An Affordable Cruising Catamaran

Catalac Catamaran Construction Photos

Final Assembly

Catalac Hull Construction

Today, most Catamarans are constructed with some type of coring in their hulls and decks to reduce weight (cost) and improve performance. While newer boats do perform better because of the use of coring, they have a whole set of construction issues which develop because of it. Broker docks are full of early laminate hulled boats with delamination issues, and surveyors have been known to miss it. Have a look at Bumfuzzle.com and read what happened to a couple who purchased a South African Catamaran after having the surveyor miss the delamination. I believe it cost them an additional $40,000 to repair the damage. Cored decks and hulls are subject to water ingress over time which leads to this delamination. Catalac construction techniques avoid this entire issue and are built to last. Perhaps this is the reason the boats age very well. I think you would have to look at a few 25 year old Catamarans from different builders to appreciate a Catalac's build quality.

The bottom line here is that unless you have the $300k-$1.2 million to purchase a brand new boat, catamaran construction techniques should be your number one consideration when selecting a catamaran.

Catalac Innovation

If you take a look at these construction photos you'll notice that the cabin, cockpit and bridge deck are one piece, an early innovation which is the strength of these boats. The hulls are solid glass and only the foredeck is balsa cored. The boats have two 3/4 inch plywood bulkheads installed which tie the hulls together, and then the cabin/deck/cockpit  (another one piece mould) is installed to complete the assembly.

Rigging

With Catamarans, there has always been a concern over tightening the stays. Over tighten Port and Starboard lower and upper stays and in time your boat's two hulls begin to pull up, bending the boat in the center. Tom Lack came up with a solid method of preventing this using the forward bulkheads. The chain plates pass through the roof and are anchored to 1/4" metal plates which are in turn anchored solidly into the forward bulkhead. You can see the chain plate brackets in the interior photos in the brochures provided in each individual boat page. When tightening rigging stays, tension is applied only to these bulkheads and never to the hulls. In my opinion, this is an additional terrific design benefit. Over tightening rigging can never warp a hull on a Catalac.

Bridge deck Lay up

Hull Lay up