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Cheap 32 ft cat

PARADOX said:
Don't know much about this boats history, but I talked to the seller.
We'r dealing. Some one talk me into this,, so I feel good about it.. or talk me out of it..
We'r planning to do an even trade for my Formula.
I need a nother project boat like a hole in the head, but it might be fun, and I can join all the crazy cat owners.. :)
The debate? Cat's VS. "V"'s ?/ could be over.. get one of each.
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I think you need both too. :sifone:
 
Gladhe8er said:
I must have been wrong about thinking the first Maelstrom(twin Rudes) was in '88 because I was there in 87 and 88. If he ran the twin engine in 87, what did Nicky run in 88 in Key West? I dont think I have ever seen the triple engine maelstrom with E&B colors before...
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Nicky ran your dad's old shadow in Key West in '88 after they put on a new (and not so good looking!) deck. I remember because that was the year I got thrown out of a 32' Hydra-Tech that I was throttling. It was the second of three races and we were running just in front of Nicky and Gene at the time and I remember thinking they were going to run me over! Anyway, Nicky ran that Shadow VERY competitively for another bunch of seasons. Still the all-time best offshore winning record in my opinion. I just love those old Shadows and Chris-Cats.
 
Knot 4 Me said:
Check out the on-water fuel price!
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That gas price really shows how old that photo is! From the paint scheme on my boat I can tell it was 1988. It looks like it was in Atlantic City.

The Chris-Cat was actually a pleasure boat that we raced a few times that year with stock 200 Mercs. It ran somewhere in the low to mid 80's with that power. That winter we completely gutted the boat and turned it into an all-out racer, complete with 2.4 EFI's, which added a good 10 to 15 MPH to the bottom line. Two years later, we went to 2.5 EFI's. We ran that boat for the better part of 8 years. I finally sold it in the late 90's, and sometimes I wish I had still had her! She was for sale on e-bay last year and I was tempted to buy her back. That was an AWESOME rough water boat!

Tom
 
T2x said:
It was definitely wood......a one of a kind hull...and smaller than the later glass 32 footers.

T2x
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Kinda off the subject. Why did some manufactures of that era, 80s change back and forth between wood and fiberglass on there race boats? Also what would have this hull cost in the mid 80s?
 
Dunbar 104 said:
Kinda off the subject. Why did some manufactures of that era, 80s change back and forth between wood and fiberglass on there race boats? Also what would have this hull cost in the mid 80s?
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Cougar built boats in different ship yards around the world and constantly experimented with different materials going from wood to aluminum to fiberglass/composites. Maelstrom originally built wood prototypes before investing in full tooling. We went the other way (from a molded balsa/fibreglass sandwich to hand crafted wood with fibreglass composites) because the Shadow Cat molds were too confining and I wanted complete flexibility in making changes to our hulls from boat to boat. The big budgets back then and relative costs made this quite practical, but wood or aluminum construction was probably double to triple the cost of a molded hull.

Today, Peter basically custom builds every (flat) deck and has tremendous flexibility in adjusting hull widths and sponson lengths as needed in his state of the art composites, so Skater is basically the best of both worlds....

T2x
 
T2x said:
Cougar built boats in different ship yards around the world and constantly experimented with different materials going from wood to aluminum to fiberglass/composites. Maelstrom originally built wood prototypes before investing in full tooling. We went the other way (from a molded balsa/fibreglass sandwich to hand crafted wood with fibreglass composites) because the Shadow Cat molds were too confining and I wanted complete flexibility in making changes to our hulls from boat to boat. The big budgets back then and relative costs made this quite practical, but wood or aluminum construction was probably double to triple the cost of a molded hull.

Today, Peter basically custom builds every (flat) deck and has tremendous flexibility in adjusting hull widths and sponson lengths as needed in his state of the art composites, so Skater is basically the best of both worlds....

T2x
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Hi Rich:

Am I correct in that the relative costs of wood or aluminum construction were double or triple that of a molded hull ONLY if you weren't amortizing the cost of the mold into the equation? It would seem that for one-off or low production efforts, wood or aluminum would be the better choice because you simply couldn't justify the costs of creating the plug, and then the mold, for such low production. What would be the "break even" production target to justify the "up front" costs of typical molded composite construction? I would imagine the number is pretty high. I would also assume that Peter can get away with custom building from composite because his reputation affords him the ability to build in the cost increases to the final price premium.

With final price as no object, what would be your build material? I would think cold-molded? Certainly not aluminum?

Just curious as to your take on this as a former hi-tech builder.

Tom
 
TGC-32 said:
Hi Rich:

Am I correct in that the relative costs of wood or aluminum construction were double or triple that of a molded hull ONLY if you weren't amortizing the cost of the mold into the equation? It would seem that for one-off or low production efforts, wood or aluminum would be the better choice because you simply couldn't justify the costs of creating the plug, and then the mold, for such low production. What would be the "break even" production target to justify the "up front" costs of typical molded composite construction? I would imagine the number is pretty high. I would also assume that Peter can get away with custom building from composite because his reputation affords him the ability to build in the cost increases to the final price premium.

With final price as no object, what would be your build material? I would think cold-molded? Certainly not aluminum?

Just curious as to your take on this as a former hi-tech builder.

Tom
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I don't know about other builders but we amortized mold/startup costs over the first 20 boats built..............

If I had a choice of anything available today.........I would use Peter's methods. Autoclaves are nice but I really haven't seen a marked difference between the pre-preg and standard vacuum bagged hulls....as long as you have competent people working on either technique.

Rich
 
Excalibur Racing said:
Does Peter use a male mold? If not how does he change hull widths?
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He molds a hull with a standard tunnel......cuts it in half lengthwise on a jig he made that keeps it squared up......spreads the halves.....and fills in the gap...... and Voila! any width you want.

After that he simply puts a custom deck on it made out of pre molded panels of composite glass that he spreads out over the bulkheads and gunnels. His crew then hand forms the joining areas and hand sands the final piece so there are absolutely no seams and perfect, clean lines and curves everywhere you look.....This also allows him to make engine bays, and cockpits in any length, width, shape, or location that the buyer desires...... pretty trick actually... each boat is a truly custom piece.

This is very different from his "mini me" competitor, who shall remain nameless.....wherein every hull has those telltale, straight, flat lines and sections that are the hallmark of a "stretched" or modified "pop"....like a whore dressed up to look respectable. Of course if you put enough comic book characters and themes on a boat .........it covers up the faults.......... :p :D

T2x
 
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