>From: "Cortland Steck" <cort@cortship.com> >To give you some background on myself, I am a graduate of New York >Institute of Technology where I majored in mechanical engineering >and small craft design, where I also received an in depth background >in aeronautics and aircraft structure design. I also am a graduate >of the Westlawn School. Since 1980 I have live in Florida, an now am >located in St. Petersburg, Florida where I have been for 20 years. > >I have been in the marine industry for almost 30 years and have >worked for numerous production companies and boat builders including >Gulfstar, Hunter Marine, Endeavour Yachts, and Trident Shipworks. >Meanwhile I have maintained my own independent design business where >I have done designs in both sail and power for various production >companies as well as custom boats, and I now maintain my own office >full time. > >I originally became interested in catamarans and powercats when I >did some work for Bill Higgins, who designed and built the Stiletto >sailcat. Bill had established a business called Advanced Technology >& Research which was a composites house fabricating custom light >weight components for the aircraft industry. He had a contract to >build a gondola for the last Goodyear blimp and needed someone who >could deal with irregular contours. All his people we use to round >fuselages. So I worked off and on for him for five years or so >doing such projects as the Goodyear gondola, the monorail cars for >Disney World, flight simulators for Reflectone and flap track >fairings for Airbus, to name a few. > >Anyway, during this time we all were always talking about boats and >particularly catamarans, and the other aeronautical engineers there >kept asking why aren't there any power catamarans out there. To >them it seemed like a perfectly logical water craft - light weight, >requiring less power, more fuel efficient, stable, etc. So this got >me to start thinking in the same direction. This was in the late >1980's. Since then I have designed several powercats from 35 to 60 >feet and enjoy the open design freedom that the format presents. > >I recently completed a design of a 44' powercat for Manta Catamarans >which is powered by twin 160hp Volvo diesels and cruises at 15 knots >with a top end of 20 knots. I also presently have a custom 50' >sailcat design under construction. It's good to have you with us, Cort, on Power Catamaran List. http://www.cortship.com/main.htm Let us know when you have your new site up and running. --Georgs -- Georgs Kolesnikovs Power Catamaran World http://www.powercatamaranworld.com