16-18' performance Cats

hello everybody I've been a lurker for quit some time now and finally I have something that may interest some of you.

I'm pretty involved in the Large scale gas RC model boats 60"-94" catamarans specifically and and working on my own line and company of large scale offshore RC boats. Hence my company name RC Offshore Marine, I am currently having molds built for 60" and 72" MTI's the 42' and 44'ers a 60" Cigarette 39' Topgun Unlimited and 72" Cigarette 42X and 3 Hydroplanes that I have started production of and getting ready to test as soon at the weather breaks.

Now my big ?????? of the day is. With the likes of Mystic's, Skater's, and MTI's I have this crazy Idea of doing something REALLY big in 16-18' size range that you would actually get two adults to ride in. Like the old Cougar cubs at 10-11' with a 25-35 Merc or Evinrude outboard. Now I could take the easy way out and build this and rig it with say twin 50hp Merc 4 strokes, but was thinking how cool would it be to build one or these with twin 80-90hp jetski engines and arneson style drives and a rudder set-up just like the 40'-50' boats.
Can the jetski engines have the whole pump assembly removed and coupled to a tranny for F-N-R and non-steerable shaft drive?? If so can anybody point me into a direction on where to start looking on how to do this and possible trannies and drives?? I do figure the easy part will be having the mold designed and built. Right now it's all just a thought and would like to know if the inboard way is even feasable.

Thanks in advance for any advice Troy

BTW here is a model of a 94" MHZ Mystic a Radteck 233 with Turbines in it and a shot of my 60" Skater that I'll be releasing late this Summer with MHZ Z-drives.

And a couple pics of the old Cougar cubs

 

Nice boats. Congratulations on the good work.

 

The 2 94" models are not of my work, The black cat is just the plug getting ready to send to my mold maker here soon.

 

My big thing that I had an idea of doing a 17' Mystic catamaran Since I'll be doing an 8' version for RC, but have the 17'er have seating for two indiviuals with twin Merc 60hp Formula race engines. Or even doing it with twin jek ski engines and non steerable surface drives with a center rudder system like the full sized boats, down the road some time as my RC boat models are taking off pretty good right now.

 

Use a single motor !!

Why fit twin motors to a cat when a single of slightly less hp will give a better top speed ? Yes one motor is lighter weight and only needs one of everything instead of a double up !! Two motors lots weight so back drags in the water , lots apendage drag so your getting less speed than a single set up . Can still have twin tanks but again smalled in size with the same capacity as you would have for each of the twins !, do the plumbing right and draw off individual tanks as required !!oh and just one batery as well so even more weight saving !! Have made tunnel boats as amazing how well a single motor used to perform !!!
oh and dont forget a tunnel hulled boats goes faster than a cats any way !!Yes there is a differance and yes they dont even behave the same !!

 

Tunnels: I understand where you're comming from on the tunnel boats, but they aren't THAT popular in my area and the ones are mainly race boats. I live on Lake Erie in Ohio and have an "Offshore" affliction and the market I'd like to cater to just like my RC boats that I'll be building. Also to have 2 Mercury Racing 60 hp Formula Race engines hanging off the back of a 16-18' Catamaran would just be KICK AZZ !!!!! to me like back in the late 80's early 90's when the Cougar Cubs and Baja Skat Cats were popular they where 10-12' with 25-25hp single outboards, I had a Baja Skat cat in highschool with a 35 Merc, and it was pain in the azz to get up on plane they are/were antiquated designs and not built with the "best" intentions. With todays materials, moulding techniques and lay-ups schedules I know I can built something that would/could be very popular in this niche crowd.

And with the idea of down the road doing twin 90-120hp jet ski engines in the sponsons coupled to non steerable surface drives and a center rudder would just be SICK IMHO.

 

Great Idea

I have thought of doing the same for some time now. Actually how I came across your post was looking up information on custom built cats. From your posts I gather that you want to go after the pleasure boat side of the buisness. I would leave an option open for a line of one or two small cats for racing. My best freind and I race boats every year back home in the Virgin Islands. We have been racing for over 18 years. The conditions are very choppy to out right nasty at times. We race in the 40-90hp class wich is dominatley V-hull ( critchfeilds, allisons, custom built) ect. I truly believe a smaller version of the big offshore race cats would dominate in the conditions we race in. And there would be a good size market for these boats in the carribean. If you get some time please shoot me an e-mail at (kuvachdanny@yahoo.com) we can exchange numbers and hook up and throw some ideas around.

P.S. If you ever build a 16ft to 17ft replica of the Mystic Offshore Cat. I will be the first in line for one!

 

Seamoss340: What kind of classes are out there for these smaller race boats?? I haven't been able to find many orgs online for what when or where they're raced. I think this will be a few years in the making but I'm going to pursue this venture while doing the RC venture. I think the hard part will be keeping them under the 50K mark in price with the twin outboard version and either doing them in full Fiberglass or Carbon Fiber lay-ups and certain gauge packages etc etc etc. I'll keep everyone updated on how this shapes up

Troy