Fresh thinking and practical design from a new player in the power cat arena.
By Pierce Hoover
For a gallery of the Havana 38 in action click here.
In recent years, the live-aboard power cat market has been, well, a bit volatile. Leading names such as PDQ, Manta and Lagoon have either ceased production of powered multihulls or gone out of business completely. Ditto for some South African builders.
But North American buyers still have options, ranging from the well-established Endeavour line to the up-and-coming Africat products, along with a number of smaller builders. Thanks to what started as a bit of bad news for a Texas businessman, there's another new breed of cat at the docks.
Several years ago, Clark Boeken switched from a Sea Ray cruiser to a 48-foot power cat. Sold on the merits of the type, he then put down a deposit on a 65-foot Prowler, which was to be built in the company's Cape Town, South Africa, facility. Then, during the early stages of construction, the company closed its doors. Boeken flew to South Africa to asses the situation and returned with an unexpected outcome. Rather than build the 65, he decided he'd acquire the Prowler assets and take a shot at boatbuilding for himself. That was the beginning of Cruiser Cats.
Boeken is a lifelong boater. He tinkered with boatbuilding as a teenager and restored, maintained and operated a variety of vessels in the years since. After spending time aboard his 48-foot power cat, he had some well-formed ideas, but he also knew the value of collaboration. For the specific expertise needed to optimize running performance, he turned to Malcolm Tennant, one of the leading names in cat design.
Tennant is best known for designing power cats that deliver excellent efficiency at speeds in the midteen to low 20-knot range. With the benefit of Tennant's input, the first design from Cruiser Cats began to emerge. It would evolve into the Havana 38. Boeken settled on a 38-foot length for several reasons. "The appropriate length-to-beam ratio on a 38 gives you a beam in the 16-foot range," he explains. "The boat can fit in most standard slips, which not only gives you more options than cats confined to an end dock, it also saves you some dockage fees in many cases, as you aren't paying a premium for the T-dock."
The other attraction of this size boat is that a crew of two can more easily handle it. "The extra width and huge foredeck of a power cat over 40 feet can be intimidating to many folks," he says. "And with all the space a cat provides, you really don't need as large of a boat to achieve the same living space as a monohull. And that too can save you some money at the marina."
To help manage the myriad details of production, sales and commissioning, Boeken brought on Rian Mondriaan. A longtime veteran of the power cat scene, Mondriaan had been involved in everything from charter management to sales, service and delivery. He became Boeken's right-hand man at Cruiser Cats, and they soon got down to the business of building hull number one.
Like many South African yards, the Prowler workforce had considerable expertise in cored fiberglass construction techniques and in the use of large molded deck and interior components that bond together for increased overall strength without the need for extensive additional reinforcements. This construction philosophy results in boats that display clean, seamless fiberglass interiors, but many consider the interiors of a typical South African cat to be a bit Spartan — at least in comparison to their French and North American counterparts.
This is not the case with the Havana 38, however. As the design solidified, the Cruiser Cats team opted for rich mahogany or cherry veneers on many of the interior composite laminates. This resulted in an interior that blended areas of clean fiberglass with generous sections of warm wood. The end product is cabin spaces that are light and uncluttered but far from stark or sterile.
Low weight and high strength are both equally important in catamaran construction. To achieve these sometimes-disparate goals, the Cruiser Cats team made extensive use of both advanced materials and composite construction methods. The lamination schedule calls for quad-directional glass and vinylester resin with a solid laminate from keel to chine and a cored topsider. Hull number one used balsa coring, while subsequent boats will make extensive use of Divinycell and Nida-Core to further reduce overall weight. As a result, the finished boat will remain afloat even if fully swamped.
Interior accommodations can include three or four staterooms with the four-cabin version a more likely candidate for charter fleets. A pair of heads occupy the forward bows, while the front of the bridge deck contains either a pair of cabins or, on the three-cabin version, a hugely expansive berth that bridges the entire span between the hulls. Twin guest cabins are found in the expected places above the engines, but with several added touches not always seen on other cats. These cabins are provided with en suite sinks and vanities and are flanked by voluminous storage lockers.
The central horseshoe-shape saloon settee is properly proportioned, and the galley, though set in the starboard hull, is not as isolated as on many such designs. It sits a bit higher to provide the cook with a view of the salon, plus the occasional glimpse out the side windows. The designers call it a "galley-open" configuration, as opposed to "galley-down." Corian fiddled counters and a deep double sink provide ample space for food preparation, and there are a number of deep lockers for provisions.
On deck, the integral hardtop and fixed forward windows give the helm area a pilothouselike feel. The helm and adjacent passenger area can be enclosed and fitted with heating and air conditioning. The stern area can be fitted with either a wraparound seating module or a simple railing that leaves the deck area free for fishing or storage.
One significant change that will be instituted on subsequent models will be the raising of the bridge deck by some 18 inches. This change will have a positive impact not only in the form of enhanced running performance and fuel economy, but it will also create additional storage space below, additional water storage capacity and result in a 4-inch higher helm seating position and larger forward windows on the hardtop. Air draft on hull number one is about 10 feet, while subsequent boats will maintain an air draft of slightly less than 12 feet, giving the Havana 38 the ability to slip under many bridges that could otherwise require long waits for an opening.
Like on many power cats, the engines can be accessed from the aft staterooms. In addition, they can be reached through larger deck hatches. On hull number one, these exterior hatches provided adequate access to almost all areas of the engines as well as seacocks and other important items. The higher deck profile of subsequent models will add nearly 18 inches to the engine space, which should allow for almost total access to the engines, with access through the staterooms needed only when servicing engine belts.
Mechanical systems throughout the boat tend to follow the "keep it simple" philosophy long associated with blue-water sailing vessels. Raritan electric heads and gravity-fed black water tanks simplify plumbing requirements, while LED lighting and dual-voltage appliances reduce power consumption and help provide freedom from shore power. A genset is standard, but the combination of an inverter and 600 ampere-hour house battery bank also allows for silent nights at anchor.
Under way, the Havana 38 exhibited the performance range one might expect from a Tennant design. In addition to minimal fuel consumption numbers at sub-10-knot speeds, the standard 150 hp Yanmars delivered better than one nmpg fuel efficiency at speeds into the midteens. It is expected that shifting the fuel tanks slightly forward and raising the bridge deck on future models will further increase efficiency by 7 to 10 percent. Powerplants of up to 280 hp each are available, which should allow for fuel-efficient cruse speeds of up to 20 knots.
Cruiser Cats; www.cruisercats.com
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Other Sea Trials featured this month:
- More Electronics from past issues.
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