Herreshoff 31

The Herreshoff 31, also called the Cat Ketch 31, is an American sailboat that was designed by Halsey Chase Herreshoff as a cruiser and first built in 1979.

Production
The design was built by Cat Ketch Corp. in the United States from 1979 to 1986, with 100 examples completed, but it is now out of production.

Design
The Herreshoff 31 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass and polyurethane over wood, with wood trim. It has an unstayed catboat ketch rig, which can also be supplemented with a staysail on the aft mast, with an area of 248 sqft. the design has a spooned plumb stem, a near-vertical transom, a transom-hung rudder on a skeg controlled by a tiller and a fixed fin keel. It displaces 7560 lb and carries 3350 lb of lead ballast.

The boat has a draft of 4.00 ft with the standard keel fitted.

The boat is fitted with an Italian Nanni Industries or Japanese Yanmar diesel engine for docking and maneuvering. The fuel tank holds 18 u.s.gal and the fresh water tank has a capacity of 60 u.s.gal.

The space below decks is large, and lacks a forward bulkhead between the main cabin and the forward cabin. The galley is located to starboard and includes a two-burner stove. The head is to port at the foot of the companionway stairs, opposite the galley.

Sleeping accommodation consists of a forward "V"-berth in the bow and two double bunks in the main cabin, with a stowable table in-between them. The berths all have drawer stowage underneath them.

The unstayed rigging features a simple layout, with only an outhaul, halyard, downhaul and sheets for each loose-footed sail. The booms are high and on the starboard side of each sail. The boat can be sailed on one sail or both and with either reefed. The staysail can be raised on the aft mast in lighter air. The masts are designed to flex to shed excess wind loads. There are no winches for the sheets and none are required.

Operational history
In a review of the Herreshoff 31, Richard Sherwood noted, "the popularity of cat-ketches is due to the ease with which they can be sailed. Masts are usually unstayed and running rigging is simple. Tacking does not have to involve sail handling. Many of these boats have a fairly high ballast/displacement ratio, are good (though not excellent) sailers on all points, and have a lot of room below."