Hi, I have a 1980 Hobie 16 and have been toying with buying a new cat next year. My question is why does Hobie only warranty their boats for 1 year while Narca, according to the web site, warranty their boats for five years? Is there a big difference in price between a new h16 and a new narca 500? Is the Narca 500 a good boat? What about the Prindle 16? I've been looking for new prices on the web for these boats but I have not found a base price or a price with all the goodies.
I tried to find a site for the G Cat but I have not have had any luck.
Are there any other cats that anyone might suggest- 16 to 18 foot-go fast- but no dagger boards or centerboards?
Thanks banannahead

Are boarded boats COMPLETELY out of the question? The performance difference between the two is quite noticeable (IMHO).

Yes I would rather have one without boards, but I will listen to your suggestion.
banannahead

I also forgot to mention that I am looking for a boat that is good for inland lake sailing
banannahead

Heres the url for G-cat. www.g-catmultihulls.com

You might want to look at Mystere. They have boardless boats.

Mike

Mystere can be found at:

http://www.mystere.ca/mystere/

If I was buying a boardless / boomless boat, I'd take a hard look at the Nacra 5.7. The deck sure does look clean.

And if the Nacra 5.7 points as well as the 5.0, it's nuthin' to be ashamed of...

Thanks for the info so far! I'm going to try to get hold of Action Sailcraft and Marine in Kansas, I understand they handle Narca's, Prindle, Hobie.
Is there a big difference in sailing a boomless cat compared with one with a boom? The only boomless cat I sailed was a Hobie Wave, ( not as fast as my H16), at Nor Banks Sailing in Duck NC in 2000.
Any more info would be great-Love this site!
banannahead

Some may argue (and probably justifiably) that a boomless sail plan is not quite as quick as one with a boom. However, there are some catamarans that are well known performers that are boomless....the Nacra 6.0NA for example (I'm pretty biased). Not having a boom might be a slight performance disadvantage but you loose a lot of potential for brain damage.

http://www.performancecat.com/

Here is the nacra inter web site

My $0.02 to what others have said about the Nacra 5.7: It'll hold its own with a P19 in most conditions and like the 5.0 points better than a boardless cat should. Nacra's replacement is the 570, whith jib sheeting to the mainbeam and a square top main (jib is smaller than the 5.7 so total sq ft is about the same).