Custom 24 x14 Catamaran

Comments from the owner, Nov 10, 2006.
The boat was custom built by a Kiwi boat restorer in N CA, Malcom Davy, for his own enjoyment, and a testbed for for high tech construction
techniques and trick ideas. He did a beautiful job, the details show much
skill and pride in his workmanship. It's 24' x 14', cylinder molded,
assymetrical daggerbds (which work really well, dont' understand why they
haven't caught on), Ackerman steering, 37' wingmast (Barlowe design, Gougeon
Bros construction technique), trick boom with traveller on the underside ala
18 square), very trick pod running down the centerline for gear storage
(much appreciated!), canted hulls, self tacking jib, and EP sails. Oh yeah,
750 lbs all up! I've added a screecher, and am working on a snuffer for the
spinny.
I almost bought the boat from Malcom 3 yrs ago, and it was snapped out
from under me by Dave Crowe, who keeps his 70' cat, Hmu Hmu, in Puerto
Vallarta, who wanted to use it as a test platform for a biplane rig, an
idea he's contemplating a 60' cruising cat with that rig. He fussed with
the rigging for a couple of years without getting the boat wet. So I flew
down to SF Bay a year ago, and spent 5 days rigging and sailing it. Only
then was he willing to part with it. I drove back down a month later, drug
it back to Spokane and spent the winter prepping it for paint.
The second time out this spring, in 12 to 14 kts of wind, the mast
snapped 6' above the step. Nearly broke my heart! Up stepped my I14 buddy
Joe Poire, who sez "Hey, we can fix that!" Those 14 guys bust stuff
all the
time, and have to fix it by the next morning. So they're out there with
headlamps, hair dryers and beer! Scarfed it back together and wrapped it
with 9 oz carbon uni and I'm back on the water in less than 2 weeks.
A few more rides and an undersized bridle wire lets go! Taking with it
the fwd crossbeam and spin pole/fwd pod. More carbon!
In 15kts plus and big chop out on the main lake solo, the mast base shears
at the base of the ball, allowing the mast to plunge 3' below the beam
before getting ensnared in rigging. This leaves the top of the mast
flailing about wildly (shrouds are a bit long now) as the boat bounces
around as I head upwind to depower before the mast comes down the rest of
the way. By now I'm wondering why this stick is so disinclined to day up.
So I scramble to secure the mast with various halyards, never being able to
leave the helm for more than 45 seconds before the boat wants to fall off
and power up! Can't get the main down 'cause the hlyd release is 3' below
the tramp and jammed up in the spaghetti. Fire up the 3hp and head for the
nearest shore. Only to have it swamp 10 minutes into a 25 min journey.
Back to gingerly beam reaching, which fortunately takes me straght back to
the dock. And off to my fabricator (kept on retainer this year). Back
running a week later.
She held together the last 6 weeks of the season, thru a couple of 20 kt
days fully powered up with 2 or 3 crew. I've brought home several
components for additional reinforcements this winter. Malcom's been great
with advice on various repairs. He built the boat as light as possible, for
lakes much smaller that this one. It's a one off design, and I'm just
finding the weak points and beefing 'em up. Small price to pay for this
much fun!
The boat now lives on Flathead Lake in NW Montana, a wonderful mountain
lake that generates it's own wind all summer when the dominant high pressure
system kills the wind everywhere else in the inland northwest (I know, I
have a SC20 on Couer d'Alene Lake in N ID, and a H16 on Lake Spokane, WA).
So I'm there every weekend from May thru Sept.
With all that sail area and light weight, it's a light air monster. I
sail mostly solo, so I'm exploring all that power in heavier airs carefully.
The consequences of crashing with this boat on this lake are big. The
lake is 30 mi. x 15 mi. and in the conditions I'm likely to make a mistake,
there wont' be much boat traffic out there. So there's the issue of
securing assistance and rounding up a power boat sufficiently powerful to
attempt a righting. And I'm not sure what the best method of righting would
be with this boat (would love input from you guys). I'd favor bows over
sterns, but worry about the rudders getting slammed to one side or the other
as the boat is towed backwards. And there's a question as to whether I can
sink the sterns enough to get them to bite.
None the less, I'm thrilled with the boat, and know it will provide me
challlenging sailing for years to come.
Oh, the boat lift (marine railway) is real sweet, built out of readily
available materials, simple design.