Useage - Sailed my a** off
Storage - Religious use of tarp
Weight - S 175/C 80 to 130

So tarp usage implies rigging (incl. bones) are coiled under tarp. (I had a nice lakeside setup once where the mast stayed up, but of course rigging was outside my tramp tarp...)

Well, I look forward to specifics from Mary. Certainly we can't dismiss her and Rick White as being in the "don't know what they're doing" cat-egory, eh?

Besides, I'm not sure I could LIVE without that positive metal-on-metal "clink-thump" feedback when I hook-on... LOL.

I'm curious about your Sol Cat 18. It has been years since our club owned one, but I didn't remember diamonds on it or on one that someone I knew owns. Here are some links to pictures of Sol Cat 18s on the web that don't have diamonds either. Is it possible that your boat has been modified or did they ever change the design?

http://www.animatedknots.com/indexb...og.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com

http://www.sailboatshopaustin.com/usedsailboats.html

http://www.sailingtexas.com/ssolcat18a.html

John Courter

I was trying to ask Dean about the diamond wires in my previous post.
I need to figure out how to do replies better.

I just noticed in Dean's second post about the diamond wires just holding the mast up. Could you be referring to the shrouds? Diamond wires are to keep the mast from going too far out of column.


In reply to Reefed One about the pole in the middle, there is a support beam running fore and aft in the middle of the boat. I don't know if it was to try to stabilize the frame or hold the tramp up.

John Courter

Well, I have talked to Rick (a rare occasion ), and he has revived my memory, since I haven't crewed with him for at least 13 years. I am half wrong. He says he has continued to prefer the circular cable trapeze rings to this day. Even after one broke on him, he continued to use them but replaced them every two years or when they got too deformed (bent out of shape), whichever comes first.

It was I who went to the metal rings, because, as crew, I wanted the option of being able to hook into the lower ring or the upper ring, depending upon the sailing conditions. My preference was a ring that was kind of fat and elliptical, with a small round ring at the top of it, so I could hook into either.

I also tried various adjustment systems for trapezing height, but I still liked the option of being able to hook into the lower or upper ring, especially when conditions were stable and one or the other would work best. I never really trusted those cleats on the adjustable systems.

Anyway, the skipper doesn't really need as much adjustability for his trapeze, because he doesn't go anywhere. He is stuck in the same spot. Rick just sets his height adjustment and leaves it.

The crew has to be sometimes all over the place, moving fore and aft for proper weight distribution, and needs to have more adjustability for their trapeze.

As far as the dangers of being hit in the face with a trapeze ring, in our case it was always the crew's fault. In the conditions we always sailed in up in the Midwest, the winds would be light-to-moderate, and shifty and gusty. So the crew always had to be hooked to the trapeze and ready to go out. So the wind is light and I am up on the bow, lying down, but hooked in to the trapeze, just in case I have to go out instantaneously. Skipper is also forward, right behind the main beam. I make a mistake of turning my body a little bit the wrong way, and the trapeze ring slips off my hook and, "BOIING," it flies back and hits my skipper in the face. Not good for crew-skipper relationships.

Any indication why it failed? Bad swage, corrosion?

That’s why I haven’t used them for over twenty years! They were the first things to replace on both of my H16s. The 20 came with the cable handles. Thanks Hobie!!

I'll put Mary down as another happy user of the stainless elongated bones. Such a vast improvement over the Hobie originals.

Cable bones, aka "Can't Miss" handles... hopefully I'll have the chance to try some while crewing on someone's boat in the next few weeks... (too much LIGHTNING this Sunday!) In general, the thrifty Scotsman in me looks askance at dogbones that have to be trashed every 2 seasons.


I just noticed in Dean's second post about the diamond wires just holding the mast up. Could you be referring to the shrouds? Diamond wires are to keep the mast from going too far out of column.

Exactly, I had the same reservations, but having NO experience with Solcats, I had to defer. The grainy photos were ambiguous.

In reply to Reefed One about the pole in the middle, there is a support beam running fore and aft in the middle of the boat. I don't know if it was to try to stabilize the frame or hold the tramp up.

Wow, looks like a real KNEE-BREAKER. The mfrs. must know something about the weakness of the hulls/decks to include such a structural member... hmmm... I'd thought just maybe it was the first production cat to include a built-in righting pole!

Sorry, but we did not do an autopsy on it.
Rick's memory about it is very vague -- it was 20 years ago. He says part of it also had to do with the handle crossbar in the middle of the ring bending, which allowed the ring to deform even more, prior to the failure.

I did not know there was a swage involved. If so, I already knew that I don't trust swages for other reasons, and if that happened to be at the point where the trapeze hook attaches, I would trust it even less.

But, then, I don't trust any of the many components of a trapeze system between the mast and me.

No guts no glory! It does pay to inspect the rigging and trap lines for wear, loose fittings and corrosion on a regular basis.

For sure.

In the Nacra 18 Square I had in the 80's, these fore and aft tubes were used to prevent rotation of the front and ream beams. Later, Nacra was able to eliminate the tubes (on the N5.2) by putting fittings inside the end of the beams that screwed into the hull and prevented rotation of the beam. I don't know about the Sol Cat, but this might have been the reason for the fore and aft tube, just like it was on early Nacras.

I just lost my new post so im going to make this brief
Bolt ropes wont come out through the channel in the end cap, Ill just open the hole up a little with a stepped drill bit and a rotozip.
If diamond wires are needed I'll install them at a later date. My question was to weather they are added to increase the efficiency of the mast. Probably so.
Dean, thanks for the post on the rudder releases. Upon more informed inspection, I discovered that one of the original releases is still intact. I definately would'nt have noticed this without the info. Now I just have to fogure out how to make another one for the one thats missing. Possibly a peice of thinwall ABS. I'll figure out something now that I have something to work with. I would still like to replace the wheels that the ropes pass over but hav'nt figured out how to remove the pins without damaging the castings.
The pole down the middle of the tramp does seem like an ancle and knee buster. Im thinking of padding that with some foam or something if possible.
I think i'd like to put a Hobie bob on top of the mast. Anyone know if the bob will fit or not? I'll goop it up good but would still like the extra security.
I think that in a couple weeks I'll have all the parts on the boat and this week I'll get the trailer registered.
I hav'nt even gotten out on the water yet and the wife is already getting jeious of the time im spending with the boat.LOL

Ahh so... guess the decks were initially not thick enough to do that, a la Prindle. Always wondered how Nacra's strapped down ROUND crossbeams were "keyed" into the deck.

I'm guessing you quickly get used to "stepping" over the bar on your hands and knees... or while "skooching" over on your buns, lol.

I've found your lengthy feedback on my 18 sq queries over in the F-18 forum, and thank you profusely... this boat seems to have seized me recently, with such intensity that I fear the only sure cure is to purchase one... at least one. Just a question of how many states I'll have to drive across...

D'OH!... I simultaneously posted w/ our man azcat. ("He's a Sol man..." (*brass solo*) "He's a So-o-ol MAY-en..." (*twangy guitar solo*)... lol.

az, take a deep breath before you fire up that drill, bro! Does this problem exist on both the front and rear crossbeams? Perhaps some fine needle-nose pliers might be able to start the apparently swollen old bolt-ropes on their way out of the slot? Can you post some digital pics of the problem tramp and endcaps?

At least wait until your NEW tramp is in hand--that properly-made pup might answer a LOT of questions.

Help me out here: How does the tramp attach along the SIDES, to those hull-rails? Does it lace on? Clamp with screws? Slide DOWN after you slide it OVER on the crossbeam? Looks like the new tramps are 3 pieces: left-front-main, right-front-main, and a narrow strip spanning the rear crossbeam, which provides your fore-aft tension.

Here's the ebay fancy painted one again... look familiar?

Well, that's what I get for trying to think about fun while I'm at work. The SolCat18 did not have diamond wires. I was trying to describe the forestay which was led to a stay adjuster located on a bridle.

Also, I can add some info to the rudder release. The stock rudder release was a clamcleat looking thing and was cast aluminum. What I should have mentioned is that the piece, when "cleated", fit into a stainless clip, shaped similar to a C section, but pinched to grab the piece along it's length on it's edge. The stainless clip had enough grip on it to keep the cast piece in place until the rudder hit something. Then, the cast piece would pivot out on it's pin to release the tension on the shock cord to the rudder. There was a handle on a stainless cable, secured by a ball swaged to the cable, that you pulled on to pull the cast piece into the stainless clip to lock the release. To release the rudder normally, you would grab the handle, pull it outboard to pull the cast piece out of the stainless clip.

How can I remember this from thirty years ago but can't remember what my wife said last night?
Don't answer that.

That pole amidship will keep your shins black and blue and yellow and purple. Learn to avoid it during a tack.

Sorry for the late reply.

Dean, welcome back! Keep mining your memory banks--you're our best hope for keeping AZ from pounding his head against a wall, lol. Nice looking lines on the Sol 18 hulls... loose-footed, aggressive main with a large modern "roach" area... do you remember who made the Solcats, and where?

Also, where do the shockcords for the traps run? Fore and aft under the outer deck lip? Or underneath the tramp and out through special tubes through the hull? It's not apparent to me from limited pics available. I may have sent azcat looking for grommets in his new tramp which just aren't there... my bad.

PS: In your previous post, did you mean that Sol 18 can/does use NACRA 5.2 daggerboards??

A little inspiration for azcat... SASSY!...

Hey. I just got back into town.

I will mine my info in my files at home tonight for the facts.

I know NACRA bought the company around 1978. The Sol 18 soldiered on for a couple of years after that, I think but the 5.2 and the Prindle 18 were hotter sellers.

I can't remember how the traps' the shock cord was routed but I have photos at home that may job my memory.

A few years ago I remember someone posting here that mentioned the 5.2 boards would fit the Sol 18.

You could pull up the daggers if they slipped down in the well to far. There was shockcord in a hole at the forward end of the the top of the board that hooked to a spot on the hull a couple of feet forward of the board well.

Its been a While since I posted so I forgot my password and have been re-encarnated as azcat18.
I just got my tramp from saley dog and have already discovered a couple of additions i'll have to make before installation.
First off there are no grommets for the traps so I guess I'll need to ad them. Sounds like 8"fore and aft of the rear stays should work. Do I need to run the shock chord thru a block? Or just up thru the tramp? I assume that the block is there to keep tension off the tramp. Right?
Hey Dean have you found those picks? If so, could you email them?
Also, the dog bones that I got from salty have a block at the top so i'm wondering if I ordered the wrong ones. It seems that maby I'll have to rig up an adjustable rig to use them. There wasnt a pick on there site but the description sounded right and said nothing about a block on the dogbone. can someone let me know the deal?
I think that these are the challenges at hand. All help is appreciated.

Murrary's carries the Privmatic kick up cleat for your rudders, just requires the proper diamter tubing on your tiller arms, which I suspect you have. I think you want the 7.5" elongated ring (Murray's again) instead of the trap ring with sheave, which is desinged for use with the adjustable system.

dave