CraigCat

Discussion in 'Boatbuilding' started by rachel nicole wilsey, May 26, 2020.

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  1. rachel nicole wilsey
    Joined: May 2020
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    Location: Atlanta

    rachel nicole wilsey New Member

    Hey Everyone,
    My name is Rachel. I am new to the forum and I have been doing some research on CraigCats. I was hoping someone could help me. I would like to build one. I don't have much experience with building or boating but any advice would be much appreciated or if you could point me in the right direction. I was looking at buying some surf boards instead of getting pontoon logs for the base, because they are more cost effective, and with that I wanted to get an engine that is able to pull a tube behind it. I was thinking a 100 hp would do the trick that is as far as I have gotten.
    Thanks again!
     
  2. Blueknarr
    Joined: Aug 2017
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    Location: Colorado

    Blueknarr Senior Member

    Welcome to the forum.

    Hate raining on your first parade.

    100 hp is way out of line. Craig cats usually have less than 25.

    Controlling a tube and rider which will be close to the Craig's weight will be difficult to hilarious.
     
  3. kapnD
    Joined: Jan 2003
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    Location: hawaii, usa

    kapnD Senior Member

    That’s a very ambitious demand for a couple of surfboards strapped together!
    Surfboards are generally designed to support one person, and will submerge rapidly when loaded beyond their intended capacity, as will any vessel.
    Surfboards will also become very tender and produce considerable drag when pushed straight forward at high speed, as their design is invariably focused on the use of one rail at a time, and almost constant turning .
    Mr Craig has obviously done the necessary homework to market a viable product, so studying his design closely would be a great path towards determining the course of your design.
    Search this forum for something like “small power catamaran designs”.
     
  4. Mr Efficiency
    Joined: Oct 2010
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    Location: Australia

    Mr Efficiency Senior Member

    Rachel, your proposal might well be called, the Scary Cat ! It put the frighteners into me! :eek:
     
    Eric ruttan likes this.
  5. Eric ruttan
    Joined: Jul 2018
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    Location: usa

    Eric ruttan Senior Member

    lol
     

  6. philSweet
    Joined: May 2008
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    Location: Beaufort, SC and H'ville, NC

    philSweet Senior Member

    The problem is that the Craig Cats have terrible handling at speed because they don't have any lateral area. I had a lot of fun with one of the plastic pontoon kind, and it would fly entirely above the surface with a tuned Merc 25, making steering really interesting. There was a thread on the old forum here about a fellow with a Yamaha 70 on one. He had installed racing suspension seats and always wore a helmet when operating it. These things can slam hard enough to break your back with just a 25hp. There's no way you can tow a tube with one, the tail will wag the dog. The rentals usually have 15hp, if they have 20's, they are detuned.

    <edit> old thread started by Bulldog. Unfortunately, the photo got lost when we changed platforms here. CraigCat Modified https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/craigcat-modified.43346/#post-559021
     
    Last edited: May 27, 2020
    bajansailor likes this.
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