G-Cat Rigging

Hi,
Ive had my G-Cat 5.0 for about a month and a half now, and I still can figure out how to rig it, or what hardware i might need. Summer is just running away from us up here in the Northeast and im really crankin to get it in the water. Anyone that could be of any assistance it would be greatly appreciated.
Eddie

tedwalkerband@Hotmail.com

Ted - be glad to help but we need some specific questions.

Well, I wish i had specific Questions.

I purchased the boat from a non-sailor, and it basically came with a bunch of wires, and nothing really else. I know ill be able to figure out the sails once i get the mast up, its just the rigging of the mast im confused about.

I would really love some pictures so i can try to figure out where things attach, but it has been very hard finding pics of G-Cats, where you can see the detail.

Does this help at all?

Cheers!

It shouldn't really be that different from any other beach cat except that you probably have a third cross beam at the bows.

You basically have three wires that hold up the mast; one forestay and two sidestays (sometimes referred to as shrouds). You may be able to identify which is which because the forestay is probably a different length than the two sidestays. The sidestays should be the same length. All three wires should come together at a tang located at the top 3rd of the mast and will likely be attached together to this tang with a large shackle. On the boat, the sidestays attach to the chainplates that come out at the outer side of each hull and should have some sort of adjustment plate that has 8 or so holes in it in which to pin the shrouds too - to begin put the shrouds in the upper most holes and adjust later. Attach the foot of the mast to the rotator ball on the middle beam and step the mast. Once the mast is stepped up, the forestay will attach to a similar fitting located at the center of the front beam. Now, equally adjust the sidestays down (while someone holds the mast to that side by pulling on a trapeze line) until the rig is snug. You may find that you have to move the forestay in it's adjuster until you find a happy medium. Once this is set, mark the holes for everything so you can come right back to them next time.

Does that help?

I just wrote a really long post and lost it. D'oh!
Ill try again.

It does help, but i dont think im there.
See, the problem is 3 fold.
1. I dont know if i have all the hardware. So i cant just work with what i ahve to figure it out, and know i have it right when i use everything.
2. I dont think anything attaches to that front stay. I know on the new 5.0 that the front line from the mast attaches to another line that runs somewhat perpendicular to it, and between the hulls on a runner. (But i dont know if i should have this with my boat cause im not sure if i even have everything).
3. Ive never rigged a beach cat before. I got my cat cause i had been racing with a friend on his Corsair F-28R, and another friends J22s and Rhodes 19. So i knew i didnt want a monohull and i wanted something small. But ive never even seen one rigged! Ha! Thats kind of why i wanted pics.

If i figure out i need something, like a new mast cable or something, is it something id be able to get at a westmarine, or will i need to find someone selling parts?
Ok thanks so much I raelly appreciate it, i just want to get out on the water so dang bad!

I'd get your rigging from the online store here. They can mail you everything you need standing-rigging wise to get started.

Also it might be beneficial to you to find other cat sailors in the area to take you under their wing for issues like this. Believe me going out on the water the first time CAN be intimidating if you don't have a calming voice around to keep you calm
(speaking from personal experience here)

hello,
you could prolly use a hobie16 manual which may be online. the g16 mast is the same section, but the jibs are rigged differently. the g jib has a zipper and attaches to the font beam at the clew. the forestay of the g does not attach to the bow beam, there is a bridle similar to the h16.
so, you should have the 2 shrouds with their adjusters, a forestay, and 2 bridle wires holding up the mast. the shrouds would be longer than the distance from the tang to the base of the mast, and the forestay shorter than the shrouds. the 2 bridle wires are around 4' each.
once you confirm that the lengths of your wires are correct, you should call a place like Murray's Marine and have them make you a new set of wires as a safety precaution.
you should have a main halyard and a jib halyard, a jib sheet and a mainsheet with all the blocks as well. the rigging of the jib halyard may be like a TheMightyHobie18, but it won't furl because of it's attachment to the bow beam.
check the rudder system. 2 rudder assemblies, a crossbar and a tiller extension are needed.
also there shoud be 1 or 2 sets of trap wires. these are made of the more flexable wire, have handels, are thinner and shorter than the shrouds. they attach to the mast tang with the shrods and forestay.
happy sailing

First things first- inventory what you have.

For standing wire rigging:
You should have three long wires that are noticeably longer and thicker than the rest, commonly called shrouds (two will be the same length, one will be shorter). You should have two short, thick wires connected to a big metal ring (this is called the "bridle").

You might also have 2-4 long, thin wires ("trapeze" wires)- ignore these for now.

Post back when you have found the shrouds and the bridle wires. Chances are, the bridle wires are still connected to the bow-beam of the boat.

Also- have on hand a large phillips-head screw-driver and a Gator-Aide bottle cap when preparing to step the mast. More on this later.

I understand what the screwdriver is for but I'm dying to know what the gatoraid bottle cap is for.

Here is a quick sketch that, along with the info in these posts will help you figure out what goes where. The Forestay wire on my boat is thicker than the two sidestays (shrouds). It also has a spinning attachment at the top which is to roller furl the jib. Yours may not have this but you should be able to tell the forestay from the sidestays by the thickness.

Hope this helps

I don't have specific comments to help, but Fred's (SOMA's) drawing should help a lot. If you still have problems, I have a Nacra manual I could scan and e-mail you. I assume there are enough simularities that it would help. I won't post it because of copyright issues.

I remember when I got a Nacra after having Hobie 16's. I could not figure out how to raise the main sail. On the H-16, the Halyard line that pulls up the mast runs over the top of the mast and is hooked in at the top of the front side of the mast by a "knob" on the wire catching in a "groove". It was completely foreign to me that the halyard line could come back down the groove that the sail was going up, as the Nacra and many boats do. Plus I did not realize there was a big ring that was supposed to be used to catch on the hook on the mast. So that is why I now have a manual. And I understand how you feel.

Thanks for all the info, I think it is really going to help. Its tough feeling totally in the dark when you look at your own boat.
Im going to try to go up to sebago this weekend and meet up with a fleet there for their opening season "fun sail"-ish kind of thing, so hopefully i can get some help there.

But Im still really curious what the bottlecap is for, and the screwdriver.

Thanks a ton and hopefully see you on the water soon!

Hello,
Times have changed. Ive never heard anyone call a forestay a shroud. Usually shroud is the name for a wire that holds the mast up from the side. The shroud attachment point on the hull (chain plate or shroud anchor pin) is located aft of the mast so that the shrouds also hold the mast up from the back. This way a back stay is not needed for normal sailing. I have heard the 3 wires called stays, but nautical types aren't big on the term side stay.
If you have a normal old g5.0 the jib won't furl and the forestay will be the same diameter as the shrouds only shorter. i can't remember how the jib halyard is rigged, but if the zipper sleeve is wide enough you may be able to zip the halyard inside the jib luff like a TheMightyHobie18. The placement of the turning block at the top will be a factor in the jib halyard rigging to. If it's mounted to the mast you will be cleating off the halyard at the base of the mast, and the halyard will be external. a dim memory tells me this will be the case.
The boat should have a boom and a protrusion at the mast base casting. the protrusion being the mast rotator arm. a line connects it to the boom limiting the amount of mast rotation. More rotation for strong wind-less for light wind.
i'm guessing the screwdriver mentioned is the mast pin or hinge for raisng the mast, and the plastic cap is the bearing upon which the mast sits.

Hi Eddie,
heres the skinny on the rigging of the 5.0. We have 7 in our fleet here in Columbia SC, and 2 of them we got new sq top mains from Calvert, both a little different, but both boomless.
The simple rigging involves the bridle to the forestay, and the jib attaches to the front beam. It zips down to the bridle attachment point, then is free to the front beam. Some of the G-Cats forestays were a little short, and most people tied them to the ring on the bridle, using this line(spectra or Vectran of course) as thier mast rake adjustment. Just get the mast straight up and down for now, when you take it our for a sail, then we can talk about mast and rudder rake. The jib has an external halyard that we cleted off to a clam cleat on the side of the mast. I suggest upgrading this cleat to a new spinlock. Attach the boom, raise the sails a nd gor for a ride. Frank Larson used to be a G-Cat dealer, and still has some parts, but I dont know how to reach him now. Google search him, he may still be out there. Hans still has parts, molds, and extrusions. Go to www.seacats.org and click on the links for Hans' site, I cant remeber it off the top of my head. Ill send you the G-Cat 5.0 diagram tomorrow.
BTW, the G-cats had 3 different rudder styles. Which one do you have? Describe it in detail as all are similar, but thier is one that is the best.

David Mosley
www.teamseacats.com

When you raise the mast, the base of it will fit over a ball on the center cross-beam. Put the Gatorade bottle-cap in the base of the mast and put the mast up against the mast-step ball. Put the screw-driver through the holes in the mast base and mast step. The bottle-cap is a "mast bearing" that prevents metal-on-metal contact. If you try to put the mast up with no bearing in place, the holes in the base and step won't line up very well. The screw-driver locks the mast and step together and acts as a pivot, allowing one person to raise the mast.

Salty types may insist on a proper nylon disc mast-bearing, and indeed that is what I'm currently using. I leave my boat mast-up on the beach, and recently lowered the mast to work on some things and found that I'd been using a bottle-cap as a mast-bearing for the past year. It showed little sign of wear, but as I'd since found my nylon disc I swapped them.

I used dacron line to tie the forestay to the bridle. Recently I raked the mast a bit more forwards and shackled the forestay directly to the bridle.

I'll go take pictures of my boat and post them tomorrow. I might be finally putting the TheMightyHobie18 rudder system on it tomorrow...

Too late, I think Eddie left! He was seen walking out with a piece of paper and a phillips screwdriver in his hand. And trying to down the last of a bottle of Gatorade.

haha

I dont have the rudder here (at work ) but ill get you the details.

Ive gotten everything together and realized im a little short on a lot of stuff, i think the person i bought it from must still have a bag of gear... im on hold for a bit but ill get back to yall! In the meantime ill just keep drinking gatorade and saving the caps.

Eddie

PS, Stopped by the CRANNE event this weekend at sebago, met some nice guys and saw some cool boats. They think i may be better off, to sell the ole G and get a Hobie 16 or something else simple to start... my big boat racing isnt translating as easy as i thought to the zippy little cats!
Ill see where i get with the last owner, and im working on a few other places, but it looks like theres a pretty decent amount of hardware i need.

Ill try to get a cam and take some pics.

Thanks again, and if its on this cat or another, ill be seeing you guys out there soon!

What ever you do, DO NOT sell the G-Cat for a Hobie 16! The Hobie 16 is an inferior boat in every sense of the word! I took some pictures, and am just working to get them to a file size small enough to post

You never did mention if you found the wires though...? You could always call Murrays and get new wires. I got new wires for my 5.7M through them.

Those guys at the CRANNE event wouldn't happen to be part of a Hobie 16 fleet would they???? When I bought my Hobie 18 I got the same reaction from my local Hobie 16 fleet. They just wanted more people to race with! Great guys though!

Saying a h16 is inferior to a g5.0 is maybe too strong a statement. In moderate conditions i'ts prolly true with the front tramp and speed advantage of the g5.0. We always thought a g5.0 could compete with a nacra5.2 boat for boat. the g5.0 can beat to windward almost as well as a boarded cat and is super fast off the wind as long as it is powered up. In strong winds the bow beam is just too low and pitchpole is a problem. Somehow the g5.7 doesn't really have a problem with the bow beam. also in surf sailing (which i guess isn't even a sport anymore for cats) the h16 would be one of the best. -just my opinion of some old cats developed from sailing them in past decades.

HUGE picture of Mast Hound
The three white wires are the stays. Due to the clutter, I have a second shackle for the forestay. The little pulley is the jib halyard pulled, and that wire running through it is the jib halyard. Nevermind the rope. The extra wires up there are the trapeze wires.

HUGE picture of the bow bridle
I know that shackle looks dinky, and it is. Normally I have the forestay tied to the bridle ring by some dacron line, but I recently angled the mast a bit more forwards and went to the shackle.

HUGE picture of the side-stay adjuster
When first stepping your mast, pin your wire in the upper-most hole of the adjuster

HUGE picture of the crew trapeze
This is the trapeze I use the most. The blue line is bungee cord, and it simply runs through the mast-beam. The black plastic lump adjusts how far down your butt hangs when out on the trapeze, and also takes your weight.

The line coming out of the mast-beam next to the trapeze is the jib barber-hauler. That little jam-cleat on the beam is used for this line. It helps shape the jib since the jib-cleats are non-adjustable.

HUGE picture of the skipper trapeze
This is the trapeze I use when it's blowing hard out. It runs under the tramp and out the other side the same way. Those foot-loops are garden-hose with some 3/16 dacron run through them. They make excellent handles for moving the boat around, and when you capsize and have to toss the righting line over the hull, they are a great place to stand to make the toss.

Sycho, Look at those spider webs on the bow bridle! A little salt water will take those fight off.

So I finally got the plans for the boat (Major props to Dave Mosley!).

Im WAAAAYYYY off in terms of what i need to sail the boat. I probably have about 20% of the rigging i need to sail. I called newengladcatamarans and all the stuff would have to be custom made. I dont even know how much that would cost.

I called the previous owner to see if he left a bag of riggings out, but no luck there.

I got the boat to teach my little brother and sister how to sail in my free time, and didnt really know i was going to be doing restoring too.

I have a few questions.

Is it even worth it to get the riggings made? Ill post some pics. There are some wierd pucking popcorn things on the hull. I dont have any idea what they are.

Is it worth anything to sell? The trailer works. the lights on the trailer work.

I just wanted to go sailing! ha.

oh well id love any opinions.

Thanks,
E

oh yeah. it has a huge ding in the mast too. yikes.
E

Hi
So maybe the CRANNE guys were not too far off the mark.

I had to laugh when we ("the Cranne guys") were supposed
to be a Hobie 16 fleet. By the way, I sail a Nacra 6.0.

Cranne is an open fleet where we welcome ALL Cats. When I
looked at this Gcat, I saw nothing but trouble. Maybe Eddie
can post some pictures of the forward Tramp attachment "hooks".
Then you guys will see what I saw: an unsafe boat
that will take a lot of work.

The reason that I recommended the H16 was that he could
find one easily, it would probably be sailable right away.
Nothing worse than getting a new boat and having to spend
months to make it usable.

Eddie, I tried the email you have listed but it did not
work. Stay in touch.

Thanks
Scott
Commodore- Cranne
http://www.geocities.com/crannesailing/

There are many routes to go for new rigging. I'd simply suggest buying all new stuff from Murrays. They'll have the lengths listed in their database. I bought new rigging for my 5.7M from Murrays, and I don't remember it being expensive.

Alternatively, you can get the lengths needed from Murrays, and go to your local West Marine and make your own rigging right there in the store.

You don't have to have the front trampoline on to use the boat. If you eventually have to replace the front trampoline, I'd advise you to go with an open weave "bow net" style instead of the trampoline. It makes it easier to tie things down, and gives the wind less to push against. My 5.7M and my friend's 5.0M were both flipped on the beach during a storm, while the P19 sitting with them never moved.