Beetle Cat Sailboats for Sale & Market Overview

Drawing Diagram

Builder drawing

Hull Type

Monohull · centerboard

Rig

Cat Rig

LOA

12.33' · 3.76 m

Disp.

450 lbs · 204 kg

First year

1921

Designed in 1920 by John Beetle and debuting on the waters of New England in 1921, the Beetle Cat is the quintessential American onedesign sailing dinghy. Born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, the boat’s lineage is directly tied to the Beetle family's storied history of building wooden whaleboats. Utilizing massproduction wooden boatbuilding techniques honed during the height of the whaling era, the family adapted the lines of traditional 20to30foot Cape Cod catboats into a compact, 12foot, 4inch frame originally intended for children. Over a century later, the design remains a vibrant and actively raced class across the northeastern United States, standing as the oldest onedesign fleet continuously built out of wood.