Maybe the first cat done by Seattleite Paul Bieker? I was told that the design fee was over $100,000. And I have to fight to try to justify every dollar in a fee.
If I may, they will learn that the flat bow tube can break off when the bow slaps down hard in big waves. And I bet it does a lot of aquarium-mode when it crosses a Pacific harbor bar.
In a line or two, it looks like a Shuttleworth that was smacked with a Polynesian stick, and had a pickers shack was dropped in the middle. But its all carbon don’t forget. I guess the foils get pulled up when they come to the kelp beds.
With a design fee that big, I can be snarky if I want to.
CSR just got this box of goodies. Solid carbon fiber AC45 foils. They go on Chaak? I told Tim they should fold up some quick CM plywood/epoxy cat hulls, with as much carbon as they can afford, and build a drag racer.
I have been thinking more about my meeting with Roger Hatfield. One take-away that stands out is that despite an increasingly competitive market, he is sticking with epoxy resin. I have seen many builders switch to vinylester or even (I can’t believe this, but it happens) polyester. Roger told me that it makes life on the shop floor so much simpler. As I have said before, “you can be almost brain-dead and get epoxy right.” Recall that to get good strength numbers, the catalyst and initiator ratios must not only be very accurate, but must change with every temperature change. I expect that when Roger tests laminate samples, he gets consistently high numbers, unlike the ester builders, I am guessing. Maybe that is why designers who favor polyester also dislike sample testing.
While in Vancouver, BC, I got to meet with the transplanted Russian catamaran building group. Here is Sergey, building a very modified Grainger. I might be working with others on a project.
