I've always enjoyed sailing and weekend boatcamping and cruising using my Supercat 17, though we've also used a 747 Freestyle 15.
Come to think about it, we also used an old 19 foot solid bridgedeck P-cat. That was one of the first beach cats, that pre-dated the hobie line. It is a solid tank-of-a-boat that has trap lines and goes pretty good loaded to the gills.
We've even rigged a 35 hp outboard on that one, from time to time, plus we've had four scuba divers, all their gear, tanks and lunch on some of our goof-off day cruises, here and there.
The Stiletto 27 is the most comfortable and can easily handle four people and all the gear, food and water for a two week (boat-camping) cruise, most any where.
The Supercat 17 is boardless, sails well and has lots of reserve boyancy in the hulls and particularly in the bows.
We've used that one lots and lots of times.
It can be sailed uni or sloop-rigged, but we usually sail with a jib on a roller furler.
From time to time I've thought about adding a chute for long hauls down wind...but simpler is ...well....simpler to sail, maintain, and fix, when things break while cruising...not to mention cheaper.
The Supercat is ealily set up and are easy to sail.
These boats sail very well in open water, even loaded with gear.
We've (from time to time) even mounted a small "Cruise n carry" type 1 hp outboard off the rear beam for long hauls when the wind puffed out and didn't cooperate.
The Sueprcat 17 is a boat that was in production during the 80's and early 90's probably. They sail well without all the gear and with two guys trapped out on the wire....and their rudder system is bullet proof.
We've done tons of beachcat crusing to Catalina and various locations on parts of Mexico's Sea of Cortez.
We strap water and a couple of dry bags to the tramp and bring back-packing types, minimalist gear.
That typically includes sleeping bags, a dome tent or blue tarp strung over the boom to keep the dew off when sleeping on the boat's trap under the stars, on the beach. We take a backpacker's camp stove and lantern, freeze dried food or simple one-pot meals like stew and top ramon noodles, energy bars, etc.
Great fun and our beachcat crusing and beach camping off the beached boat has been a blast.
Aquarius Sails (Tom Haberman) still supports these boats at
http://www.aquarius-sail.com/You can see how they look at
http://sailboatdata.com/VIEWRECORD.ASP?CLASS_ID=4967I sure have liked mine and sailed it every where duirng the last ....many years.
Hobie Gary of southern California rasied (using a beach cat for crusing) to an art form, during his many solo and buddy-boat group trips to and around California's Cannel Islands.
Where are you located?
