[SOLD] Pro Kennex 420/445 Catamaran 6 cabins

[Fossil8347]

By the way, Pro Kennex sold the company off to Dufour and they renamed the company to Nautitech... all of which models are also solid below the water line and foam cored to this day.
(Except 395, 435, and 475 models which are not solid BWL)

[CaptRehab]

The Aluminum Garcia catamaran has no structural plywood. I have toured the Catana factory and as a mechanical engineer and materials scientist, they have chosen a remarkable blend of materials to build from. Clearly someone has done some finite element structural analysis to choose the core and lamination of these boats. This analytical technology (NASTRAN) was simpler when Kennex built boats. It should be noted that plywood is a very good choice for some structural elements. The quality of the tabbing for stress distribution is probably more important than the choice of materials of the bulkhead.
I am very pleased with the materials and build quality of my Nautitech 441. Solid glass below the waterline, vacuum bagged foam cored above. On its 9th season sailing in the Windwards where 7 where in charter it is still a beautiful solid boat.
My 1976 Cal 29 has plywood cored decks and I do have to watch out for water intrusion at all fittings but it is still a great boat. The steel I-beam buried under the compression post is still OK supporting the mast load too.

[pcmm]

Originally Posted by scargo

Since you asked ...


I sold my boat (-20% off the asking price. And I am a happy seller)
I helped 3 of my friends buy 2 monohulls and one multihull (Fall 2020). A 2008 nautitech 44 with new rigging and very low engines' hours. One owner, never chartered. Sold for 140K € (163K $ USD). I almost bought a 2004, 42ft Erik Lerouge design (with new engines and new rigging. This boat crossed the Atlantic in 11 days) for 87K € in Langkawi (a little bit too far from home. The galley had to be reuilt which is not a big deal for me).


Hope this will help you evaluate the real market value of your yacht. Please read this thread to help yourself.


Obviously none of these boats were sold or bought in the US. This last year particularly, the market is insane in the US. People were locked down (maybe, maybe not) watching YouTube celebrities telling them they can live for free on the water (not the ocean). Without telling them anything about boat maintenance, navigation or safety. So they bite at these kinds of ads.


My last comment here. I wish you good luck with your boat.

How did you sell for 20% LESS than asking in this market?

[CaptRehab]

I do find the Pro Kennex building methods to be very interesting and would love to see one.
It is not just materials used but the engineering behind it that makes for great build quality. Catana was wise to use carbon reinforcement in high load areas, and panels designed to dampen sound between the cabin and engine room.
When you blend dissimilar materials you need to determine how the load will be shared. In cored structures you want the maximum sheer forces to occur at the center of the core with a core chosen for its sheer strength (end grain balsa is good in this respect)
If someone were to add carbon fiber to one side of a cored structure they could easily create a situation where the structure failed by delamination if the max sheer occurs at an interface. In such a case failure may occur at lower stresses than the original structure.