The new boat developed the 17-footer into a slightly larger, heavier catboat with minimal but genuine cruising accommodations. Menger Boatworks of Babylon, New York, built the design from 1990 until the company closed in 2004. Wagner Boatworks of Oyster Bay and Thompson Boatworks of West Sayville later took it up. Thompson renamed it the Thom Cat 19 Catboat, which remains in production.
Design and Construction
The Menger Cat 19 is a recreational keelboat built predominantly of fiberglass with wood trim. It has a plumb stem, a slightly angled transom, a fixed stub keel, and a retractable centerboard.
The boat measures 19 feet overall, with an 8-foot beam, and weighs 2,900 pounds. Its 600 pounds of lead ballast is 100 pounds more than the Menger 17 carried. With the centerboard down, draft is 4 feet 6 inches; board-up draft is 1 foot 10 inches.
In a 2010 review, Steve Henkel noted that the 19 is two feet longer, two inches deeper, and 700 pounds heavier than the Menger 17, including the additional 100 pounds of ballast. Most of the extra length is in the aft end of the cockpit, resulting in a longer cockpit overall Henkel noted these differences. The other obvious visual change from the 17 is an extra cabin port, which brings in more light.
The design comes across as a miniature cruiser in the Cape Cod catboat lineage, as naval architect Bob Perry observed in a 2000 assessment.
Rig and Handling
The single-masted catboat rig carries 270 square feet of sail, with the mast rising 33.5 feet above the waterline. Steering is by tiller through a transom-hung rudder.
Henkel credited the boat’s greater length and heavier displacement with giving it a better Motion Index than the Menger 17 Henkel credited the added length and displacement. The optional mast tabernacle was judged to work well and to be worth fitting for anyone who plans to trailer the boat.
At 19 feet overall and 2,900 pounds, the design can be towed behind a car to any part of the country. With the board up, it can anchor in two feet of water, allowing the crew to wade ashore. Its PHRF racing average handicap is 369.
Accommodations
The Menger 19 sleeps two in the bow cabin on a double V-berth. A drop-leaf table, attached to the centerboard trunk, sits within the berth arrangement.
The galley is to starboard, just forward of the companionway ladder, and includes a two-burner stove and sink. A portable icebox is under the cockpit, while the head faces it on the port side.
Perry wrote that the boat has the displacement to carry only minimal accommodations. Even so, Henkel found that the 19 offered more headroom than any of its competitors. Compared with the Menger 17, the extra cabin port and longer cockpit provide more light and usable space aft.
Verdict
The Menger Cat 19 is a thoughtfully enlarged catboat that turned the loss of the Menger 17’s molds into a genuine step forward. It has more length aft, more ballast, better motion comfort, and a brighter cabin, while retaining the shallow-draft, trailerable simplicity of the type.
It’s a minimal cruiser, but an honest one, with a real galley and head. Its shoal draft also opens up quiet anchorages.
Pros
- Developed from the Menger 17 with two feet more length and 100 pounds more ballast
- Board-up draft of 1 foot 10 inches, allowing it to anchor in two feet of water
- More headroom than competing catboats, according to a period review
- Optional mast tabernacle well suited to trailer sailing
Cons
- Minimal accommodations dictated by its 2,900-pound displacement
- PHRF 369 reflects modest racing performance
