through the work I have to do this spring. I read Sail Magazine and browse the lovely emails that Small Craft Advisor thoughtfully places in my inbox. I have sailing on the brain and while it's lovely I would dearly love to know why.

 I've heard it said that humans are bred to face adversity. That we're never fully happy unless our hair is on fire and live and limb are really on the line. That's its the genetic trait that has kept us ahead of all the other animals or some other such exceptionalism drivel. While I suppose that explains wanting to chase a hard westerly or sail around the world single handed it doesn't explain why I just want a calm day sail more then just about anything right now. I can see and feel it. That wonderful lake breeze we get in Dayton just a shade under concerning. It's steady and predictable and you have all day to enjoy it. The tiller is alive in your hands and the main soars above you and you haven't a care in the world save for what's in front of you right there and then. That's the opposite of adversity I think.

Play some Jimmy Buffet already!

 Anyone will tell you I'm a planer by nature. Trying to put in order the future so I know what's coming up. I often say having something to look forward too is one of the driving forces in my life. And that is the version of me that is normally here. But that other version, you see him in the picture up there, that's who I want to be more often. He's on a timeline but right now in the moment the only thing he's worried about are the fickle late season winds and how it's going to alter his course right now. He's looking at the sail, the partner is enjoying herself in her cabin and if he can stretch this moment out a bit he do everything to do so. He doesn't need the horizon, just enough wind to allow him to direct his own course on this familiar patch of water for what may well be the last time the season (It wasn't). I want to be him on this beautiful but still winter evening. 

 The cynical part of me things how I'm going to be frantic and frustrated once I get into the work I need to do this spring. How I'm going to invent a timeline and try to keep to it even thought it really doesn't exist. I'll fret over this and that, drag my friends into pointless arguments and annoy those I live alongside with dire warnings of what I have to do and what will happen if I don't at a time of my choosing. The other side of me me knows it'll all come together and I'll have a good summer of it no matter what. I say it to my customers constantly "Sure beats a day at the office, right?" But the boat list is long and weights heavily in my pocket and on my mind. It just needs to warm up.

 It's tough being an inland sailor. And one in a region where we don't really get to take care of the impulses and desires as we ought. The things outside our control conspire against us in a never ending cycle and it's annoying. But deep down in corners of my soul I don't talk about much I wouldn't have it any other way. This break is what I need. Because once it does warm up that lance drops and those boat project windmills become dragons once again. And woe to the boat project that keeps me off the water. It'll just be a few months.

Winter Work 2023

 

S/V Kat Boat with The Typsetter and Tall Ship at the helm.

 It was a good year on the water. I'll save some of the stories for later. But I have a few video updates on what's coming up. Have a great new year everyone!