I just got this picture of Joel’s stretched 37 cruising cat being built up at Betts’ shop.  The plug is covered with aluminum foil prior to applying mold release and laminating inner face. I have not seen this before.  Layups should start in a week or so.  I want to see this.

It looks like my 44 powercat design in Estonia might actually get launched this summer. I see from the wheeled luggage note that it was 6 years ago when I was last there.  Foam/glass.  Steyr hybrid engines.  I will get more reports from the guys.

Visited my 34 x 14 daycharter powercat on Kauai’s north shore today. He carries 16 passengers per trip. Everybody rides it both into the water and out, every trip, as there is no dock.   It’s more narrow than I like, but he must launch down a 16′ wide ramp with lava sides every day. Overriding design requirement.   http://napaliseabreezetours.com/

Last week I got to take a great snorkel trip with Capt. Timothy on the 65′ x 36′ KHSD Alii Nui.  It runs out of Maalaea Harbor on Maui.

It was a nice comparison to come back to the harbor and tie up right beside a Constant Camber 65 daycharter cat.  Both were built by Schooner Creek out of Portland, OR.

“Stickless in Hawaii: Dragonfly was dismasted 400 miles south of Hawaii. The best we can determine is that a wave, significantly bigger than the others, broke beside us throwing us sideways toward the wind causing the mast to break because of the inertia of the mast and the force of the wind on the sail. The shrouds and headstays were still intact and we made an assessment that trying to save anything from the rig posed too great a risk to the crew considering the conditions of wind and waves, and the absence of safety lines which had been pulled over with the rigging. Al and Stephan cut loose the shrouds and control lines and let the mast go. Fortunately no one was hurt and we were able to make it to Hawaii 6 days later with 10 gallons of fuel to spare. Significant credit goes to the terrific crew for getting through this incredible event!”

It sounds like a shear failure or maybe too large a cutaway for some hardware?  I’m trying to get a picture of the buckle before the mast was pushed overboard.

I will be in Hawaii this 17th through 27th. Anyone has anything I should see there, let me know.
I will have the workstation with me and most of the study plans, if anyone orders some.
it should also be a good chance to catch up on 3D modeling and drafting with no calls nor other interruptions.

Last week I got to visit the boatyard of Thain Boats, the builders of the Uganda ferry cats. They are finishing up a SIP panel houseboat with a variation on some hulls that I designed a while ago.  Albert, the lead, intends to stack them in the future and stick the internals in with Plexus on the site.  These are so much better than the alloy ones that the developer used to require.

Solid knitted glass laminate.  No core, hence all the frames.

Someone sent me this picture of a pair of my 75′ ferry cats that were bootlegged in Belize. Am in discussions wth the legger now.

This strip cedar 45′ has been built in Texas. I understand the hulls are for sale.  I imagine they could also be used in a COI cat.  Let me know if anyone is interested.