Building a new boat, design plans

[pathalla]

I have been talking lately with the boys (Hout Bros) about building a 36 foot Catamaran rib hull. I have the contacts for building the sponsons (Demaree) I have the fabricators and can source the motors and I can rig it. I am thinking along the lines of two 350 four stroke Yamahas and putting an entry ramp on the bow similar to Nautica's design. This is all very tentative but I am going to explore further as Tim says if I come up with plans they can build it. This would necessitate selling my current boat (ugh) as I would need the cash to pay Tim as work moved along. Nautica is the only company I know of building cats currently, anyone out there know of any architects or companies that have built/designed larger Cat boats?

[codprawn]

There is this design

http://www.ribunlimited.se/menu,1273...page,1323.html

But not much else. Cats aren't as good in seriously rough seas as a monohull which is why you don't see many RIB versions. It tends to spoil what they were designed for.

The whole point of a RIB is to add extra stability to a monohull - a cat doesn't need this so unless you want a built in fender I don't really see the point.

You could of course look at a Thundercat and scale it up massively!!!

[nikster]

i personally would want to see a scale version in a test tank as a start before selling boats and funding build of a new prototype - my first impression would be something with very little draft, very little weight at the front end a massive surface area in which to create lift, 2 substantial engines, and tubes that aid the lift coefficient - that will be one flighty mother....... that said i would be happy to come and test it for you.....:-)

[Limey Linda]

Hi Pat
Have you considered going for a "Wave piercing" design. The AU guys are the experts.

[codprawn]

Wouldn't say that - plenty of wave piercing designs from the UK - not exactly new though - they were using the same hulls in the 1890s!!!

[Stoo]

Originally Posted by pathalla

I have been talking lately with the boys (Hout Bros) about building a 36 foot Catamaran rib hull.

Good Lord lad... Have you lost your mind???

[pathalla]

Originally Posted by codprawn

There is this design

http://www.ribunlimited.se/menu,1273...page,1323.html

But not much else. Cats aren't as good in seriously rough seas as a monohull which is why you don't see many RIB versions. It tends to spoil what they were designed for.

The whole point of a RIB is to add extra stability to a monohull - a cat doesn't need this so unless you want a built in fender I don't really see the point.

You could of course look at a Thundercat and scale it up massively!!!

There are some advantages Cod, I owned a 20 ft Nautica cat for about 5 years, I did enjoy that boat. It was powered by a 150 hp Yamaha and moved along pretty good. It was extremely and I mean extremely stable at rest or underway. Generally the advantages I see are this: build it with a decent span (wing) between the hulls and less power is needed due to added lift, a much larger amount of deck space due to width (disadvantage would be needing to deflate tubes to trailer on roads) and a shallow draft capability. The ramp feature that Nautica has introduced is really an excellent idea, the ramp itself is raised and lowered with hydraulic rams, it is excellent for recovering divers, swimming or getting larger heavier items on board the boat, such as a four wheeler. One other advantage is that this boat would be designed to my wants/needs and or uses. I also think it would ride very, very well. The scale of this boat would just about guarantee excellent sea handling characteristics on all but the roughest days.
Anyway, as I mentioned earlier it is all conjecture at this point. A lot of things would need to happen to get this going, one of them being selling War Machine and I am not too keen on that...