fast 30ft day charter

You might contact Roberto Barros at yachtdesign.com. They are in Brasil and have one cat on his plan list ( Bora Bora 28' ,8.50m), you might streach it by 10% and have your 30' boat. Rick

 

Computers can predict anything. Is that true wind? Apparent wind? What point of sail? You should always find out what the owners say about the real performance of their boat

Richard Woods

 

Most sail cats have small pay loads and the wharram cats have very small payload...and are not fast.
I have some knowledge about boats for touristic use as I live near Cancun Mexico and I work now in the field (mostly sport fishing and diving boats).
Muttley you have to precise your program;
-How many tourists? 12 is a minimum if you want to earn some money
-What kind of use?
* Thrill ride with a very fast boat? like a former racing multihull? That's expensive and not very profitable. Very few "Latinos" are interested by sailing compared to England or France. The "Latino" market is close to zero, or you must propose in Internet a true race boat for happy few ready to pay. Highly costly maintenance.
Even in Europe this activity does not make profits, but as secondary activity may help to maintain a race sail multuhill, with a sailing school

* Tours for the ordinary tourist? That can pay...
Peter Spronk was a specialist of catas for tourists in the Caraibes, with an aggressive look and powerful engines to get back in time. But in the Caribbean islands you have predictable winds (wind trade) between the islands.
The good tour must be open to the ordinary tourist from 7 to 99 years. Better if it is combined with snorkeling, a good food on a paradisaic beach (the barbecue fish is a winner) under the coco trees and a pretty calm sea...You can also offer animal watching (snorkeling with whale sharks is the last gold mine in Cancun)
You talked also about navigating in river, that can be very interesting.
Calm sea (or the tourists will spend a miserable day vomiting), navigation in river...all that do not call for a fast sail catamaran. You do not transport tourists in a Maserati but in a Suburban.

What you need is catamaran able to take at least 12 people plus crew, reliable, sure and able to keep the scheduled time. Make a excel sheet to calculate the exploitation expenses plus 20% for the surprises, and add the amortization in five years, if you're not able to earn enough to replace the boat in a reasonable time forget it. The boat must cover the expenses with 50% to 60% occupation. Not very romantic, it's a tool for working, like a posada, a restaurant or a bar.

So you must have 2 good 4 stroke outboards, good seats, a shadowed place for the fair skinned people, a flat floor, a chemical toilet, a big cooler and plenty of place for the material (life jackets etc..). No need of inside amenities except the toilets,a bed for the guardian of the boat or for someone sick, and a minimal kitchen.

Keep it simple. Just 2 hulls, a platform, and an "auxiliary" rig to use in the right conditions (mostly downwind) and you got the right boat. Consult the local rules (in a lot of countries a homebuilt boat has no chance to get the certifications, except for certified plans and classified construction like by the DNV or Veritas) permits and licenses. Bureaucracy is sometimes...in Mexico the paperwork is the same for a custom 30 feet taxi boat or a 24 meters ferry for 200 passengers... Plans for USCG certified boats for touristic use are generally the winners in Latin America, or made by a well established shipyard who paid the bribes. There are surprises, always bad.
Consult a naval architect, it's a working boat almost like a trawler or a small ferry. If you can't pay his fees, generally modest compared to number of hours, forget the project.
We see here a lot of guys arriving with a sailboat and wanting to do charter. Generally they last less than six months, and we have our share of abandoned useless boats, and unrecoverable debts.

 

Yes Richard, you are very right. The difference between the claims and reality can be abysmal.

I predate the thread; How it's doing you pretty small motor cat? I'm trying to convince some for a sport fishing motor cat, but tourism is lagging a bit and money for investment is scarce.