Catboat


A catboat is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of the boat. Traditionally they were gaff rigged. Most have a shallow draft, with centreboards, although some have a keel. The hull can be 12 to 40 feet long with a beam half as wide as the hull length at the waterline.
Advantages of this sail plan include simplicity of construction, maintenance, and sailing. Its disadvantage is a limited ability to sail upwind.
The origin of the name is unknown. A catboat is not the same as a twin-hull catamaran.
Some cat boats in current use include the Beetle Cat, the Redden Catboat, the Nonsuch, the Inland Cat, the Zijlsloep, the Cape Cod Cat, Com-Pac Trailerable, Marshall, Menger, and the APBY cat boat.
From the 1850s to the early 1900s catboats were the dominant inshore boat on the New England coast, both for work and for pleasure. They were used for fishing and coastal transportation. Their popularity declined in the commercial world where they were replaced by motorized boats. In boat racing the tendency was for larger sails, which favored other rigging styles.