Ocean Catamarans 49

[decktapper]

Has anyone heard of the Ocean Catamarans 49 which is manufactured in South Carolina? If so, what do you think of them?

[freetime]

Ocean Catamarans - The fastest 49' catamaran on the water!

New catamaran for me....had to take a look.

[Eleven]

just a quick read through and it seems a good boat.
The standard 62' mast has been done at 72' for a fast boat, consider what you want, you don't have to use the full sail set if cruising but it's nice to have it available.
Accomodation looks a little small for a 49er. Compare to BraodBlue but note broadblue aren't especially fast. Seems to be foresail and stay sail over a big webbing area so no foredeck. Some don't like that but it does keep weight down. The tail end of the hulls seem particularly long in the photo's, improves hull ratio and therefore speed and stability fore and aft but perhaps this is where the accomodation has suffered.
The bimini (optional extra) seems well thought out from the blurb. I'd like one but -.

[Southern Star]

Looks VERY much like a Manta with a huge increase in hull length aft. On a cursory glance at the site I saw no dimensions/specifications; nor do they identify a naval architect. I wonder if it is another mold that was pulled from an earlier Eric Lerouge production cat (Solaris 36?), or if it was modified from a Manta (has the galley up and the frp cross-beam).

Brad

[Adaero]

Originally Posted by decktapper

Has anyone heard of the Ocean Catamarans 49 which is manufactured in South Carolina? If so, what do you think of them?

Never heard of them but it's very, very similar to a Freydis 49 see www.tourniermarine.com

[Whimsical]

The LOA and the LWL are the same for the 46 foot Freydis and virtually the same for the Ocean 49.
Bit of a worry

Mike

[Tnflakbait]

I like the looks of this design. It has good proportions, and it seems like they didn't try and stuff a condo into a performance cat. (This never works)

I've seen the ad for it in Multihulls World.

[Tourmaline]

Roger Strube [Millennium Dragon, Ocean Cat 48.8 -- Hull #4] posted the following information on the early history of Ocean Catamarans:

"Ocean Catamarans, Inc. (OCI) was started in Vaca Key (Marathon, FL) by Henry Lucke and a partner in '95 or '96. Henry was one of the organizers of the original Manta production. I was part of the organization through production of the first two boats ("Manta" & "Kestral") and then left the organization to cruise and live aboard on "Manta".

I fell in love with the plug and mold shapes and gave Henry his first earnest money for the construction of Hull #4. The molds were "rented" to the builders of hulls 1 & 2 and OCI built hull #3 at Vaca Key, FL. The company was then moved to Hardeeville SC, the partners split and the partner took hull #3 in the settlement.

My boat [Millennium Dragon, hull # 4] was the first built in Hardeeville. Hulls 5 & 6 followed. Henry acquired two new financial partners and a company manager and went cruising on Hull #6 ("Phoenix") for a year and a half.

The name of the company was changed to "Island Catamarans" but the new manager and new crew and change in some suppliers resulted in cost over-runs and delays so that only one boat (Hull # 7) was built in that time frame.

Henry was called back and the company was moved to its current location on John's Island, SC under Henry's management. This is a large property owned by the financial partners with room for customers to finish the interior of their hull shells. Ocean Catamarans is now using injection/vacuum molding for some of the major parts resulting in lighter, stronger pieces. The boat is built using only 6 molds. The deck, two transom/stairs, two outer hull halves and the bridgedeck/inner hull halves.

I do not know about any legal designer issues. The Ocean Catamaran looks similar to a Dean Cat, some South African designs or an Eric Larouche design but the hulls, keels and rudders have a different shape, the hulls are longer, the deck is different, the crossbeams are different and there is a fore/aft torque tube connecting the forward cross-member to the bridgedeck (eliminated on hull #2). "

Millennium Dragon's website: Roger & Kathy Strube's Stuff

[sandy daugherty]

Henry's name doesn't come up on the web site, and the principals don't inspire a great deal of confidence. Looks like another pretty bubble.

[freetime]

2 Hulls Inc

One for sale...

[ireaney]

Nice boat, very interesting for future thought, more pictures would be good plus more info as the web site is not that explicit.
Too expensive for me at the moment.

[JusDreaming]

I am on Johns Island and have first hand info, (I did some shipwright work for them), if you want more info send me an e-mail. "Tourmaline" is correct, but I can update some info

[freetime]

Tell us all please JusDreaming!

[JusDreaming]

First of all I no longer work for them, but I am not mad at them nor do I have any interest in the either way. And they aren't mad at me, I left to go cruising
Henry no longer has any interest in the boat of the operations, and the split was not pretty The design is the same but the management of the boat is different. They do have some of the original employees and they are very good at what they do. The labor force has a ton of pride in what they do, and, if left alone can build a quality boat!!!
The bad news is that the management team is new at building boats, and are having problems with the learning curve. Deadlines are tough for them, the current boat is over a year in construction.
They purchased all the molds from Henry and it is pretty miuch the same boat at this point. BUT THEY ARE DISCUSSING SOME CHANGES IN HULL DESIGN. Which in my opinion is a mistake. The design is a VERY fast and light weight boat. It goes back to "If it ain't broke don't fix it".
Now it is pretty much somewhat a custom boat. But the current managers don't know how to say no to changes that will hamper the operation and speed of the design.
Henry did a very good job of design and building, but in my opinion, just lacked any form of marketin ability. ANd that is one item that seems the current owners have not dealt with. And in my opinion do not give the priority that needs to be given to remain a viable boat builder.
Keep in mind that in my opinion it is a GOOD design, and a well made boat, as long it is not loaded down and as long as the "engineer" is not allowed to make the changes he has spoke of!!!!!!!

[Iguana Dance]

The ocean catamaran is similar to the Manta (which is currently out of production) because the people that originally built the Manta took the design from the Ocean Catamaran and reduced it by 25%. We have a Manta 38 (hull #6) and love it. We had the opportunity to have dinner on and tour an Ocean Catamaran about 3 years ago and ever since I've been talking about how I would love to own one. They aren't well suited for chartering but as a live aboard I don't think they can be beat! Although we love our Manta, it would be great to have that extra space! Our boat is one of the older ones at 38 feet and since then they've lengthened them to 42 feet. That's almost all in the longer stairs so the interior living space of the new 42's is almost identical to our 38. We've spent the last 5 winter seasons in the Caribbean around the Virgin Islands. --Eli