Some time ago I had a link to a ( I think ) Scottish built 20ft catamaran, all carbon and with some novel ideas on snuffers etc, can anyone point me in the general direction as I had a computer failure which lost my list of favourite sites

Thanks

This one?: http://www.tek-kat.co.uk/

how does it perform?

Built in the SE of England; currently "living" at Weston.

There have been a few problems with it and the rig still needs really sorting out; it has potential, but needs a good rig (and it is difficult to beat the developement of the Tornado rig) and so it's still "work it progress".

It LOOKS feckin fantastic up close as it is all carbon!

I see they are offering an option without the integral chute/pod. Anyone got the low-down on that?

I see NO spin pole! Freaking radical.

Apart from a aesthetic point of view, why not havinga spin-pole? If I am right teh Shadow has no spin-pole as well.

It looks like a reefable main. On a high performance cat, that is something unusual.

Does anybody knows something about the price? With the current Euro-GBP exchange rate it could be tempting.

Cheers,

Klaus

The no pole thing isn't what I would call a success...

other than that its a nice concept but it for sure needs a lot of development

Yep; it now has a pole......

Tek Kat Update
Currently working on removing the chute to save money and improve on the current weight , we have 30kg of carbon in the chute as its structural ,the forstay is attached.

The current Rig has worked well last year but the sail plan can always have further improvements.We will be testing the new
Rig set up soon, it will basically be a soft chute with a pole as a standard F18.

Hope to see you on the water Tek Kat ltd have agreed to run the FAST CAT RACE Round the IOW again this year on 29th 30th 31st May 2009 A bigger and better Event with a Cat Open as well
So if your up for a challenge lets see if any one can take on the Tek Kat this year.

Happy to answer any question
Have a look on the site for news www.tek-kat.co.uk

Hi Tek Kat
Looking at the above photo the hull has the least amount of rocker I have seen on a 'small' Cat. Do/did you notice a considerable difference with this rockerless design? Or does this boat react so totally differently to a F20/Tornado that it is hard to tell! Hypothetically if you were to re-design the hulls would you increase the rocker or not.
P.S I hope you have a very successful 09 season.

Could more weight be taken out of the hulls because of the non-existent bridle loads and compensate for the pod weight? I guess 30kg is a lot to take out though...

What does rocker do for you besides making the boat turn easier?

I am very interested in your comments about the minimal rocker as well...except for smoothly releasing the energy expended from moving a volume of water equal to the weight of the displacement of the boat, and tacking ease, it has always seemed to me that the amount bottom rocker of modern cats have possibly been one of the main factors holding back cat performance from moving forward appreciably.

Regards,
Bob

The more the rocker, the more the hulls can pitch up and down as the bows and stern are like the ends of a see-saw. The more you pitch the slower you go. However, in light winds a bit of rocker can help reduce wetted hull area/drag.
Getting the right amount of rocker for the conditions you are most likely to sail in is therefore key to speed.

On the rocker issue we currently believe that the less you have the faster you go but you need some lenght in the hull to achieve this, so as the Tek Kat is 23 foot giving great upwind performance plus adding more depth in the hull this gives bouyancy and and freeboard for bigger waves. On the downwind performance less weight and flat hull will alway be fast.

Currently the A Class is leading the way for hull design but they are missing the most exciting part of sailing the Aysmetic
so a mix of hull design is the way forward, Tek Kat have little rocker achieving ease in the tack plus waterline lenght for upwind performance also bouyancy and deeper stern to push it to the max downwind.

I'm quite interested in your experiment with the central pod, it does clean up the foward area of the hulls to allow minimal windage and clean areas around the front of the hulls ( wires etc ) to recover the chute. It also allows the foward part of the hulls to be much lighter in construction ( less weight in the very end points means a much more balanced platform ).

My question to Tek Kat is what on the water benefits / non benefits have you found from actual testing between the two types.

Thanks and nice design.

On the issue of not having a bridle as standard cats the advantage has been been very little in practical terms, it has given the boat a unique feature, because you need a chute for the Aystemic it gives it function unlike the tornado that is simply the carbon chute made as light as possible.
The hulls being made from carbon skins on nomex core gives me plenty of room to add volume in the hulls with little weight penalty.