The boat building thing really has my attention

Posted By: Carl, Horizon Cat/Picnic Cat, Central Texas
Date: 6/26/08 2:36p.m.

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I've been reading the first bit of the Gougeon Brothers book, and the engineering data there is pretty interesting. My impression of cored hulls in production boats, up till now, anyway, is that it's done as a cost saving measure. I think it's pretty common to have a negative attitude towards cored construction, but Gougeon makes a case for composite wood/epoxy as being superior to just about everything else, particularly in a weight to strength context. Terms like 'modulus' don't make a lot of sense to me yet, but I'm trying to pick up the lingo. Also, in another forum I saw rumors of a larger Core Sound model under consideration. Intriguing, but it brings up questions. A single masted boat, the rig stepped right up in the boat's eyes, is a catboat. The same boat with a smaller mast aft is a cat ketch. The same boat with a taller mast aft is a cat schooner. But, if you put a third mast on the boat, what would it be? A cat barque? Somehow, that just sounds improbable. I could just imagine the dockside chatter. 'What kind of boat do you have?' 'It's one of those new cat barques.' 'A cat bark?' 'Oh, yeah, sweet boat, really the cat's meow.' 'But you said it was a bark!' 'Right. A cat barque.' 'So, I suppose next you're going to tell me Who's on first.' ... Ah, and come to think of it, the Core Sound 17 has a third step as a reefing option - an extra mast, a few braces and buntlines and clewlines and tacklines, on that size boat less than an extra mile of cordage in the rig, it could be the world's first cat barque!