I recently visited the factory of King Catamarans on the Gold Coast
of Queensland, Australia.
They currently build just one boat, a 38 foot powercat, a Stanyon
design, and I think it's a very good boat.
They are, however, making a significant addition to their boat, and I
suspect not with the designer's involvement.
They are adding a HUGE rear platform, four feet deep across the full
length of the stern.
This will include a large rear-facing seat and a handrail at the
rear. There is also a substantial stainless steel overhead framework
to accommodate a canopy, perhaps in canvass.
This addition will be, I'm sure very popular. The expansion of the
already big cockpit in this way makes it a great "party boat".
My concern is that this extra weight might unbalance the boat in
rough seas.
There is no compensatory increase in hull length for this huge extra
rear weight.
I notice that many fine designs have the hulls protruding well to the
rear of the cockpit.
I assume that the adage used in sailing boats to keep the weight out
of the ends also applies to powered boats.

So I have a couple of questions to our designers out there.
Is it better (more seaworthy) to have hulls extended aft of the cockpit?
If there is an overhang, in a powercat, should it be kept small and
light?
As a rule of thumb, if the overhang is, say, one meter above the
waterline, how far can it extend for safety in a large following sea?
In other words, what is a safe angle between the back of the hull, at
water level, and the tip of the overhang.

Gary

Gary,

I wonder if you could comment on their layout. I have only a rough
sketch from Scott McGrath that showed
an island queen bed. He also stated that "all power is managed through
the new digital keypads"--
can you comment on that statement?

Scott also referred to upcoming photos--have you seen any?

Chuck

-----Original Message-----
From: gstavrou@bigpond.net.au
To: power-catamaran@lists.samurai.com
Sent: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 4:39 PM
Subject: [PCW] Overhangs

I recently visited the factory of King Catamarans on the Gold Coast
of Queensland, Australia.
They currently build just one boat, a 38 foot powercat, a Stanyon
design, and I think it's a very good boat.
They are, however, making a significant addition to their boat, and I
suspect not with the designer's involvement.
They are adding a HUGE rear platform, four feet deep across the full
length of the stern.
This will include a large rear-facing seat and a handrail at the
rear. There is also a substantial stainless steel overhead framework
to accommodate a canopy, perhaps in canvass.
This addition will be, I'm sure very popular. The expansion of the
already big cockpit in this way makes it a great "party boat".
My concern is that this extra weight might unbalance the boat in
rough seas.
There is no compensatory increase in hull length for this huge extra
rear weight.
I notice that many fine designs have the hulls protruding well to the
rear of the cockpit.
I assume that the adage used in sailing boats to keep the weight out
of the ends also applies to powered boats.

So I have a couple of questions to our designers out there.
Is it better (more seaworthy) to have hulls extended aft of the cockpit?
If there is an overhang, in a powercat, should it be kept small and
light?
As a rule of thumb, if the overhang is, say, one meter above the
waterline, how far can it extend for safety in a large following sea?
In other words, what is a safe angle between the back of the hull, at
water level, and the tip of the overhang.

Gary

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