Our hulls about a week into the project as a new production 44ft is being prepared for launching

To understand just how it came about that Endeavour just gave me a 44ft catamaran, you need to understand the process of building an all new 44 foot boat from scratch.  Endeavour makes both sailing and power catamarans. The sailboat is made first.  But before the first hull is made, the mold must be made. And before the mold is made, the "Plug" must be made.  The plug looks like the hull but it's made out of throw-away materials since its only purpose is to hold its shape while the mold is being built.  Once the mold is done, the plug is cut up and thrown away.  Now, literally hundreds of identical fiberglass hulls can be made from the mold.  

Building the plug from scratch is very time consuming, and since time is money, a very expensive process.  To save time, the plug for the powercat hulls are first made in the sailboat mold.  Then the sailboat shaped hulls are modified into a powerboat shape and the powercat mold is made.  This requires adding flotation to the rear third of the hulls to carry the extra weight of the much larger engines and fuel tanks as well as adding skegs for protecting the props and rudders.  

For whatever reason, Endeavour built this powerboat plug using the same layup schedule (thickness of glass) and quality materials (honeycomb core, bi-axial glass and vinylester resin) as if it were going to be a real sailboat, not just a plug.  Then they cut, chopped, and added to the shape with standard plug type materials (2x4s, plywood, putty, screws, etc.)  The area in black shows the amount of additional material added to the sailboat hulls to get the powerboat shape.  Note that the two skegs on each hull not only protect the props and rudders, but they also form a tunnel which greatly increases the prop's thrust.  

This plug was just too close to being a real boat, so rather than just cut it up and throw it away, it was offered to me.  Originally the idea was to just cover the material that was added on with several layers of glass and call it a boat.  The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to get the original sailboat shape back.  I'm not one who goes for big engines.  I much prefer a smaller engine and a more efficient hull shape.  I also wanted to eventually put a mast and sails on it.  It sounded simple in the begining....just cut, chop, tear and pry off all the material that was added on and put a fresh layer of glass over the bottom to seal it back up.  Well, dear friends, the putty stuck to the hull so hard that it had to be removed with an air chisel and when it came off, it took the gel coat and a layer of glass mat with it.  The added material covered over half the length of the 44 foot hulls.  It turned into a tremendous chore, and we had to work outdoors in the hot Florida sun.  It was brutal and we were lucky not to get heat stroke.  What was to take a week or two ended up taking a whole month.  I kept repeating to myself.....A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.........A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.......A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..... and eventually we got to our destination.  

As you can see, a pretty large hole was cut in the aft section of each hull.  Here's how I fixed it.
  

I screwed a piece of glossy formica onto the outside of the hull which formed the basic shape that had been cut away. The slick inside was waxed to ensure that the fiberglass did not stick to it and I laid several layers of glass over the formica. It worked like a champ and we had our original shape back in no time.  Below, Teresa is getting a little relief from the scorching sun as a Conser 47 is being prepared for launching.


The next step was to flip the hulls over, grind all the rough edges smooth and add another layer of glass to the entire bottom. Grinding fiberglass is one of life's most dreadful jobs. I wore a full protection suit with hood, sealed goggles and respirater all day in the hot sun and still it took days to get all the fiberglass out of my skin. I even duct taped the suit over my wrists and ankles to keep the ground glass out.  Grinding bottom paint is bad enough. Grinding raw fiberglass all day is another matter all together. When the hull was smooth enough, we measured and cut the glass cloth to the appropriate size and began laying it on the hulls (in the hot sun). Did I tell you that the sun was hot?  We used the minimum amount of hardner in the resin and it was still kicking off (hardening) as we were putting it on. After getting one 48" wide piece on, by the time we got the next one on, the previous one had already hardened.  
Did I mention that it was HOT?

With the glass work done, it was starting to become fun again....sort of.

 Next step was to tape off the waterline and skirt the hulls to keep paint from dripping onto the shiny topsides. First two coats of light grey epoxy moisture barrier, followed immediately by  two coats of anti-fouling bottom paint.

The following day the crane returned to flip the hulls back over. It's pretty scarey to watch as something that big being picked up and flipped over.  The next day the travel lift picked it up, placed it on the trailer and the road trip began to the nearest marina.
The hulls went faster than they will ever go again.  I hope I never see 40 knots on the knot meter.

It was quite a long load.  Boat and truck probably topped 65 feet.

In no time at all she was lifted off the trailer and gently placed upon the salty waters of Tampa Bay.  I say "on" the water instead of "in" the water because she is basically flat bottomed and empty the draft can't be more than a few inches.  The next day a friend and I towed her home with his 24foot inboard/outboard powerboat at about 6 knots. With no keels, no skegs and no rudders, she wanted to skate around a little so we had to be careful going under narrow bridges, but we made it home without incident.

Phase one is complete.  We now have a 44 foot catamaran hull at our dock. We have a couple of yacht deliveries to do during the summer and will get to phase two (putting the flooring in so we can walk around in it) in the fall.

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