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Maine Cat P-47 Update 12/22/06
Foam Planking Complete
It must be getting close to the holidays because we have a big beautiful present on our shop floor that we have be wishing for a long time. The Maine Cat elves have been hard at work planking the mold frames with cove and bead Core-Cell structural foam. The planking is complete and you can really see that this is the “slipperiest” catamaran hull we have ever built. Our bows have a very fine entry and it takes over 21 feet before the waterline beam grows to our maximum 36-inches. The exit is just as fine with our underbody canoe stern just forward of the propellers. The P-47 should not leave much of a wake.
The crew will be fairing the foam with short boards for the next several days and then the lamination crew will lay the exterior fabrics in vinlyester resin. We hope to be rolling the hull part over the first week in January.
Boating season will come early this year in Maine for the P-47. Thanks for your interest in this exciting project.
Dick
Maine Cat P-47 Update 12/13/06
The first Maine Cat P-47 is now under construction in our shop in Bremen, Maine. The P-47 has been over nine months in the design and modeling stage but we believe the data obtained during our testing of our new design ideas has been well worth the effort. The shapes are extremely fine and now with a waterline length approaching 38 feet we have a length to beam ratio of 12 ½ to 1. There is no doubt we have the most efficient hull shape of any power yacht in our class.
Jansengineering in Topsham, Maine, cut the mold frames and longitudinals for the P-47 on their 5-axis CNC machine directly from our design CAD files. The mold frames are 18 inches on center and the longitudinals are 36 inches on center. This framework provides beautifully fair surfaces for our crew to sheath with ¾ inch Core Cell closed cell foam planking. Each plank has its edges routed with a cove and bead to keep the planks in alignment and minimize the adhesive used in areas with a lot of curvature.
Once all the Core-Cell planking has been completed we will have our lamination crew laminate two layers of Vector Ply biaxial glass fabric to the faired core. The first blanket has a 0-90 degree strand orientation and second has plus and minus 45-degree stand orientation. This combination allows us to butt each blanket at the seams and offset the second blanket to provide our required overlaps while still maintaining the surface fairness. This glass combination also yields a very stiff quad axial outer skin, which is perfect for P-47 providing maximum strength with the lightest weight.
After she is glassed we will spray a gelcoat finish and then roll the hull over for interior glassing, bulkheads, ballast tanks, and machinery. The OSSA Powerlite equipment has been ordered and we will be powering the P-47 with twin 35 hp BLDC electric motors and twin 25 kW DC gensets. We have a number of propeller designs we will be evaluating during our sea trials to determine the best combination of pitch and diameter for the P-47.
Our current schedule is to launch this first hull for full scale testing in early February and invite prospective P-47 owners who are interested in purchasing a P-47 for 2007 delivery. If you would like to get on this list, please give us a call at 1-888-832-2287 or send us an email at info@mecat.com.
Maine Cat P-47 update October 15, 2006
Our tank testing continues with a larger model to get a better look at our wave making properties under the bridgedeck and changes we have made so far. The new model is 1-1/2” equal to the foot and weighs 45 pounds to put her on her lines in scale. Her overall length is 58 inches and her beam is 25-1/2 inches. This is a big model and we hope it is our last. Her shape was machined out of a block of 20-lb/cubic ft. foam on a 5-axis CNC machine from the CAD file of her lines. She is beautifully fair and we hope to get some great data from the upcoming test this week.
Changes we have made so far include:
1) The P-47’s overall beam is now 17’-0” 2) Forefoot was cut away and rocker added to the forward sections to reduce the possibility of bow steering and make her easier to turn. 3) “Puff” was added to the topsides aft and more flare forward. 4) The chine was lowered to 8 inches off the waterline. 5) The center “gull-wing” under the bridgedeck has been eliminated in favor of smaller longitudinal “V-ed” stringers with chines.
We are very optimistic about the new shapes and will know soon if we have hit the right combination.
At the recent Newport Rhode Island International Boat Show I had the opportunity to talk with Randy Catlin from Glacier Bay, Inc. the designers and builders of the OSSA Powerlite diesel-electric propulsion equipment. This is the future for marine propulsion if owners are interested in extremely quiet running and the most fuel-efficient integrated system now on the market. All of the boat’s systems run off the two variable-speed DC generators; heating, air conditioning, cooking, refrigeration, windlass, dive compressor, water-makers, as well as propulsion via brushless DC maintenance-free electric motors. This system is more expensive than the conventional twin diesel engines and AC genset set-up, but the savings are wonderful in less fuel burned, less noise and knowing you have the most fuel efficient cruising boat on the planet. Please take some time to visit the OSSA website at www.ossapowerlite.com and let me know what you think.
I will be at the Sail St. Pete Show from November 2nd – 5th if you would like to stop by and talk efficient power cat design. We are still planning on launching hull #1 this year, although it will probably be January before we are ready. Good things take time …….. we are making sure our design will be very best we can produce. In the meantime if we can supply any additional information or mail you our preliminary specifications, brochure or survey request, please give us a call at 1-888-832-2287 or email us at info@mecat.com.
Thanks again for your interest in this exciting new design and I hope to see you out on the water in the near future.
Maine Cat P-47 Update – 7/26/06
Model Construction and Testing:
We are presently building a scale model of our new P-47 design. Our model is a 1/12 scale or 1” = 1’-0”, so she is 38” long and 16” wide. Her loaded weight to get her on her design waterline will be approximately 13 lbs. in scale.
This is a great exercise for the entire shop. It is giving everyone on the floor a chance to see the preliminary design take shape and make suggestions on the aesthetics of the hull above the waterline. We are already looking at adding more “puff” and curvature at the shear in the aft sections to soften some of the straight lines.
The model will be completed next week and ready for tank testing to study the wave making and hull behavior in a variety of scaled sea conditions. We hope to shoot video of these tests and have some short clips up on the website by mid-August.
Eventually we will build a free running motorized model to further evaluate maneuverability and study spray control and bridgedeck interference problems. We will have a completed model with the deck installed for the fall boat shows aboard our Maine Cat 41 at Newport and Annapolis.
Please let us know if you would like to attend sea trials of Hull #1 this fall in Maine.
Dick Vermeulen
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