C18 cat in France

[Adam]

A few photos of my old catamaran - now racing in France.

Actually the series looks really goods out there and a big varied list of boats racing.

http://www.offshorepassion.com/NEWS.html

[Matt]

Bet it goes fantastically well with that motor!

[Adam]

Yes - things are a lot better. Still things to work on and improvements to be made, but very different!

That XS200 caused so many problems and one of my big regrets in boating. Sorry for all the wasted effort it caused. Actually it caused me all kinds of other problems as I sold it to a different French team and they had loads of trouble / expense with it.

[Matt]

I was thinking about the motor last weekend actually and how weak it seemed now I have another one to compare to.
What ultimately turned out to be wrong with it?

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Matt

I was thinking about the motor last weekend actually and how weak it seemed now I have another one to compare to.
What ultimately turned out to be wrong with it?

All interesting - and just brings all the frustrations back. So much work that year for so little reward. Really difficult trying to develop a one-off boat with a big variable such as an engine that would not perform and was also inconsistent.

Never found out the full extent of the engine problems in France. I wanted to sell the engine with a full service - but the French guys could not wait and were happy to take it as it was. It was then a few months until they actually used it! Then came back to me saying how much they had to spend on it - but problems with translation in deciding exactly what was wrong. Certainly a lot of electrical items were replaced and there were compressor problems as well.

However at that stage I was designing and then going to build a pretty radical new 3C boat for them. This all fell apart as a result and they basically (and quite reasonably) threw their toys out - and communications stopped.

Real shame and hated loosing them as clients - good, honest guys and really nice people.

[Big V]

that is one good looking cat

did it race in 3C with a 200xs on?

is that a 300xs on it now?

are the boys in France racing on the south coast, i.e. Marseille etc?

[Adam]

She was a bit of a problem child - was a bit over-ambitous with the design and tried to make her useable for 3C and 3D. We were going to run with a canopy and a single 2.5 efi in 3D - but the class died and we went back to 3C. Origiannly with an XR2 and then with the XS200.

Main problem we had was a weight issue - and over time made a lot savings and refinements on the boat. Actually had a lot of potentail and had some good outings / greta runs in her - but also a lot of frustration. None more so than having gone the route of the XS200 and not realising how many engine problems we probably had. We needed every horsepower available to make it work well.

Always liked the idea of doing a mark two version - but it was a big drain on money, time and effort.

Now running in France with new owners - mainly South coast.

[Matt]

Sorry! Not what I meant by the post - meant it as a positive reflection on the hull.!

Originally Posted by Adam

and just brings all the frustrations back

[Adam]

Realised that - and at times the boat felt really good, just me giving an honest and balanced history of the boat.

[Matt]

How fast have they had it with the 300? It must be capable of 100?

[Adam]

Its actually a 250xs that they are running on her. Speed wise they were around the 90mph mark - but had some more props to test etc. Also a couple of details mods I'm hoping they can do.