Its an DK17 A cat.
DK is for the designer Dirk Kramers, its the 17th version of the design.
I built the hulls - 4 half's in Steve Clarks shop last winter. Dirk Kramer (Alinghi's designer) designed the hull shape, he and Steve Clark wanted a larger man's A Cat, more volume, more freeboard around the front beam. This is the 4th boat out of the molds. I heard of the project and talked to Steve, he was looking to defer some of the costs of the mold and charged a small fee to use the molds. Steve graciously helped me build my parts and we used his shop.
See
http://www.intcanoe.us/mygallery/index.aspgo to A Cat construction Feb 05
The pics are from Georges boat, he used Nomex, carbon, epoxy, I used foam, carbon, epoxy.
Foam is much harder to bend, I used Steve's oven and a heat gun, Nomex lays in the mold without any issues. The foam was a pain in the butt, I used heat and weight. Not exactly a scientific process. (see the pic attached)
I drove home with 4 half hulls last winter and its taken me until now to get a complete boat. I did the internal hull structure this spring, and glued them together this summer. I "beamed" it up over labor day, and now I'm getting ready for paint. I purchased flyer rudders, Bimare centerboards, Hall mast, Kinder tramp. The A cat crowd is extremely helpful and willing to answer my novice questions. I'm not sure I would recommend building an A cat from the ground up like this to anyone else, but its been a fun experience.
The beams and boom are from Forte -
www.Forterts.com. I used the MAS epoxy system and 1/4 inch Corecell foam.
Right now the platform weights 31kg.
I hope it doesnt sink the first time out.
Bill
