MINICAT GUPPY
The Minicat Guppy is a newer model to her bigger sister, the
Minicat 420. The
Guppy was the only catamaran we had on test. In terms of usability, she was up against the Tiwal 2 in that she is aimed more at fun sailing that tender work. The Guppy has been designed to be more portable and quicker to assemble than the previous 420. She certainly ticks the more-portable box and was the only boat in our test that came in a single bag and was fully 17kg lighter overall than the next lightest. Certain features feel a little lightweight when she is fully rigged, however. Each hull has an attachable skeg, which slot into the hulls via a pocket. These plastic skegs felt rather brittle though only time would tell if they are up to being dragged up beaches and slipways.
SETUP
The Minicat took a lot longer than any other boat we tested to set up, at over half an hour. However, she was the only boat without a representative on site and the lack of an occasional bit of advice certainly added to this. Officially, it took us 38 minutes from bag to beach, but our testers agreed this would be quicker a second time.
The boat has a metal central spine upon which the mast and the rudder stock sit. This is locked into the forward and aft beams – ready attached to the two inflatable hulls out of the bag – via a large pin and retaining rings at either end. Both ends of the central spine need to be offered up to the beams simultaneously. It was certainly a two-man job, though there’s almost certainly a knack to it.
The rig was easy to set up with a simple three-piece aluminium mast and a pocket in the luff of the sail into which the mast slides. Shrouds and forestay all come connected to one piece of metal that attaches to the mast about two thirds of the way up, and spring clips make attaching them to the metal trampoline frame easy. A small central rudder provides steerage, and other propulsion would be via paddles.