 11-21-2005, 8:17 PM
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gsieber
 
Joined on 05-04-2005
Breezy Point Marina, Chesapeake Bay
Posts 161
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Fantastic Story - Check this out!
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I found this on offshoreonly.com. It was posted by someone that
goes by T2X. I am not in the habit of using other people's
content so I PM'ed the author two weeks ago and no response, so here it
is. You will all really enjoy this.
The Story of Great Moments in Cat History:
CUB STAGE
1955- Carl Kiekhaefer begins to experiment with multi hull designs at Lake X, mostly 3 point hydro derivations.
1956 Ted Jones (Ron's father)Builds a 17 foot wooden catamaran which , while ungainly, shows good performance and stability.
1958 Various builders take up the challenge PowerCat, Craig,
CustomCraft, Stylecraft and a few others create molded fibreglass
"symetrical" cats (each hull identical on both sides.... _
\_/ \_/
These boats are immediately entered in the brand new Outboard Performance Class of APBA.
CHEETAH STAGE
1961 Dave and Bob Switzer create the "Wing" , which is so far ahead of
its time we haven't duplicated it's performance to this
day.......17'long, 8+ft wide, two 80 hp outboards... nearly 100mph (By
the way it, and some PowerCats, had a "tunnel tab" which as you all
know was "invented"... again.... in the 1990's). Sporting "four point
ram wing technology" this thing initially tears up Lake X and is then
seen on various race circuits under the exclusive control of the "Old
Man". (God Forbid OMC should get their hands on one). It also featured
the first "pickle fork sponsons
1963- Dieter Schultz uses outboard hydroplane construction techniques to craft the first tunnel hull (assymetrical sponsons)
__
......\_| |_/. While small by monuhull standards, its ability to handle
mixed chop is stunning and the boat turns better than any hydro,
symmetrical cat, v bottom or the dreaded "wing". It has one major flaw,
a tendency to "stuff" unexpectedly due to its lack of forward entry
lift and low angle of attack.
1964.. Angelo Molinari solves the "stuff" tendency by designing and
building the "banana" Molinari. The hulls on this tunnel hulled craft
have a dramatic upswing toward the bow resembling a banana in profile .
While solving the deadly stuff problem this over-compensating design
had a frequent blow over tendency.
1965 Tunnel hulls invade the U.S. race circuit and immediately run away
from mono hulls (V bottoms of all kinds). Checkmate, Glastron, Magnum,
Baja, etc all enter into agreements with (and or "pop") Molinari or
Schultz designs. Since the tunnel hulls had limited pleasure boat
(production)appeal (the average guy couldn't keep them right side up)
the v bottom manufacturers lobbied for (and got) separate racing
classes. This began a long tradition of v bottom manufacturers trying
to beat the cats politically rather than in true competition.
1967 It becomes painfully apparent that the fibreglass replica tunnels
cannot keep up with the original wood variants... and the wood designs
are evolving so fast that molds are obsoleted in only a few months. At
the same time outboard horsepower continues to rise with resulting
periods when the hulls can't handle the power or the power can't push
the hulls. Stock outboard drivers prove to be the best at handling
these phenomenal boats and names like Sirois, Hering (yep the prop
guy), McConnell, Hill, and (the best boat race driver of all time)....
Seebold come out to play...... boy, could they play!
(But that's another story for another post)
Meanwhile, an obscure Florida builder named John McCall made a neat
little tunnel of his own. This boat was "wider at the hip" than most
others and spanned remarkably well. Sadly, lack of budget and factory
backing limited this design to very few examples...but later.....
THE BIG CATS
1970 Ted Jones' son, Ron, by now famous for building great hydros and
gorgeous but mediocre tunnel hulls (It's a California thing....), is
contracted by millionaire Paul Cook (Future star Betty's husband)to
build an offshore tunnel cat. Sporting the name "KuDu" the boat ran
okay, showing flashes of speed but had some handling woes.
1975 James Beard and Clive Curtis, two Englishmen with modest
experience building Cougar outboard tunnel hulls (Fast ...but no match
for a Molinari...or a Seebold) create a few wooden offshore cats..
first outboard powered, than graduating to magnificent 36-41 foot stern
driven marvels. These boats had a small speed advantage over the
veehulls of the day but lacked the strength needed to withstand
continuous ocean pounding. A few variations are crafted in fibreglass.
Observors scratch their heads wondering why the lighter, sleeker cats
are not significantly faster than the Vees..... The Lion was sleeping
1980 Ex tunnel racer, Rich Luhrs, tears up George Linder's plans for a
28 foot, v bottomed Shadow when seeking an addition to the already
remarkable 21 foot Challenger/Shadow and demands that they create a
cat. The eventual design, 30 feet in length, is ungainly due to
Linder's insistance that it be under 8'6" in width and legally
trailerable. In spite of the slab sides it features more hydrodynamic
lift than the Cougar, multidyhedral bottom design, and a spec that
calls for drastically raising the "X" dimension. It is the latter
change that frees the cat from lower unit drag and allows it to
demolish existing speed expectations.
1982 Willie Diaz takes the small block powered Sport Class Shadow, "El
Boss", through a variety of larger big block Open class fleets becoming
the first boat to average 100 mph in an offshore race
leg. Other builders take note and raise drive heights. At the same time
Howard Arneson debuts his Surface drive. ( Good speed, poor trim,
b-a-a-a-ad steering).
The Cats finally run and hide from the vees .......with equal power.......Meow!
1982 Formula builds a Cat for Betty Cook and anyone else that cares to
purchase one...never wins a race and is relegated to an asterisk in
John Crouse's book. This emphasises the fact that legendery Vee
manufacturers are painfully out of touch.
1983.. Construction techniques improve to the point where Aluminum,
Fibreglass, and wood-fibreglass composite cats can stay together in the
roughest conditions. This was a PURRRRfect situation for hull
development.
1983 Douglas Michigan's Peter Hledin, owner of a small boat company
building a full tunnel(no pickle forks) fibreglass version of the old
"Dutchman" tunnel hull (descendant of the Schultz) hangs out at
offshore races in nearby Saugatuck, Mi...and takes a lot of notes.
Later he takes a clean sheet of paper and designs the remarkable 24'
Skater....nimble, quick but a little fine in forward entry.....ahem!
..but back to the story.... Peter is a guy who Cat-ches on quickly.
1983. Mike Peters, creator of a near ruinous cat for Halter Marine (It
sank in it's first and only race), collaborates with(hires) John
McCall...remember him?... and the Apache Cat, and Maelstroms begin to
take shape. Mike Peters becomes one of the hottest designers in power
boating. John McCall takes his money and fades into obscurity. Later,
Peters designed CUV's are notable for their spanning ability and "wide
at the hip" proportions.
1984 Don Aronow splits a 28 Cigarette lengthwise joins the halves with
a tunnel and makes the second worst cat of all time. (Later he split a
39 footer and makes the worst.) See the Betty Cook Formula cat above.
1985 Cat's become the undisputed champs of Offshore racing. Vee
manufacturers put out various drivel "Cats can't turn", "Cat's can't
take rough water", Etc.........and people believed them. Various
attempts began to separate classes between cats and vees. Bottom
line...size for power Cat's represented approximately 30% more speed
than a comparable Vee...... This was Cat-a-strophic to Vee builders.
1986 Peter Hledin puts the finishing touches on his 32 footer. He
captures the market abandoned by Linder/Luhrs after the Shadow
Cat/Chris Cat era. This establishes him as a force to be reckoned with
and creates a loyal following of owners who later trade up to
bigger....Skaters
1986 After the tragic death of racing superstar, Mark Lavin, during a
stuff, in a Linder/Luhrs/Adams Conquest, builders turned to the forward
entry area of sponsons and created rebounding anti- dive lift areas to
allow for better re-entry recovery. This was seen most notably on the
final Conquest Cats, and Peter Hledin's Tour de Force...the 40' Skater.
1986 The Lavin Foundation is founded by donations from the Lavin Family
and others in Mark's memory. The finest minds in Offshore design and
Safety are tapped to create cockpit standards in an ever expanding work
in progress that exists to this day. These standards, readily available
to anyone, or any organization are widely ignored by people who "have a
better idea" either for political, financial, or simple bone headed
reasons......
1989 Peter Hledin begins work on a 46 foot hull that in some instances
is nearly as fast as his 40 footer. Originally conceived as a 4 engine
boat, the damn thing runs to max hull speed with only 2...... At about
the same time offshore racing is embraced in Dubai and Peter happily
sells lots of boats over there. He also supplies people to drive them
for big bucks. One of these lucky souls is hired by the head cheese,
stretches Hledins designs, calls them Victory's and kills the market
for Skaters in the Middle East. He shall remain nameless but currently
builds a design based on a stretched 36 Skater.... This, sadly, is not
the only case of "splashing" that Skater has endured. We shall call
this the "kitty litter" phenomenon..... It makes a mess but in the end
all you've got is poop and a bad smell.
1990- present: Vee bottom builders lobby ,successfully, to prevent
heads up competition. In some cases vees have triple engines while cats
are limited to 2. In the more recent mode, Vees can be supercharged,
Cats cannot. We emphasize Factory 2 (Vee) with all its ill handling
adventures ( Mike A., alone, decorated half the race courses in the
U.S. with stern drives, fibreglass , and his trusty sidekick, Adib).
Factory 3 (Cats) is downplayed and avoided. Since Vee manufacturers
sponsor TV and races, this is accepted as the norm. "After all Cat's
have an unfair advantage........being faster, more stable and safer at
speed. It just aint right to let them race even up.....is it? huh..well
is it?"
1996 to present. Mike Peters and Peter Hledin rule the Cat world.
Skater creates the 28, the 36, and the new 32 each with increasingly
sophisticated hull features. Mike Peters designs the CUV and the
TenCara (Swahili for "wildly overpriced").
2000-Super Cat, in spite of its anemic engine formula, showed a lot of
promise until it got lost in a bewildering array of classes on the TV
shows...and a lack of attention to cockpit safety..... But that's
another story.....
"Two hulls are better than one"
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