There is one more issue to consider and that is how much water do you have available, and how warm is that water. Down here in Florida many of the lakes and even bays are not deep enough for a deep keeled mono, but the water is warm most of the time (even in January it's still warmer at 70 degrees, than any water ever gets in July up north) so up in New England, they prefer to stay dry and warm vs. wet and freezing cold.

And there is the "get it by the wife" thing to consider too. If you have a wife and kids, and you tell her you are going to buy a beach cat, which YOU will be sailing, with -one- other person only, and that person is going to work their butt off, and be wet on the wire if there is any wind, and you might flip it once in a while, well, most wives I know are not going to buy into that plan.

If instead you can show them a boat (mono) that has a cabin, a potty, tell them "It will never flip over because of this 1,000lb. keel..." and you can take the entire family of 4,5,6 out on it when not racing, it's a much easier sell to the wife.

And if Mama's not happy, nobody's happy! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />