1955- Carl Kiekhaefer begins to experiment with multi hull designs at Lake X, mostly 3 point hydro derivations.
1956 Ted Jones (Ron's father)Builds a 17 foot wooden catamaran which , while ungainly, shows good performance and stability.
1958 Various builders take up the challenge PowerCat, Craig, CustomCraft, Stylecraft and a few others create molded fibreglass "symetrical" cats (each hull identical on both sides.... _
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These boats are immediately entered in the brand new Outboard Performance Class of APBA.
CHEETAH STAGE
1958 Dave and Bob Switzer create the "Wing" , which is so far ahead of its time we haven't duplicated it's performance to this day.......17'long, 8+ft wide, two 80 hp outboards... nearly 100mph (By the way it, and some PowerCats, had a "tunnel tab" which as you all know was "invented"... again.... in the 1990's). Sporting "four point ram wing technology" this thing initially tears up Lake X and is then seen on various race circuits under the exclusive control of the "Old Man". (God Forbid OMC should get their hands on one). It also featured the first "pickle fork sponsons
1961- Dieter Schultz uses outboard hydroplane construction techniques to craft the first tunnel hull (assymetrical sponsons)
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......\_| |_/. While small by monuhull standards, its ability to handle mixed chop is stunning and the boat turns better than any hydro, symmetrical cat, v bottom or the dreaded "wing". It has one major flaw, a tendency to "stuff" unexpectedly due to its lack of forward entry lift and low angle of attack.
1962.. Angelo Molinari solves the "stuff" tendency by designing and building the "banana" Molinari. The hulls on this tunnel hulled craft have a dramatic upswing toward the bow resembling a banana in profile . While solving the deadly stuff problem this over-compensating design had a frequent blow over tendency.
1965 Tunnel hulls invade the U.S. race circuit and immediately run away from mono hulls (V bottoms of all kinds). Checkmate, Glastron, Magnum, Baja, etc all enter into agreements with (and or "pop") Molinari or
Schultz designs. Since the tunnel hulls had limited pleasure boat (production)appeal (the average guy couldn't keep them right side up) the v bottom manufacturers lobbied for (and got) separate racing classes. This began a long tradition of v bottom manufacturers trying to beat the cats politically rather than in true competition.
1967 It becomes painfully apparent that the fibreglass replica tunnels cannot keep up with the original wood variants... and the wood designs are evolving so fast that molds are obsoleted in only a few months. At the same time outboard horsepower continues to rise with resulting periods when the hulls can't handle the power or the power can't push the hulls. Stock outboard drivers prove to be the best at handling these phenomenal boats and names like Sirois, Hering (yep the prop guy), McConnell, Hill, and (the best boat race driver of all time).... Seebold come out to play...... boy, could they play!
(But that's another story for another post)
Meanwhile, an obscure Florida builder named John McCall made a neat little tunnel of his own. This boat was "wider at the hip" than most others and spanned remarkably well. Sadly, lack of budget and factory backing limited this design to very few examples...but later.....
THE BIG CATS
1970 Ted Jones' son, Ron, by now famous for building great hydros and gorgeous but mediocre tunnel hulls (It's a California thing....), is contracted by millionaire Paul Cook (Future star Betty's husband)to build an offshore tunnel cat. Sporting the name "KuDu" the boat ran okay, showing flashes of speed but had some handling woes.
1975 James Beard and Clive Curtis, two Englishmen with modest experience building Cougar outboard tunnel hulls (Fast ...but no match for a Molinari...or a Seebold) create a few wooden offshore cats.. first outboard powered, than graduating to magnificent 36-41 foot stern driven marvels. These boats had a small speed advantage over the veehulls of the day but lacked the strength needed to withstand continuous ocean pounding. A few variations are crafted in fibreglass. Observors scratch their heads wondering why the lighter, sleeker cats are not significantly faster than the Vees..... The Lion was sleeping
1980 Ex tunnel racer, Rich Luhrs, tears up George Linder's plans for a 28 foot, v bottomed Shadow when seeking an addition to the already remarkable 21 foot Challenger/Shadow and demands that they create a cat. The eventual design, 30 feet in length, is ungainly due to Linder's insistance that it be under 8'6" in width and legally trailerable. In spite of the slab sides it features more hydrodynamic lift than the Cougar, multidyhedral bottom design, and a spec that calls for drastically raising the "X" dimension. It is the latter change that frees the cat from lower unit drag and allows it to demolish existing speed expectations.
1982 Willie Diaz takes the small block powered Sport Class Shadow, "El Boss", through a variety of larger big block Open class fleets becoming the first boat to average 100 mph in an offshore race
leg. Other builders take note and raise drive heights. At the same time Howard Arneson debuts his Surface drive. ( Good speed, poor trim, b-a-a-a-ad steering).
The Cats finally run and hide from the vees .......with equal power.......Meow!
1982 Formula builds a Cat for Betty Cook and anyone else that cares to purchase one...never wins a race and is relegated to an asterisk in John Crouse's book. This emphasises the fact that legendery Vee manufacturers are painfully out of touch.
1983.. Construction techniques improve to the point where Aluminum, Fibreglass, and wood-fibreglass composite cats can stay together in the roughest conditions. This was a PURRRRfect situation for hull development.
1983 Douglas Michigan's Peter Hledin, owner of a small boat company building a full tunnel(no pickle forks) fibreglass version of the old "Dutchman" tunnel hull (descendant of the Schultz) hangs out at offshore races in nearby Saugatuck, Mi...and takes a lot of notes. Later he takes a clean sheet of paper and designs the remarkable 24' Skater....nimble, quick but a little fine in forward entry.....ahem! ..but back to the story.... Peter is a guy who Cat-ches on quickly.
1983. Mike Peters, creator of a near ruinous cat for Halter Marine (It sank in it's first and only race), collaborates with(hires) John McCall...remember him?... and the Apache Cat, and Maelstroms begin to take shape. Mike Peters becomes one of the hottest designers in power boating. John McCall takes his money and fades into obscurity. Later, Peters designed CUV's are notable for their spanning ability and "wide at the hip" proportions.
1984 Don Aronow splits a 28 Cigarette lengthwise joins the halves with a tunnel and makes the second worst cat of all time. (Later he split a 39 footer and makes the worst.) See the Betty Cook Formula cat above.
1985 Cat's become the undisputed champs of Offshore racing. Vee manufacturers put out various drivel "Cats can't turn", "Cat's can't take rough water", Etc.........and people believed them. Various attempts began to separate classes between cats and vees. Bottom line...size for power Cat's represented approximately 30% more speed than a comparable Vee...... This was Cat-a-strophic to Vee builders.
1986 Peter Hledin puts the finishing touches on his 32 footer. He captures the market abandoned by Linder/Luhrs after the Shadow Cat/ Chris Cat era. This establishes him as a force to be reckoned with and creates a loyal following of owners who later trade up to bigger....Skaters
1986 After the tragic death of racing superstar, Mark Lavin, during a stuff, in a Linder/Luhrs/Adams Conquest, builders turned to the forward entry area of sponsons and created rebounding anti- dive lift areas to allow for better re-entry recovery. This was seen most notably on the final Conquest Cats, and Peter Hledin's Tour de Force...the 40' Skater.
1986 The Lavin Foundation is founded by donations from the Lavin Family and others in Mark's memory. The finest minds in Offshore design and Safety are tapped to create cockpit standards in an ever expanding work in progress that exists to this day. These standards, readily available to anyone, or any organization are widely ignored by people who "have a better idea" either for political, financial, or simple bone headed reasons......
1989 Peter Hledin begins work on a 46 foot hull that in some instances is nearly as fast as his 40 footer. Originally conceived as a 4 engine boat, the damn thing runs to max hull speed with only 2...... At about the same time offshore racing is embraced in Dubai and Peter happily sells lots of boats over there. He also supplies people to drive them for big bucks. One of these lucky souls is hired by the head cheese, stretches Hledins designs, calls them Victory's and kills the market for Skaters in the Middle East. He shall remain nameless but currently builds a design based on a stretched 36 Skater.... This, sadly, is not the only case of "splashing" that Skater has endured. We shall call this the "kitty litter" phenomenon..... It makes a mess but in the end all you've got is poop and a bad smell.
1990- present: Vee bottom builders lobby ,successfully, to prevent heads up competition. In some cases vees have triple engines while cats are limited to 2. In the more recent mode, Vees can be supercharged, Cats cannot. We emphasize Factory 2 (Vee) with all its ill handling adventures ( Mike A., alone, decorated half the race courses in the U.S. with stern drives, fibreglass , and his trusty sidekick, Adib). Factory 3 (Cats) is downplayed and avoided. Since Vee manufacturers sponsor TV and races, this is accepted as the norm. "After all Cat's have an unfair advantage........being faster, more stable and safer at speed. It just aint right to let them race even up.....is it? huh..well is it?"
1996 to present. Mike Peters and Peter Hledin rule the Cat world. Skater creates the 28, the 36, and the new 32 each with increasingly sophisticated hull features. Mike Peters designs the CUV and the TenCara (Swahili for "wildly overpriced").
2000-Super Cat, in spite of its anemic engine formula, showed a lot of promise until it got lost in a bewildering array of classes on the TV shows...and a lack of attention to cockpit safety..... But that's another story.....
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05-15-2002, 05:59 AM
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