Winter 2005 - New England Multihull Association

NEMA SPONSORS
Maine Cat Wins Boat of the Year Award
Cruising World Magazine has enthusiastically
named the new Maine
Cat 41 as Best Multihull over 40'
with its annual Boat of the Year Awards.
The field of entrants was drawn from
models worldwide introduced to the
North American market between the
2003 and 2004 Annapolis Boat Shows.
Preliminary scrutiny whittled the initial
41 entrants down to 24 before a panel of
judges did on board judging during the
Annapolis Show followed by sail trials.
Dick Vermeulen, the designer,
defined the boat as one that allows owners,
“to cruise farther offshore, in
greater comfort, and with a larger payload
carrying capacity than that allowed
by the popular Maine Cat 30, of which
some 54 have been built since 1997.
“Our owners typically cruise for several
months of the year from Maine to the
Caribbean,” he said. “They require a
simple boat with a totally protected helm
that shows excellent performance on all
points of sail.” The panel loved
Vermuelen’s vision for a convertible
catamaran with a hardtop and soft sides,
to say nothing of the boat’s exceptional
craftsmanship and performance.
Maine Cat has been building high
quality performance catamarans in the
mid-coast Maine area since 1993 and
has an experienced crew of fifteen talented
and proud craftsmen. “Our success
and international recognition of
building superior products is a direct
result of our workers. This award goes
to our crew on the shop floor performing
a labor of love to produce a complex
engineered structure of true beauty,”
states Dick Vermeulen, president of
Maine Cat.
The Maine Cat 41 design has been
four years in development going through
many versions and launching a full size
prototype in 2002. One of the judges,
Steve Callahan, who has more than
70,000 offshore miles and himself a multihull
designer, states, “so much that is
right, really high-class equipment. It
handles extremely well.” The Maine Cat
41 will have a thorough review appearing
in an upcoming Cruising World issue this
winter. There will also be a new Maine
Cat 41 in the Bahamas for bareboat charter
in the fall of 2005. More details on the
boats and chartering may be found at the
company’s website www.mecat.com.
With deposits on order for boats
through 2005 and into 2006, Maine Cat
intends to expand by moving from
Bremen into the Rockland area and doubling
the size of the factory. The company
also intends to hire additional craftsmen
so they may continue to build both
models, the new MC 41 and their popular
MC 30, simultaneously.
Headboards for Today’s High Tech Rigs
by Keith Burrage, Skateaway Design
In the quest for optimal efficiency,
masts and sails are becoming taller,
lighter, better shaped, and stronger
with the aid of carbon, spectra and other
high strength materials. We are seeing
increased area and more efficient
shapes with the advent of big roach and
square top mainsails, especially on multihulls.
With numerous laminates and
battens adding weight and complexity at
the masthead, it has become increasingly
difficult to provide adequate strength
and support at this critical juncture
where low weight is highly desirable.
Skateaway Design offers a range of
mainsail headboards and clewboards
which provide strong, elegant solutions
to these requirements. Constructed of
high strength aluminum alloy with a
hardcoat anodized finish, Skateaway
Headboards are designed and manufactured
to be both lightweight and
extremely durable; they can be reused
should the sail require replacement. The
two most popular sizes are the SDC227
for mainsails of 200 - 500 sf, and the
SDD233 for 400 - 1000 sf.
Both models are of the Full Hoist
design type with recessed halyard
attachment points which project the
head of the sail even with the masthead
or higher, and can be equipped with a
block to facilitate a two part halyard
arrangement resulting in reduced weight
aloft and less compression load on the
rig. The additional area obtained from
the Full Hoist arrangement often exceeds
that of a conventional square top while
avoiding the inconvenience of tensioning
and releasing battens every time the
main is hoisted or lowered. The headboard
folds onto the top of the sail for
easy covering when the sail is furled.
The headboard is attached with press
rings and rivets; for very high load applications
webbing may be added through
the press rings.
These headboards have been in service
for 14 years and have been
employed with a variety of sail materials
by five major sail lofts with excellent
results. For further details, please contact
Keith Burrage at Skateaway Design:
215-822-5773; kaveathome@aol.com.
Winter 2005 N E M A
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