Looking for C/S/K Catamarans

[Ron Cook]

I am looking for C/S/K catamarans particularly the 44' Patty Cat 2

[Bill Mitchell]

Ron, I have a commercial CSK boat that I will be selling for 395k at the end of the season. It is 52' and USCG certified for 40 pass. You can check it out at [our website].

All the best, Bill Mitchell

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Ron Cook, and Bill Mitchell .

[Ron Cook]

Hi Bill, Does the price reflect the business as well that is a lot of money for a csk

Ron

[Bill Mitchell]

Originally Posted by Ron Cook

Hi Bill, Does the price reflect the business as well that is a lot of money for a csk

Ron

Ron, it is a lot of money and it is a business but not mine. What I mean is my business has two other dolphin viewing and swamp tour boats which I am not prepared to sell. I added this boat four years ago to make my job of entertaining tourists more enjoyable. Our tour boats are full 12 hours a day during summer months and I can no longer teach and entertain that much. The problem I had was with our location. The water is two feet deep and the boat draws three feet (4' full). I had it professionally dredged the first year and 75% filled in by the end of the season. I bought a dredge and have done it myself each year since and I still get stuck canceling trips too often so I am done.

As far as the boat being a business, you can take it almost anywhere and park it behind a hotel, put out flyers and make 100-500k a year. Because it is USCG certified for 40 passengers even at $30 a head, $1,000 trips are not hard to do. I was filling the boat as an overflow for the dolphin cruises at $20 a head for a two hour dolphin/sailing cruise and running two a day. I swore I would not go cheaper than $30 since most boats like this charge $40-50 but I was making 1,600 in a half day and that's not bad considering I could still do my sunset cruise for $30. If you can do that for three summer months and then do only one cruise a day for an additional four months you easily hit the $250k mark in a seven month season like we have. Take it further south and half a million year round in within grasp. Of course I have built the clientele over several years and you would need to do the same unless you put it here in Orange Beach in which case I would refer everyone to you.

As you can see it is a business and boats that do this are not common and cost 500,000-1,000,000. This vessel has been USCG approved for 22 years and I have done a major refit over the last three years. It has Furuno Navnet 3D electronics and a barrier coated hull. She is an older boat that has been well maintained and is ready to make a lot of money. Before I bought it I had Barry Choy (Rudy's son the Naval Architect) check it thoroughly and he was very impressed. I have his full report which I have used to upgrade any weakness in the boat.

Honestly Ron if you are looking for a cruising boat this is too expensive, this is a business and should be used for that purpose. The new aluminum railing and full decking are commercial and would not be needed during cruising. We have sailed it to the southern Bahamas during winter and had a blast but that was when it was not making money!

Hope that puts things into perspective for you. I have put over $150,000 into it since I bought it and no one would do that if it did not produce. Even as we speak it is in for a USCG inspection and will receive a complete new paint job with barrier coat below the waterline. That is the difference between buying an investment and buying an expense.

I have not listed it yet because I have a few more things to do and I want a fresh 5 year COI from the Coast Guard possibly even a 49 passenger capacity before I do.

Take care, you can Email or call if you have further questions

Bill Mitchell

Send me a PM for my contact details.

[Ron Cook]

Thanks for the post Bill I am looking for a C/S/k to fix up for general sailing. I have raced thousands of miles on their cats. Loved all of them.

Rudy Choy passed away this past Tuseday.

[DaveOnCudjoe]

Sorry to hear of Rudy's passing. One of my earliest intros to sailing and my first intro to multis was "Catamarans Offshore". May he rest in peace. Dave

[imagine2frolic]

Catamarns Offshore was one of the first sailing books I read. It really changed my thinking of multi-hulls. Then Spindler from Lat38 started many article on cats. Between the 2 I was sold..........i2f

[parcus]

I am the proud owner of a 33ft csk built around 1964, I think. I feel sad for Rudy Choy's passing. I am no expert but as a csk owner I think he was an amazing design visionary. Aita is currently resident in Solomon islands. Condolences to his loved ones.

[Sand crab]

Here's a big Rudy Choy and Melvin Morrelli cat for sale
mhtml:YachtBroker

[hpeer]

Try this, it is an old listing. We looked at her a few years ago and I thought she was pretty nice, just not for us.

Arkanoa 52=92 = CSK Ketch Rigged Catamaran

[Brian McCarthy]

Hi Ron,
A couple of years ago you were looking for Pattycat 2.
Unfortunately you will not be able to find her as she broke up 10 years ago whilst sailing from Fiji to Australia.
We bought the boat when living in Fiji and lived aboard. She was a pleasure to sail and even with a small rig was able to hit 15 knots with ease.
Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of our rescue off the coast of Qld.
It was like losing a member of the family. A piece of catamaran history gone.

We found her rotting away in Vuda Marina Fiji. We lived aboard her for three years with a 6 month rebuild in the middle. We raced her on a number of occasions then sailed her (most of the way) back to Australia.

Our only consolation is she went out being used and doing her thing.

If there is any more info you would like please let me know.

Cheers

Brian

[parcus]

Hi Brian,
I'm sorry to hear of your loss with Pattycat 2, and thanks for sharing your story here on CF. If you don't mind me asking what was the nature of her breaking up? i.e. did external factors play a role? where were the critical failures in the hull structure? how long did it take?
Thanks,
parcus

[Brian McCarthy]

Hi Parcus,

Turns out,when we bought the Pattycat 2 there was a critical fault in the main beam. The previous owner had done some beautiful timber work in the cabin under the mast. Problem was, the main beam had a butt join in the port hull. I had seen it, but didn't understand how it reduced the strength of the boat.

The fault would only became an issue on the open sea when close hauled and sailing across waves on an angle for a prolonged period. This was not something that we had done in 3 years sailing short distances in relatively sheltered waters around Fiji.

We sailed from Fiji to Vanuatu with only a few teething problems. A couple of broken ribs in the hull. No idea at this stage of the major problems to come as the wind was aft.

After leaving Port Villa we slipped around the top of New Caledonia. As we got closer to Australia the wind changed direction and the swell came across the boat on an angle causing major flexing.

It took just under 2 days for the boat to flex itself to death. Once the port hull started flexing it searched out every weakness it could find until the port hull broke off. We made it to within approx 40 sea miles from Bundaberg Qld.

The weather was not bad, just good consistent passage conditions. Had we sailed to Townsville (further north) rather than Bundaberg, the wind would have been further aft and we may have been none the wiser.

It was a massive shame to lose an piece of multihull sailing history.

Cheers

Brian

[parcus]

Thanks Brian for sharing your story. Like others on CF I'm always keen to learn more from the experience of other sailors. I'm glad you're still with us!