About 9 years ago Susan and I decided to build a boat. We wanted something that was ideal for our home waters of Long Island Sound. We needed something that had shallow draft and was good in light wind. I also wanted a fast boat; it always tickles me to glide past the next cruising boat over.

We built "Surprise"; a 26 foot Cat Ketch centerboard mono-hull. We love her dearly. Through "Surprise" we discovered "thin water" cruising. We have never been at a loss for anchorages, as we go into all those coves marked on the chart with 1 or 2 feet of water, and happily dry out on the falling tide. We have been very pleased with her performance, usually out-sailing other cruising boats, including many "fat" cruising catamarans.

After five years of daysailing and cruising we wanted to step up to a boat that would allow us to spend more time aboard in greater comfort. We had had enough of Surprise’s Swiss Army Knife interior, where components needed to be swung and latched and shifted to use the interior for cooking, eating, sleeping, or relaxing. We also wanted to do some more adventurous cruising, and "Surprise" is somewhat tender, making us very conservative in avoiding winds over 20 knots.

We looked into new boats, used boats and plans. Having a boat that was pleasing to look at was important to us. This virtually eliminated cruising catamarans from consideration. Having been brought up on classic Nat Herreshoff and John Alden designs as the standards for marine beauty, Cats and Tri’s were a little hard on the eyes.

The available production boats with retractable or bilge keels that met our requirement to dry out on the tide and accommodation were generally slow. There really is no reason why this has to be the case, since both Bruce Kirby (the designer of "Surprise"), and Phil Bolger have drawn many boats that meet these requirements. Unfortunately, the production boat industry seems to target every new boat to address the same broad segment of their historical market. The design requirements for most new boats end up being the same, so there ends up being very little real choice.

I decided that I would have to design our boat myself, with the help of a naval architect. I read all the available texts on yacht design, and picked up enough of the engineering to work out the hydrostatic analysis. I started with the idea of wanting a mono-hull along the Commodore Munroe "Presto" line; narrow beam, retractable keel and rudder; basically a kind of scaled-up "Surprise." Just for fun, I worked out the hydrodynamics for a couple of multi-hulls. Wow! The advantage in performance of losing all that ballast, replacing it with high form stability (beam) and having a high length to beam ratio hulls was staggering. I discovered the advantages of a catamaran as Nat Hershoff did, when he designed his first one. Unfortunately, he entered his boat in races at New York Yacht Club, quickly demonstrated sailing superiority and promptly had his new boat "ruled out". This started the yachting establishment’s prejudice against multi-hulls. I realized at this point that I, too, had inherited this prejudice.

Susan and I started looking at Multihulls. Folding tri’s were very interesting. They kind of looked like boats, and certainly the performance could be there. However, Susan’s response to all of them (F31, Dragonfly 1000, Contour 30 and 34), and their extremely narrow accommodations with the entrance at the aft end, was always the same: "it still feels like camping". We looked at catamarans, but they were ugly, particularly in the size range that interested us. They didn’t feel like sailboats. The visibility was terrible, and many had what looked like an automobile steering wheel attached to the aft deckhouse bulkhead, and in some the skipper had to sit in a perch away from everyone else to use the wheel. For cruising, this set-up did not feel right.

The revelation came when we stepped aboard an open bridgedeck Seawind 1000 at the Miami Boat Show. It felt like a sailboat!! Everyone, including the person at the helm, could enjoy each other’s company on the large bridgedeck. Living would center on the bridgedeck, with plenty of additional accommodations below. This was the right idea. Unfortunately, the price was out of sight, the wood paneling below was kind of tacky, the double steering wheels, one separate from the instruments, seemed a little silly, and the boat still had an ungainly look only marginally better than most other catamarans. I asked the owner of the boat on display about light wind performance. He said the boat was designed to take a blow, and in light wind he just used the motors. It wasn’t perfect, but we were getting closer to a solution.

We pursued our search at the Norwalk, Connecticut Boat Show where we sat on an F31 trimaran trying to convince ourselves that the cockpit, which was smaller than our current boat, was really big enough. After all, there was room on the tramps, and the carpeting glued to the inside of the hull really wasn’t that tacky and wouldn’t smell of mildew after a couple of years. We couldn’t convince ourselves.

Nearby, Dick Vermuelen was sitting on his Maine Cat 22, and had some drawings and pictures of the early work on the 30 prototype. We learned for the first time about Dick’s intention to come out with the "Maine Cat 30." Dick was a little short on specifics about the boat, emphasizing his flexibility in giving us what we wanted.

We followed the development of the prototype and hulls 2, 3 and 4 very closely, visiting Maine several times. The details started coming together as Dick synthesized the input from prospective buyers and customized and refined details of the design for future owners. When we first started considering the Maine Cat 30, we had pages of concerns or custom alterations needed. As the boat developed, Dick made modifications of engineering and design. As a result, we are having only 2 minor changes, both of which we could easily have lived without. Dick encouraged us to leave them in. I think he really wanted to try them, as these variations help him further his design.

When we saw hull number 3 on the water, we were amazed by its appealing looks. Finally we had found a catamaran that was not an eyesore. The flowing lines, the handsome, business-like look of the sport hardtop delivered the aesthetics that we wanted.

The clincher for us was the quality and approach to construction. Having built our own boat, we were acutely aware of the extra lengths that the crew at Maine Cat takes to achieve the highest quality possible. When I was working on potential new designs, I had already decided to use Core Cell as the core material; the same material used by Maine Cat. To evaluate it further, I used it to build a new centerboard trunk for our "Surprise". It is amazing stuff. My other choice for its combination of strength and light weight would have been end grain balsa. But, I have two friends whose boats, from quality vendors, have had balsa core problems that ranged from disconcerting, to nearly catastrophic because dampness got into the balsa. Core Cell is impervious to water, and combines the best qualities of the other closed cell foam materials including most of the rigidity of Kledgecell, and most of the tolerance to impact of Airex. Combining Core Cell with vacuum bagging and peel ply to enhance finish of inside surfaces and secondary bonding, results in a quality approach. This technique leads to laminate skins with high fiber content (high strength to weight ratio) without the propensity to hidden voids experienced when using the proprietary resin infusion technique that has gotten much attention over the last few years. The Maine Cat approach does require and receive a higher level of craftsmanship from the talented crew.

The gelcoat on the inside of the hull is superior to anything I have seen. Its easy to clean and eliminates the need for cosmetic headliners, glued on carpet and other approaches which inevitably trap mildew and smells. The hull-deck joint is amazing to behold. The hull and deck are virtually one piece. Near the bow the joint is exposed on the outside, and so carefully finished; it’s invisible. This is another testament to the craftsmanship of the Maine Cat crew. The electrical system is comparable to a Morris or Hinkley system. Dick is constantly fine tuning his selection of components to have the ones that work the best on the "Maine Cat 30", not just the ones with the big names.

We are excited and eagerly awaiting our cruise to bring our "cat" home from Maine in June. It feels great to have found a boat that so completely meets our requirements. If the Maine Cat were not available, we would probably be back to considering custom boats with the anxiety, cost and risk associated with them. We are privileged to able to purchase a sailboat as fine as the Maine Cat 30.

Bret Rattray

brattray@optonline.net

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