Buying a Cape Cutter

[Phil Rowcliffe]

I'm thinking about selling my current boat (Vic 800) and getting either a Cape Cutter, Shrimper or (maybe) a Hawk 20 with cabin; I'm looking for a boat which I can trail, on which I can, with reasonable comfort, spend 2 or 3 days on board, which will take the ground, and which provides good sailing performance whilst not being too boisterous! At the moment the Cape Cutter is my preferred choice but I'm seeking advice from existing owners as to any potential pitfalls - should I get a S.Africa or UK built one, are there any particular areas I should be wary of (e.g. keel mechanism, build quality), choice of rig (assume they are all gaff-rig cutters?) and any other relevant advice. It would also be nice to hear how they perform. I'd be very grateful for any objective advice on this. Thanks very much, Phil

[erbster]

Hi Phil, you’ll obviously find only fans of CC here but my observations are:

1. CC very easy to handle solo. Rig more flexible than shrimper. Accommodation an order of magnitude better than hawk
2. Shrimper v common, large class and inboard option, but expensive
3. Hawk performs well, but it’s not a cruising boat (more of a performance boat) and really expensive.

There are several CCs available second hand and no doubt you’d get an excellent deal on a new one from Nick at CC marine.


Cape Cutter #86 Aurora
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