Hi Georgs

Thanks for the update, good to hear there are others share the same view as
us. We're doing full female moulds to be able to eventually produce up to 10
boats per year in either Trawler, Contemporary or Classic window style,
either planing or displacement hulls from our China plant. All built to the
same standard- DNV & USCG class- very strong without being over-built- cats
have to manage weight closely so many of the Trawler "Hummer overbuilt
strength" idea's have to be tempered with sensible weight control.  Been
working toward this 6 years now since doing the Pacific Harmony 86 foot
Powercat on spec from 2001-2004 in NZ. Feedback from that was great concept
but got anything around 50-60 feet? Hopefully the market really does exist
as John Shaw also believes. 86 footers will remain in the league of custom
builders close to the owners markets.
I feel we will convert a lot of Mono-hullers with the choice of 3 styles and
trying to make easy on the eye cabin forms, semi-pointed bow etc. When they
see they can have all the Cat benefits without having to look like the ugly
duckling in the bay, they may be more inclined to switch.
China was the logical choice to build, hard enough getting mono-huller's to
switch to Cats but telling them its 50% more expensive due to semi-custom
high labour rates is too hard to sell. Been there, done that. There is a
good range of production mono's at very competitive prices and now they
build the best of them in Asia anyway, doing it in our high labour countries
is starting on the back foot if you ask me.
Very hard to find good builders in Asia though, we have built 6 mono's with
our Taiwanese born builder now, just to make sure we are partnered with the
right people. His Naval Architecture degree, 30 years and 500 boats
experience and 7 years on Mainland China are enough to satisfy us but we
still camp out in China to oversee our boats. Detailed drawings just don't
convey all the details and can be interpreted many ways by any builder. Then
of course, half of whats drawn needs on the spot adjustment to make it work
the first time. That's building- boats or houses, all the same. Someone who
uses the product needs to be there.
The main advantage Pacific Coast and others US based will have is the
customers will be able to build close to home and be very involved the whole
way, comforting, even if it costs them 30% more which we estimate can add
around USD$500,000 or more on a boat this size. 5-10 times lower labour cost
never gets out-weighed by freight & Duty, we're finding around 1/3 saving on
our mono's to the same standard of product built down under.
We will probably put demo boats in the markets we seek to work in so buyers
can touch & feel the merchandise, not just see pretty pictures. Also so we
are able to sell the demo from time to time like we do now here in NZ with
our mono's...save the 1-2 years wait for those who prefer to set sail
sooner.
Aim to start tooling by Christmas, mould first hulls April-May next year,
fit-out and be commissioning by Christmas 08. Probably run the first one on
her own bottom from China to Australia and home to NZ taking in the local
boat shows along the way till she sells. Meanwhile we will start number 2,
similar concept- motor to Vancouver & Seattle for their boat shows, Number
3-try to get as far as Florida boat shows before selling the demo and so on.

Will keep you posted with progress pictures as they come to hand.
Best Regards,
John Winter
http://www.adventurebay.co.nz/powercats.htm
P.S. Looking forward to your website coming on line! Also something there
should be a market for.

"Incidentally, there is a larger trawler cat nearing completion at
Pacific Expedition Yachts where Double-Wide will be launched soon.

John Shaw is also building a 65-foot expedition catamaran.
Particulars are available at:

http://www.pacificexpedition.com/index.html

John, who is an experienced builder, tells me he believes there is a
market for go-anywhere power cats that deliver comfort and
convenience on a wide, stable platform."

--Georgs

Georgs Kolesnikovs
Power Catamaran World
http://www.powercatamaranworld.com

Power-Catamaran Mailing List

End of Power-Catamaran Digest, Vol 32, Issue 6

"...even if it costs them 30% more which we estimate can add
around USD$500,000 or more on a boat this size."

If my rusty math skills still serve, that suggests a (made in China) price
of about $1.7M.  About what I expected.  For a boat that doesn't exist yet,
except in marketing promotions such as Mr. Winter's.

Keep in mind that the Jones Act in the US prohibits using foreign hulls for
hire.  You may have no intention of using this boat in a charter biz, but
someday you'll want to sell it and your pool of buyers just got a lot
smaller.  But then, if you can afford a $1.7M+ boat, resale's probably not a
big concern for you.

Bob Deering
Juneau, Alaska