Hens . . .

Posted By: George Haycraft, Picnic Cat #29
Date: 6/27/08 7:12p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: looking at a Cat... (pensacola Bob)

I'm the former owner of a Mud Hen. A friend had a Bay Hen. The Hens match a sharpie hull to a catboat rig. Both sharpies and catboats have work boat heritage. Each hull form developed along with its own rig for a reason. They work together. The sharpies native rig is cat ketch, like the Sea Pearls. It keeps the sail area lower because the narrow sharpie hull has less beam stability. The catboat has the beam to provide the stability for that big gaff sail. I found my Mud Hen to be very tender. This was helped, somewhat, by the undersized original sail, which was cut without any airfoil shape, and by the whippy, unstayed flag pole mast. The power of a puff was wasted on the shapeless sail, and absorbed or spilled by the rig. I added three stays to the mast, and put a good sail on her. Rig problems solved. THEN SHE REALLY GOT TENDER IN A PUFF. I would hesitate to play mix & match with traditional hull forms and rig types unless you know what you're getting into. If you want a cabin with a little something in it, sounds like a Compac Sun Cat is something you should look into. I will say, though, that the welded mast tabernacle on my Mud Hen was one fine looking piece of work. The welds looked like rows of overlapping dimes.