What rig and sail inventory was standard on the Nauticat 33?
I'm looking at a Nauticat 33 with two masts, a furling genoa and rather tired main and mizzen sails. What rig and sails would it originally have come with, and were a spinnaker or extra jibs standard?
Answer
The Nauticat 33 normally carried a masthead Bermudan ketch rig with a mainsail, mizzen and headsail. These three sails made up the basic cruising inventory, though the original headsail specification, spar material and reefing equipment varied with build year and individual orders.
The standard ketch rig
Start with the boat's build year and original sail plan. The Nauticat 33 had a long production life, and many boats have since been altered. A brokerage description records what is aboard today; it does not establish what the yard supplied.
The normal arrangement has a tall mainmast forward of the wheelhouse and a shorter mizzen mast aft. Both carry triangular, fore-and-aft sails. The mizzen mast stands forward of the rudder axis, making this a ketch.
The headsail sets ahead of the mainmast, with its stay running to the masthead. This makes it a masthead rig. Fractional-rig specifications quoted for other 33-foot yachts do not apply to the Nauticat.
The divided sail plan spreads the working canvas across several manageable sails rather than one large mainsail and headsail. This suits the boat's motorsailer role and provides useful sail combinations as conditions change.
The basic sail inventory
An ordinary cruising example should carry three working sails:
- Mainsail: a triangular sail on the mainmast, with a means of reducing its area. Check the reefing arrangement rather than assuming a particular number of slab reefs.
- Mizzen: the smaller triangular sail on the aft mast, normally with its own boom, sheet and halyard.
- Headsail: a working jib or genoa to suit the boat's original specification. Roller-furling genoas are common on boats for sale today, but their presence does not prove they were factory equipment.
Conventional woven polyester, usually called Dacron, is the normal cruising sailcloth. Check the boat's paperwork for the exact cloth weight, genoa overlap and reef details.
Treat a spinnaker, cruising chute, storm jib, spare working jib or mizzen staysail as an extra unless an original order or equipment list records it as included. A locker full of sail bags does not establish a larger standard factory inventory.