Maine Cat 22’

[Chanceman52]

Hi
I’ve recently purchased a 22’ Maine Cat that is in excellent shape. It is one of the only 18 ever built and A one owner.

My brother and I fell in love with the style and shape of the boat as it looks like the bat mobile or an old 50’s Corvette.
Neither one of us have ever sailed and are looking to make this into a sunset boos in cruiser for the family. We are wanting to ad 50-100hp on it , were looking for cruising speeds of approximately around 30mph. Here again, we want to load the family on, and cruise to restaurants etc on the water by our homes.
We do intend on learning to sail it but it will be secondary to the power use probably 90% of the time.
Does anyone have any experience with an approximate 22’ catamaran with 50-100hp on it?
Looking for ideas or suggestions. We’re also wondering if we should even modify the boat since it is very rare.

[Clamdigger]

Where did you find that? It looks like hurricane salvaged, do you have the rig? I for one would not be mounting 100hp engine on that as it's not built for that! You are much better off with a small powerboat for your use. That is a sailboat that sails extremely well, hopefully you dont hillbilly the boat, as there are sailors out there who would actually sail it. A 25hp obd will push it fine. You better have all of the uscg gear onboard when you use it, because you will get stopped repeatedly with people just sitting on a bare hull like that as you cruise around.

[Chanceman52]

It’s not a salvage boat. We know the owners, the boat has been on a lift since new. Right around the corner from my parents. I e just always liked the lines of the boat. I don’t have much interest in sailing it but love the overall look of it.
Mainly going to make it an advertising piece.
We have no plans to hillbilly it up but do want to power it so it will do a top speed of about 30mph. The original owner was a Porsche engineer who bought the boat brand new from Maine Cat.. he recently passed away , the boat sat still for years on the lift and we bought it from the wife who’s in her 80’s. I’m thinking a 40hp 4 stroke would be nice on the back. Any thoughts.

[Chanceman52]

were not going to leave the hull bare, we plan on adding some seating along with seadek material, sun shade, and a full sound system. We will also be adding a radar. Twin power poles and I pilot.

[olaf hart]

You might get more of a response if you post your questions on Sailing Anarchy..

[Sand crab]

The boats capacity is about 1200 pounds. A 40 HP outboard is about 220#. That's a lot of weight in the rear in a boat that wasn't designed for that. Visualize the back end near the water and the front raised in the air. Furthermore significant structurally modifications will have to be done for a proper sized outboard mounting bracket. Then you will have about 980 # left for cargo, fuel, seating and passengers.

Or, put a 6 hp on it and just go sailing. Do you have the rig? It is rare but not valuable because of that, it's valuable because it's a Maine Cat and those are great boats. That boat is an extremely fast sailboat and will literally take your breath away. They are worth over $12,000 in good condition and putting a big outboard will be a waste of money and will probably make it sail like crap because it's just too much weight in the back.

You have a performance sailboat so go sailing. You will love it!!!!

If you want a motorboat then buy one.

[Chanceman52]

I thank everyone so far for the replies!

For some clarity, we intend on learning to sail with this boat at some point but we’re offshore powerboat guys and we go fast!
With that said, we’re looking to mount one outboard motor in the middle of the Cat were the existing kicker motor is bracketed(we will modify of course). We’re fine with making the appropriate mods to accommodate a single motor which we believe will be around a 40hp 4 stroke and under 300lbs.
I weigh 250lbs and my brother is 220lbs. We both stood on the back of the cat in the motor location and to our surprise held us very well. So my real question is, approximately how much motor will be needed to go 30 knots for the days we don’t want to sail and just Booz and cruise with the family?
We’ve researched the boat and know that it’s very rare but we have no intentions on selling it, just adding it to the fleet of toys and any help on speed to power would be very much appreciated.

[clockwork orange]

Understand that these slim hulls are pure displacement hulls, they do not plane, period. So throwing too much power at the will be counter productive because with every jump in horsepower comes a significant increase in weight. Unfortunatley i don't know what it would take to get you to your goal but if i were you i would probably build your bracket and then see if you can borrow some motors from friends to try to zero in on whats appropriate. Maybe it won't take 40hp or maybe no amount of horsepower will do it because of handling issues, maybe you will find that 20 knots is the sweet spot because it just feels comfortable there and unsafe at 30. Remember, the underwater hull shape of this boat is nothing like any of the power catamarans you have seen.

Steve.

[smj]

The designer is still alive and building boats, best bet would be to contact him.

[clockwork orange]

No, this one is a Newick design and he has passed but the builder is still in business.


Steve.

[Boatguy30]

You really can't do 30 knots with those hulls. I'd guess maybe 16-18 is about it. Hah, that boat is in my neighborhood. Thought they had some charity that was going to pick it up a few years ago?

[Jim Cate]

Wants to go 30 knots, wants to booze cruise, wants to have a big sound system, likes this boat because it looks like the Batmobile... just the sort of boater we all love and respect...

This is a horrible fate for what was a very nice sailing cat at one time. Please go back to your sports fishermen boats and give this to someone who will use it as it was meant to be used.

Jim

[clockwork orange]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

You really can't do 30 knots with those hulls. I'd guess maybe 16-18 is about it. Hah, that boat is in my neighborhood. Thought they had some charity that was going to pick it up a few years ago?

Would have been nice if it had gone to a charity where maybe someone who would appreciate it for what it is may have gotten hold of it.

[smj]

Originally Posted by clockwork orange

No, this one is a Newick design and he has passed but the builder is still in business.


Steve.

Didn’t know it is a Newick design, I’m sure I know what his reaction would be[emoji30]

[valhalla360]

Google: Displacement Hull.

While this will do much better than a monohull sailboat (maybe 2-3 times as fast), odds are you won't be able to throw enough HP to do 30mph.

If you are willing to accept speeds in the teens, a 25-40hp will likely do the trick after that it becomes a fools game of throwing massive amounts of HP to gain another mph. One challenge you will face is with the outboard hung between the hulls, you need the extra long shaft or in any kind of waves, you are likely to lose the props bite on the water.

Assuming that the mast and rigging is gone, it's probably not worth trying to make it a sailboat again. Put a bimini on it for shade and go have fun. You aren't doing anything evil taking an old beat up boat and re-purposing it. Odds are no one would be willing to dump the money into it to bring it back to original condition anyway.