RS Cat 16 Buyer's Guide
The RS Cat 16 is a 2014-era performance beach cat from RS Sailing, the product of designer Jo Richards working with the RS design team and manufactured in Hampshire, UK. On the used market it shows up as a light, modular twin-hull dayboat—15 feet 6 inches long, 7 foot 9 inch beam, 308-pound displacement—that comes apart on eight bolts for trailering or garage storage. Because every version uses the same rotomolded hulls, a buyer is really choosing a rig and equipment package rather than a different boat.
Layouts on the Used Market
All RS Cat 16s share the same rotomolded hulls with concave tops for crew seating and twin aluminum rudders that lift and lock for beaching. The Club layout is mainsail-only with a loose-footed rig and no boom; the S layout adds a jib and a single trapeze aimed at juniors and families; the XL layout targets experienced sailors with dual trapezes and a gennaker flown off a sprit. The gennaker can appear on an S as an owner-added option. There is no belowdecks accommodation—this is a dayboat—so "layout" means which trapeze and sail combination the seller is offering.
Equipment and Common Upgrades
The most consequential equipment clusters around the rig and righting gear. The one-piece rotating Seldén aluminum mast is boomless across all versions, and a substantial carbon-fiber tiller extension is standard to support hiking or trapezing. Sail handling divides by version: the XL's gennaker launches from a sock off a substantial sprit, and that same A-sail (138 square feet) may have been added to an S. For a buyer, the meaningful question is whether the boat has single or dual trapezes and whether the gennaker gear is present and complete—those define how far the boat can be pushed.
What to Inspect
Used RS Cat 16s should be checked for the integrity of the eight-bolt crossbeam attachment and the rotomolded hulls, since all versions depend on that structure for rigidity. The twin aluminum rudders and their lift-and-lock mechanism should retract and deploy cleanly, as that feature is central to beach launching. The rotating Seldén mast and the gennaker sock/sprit on S or XL boats deserve a look for UV and wear, and the carbon-fiber tiller extension should be sound.
Availability and Buyer's Takeaway
Regional availability is not characterized by a defined listing summary, so shoppers should contact RS Sailing North America in Chicago as the U.S. distributor and expect to find examples through dinghy and beach-cat networks rather than typical keelboat brokers.
- Confirm which variant (Club, S, or XL) and whether trapezes and gennaker are fitted
- Check the eight-bolt crossbeam security and hull condition
- Verify rudder lift-and-lock function and mast/sprit/sock wear
- Match the boat's beach-launch gear to how and where you intend to sail
Price & volume trends
Monthly asking-price and listing-volume trends for the RS Cat 16. The line shows the median ask each month; the bars show how many listings appeared.
Monthly breakdown · 1 row
| Month | Listings | Median ask | Δ vs. last mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 26 | 1 | $6,500 | — |
Where they're listed
RS Cat 16 listings appear across 1 country. United States has the most listings with 1.
Country view
1 listings · 1 country| Country | Median ask | Listings · 12 mo | Active · 90 d | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | $6,500 | 1 | 0 | 100.0% |