Horizon Cat or Eclipse?

[petitmio]

Hello everybody.

I learned to sail on a Bombardier 4.8 and I current have a http://www.onedesignplus.com/boats/megabyte.asp.  I also have a 1988 16' Doral with a 115 hp outboard that I want to get rid of (for sale, BTW).  Being close to retirement, I want to buy a small sailboat with a cabin.  Most of my sailing will be done on a 10 mile long lake.  I'm 20 minutes from Lake Memphremagog (about 30 mile long).  I plan to tow to Lake Champlain and I dream of sailing the Florida Keys, with a trip (or 2) on the upper St-Lawrence river. 

Ease of rigging is a must because I'm a lazy bugger and if it takes an hour to put the boat on the trailer, I will not move it.  Draft is also a consideration as there is little water where the boat will be docked.

After doing a lot (and I mean A LOT!) of reading, the Hutchins boats seem to have what I need.  A 20 footer would be ideal for me.  I plan to do some 2-3 day outings and I'll probably go out a few times for a week.

Now, and this is probably a stupid question, should I go for the Eclipse or the Horizon Cat?  I know, I know, one is a sloop an the other is a cat.  2 different beasts.  I probably know the specs by heart.  I don't plan to race (like, NOBODY races a sailboat :-)), comfort is somewhat important.

The admiral and myself are used to closed quarters.  We owned a Westfalia for 10 wears and we have a small Class B RV to tow the boat.

Your collective wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Michel

[CaptRon28]

I bought my Horizon for one main reason - it's got to be the easiest 20 foot or larger sailboat to launch and rig around. Raise the mast by hand, pin it and the head stay, take off the sail cover, raise the gaf and sail. Done. The main always stays on the boom and there's no head sail to play with. I think I can get the boat into the water and sailing by myself in less than 10 minutes, maybe 5 with help. I suppose I will take the main off for the winter, but that's once a year.

As a bonus, it happens to sail well too. Only drawback is that Cat boats tend to be a little more expensive than sloops. Don't know why.

My Telstar 28 foot trimaran is more than twice as fast, but I'd be working at the ramp for easily another 75 minutes, and have to get back 75 miules earlier to pull it out of the water. Rather be sailing the extra 2 1/2 hours.

[Craig Weis]

Big boat or small boat? I'd do the Horizon if I could afford it.

skip.

[Glenn Basore]

I like my 2006 Eclipse and I have gotten to the point she is easy to launch or retrieve. I use the boat trailer winch to raise or lower my mast and I do it by my self (62 years of age with some limited mobility). I know they advertise the easy mast tender set up but I like the trailer winch much better.

Before I bought my Eclipse I did look at the Horizon Cat boat, beautiful boat but the inboard engine was added weight I did not want to tow around and the price of the cat boat was considerably more than the Eclipse. Both have a good amount of room inside.

Also, I never sailed a cat boat So the sail configuration was a concern for me too.

With the shoal keel and center board on my Eclipse she is really easy to sail and trailer around.

If you plan on towing I would reconmend a trailer with at least 13 inch wheels, not the little golf cart wheels.

I'm sure you will be happy with either boat and perhaps you could sail with some one there on the east cost that has these boats so you would get a better feel for what you want or expecting .

Glenn

[petitmio]

Ron, Skip, Glenn.

Thanks for your comments.  I'm currently shopping and I'm looking at both.  Skip probably asked the question that I had in my mind wthout acknowling it.  Still undecided.  I almost bought an Eclipse and the deal fell through this week.  I'm currently looking at a HC.

Michel, trying to make up my mind