CATANA'S

[schoonerdog]

dagger board discussion aside, I would avoid specifically the catana 401. That particular boat had a issue with the main bulkhead not being built stiff enough to take the compression load from the mast. Most of the catana 401's had then major issues with delamination of the main bulkheads and the owners had to sue catana to get warrantee service. Some setup websites like "catana.org" which showed pictures of the delamination until catana paid to repair their bulkheads. Some owners threatened showing up at the boat shows with pictures of their boats and handing flyers which had the issues to everyone boarding their boats. Catana went bankrupt shortly thereafter which protected them from further litigation. I've haven't heard anything bad about anything else regarding the boats other than owners having to beg borrow and steal to get them to actually repair the boat.

Someone mentioned dealor reputation. It's good to hear that Manta has a good rep, PDQ also has a great reputation. They have a mobile repair team that goes to owners of their boats and repairs warrentee issues at the owners marinas. In North America they bring their RV to your marina, distant locations they fly in. In that way they know that the people repairing the boat provide the same quality of service (which is excellent). Most simply will contract with local shops, whose service varies and knowledge of the boat also varies.

[fhrussell]

Wow...didn't know that about Catana! Thanks for sharing!

[Tnflakbait]

I like the looks of many Catanas. I don't know very much about them. The older ones look a little lighter. Is this true? Who designed and designs these boats? I feel like I saw a Catana with its hulls canted away from each other. Is this like asymetrical hulls?
Frank, I agree with you on asymetrical hulls. But I too am a CSK owner! Asymetrical hulls are great. Its like having a boat with keels (and less draft) But you get a bonus with the boards down. Heck, half the time you don't need boards. The hulls can't take much weight, but neither can ANY catamaran that is going to go real fast on huge waves!

HAHA
Tristan

[gosstyla]

The first Catanas were a Crowther design - he was noted for the canted hulls. The reason for the canted hulls was to get the maximum waterline width between hulls with the least width at deck level. That reduced weight.

[Sunspot Baby]

Sailed in company with a Catana a bit last winter. They said that the draft with boards up wasn't much reduced due to depth of rudders. Originally boats had shorter rudders but would not handle well in all conditions.

Short rudders give shallow draft, but need longer ones for good control.

This is hear-say evidence, but I got it first hand.

George

[cat man do]

Gosstyla, you beat me to the punch on the Loch Crowther comment. He is well respected in the Oz multi community, and considered by some to be a world leader by a long shot in his day, which wasn't that long ago.

[gosstyla]

George
Right about the rudders. My draft with boards up, and no rudder is under 2 ft. With rudders 3.5ft.

[Tnflakbait]

Now I don't know all that mucha bout Crowther but some of his old designs look like replicas of CSK cats. Did he work with these guys ever? Or did he just like the style? He has a lot of interesting designs.

[fhrussell]

Originally Posted by Tnflakbait

Now I don't know all that mucha bout Crowther but some of his old designs look like replicas of CSK cats. Did he work with these guys ever? Or did he just like the style? He has a lot of interesting designs.

Tristan,
There was sort of a mutual admiration society going on between Crowther and CSK, specifically Rudy Choy and Vince Bartolone (who was highly responsible for the CSK designs). They didn't always see things the same way, but they certainly had the utmost respect for one another.
Crowther designed his Spindrift cats with a nod to CSK designs and Rudy and Vince designed the original Machete while heavily admiring Crowther at the time.
I always thought it a shame that Lock never wrote a book on multihulls. That would have been something!

[cat man do]

In Loch's design book he had a few pages of his thoughts on multi's.

He showed examples of how big a breaking wave needed to be to roll a mono and the same for a multi. The difference was huge, good new's for the multi guy's. These were accredited tests.

Also he spoke about the importance of building a strong light boat, something some members of this forum don't agree with.

I'll try and track it down and scan and post

An old Multi Guru once told me "save a pound a thousand times and you've saved a thousand pounds".......save weight on every job, it add's up.

Dave

[dana-tenacity]

I delivered a Catana 431 from the factory to SF a few years back. It will sail upwind with the boards up, particularly when boatspeed is over 8 kn, barely notice the difference.
Didn't considert the helm position a negative, in fact thoroughly enjoyed them and would choose that over the bulkhead mount now.
Really liked the higherr performance over other production cats. Very comfortable fast boat. Only issue to me is the cost.

[fhrussell]

Originally Posted by cat man do

In Loch's design book he had a few pages of his thoughts on multi's.

He showed examples of how big a breaking wave needed to be to roll a mono and the same for a multi. The difference was huge, good new's for the multi guy's. These were accredited tests.

Also he spoke about the importance of building a strong light boat, something some members of this forum don't agree with.

I'll try and track it down and scan and post

An old Multi Guru once told me "save a pound a thousand times and you've saved a thousand pounds".......save weight on every job, it add's up.

Dave

Dave,
I for one would be very interested in seeing some of the pages of that manual. Let us know when you get a chance to post.
Best to you.....
Frank

[cat man do]

Found my book, it's a bit water damaged, so have emailed Brett Crowther to see if I can get those pages emailed to me . If no joy I'll try Stewie Bloomfield who now looks after the sailing side of things.

Between the 2 of them, i'm sure we'll have a result getting them.