Brand: Catalac 900

Catalac 900 Ocean passage After Tom Lack’s Catalac production ended in the mid 1980’s, the company was reformed in the early ’90’s under the new name, Blue Water Catalacs.  The old Catalac 9M moulds were sourced and it was possible to put the boat back into production under the new ‘Catalac 900 banner. The Catalac 900 was a major rework of the twenty year old Catalac 9M design, with a sleeker and more modern look, achieved mainly by the removal of the old individual aluminum framed windows and replacing them with sealed full length tinted Perspex ones. The boat featured other refinements like an enclosed helm,  hot and cold running water as standard and the fitting of twin diesels (either Volvo or Yanmar units) with saildrive transmissions as standard equipment. Replacing the old shaft drive setup meant the engines were now mounted further towards the rear, allowing for a huge […]

by Terry Kennedy The Catalac 900 is the pilothouse version of the Catalac 9M. The pilothouse not only allows for the helm to be inside, but offers standing head room around the salon. The Catalac 900 is a warm, dry and comfortable vessel when inclement weather arrives. This is a dramatic difference from the 8M and 9M’s with their helms exposed to the weather in the cockpits, and their low ceilings in the salon area that only allows for sitting. Naval Architect John Winterbotham designed the hull for the Catalac 8M/9M/900 based on the Sunderland, a British WWII era sea plane. By design, the vessels will slip sideways when the wind is strong rather than lift the windward hull. Because of this wide flared load bearing design, and significant storage space, the Catalacs are easily overloaded. They can hold a lot of weight without squatting down in the water and showing […]

continued from page 1 by Jeff & Diane Curran We were making good progress, averaging 90 miles but after 5 days the wind died and we were then faced with the prospect of grossly exceeding our ETA at Barbados. The last thing we wanted to happen was for our girls back in the UK to become worried because were unable to contact them or let them know in any way that we were ok (in fact, this became the greatest concern during the trip). In hindsight we should have invested in a SAT-phone for such an eventuality. Actually, we set off with a five day weather forecast and with only VHF aboard, called up the occasional passing ship for an up to date forecast. We deployed the Cruising Shute, something we thought would never be needed for this passage, particularly as the Trade Winds should have been firmly set for […]

by Jeff & Diane Curran (Jeff and Diane were kind enough to share the story of their Atlantic crossing in 2013 aboard S/V Horizons, their Catalac 900 catamaran. – Rick In 2012 Jeff reached the Canaries aboard Horizons a Catalac 900 having sailed from Madeira single handed. It was not without some difficulties, gale force winds certainly helped him on his way but halfway through the journey the electronic auto helm broke. Hove to, a repair was attempted but it became apparent that the wheel pilot motor had burnt out. There was nothing more to do than get some well earned rest whilst hove-to before continuing the journey by hand steering. Horizons finally reached the anchorage at Playa Blanca in Lanzarote on the evening of 10th November where a decent meal and sleep were the order of priorities before going into Marina Rubicon the next morning in order to have the […]