Sailing Oxnard
In August 2006 I got to go sailing with Rafi and Heidi
Franke on their Cat2Fold 36. See cat2fold.com.
The cat2fold is entirely Rafi’s invention and the
folding system is patented by him, as is the rapid mast
raising system he developed. He used KHSD 36 catamaran
hulls for the boat, and I did the 3D modeling, plans drafting,
the math, and website renderings for him. Mathew Malkin
did the finite element work for us.
Rafi wanted to discuss the design of the new Cat2 Fold
30, and to discuss features we had to go sailing on the
36. Also we discussed marketing the 36 as plans or kits
if there was interest in that.
We trailered the 36 from his home to the launch ramp
at Oxnard Harbor. I noticed from the time stamps on the
digital camera pictures that the mast raising took one
minute, and unfolding took 3 minutes. Nice. Very nice.
We had a pleasant light weather sail out toward the Channel
Islands. I was very impressed with how well the boat sailed
and tacked with no jib, only two side by side mainsails.
MOONDANCE cat is begun.
In early September 2006 I got to meet the crew of Sea
Island Boatworks as they began the new 55’ Moondance
Cat. It was a pleasure to meet with Sea Island’s
owner, Mark Bayne and his crew, Keith, Teddy, Ted, Josh,
Andy, and Mike. See seaislandboatworks.com
for a great online photo construction diary of the Moondance
Cat.
The Moondance spread and poured
17 years ago the owner Peter Cromwell had put the first
Moondance, a KHSD 46 daycharter catamaran in service.
Business is improving and a bigger boat was needed. Like
the first one, this new cat is built with CM (cylinder
mold) developed plywood construction. It will be certified
for 100 passengers. I was flown in to observe and if needed
help with the fold-up which is the critical step in CM.
The first afternoon I was there, the two hull panels were
wired together. The keel was “poured” the
next morning and we just had to wait for it to cure to
have the biggest step in building the hulls done. High
speed boatbuilding.
Later, one evening during that trip I got to sail with
John Borden and his KHSD 55’ daycharter catamaran,
Palmetto Breeze. See palmettobreeze.com
John offers a great sailing tour of historic Charleston
(SC) harbor.
About to sail on Palmetto Breeze
While sailing on John’s boat, I noticed that due
to a few modifications he did, it is nearly handicapped
accessible. I intend to expand on that concept in future
versions of this design.
Later that same trip I got to go to Buffalo, NY and sail
on the original Moondance. Has it really been 17 years?
Check out moondancecat.com.
I went out on Lake Erie on a nighttime cruise with
a group that has chartered every year for the last several.
I guess they like Pete’s service. I bet they can’t
wait to see the new, bigger boat. Thanks Peter.
Kurt Hughes visits Sarasota
“It looks like a Gunboat 65” everybody says.
Except it was designed 5 years before the Gunboat 65 was
even a thought. Get it here first.
In November of ’05 I got to visit Richard Dear and
his crew of the DEAR FRIENDS in Sarasota, Florida. I had
great times sailing with Richard and his crew, Yasha and
Mike. The boat looks great and they use it nearly every
day.
Sailing on Dear Friends
While there, I met one of my builders, Matthew Reynolds.
Matthew has built a pair of my 28 powercats that he has
expanded to 34’.
Matthew's powercat
On his website
Matthew has posted one of the best step-by-step sequences
of building Cylinder Molded hulls that I have ever seen.
Thanks guys.
