Nacra 580

Has anyone heard of the Nacra 580 or 570? And does anyone have any comment on these?

Fred

I have seen them at the factory. The 570 is a skegged hull and I can not comment further because I didn't pay too much attention to it.

The 580 however got my attention as I see it as a very good shallow water Performace Cat. It is basically a Nacra 5.8 with hulls that are modified in a few ways. The bows are a bit slimmer. The dagger board trunks are replaced with large trunks to accommodate a very nice centerboard design.

The rear of the hulls, aft of the rear crossbar are tapered to accomodate the same sterring system that is found on the Inter 20.

It's a great boat that is narrower than the F18. I think that it is a few inches wider than a Nacra 5.8. At the time, it was available with and without a boom. The forestay bridle is conventional, without the bow foil/spreader bar.

I expressed an interest in sailing it to the Channel Islands, but was not offered a test sail.

Definitely the most noteworthy part of this boat is the centerboard which, has good foil shape and also fills its slot when in either the up or down position. This means that you won't have to fool around with slot strips as do sailors of Tornados and Mystere's like mine.

GARY

Also the 500/570/580 have these features:
- the new rudders from the N20/F18
- totally new rig - square top main with jib that sheets to the front beam
- beams are from the N20/F18 not the old round ones..
- 500 and 580 are available with spinnaker

Email me if you want pics.
Dave

Have any of these been sold in the US yet?

Dave,

Do you own one? I would like to see some pics if you have them. I saw the ones they have on the Performance Catamarans site but they don't have a good photo of one.

I am still looking at options for buying the right cat. These looked simple compared to the I20's and F18's I saw at the Tybee.

Nacra 5.8 is 8' beam, and F-18 is 8' 2.5". I've been intrigued by the 580 as well; it looks like a fun bay boat, especially with the spinny option.

PS: Checking Cathouse's 580 page, it's listed as having 8'6" beam. There are some pics too. http://cathouse1.com/N580.htm

Oh shoot, I made a mistake on the width of the F18. I didn't realize that they weren't 8'6". What I really meant to say is that the 580 is less than 8'6". I think they are that same width you mentioned. I believe that that width may be a trailering limit in some of the countries where they are sold.

But if Cathouse is stating 8'6", then perhaps I'm totally full of it! I still believe that they are less than 8'6" because I think that is what I was told at the factory.

GARY

Yes, There was one at Rick's Seminar last month in Islamorada.

There is a 570 near Houston/Surfside Texas.

I think it even has wings.


Tatto Thomas has had it for at least 2-3 years.

yachtsandyachting.com did a boat test on the 580 which is avaialable for download in .pdf format from their shop for £1.50 (approx $3).

We have both of them at our club and they do participate in out club races now and then. I know one or two things about them and how the owners feel about them

What do you want to know specifically ?

Wouter

Well since we know about nothing, then we will want to know everything you know! <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Yes, Wouter, Everything and anything.

How the owners like their boats, how they perform, easy handling, Is this the Hobie 18 of the Nacras? and any other information including approximate price, weight etc.


Thanks,

No GARY your right - I beleive that Bob told the both of the same thing - 8"2" because of the trailering limit is some countries.

Maybe they have changed it since then?

That is a bit too much to type up here I'm afraid. In case you hadn't noticed yet, my posts are nowhere as long as in the past.

The specs you can find at the following link :

http://www.watersportverbond.nl/data/Z8F_numdet-01-4-02-2007.pdf

All the values given in the listing are independently measured by Texel officials.

Personally I think the Nacra 570 is the better choice of the two. Both boats are about the same speed as indicated by the Texel handicap system, but the 570 is a less complicated boat.

Also the 580 must be expected to be 30 kg heavier, and it feels that heavy on the beach as well. I have lifted it.

The nacra 570 is 2.50 mtr wide (Again Texel measurement) and the nacra 580 is 2.60 mtr wide (Texel measurement)

2.50 mtr = 8.2 feet or 8 feet 2.4 inches
2.60 mtr = 8.5 feet or 8 feet and 6.3 inches

This data if supplied among many other in the compressed excelsheet which has a link on this page

http://www.watersportverbond.nl/content.asp?me_id=468%20

This sheet contains ALL measurements taken by the Texel officials such as exactly sailmeasurements used to calculate the overall sail area. It is somewhat difficult to read but with help from the webpage on what is what you can.

Anyway, the 580 is the same widths as the F18's and the 570 is the same width as the F16's and 4 inches narrower. The last is the legal trailer width in all countries around the world.

The rigs are almost identical, with the exception that the 570 has a boom less mainsail.

Both boats are modified from the original designs Nacra 5.7 and nacra 5.8 and both use alot of parts of the nacra F18 designs.

Personally I feel the Nacra company has the best line of boats in the way of Nacra 500, Nacra 570 and Nacra Infusion F18. I'm not very impressed by the other boats they bring out. The three I named all are well balanced boats that strike a very good balance between different desired and limitations. The others I find less attractive in this sense.

With reasoning I really do like the nacra 570 as the better option of the two and I'm just convinced that the 570 with a spi will be an excellent boat to have, it will be very fast downwind and still have good upwind performance. The only downsides of the 570 in my opinion is the boomless mainsail (I think booms allow better sail control) and the fact that there is no active racing class for it like the F18's. The nacra 580 is heavy, not much faster at all, more complicated, noticeably harder to lift the bow (because there is no skeg to act as a fullcrum) and even more unpopular then the 570 as a racing class.

570 (and 5.7) sailors at my club like their boats, the single 580 owner is rumoured to look to sell it and get a different type. We have several 570 (5.7) at my club.

And specifics you want to know ?

Wouter

The 570 should be closer to 40kg lighter then the 580 which weighs a min. 10 kg. more then the 5.8.<img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Texel measured 164 kg to 195 kg, a 31 kg difference.

Source : http://www.watersportverbond.nl/data/Z8F_numdet-01-4-02-2007.pdf

Wouter

[/quote]
570 (and 5.7) sailors at my club like their boats, the single 580 owner is rumoured to look to sell it and get a different type. We have several 570 (5.7) at my club.
[/quote]

Wouter:

May I ask what it the 580 owner does not like about the boat? I am considering this as a replacement for my 5.8 next year.

Thanks

I need to correct one statement of mine. There is now a second 580 owner at my club and he likes the boat.

The other owner of a 580 dislikes the weight of the boat. He is a guy who is no longer a spring chicken and for him weight is getting more and more important. He also singlehands the 580 from time to time. One remark he made was that the 580 felt much heavier then the 570 when lifting the bows. The other owner is not to0 vocal about the 580 but he appears happy with it.

Basically the 580 is a good boat and well build; if you have a 5.8 now then you won't notice much difference.

Wouter

Yes they are very well built and strong too. I was at Performance Cat about this time last year getting some Inter spinnaker parts for my 5.8 and made some inquires on the 580. They were in the process of manufacturing and few for shipment to Europe and took me back to show me what was going into them. I think the bows may be a bit heavier because of some additional horizontal and vertical bulkheads. At the time I was quoted a price of $12K and don’t remember if that was with or w/out the spinnaker package.

I guessed they had made the bows stronger as the 580 no longer use a bridle foil.

Also the 580 and 570 are now fitted with the new F18 rudder setup and this is infinately better then the old nacra line and cleat setup.

Generally both are good boats that have benefitted from years of experience in building and fitting out the predecessors.

Wouter