18 Square for newbie

Howdy, new to the site and somewhat new to sailing

I plan to purchase a cat next summer, as the wife and I are saving for a house this year. I am however going to be doing some crewing this summer on an H16 and possibly an F18.

Spent last Saturday down at the LNYC with one of their members getting in some seat time on the H16, we are going to be racing the PeeDee event in a few weeks.

The 18sq caught my eye, I like the idea of a uni-rig since most of my sailing will be solo, and I like the wide beam for stability. I am 200lbs, so I would imagine righting would be no problem...

How is the boat two up, just for cruising? They seem pretty rare, but I think through the good folks at the LNYC I should be able to find one when the time comes. Would it be too much to handle for a relative newbie with only 1 year of crewing experiance on cats?

My only other sailing experiance was crewing on a Morgan 38 back in MI.

Any insight would be great, thanks!!

IMHO - The 18sq is a very big, heavy and powerful boat.
Putting aside the skills needed to sail it...

It would be a challenge to rig solo, it is so wide you must have a tilt trailer to move it.. and i would probably not recommend it as a first boat.

There are other boats that would probably fit you better.. do searches on this site as this topic has been discussed many many times...

Hang out for awhile, crew when you can. Hop a ride on the RC boat. Cats are a lot different than leaners ( I mean monohulls). One of the best places to observe that difference is on the committee boat.

There are a lot of options - the 18square is a pretty powered up single handed boat but probably not too much for a first boat...however, I would hope to see you around at our local regattas on a regular basis and transporting the 18sq is a little more difficult than some other boats. We should have a pretty fair representation of several different boats at Pee Dee - I'll be there and will be glad to go over them with you.

Sounds good, I'll be down at Pee Dee crewing with Scott Smith on his H16, and at the Tommy Whiteside crewing with Bill Croughwell on his H16 again, possibly an F18. I am heading out this weekend with Bill and we may give the F18 a try...

Just look for Jake.. he will be wearing a cape and rubber gloves (just like his avitar)

If you wish to learn about a 18sq'd you need to talk to Miss Tami ... she has one.

And she knows how to make great GUMBO also ....

Harry

Don't forget he'll have his tube of KY with him too.

haha awesome, I'll make sure to introduce myself.

What a coincidence. One of the best 18sq's at LNYC just went up for sale, and the seller lives in Cary. If you ask nicely he would probably take you out for a spin on it.

Ha no kidding!

Unfortunatly I am really not ready to buy one (promised the wife a house would come first) but I would love to check it out sometime.

Your priorities are WAY out of ORDER! (just kidding, kind of)

BUT... the boat will cost less than 1/300th of the house... you can get a cheap cat and learn to sail why you are depriving yourself of other pleasures to save for your house!

I would be happy to talk with your wife (while you sneak away and buy a cat)

Is that for his "Track Balls"??? or other, Nevermind... don't answer that

Sounds like a plan

I realize that the cat is pretty small change in the big picture, but thats the deal I've made with her so I gotta stick to it, that and I really would not have anywhere to keep a boat at my apartment. Going to crew as much as possible this year, and pick up a boat next winter/spring

Combining two threads, this might make a good bumper sticker: You can sleep on your boat, but you can't sail your house.

Hmm?

Haha, goodone

So buy one of those $1 detroit houses and then get the sq.
Problem solved.

Brilliant!! I am orginally from MI as well, have friends that sail out of the BYC so that would be perfect...

Would the Nacra 5.5uni be a better choice? Hopefully I'll get a chance to see them both at PeeDee

a 5.5 would definitely be a smoother transition.

From reading up it looks as if the 5.5uni uses the same hulls as the 18sq, it just has a narrower 8'6" beam and less sail area?

Edited for emphasis

Just looked it up 172sq feet vs 194sq feet on the 18sq.

Storz, you are correct that the hulls are the same. Sail area has been optimized to each boat (beam and righting moment differences).

Uni's are a ball. I setup and sail mine comfortably in most any wind at 185lbs. Standard size trailer too.

Flexibility wise, you can sloop rig a Uni or Uni rig a sloop without a lot of fuss as riggings are readily available. Certainly gives you options should you later pick up a crew. No need to change boats. All depends on where you see yourself going in the future.

Check with Mark at the Cathouse (located in Michigan). Last time I looked he had a couple of 5.5's on his website.

Sail fast, Tom G

Can the 18sq accept a jib/spini should the need for a two person boat ever some up...

Don't know, suspect you'd need to find or develop your own design...foil, bridles, blocks, routings and sails.

There is a sometimes active group of 18sq sailors that frequent this site. I would suggest searching for previous 18sq strings and contact some of them direct. You'd be receiving advice from those who regularly sail the boat.

Sail fast, Tom G

Hey, I just became the owner of an old square 18 and had the same ques. I am currently trying to find a good deal on a new sail. Mine came with a large and small jib so someone had it rigged. Keep in touch. Maybe we can help each other out.

If you stay in Cary, chances are there will be a rule against keeping it at your new house. I have this problem and just keep it at crosswinds with the mast up. The convenience of not having to trailer/completely unrig is worth it.

i sail my nacra 5.2 solo95% of the time, it has 15.5m2 main and 4.12m2 jib

that's 19.62m2 total

i know the center of effort is lower than the 18sq's but then the boat is a whole lot narrower too...

wouldn't be so happy to do so on the ocean, but on an inland lake it doesn't seem too over-powered

in fact once you get used to it having crew just seems to kill the performance

That,s the problem with a wife...they think that houses should come first! ??

Everyone knows it's boat first THEN....another boat.

From an actual NACRA 18sq sailor:

Yeah, you can rig whatever headsail you want, but then you'll have to take knocks for it. "18 Square" stands for 18 square meters, which is the maximum legal sail area. The reason for the unirig has to do with maximum efficiency for limited sailarea.

When you install a jib, you'll lose pointing ability and won't have enough sail area to make it worth it for downwind. And you'll take a knock for it. If you just have to do something like that, at least install a chute which will help you downwind, and go away so you can point to weather.

But for DAMME sure if you have a stock NACRA Sq with the old-style "bendy" mast with loose diamond wires, DO NOT RIG HEADSAILS, and DO NOT TAKE ALONG CREW unless they're very light weight (kids, for example.)

The old-style (1980s, early 90s) NACRA masts will break, they are optimised for the boat and expected crew weight, and NOT designed AT ALL to carry headsails NOR extra crew.

All 18sq are NOT equal and you cannot generalise... keepup's is some sort of aftermarket or custom boat. newbie may have a NACRA Sq. I have a NACRA Sq with a newer 5.5u mast which has been lengthened. Husband has a Cat 1 Sq homebuilt with a carbon mast. Do you even really know what you have?

Squares are box-rule boats and usually are not alike so generalisations tend to be incorrect.