Catalac 9M Review, the 1970s Family Catamaran That Still Crosses Oceans
Tom Lack's boxy, chine-hulled 30 footer looked like a motorsailer, sailed better than anyone expected and sold more than 250 copies.
- Length
- 29.5 ft9 m
- Beam
- 13.7 ft4.17 m
- Draft
- 2.6 ft0.8 m
- Cabins
- Owner's double in the starboard bow, single cabin forward to port, plus a stern berth and a sea berth
- Used price
- $28K to $55K
On this page
- Overview
- The Catalac 9M began as a better Bobcat
- Why a boxy cat with no keels sails better than it looks
- Outboard, Dolphins or diesels: the power question
- Sitting headroom in the saloon, standing room in the hulls
- Handling quirks every 9M owner learns
- A small cat with a long ocean record
- Finding a Catalac 9M for sale in North America
- Specifications
- Price and value
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Used buyer checklist
- Rivals
- Our verdict
- FAQ
The Catalac 9M (Catalac 30) is a 29 ft 6 in British cruising catamaran designed by John Winterbotham for Tom Lack and introduced in 1971. More than 250 were built at Christchurch, Dorset, and many have since crossed oceans.
- Families wanting a first cruising catamaran on a tight budget
- Shallow-water cruising in Florida, the Bahamas and the Chesapeake
- Canal and river cruisers who need to lower the mast
- Owners who value stability over speed
Catalac 9M by the numbers
- Sail area to displacement
- 15.7A cruising rig sized for comfort, so expect to motor in very light air.
- Displacement to length
- 252Moderate displacement, a classic cruising balance between load carrying and speed.
- Theoretical hull speed
- 6.7 knDisplacement hull speed for the waterline. Light catamarans regularly sail faster than this because their slim hulls do not make a large bow wave.
- Length to beam ratio
- 2.16 : 1Catamaran overall proportions. Wider platforms resist pitching and heel.
The Catalac 9M began as a better Bobcat
The Catalac 9M exists because Tom Lack had built boats for Bill O'Brien, whose plywood Bobcat catamarans were famously steady and famously slow. When Lack set up on his own he commissioned John Winterbotham of MG Duff to draw a 9 m modern interpretation in glassfiber that would be quicker than a Bobcat yet aimed squarely at families. CatamaranSite dates the commission to 1968, and Practical Boat Owner's David Harding records the launch of the boat in 1971.
In Britain it was the Catalac 9M; in the Americas it was often sold as the Catalac 30. Practical Boat Owner counts more than 250 built over the following two decades at Lack's yard on the quay at Christchurch, Dorset, and CatamaranSite's tally is 255, with about 30 boats now in the Americas. In 1994 another builder revived the original molds as the Catalac 900 and built about 20 more, according to sailboatdata.
Why a boxy cat with no keels sails better than it looks
Winterbotham gave the Catalac chined hulls with a lot of rocker and deep V sections forward that flatten toward the stern, which PBO likens to a planing powerboat. A flare above the waterline at the bow gives way to flat topsides aft with a pronounced step in the sheerline, the easy way to tell a 9M from the later 8M. The V sections and rocker replace keels, providing enough grip to tack through about 90 degrees, and they let the boat dry out upright on a beach.
That shape is why owners report surprising pace. Mark Blaydes, whose 9M Hi Jude PBO tested, had seen 10 knots at 45 degrees apparent in a good blow and 12 to 14 knots planing up the Solent in a strong quartering wind under plain sail. CatamaranSite reports similar figures for lightly loaded outboard boats. Early boats had lifting rudders; later ones fixed blades, and CatamaranSite notes that boats from about 1980 onward carry skegs ahead of the rudders for better windward grip.
Outboard, Dolphins or diesels: the power question
No single engine defines a 9M. The standard boat had locker space aft for an ultra-long-shaft outboard of 30 to 40 hp mounted between the hulls with remote controls at the wheel. An optional layout put twin inboards in the aft hull compartments, initially 12 hp two-stroke RCA Dolphins that pushed the boat at over 8 knots but had to be stopped between forward and reverse, and later small Yanmar or Renault diesels.
Inboard boats are prized for docking because owners can leave the rudders amidships and steer with the throttles. The outboard boats sail slightly faster without the drag of two propellers, but the long shaft can cavitate in a chop and on some boats the outboard turned with the rudders, which Blaydes found cost half his thrust when maneuvering. He replaced his original 30 hp petrol outboard with a 27 hp Yanmar diesel outboard and gained both economy and punch into a head sea. Expect a wide variety of repower solutions on the boats you view.
Sitting headroom in the saloon, standing room in the hulls
The 9M is a split-level boat. You step down from a huge cockpit through a wide companionway into a saloon where you cannot stand, but where U-shaped seating around a table gives generous sitting headroom and the table drops to form a 5 ft 4 in double. The hulls are a different story, with 6 ft 3 in of headroom in each. The galley runs along the port hull and leads forward to a single-berth cabin, with another berth in the port stern. The starboard hull has the head aft, a sea berth amidships under the chart table and the owner's double in the bow, 6 ft 6 in by 5 ft, with a view over the bow few cabins can match.
On deck there is an enormous foredeck with lockers for anchor and fenders, wide side decks and a cockpit big enough that PBO joked about line dancing in it. Many later Catalacs added a rigid shelter over the helm, which sits in a recess to port of the companionway so the helmsman stays in conversation with the saloon. The mast steps in a tabernacle and can be lowered single-handed, a big help on canals and rivers.
Handling quirks every 9M owner learns
Windage and shallow draft are the price of all that volume. The 9M needs finesse to tack: hold the jib until it is about to backwind, keep speed up and expect a bigger turning circle than a monohull sailor would guess. PBO found its principal weakness under sail is a reluctance to heave to, as the boat slides sideways and the bow oscillates through 40 or 50 degrees. Goose-winging downwind, by contrast, is easy because the boat does not roll.
Like most cruising cats it is sensitive to weight. The hulls are volume-rich, which makes overloading easy, and an overloaded 9M loses the light, almost planing character that produces those surprising speeds. Keep the bow and stern lockers for light gear.
A small cat with a long ocean record
Catalacs were designed for the English Channel and North Sea, and they have a reputation for staying upright. CatamaranSite reports that no Catalac is known to have lifted a hull, and documents a 9M crossing from Largs, Scotland, to St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands in 2015 on a boat by then 40 years old. The Bobcat and Catalac Cruising Association, which Tom and Mary Lack helped run, still supports owners and was one of the reasons PBO's test owner chose a 9M over a Heavenly Twins.
None of that makes a fifty-year-old boat ocean ready on its own. Survey the standing rigging, chainplates at the tabernacle, rudders and window bedding before any passage, and treat the original engines as candidates for replacement.
Finding a Catalac 9M for sale in North America
There are rarely more than a few 9Ms for sale worldwide at any time, and most are in the UK. CatamaranSite's price range of $33,000 to $55,000 for North American boats matches what we see: outboard boats with dated interiors at the bottom, diesel boats with redone windows, new rigging and solar at the top. Importing a UK boat is possible, but shipping a 13 ft 8 in wide catamaran costs a meaningful fraction of the purchase price.
Running costs are low for a cruising cat. The beam fits many standard slips, haul-outs are simple because the boat sits on its hulls, and annual costs of roughly $5,000 to $12,000 in the US cover a slip or mooring, insurance, bottom paint and engine service. The big recurring job on every Catalac is resealing the many saloon and hull windows, a well-known source of leaks.
Catalac 9M specifications
| Length overall | 29.5 ft9 m |
|---|---|
| Waterline length | 25 ft7.62 m |
| Beam | 13.7 ft4.17 m |
| Draft | 2.6 ft0.8 m |
| Displacement | 8,816 lbs4, kg |
| Sail area | 42 sq ft39 m² |
| Fuel capacity | 24 gal91 L |
| Fresh water | 7 gal265 L |
| Cabins | Owner's double in the starboard bow, single cabin forward to port, plus a stern berth and a sea berth |
| Berths | 5 permanent berths in four sleeping areas, plus the saloon table double |
| Heads | 1, aft in the starboard hull |
| Standard engines | Single long-shaft outboard of 30 to 40 hp between the hulls |
| Optional engines | Twin 12 hp RCA Dolphin two-stroke inboards on early boats; later twin Yanmar or Renault diesels |
| Hull type | Chined, deep-V forward catamaran hulls with pronounced rocker and no keels |
| Keel | None; deep V sections and rocker provide lateral resistance. Early boats had lifting rudders, later boats fixed rudders with skegs |
| Rig | Masthead sloop on a tabernacle-stepped mast; main, working jib and 170 percent genoa supplied |
| Hull construction | Solid fiberglass hulls; cored cabin and deck |
| Builder | Tom Lack Catamarans Ltd, Christchurch, Dorset, United Kingdom |
| Naval architect | John Winterbotham (MG Duff) |
| Other design credits | Tom Lack |
| Production | 1971 to present |
| Status | Discontinued |
Figures come from builder documentation and independent tests where available. Displacement is usually quoted light, so a loaded cruising boat will weigh more. Compare these specs with another model.
How much does a Catalac 9M cost?
Practical Boat Owner recorded that a fully fitted 9M cost about 26,000 pounds in 1981, and its later secondhand test put used boats at 20,000 to 30,000 pounds in the UK. CatamaranSite, which tracks the Catalac market in North America, quotes $33,000 to $55,000 and records a median sold price of $39,500 across 18 sales. Twin diesels add real value over an outboard boat, and most of the price spread comes from engine type, rudder and skeg configuration and whether the window seals and deck have been redone.
Estimate your yearly cost
A planning estimate using common rules of thumb: insurance near 1.5 percent of value, maintenance near 3 percent, haul out and bottom paint by length. Your marina, region and use will move these numbers. Open the full cost calculator.
Versions and options
- Outboard version
- Standard layout with aft locker space for a 30 to 40 hp long-shaft outboard; slightly quicker under sail.
- Twin inboard version
- Aft hull compartments house two small inboards: RCA Dolphins on early boats, then Yanmar or Renault diesels. Better maneuvering in marinas.
- Lifting rudder vs fixed rudder with skegs
- Early boats had lifting rudders; later fixed rudders and, from about 1980, skegs ahead of them to improve windward grip.
- Catalac 900 (1994)
- A revival from the original 9M molds by a different builder, about 20 built.
Catalac 9M timeline
- 1968Tom Lack commissions John Winterbotham of MG Duff to design a 9 m cruising catamaran
- 1971Catalac 9M introduced
- 1981A fully fitted 9M costs about 26,000 pounds
- 1994Catalac 900 built from the original 9M molds by a new builder
- 2015A 40-year-old 9M sails from Scotland to the US Virgin Islands
Strengths and weaknesses
What owners like
- Upright, stable sailing with an excellent safety record
- Surprising off-wind speed for such a boxy boat
- Huge cockpit and decks for a 30 footer
- Shallow draft and the ability to dry out on a beach
- Mast lowers on a tabernacle for canals and bridges
- Inexpensive to buy and to keep
What to weigh up
- No standing headroom in the saloon
- Leeway and modest pointing to windward
- Reluctant to heave to
- Many windows that need regular resealing
- Original engines and rudder systems vary widely and are often tired
Used Catalac 9M buyer checklist
Take this list to a viewing. Your ticks are saved in this browser so you can come back to it.
Always commission an independent marine survey and an engine survey before you buy. How a marine survey works.
Rivals to consider
Catalac 8M
The shorter sister on the same hulls, with a bigger cockpit, fewer berths and a lower price.
Compare side by sideGemini 105Mc
Later American cruising cat with standing headroom in the saloon and a centerboard, at a higher price.
Compare side by sideProut Snowgoose
Larger British cruising cat of the same era, roomier and more expensive, with its own strong ocean record.
Heavenly Twins
Pat Patterson's centre-cockpit 27 footer, a direct period rival with proven offshore ability.
Our verdict on the Catalac 9M
The Catalac 9M is the catamaran equivalent of an old Land Rover: square, slow-looking, endlessly practical and far more capable than its appearance suggests. You buy one for the upright motion, the cockpit, the shallow draft and a price that leaves money for a proper refit, not for windward performance. Choose a boat with sorted windows, sound rudders and a reliable diesel installation, and a 9M will carry a family along a coast, through the canals or across an ocean with a calm that few 30 footers can match.
Catalac 9M questions answered
How much is a Catalac 9M worth?
In North America most sell between about $33,000 and $55,000, according to CatamaranSite, with diesel boats and recently refitted examples at the top. UK prices have been around 20,000 to 30,000 pounds.
Is the Catalac 9M the same as the Catalac 30?
Yes. The 9M was marketed as the Catalac 30 in the Americas. The Catalac 900 of 1994 is a later revival from the same molds.
How many Catalac 9Ms were built?
More than 250, with CatamaranSite counting 255. It was the most popular Catalac model.
Can a Catalac 9M cross an ocean?
Several have, including a 2015 crossing from Scotland to the US Virgin Islands. Any crossing needs a thorough refit of rigging, rudders and windows first.
How fast is a Catalac 9M?
Expect about 6 knots on a close reach in 17 knots of wind. Owners report 10 knots in a good blow and 12 to 14 knots off the wind in light trim.
Does the Catalac 9M have standing headroom?
There is 6 ft 3 in of headroom in the hulls but only sitting headroom in the saloon.
More sailing catamarans to explore
Catalac 8M
Sailing Catamarans, 27 ft
Used $18K to $42K
Broadblue 346
Sailing Catamarans, 34 ft
Used $240K to $360K
Gemini 105Mc
Sailing Catamarans, 34 ft
Used $60K to $150K
Catalac 10M
Sailing Catamarans, 34 ft
Used $55K to $100K