Quote:
Originally Posted by Banana Shark Dave
Freddie do you think the other reason they roll over is because they originally had wings on that hull??? Wasn't there a rib with that hull before these were made as well??
My friend Darren Hook owned the English Hertage Buildings one, that rolled lol
But I do seem to remember him complaining over the build quality as well.
I was told with a 300xs they went to 80mph and the reason they were dropped was two fold.
1 they were dangerous!!
2 lack or advertising space. You may notice on the P1 panthers the boxiee rear end, but this gives lots of side advertising space!!!
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I believe they were designed from scratch as they were produced, I'm not aware of them ever being built with wings. However saying that there is one being raced in Italy with side wing but I have no idea why (see below).
I was told that the Cougar R8 RIB used the same hull.
The design and build quality in my opinion based on my boat was excellent. They did suffer from spray rail delamination and a few transom failures. The spray rails delamination I have been told was partly due to the fact that they were a single skinned bottom and prone to flex, however I think a lot of it was caused by contact damage with other race boats. You only have to look back at the video footage and most were driven as if it was a demolition derby, so much for a non contact sport. As for transoms the problems were two fold, the Honda BF225 engine was a very heavy engine at 273Kg and the shock loads on the transom must have been enormous, IMHO it wasn't really and ideal engine for a race boat. Secondly some transoms broke as mine did due to engine saddle failure.
In fairness to Cougar, my boat was built in 2004 and raced untill 2009. I can't remember whether it was 8 or 10 races per season but that's a hell of a lot of punishment for a race boat. Most race boats suffer from damage throughout their life if the truth be know.
Considering the above I would say structurally my boat was in good condition when I bought it and it had had a very hard life. The only problems with mine was spray rail delamination, front and rear. This I am told at the front was from from hitting a channel marker buoy in Scotland (which I have photo's of) and the rear from when the engine hit the underneath when the saddle failed, both had been repaired but failed again.
The reason they failed a second time was that the Cougar 27 as built using vinyl ester resin, the repairs had been carried out using polyester resin. Nothing sticks to vinyl ester other than epoxy, in fact the inside of the hull had some bracing near the damage, I levered it up with a screwdriver and it popped out like it was a non stick pan. Needless to say I redid all the repairs with epoxy and new bracing, it shouldn't be a further problem.
In 2009 at the begging of the recession Honda pulled out of all motor sport, leaving them without an engine sponsor. Mercury stepped in in 2010 with the XS300. This was a much lighter engine and with the extra power they reached speed in excess of 80mph. On the one hand I am told it improved the handling but on the other they were very fast and quite technical to handle. In Paul C's own words "they punished those who got it wrong"
IMHO they should have been fitted with the XS200 being much lighter they would have handled better and maintained the same speed, keeping them safer. I was told that the ultimate demise was politics of the organisers.
I was also told that the reason the Cougar 27 was so strong and light was because it was built using vinyl ester (almost as strong as epoxy) and Aramat fibers (a mixture of Kevlar and glass fibers). It also used foam cores and balsa laminated sides and deck.
It was a very technical, labor intensive and costly boat to produce. This was also caused by the technique that was used to join the top to the bottom giving a seamless join.
I was also told that the vinyl ester was and American system and quite expensive. In 2004 when they were originally produced the $ was 2 to the £, in 2009 at the begging of the recession the $ was 1.5 to the £ making it even more expensive. Taking all the above into account it made them just too expensive to produce in the UK, and they were replaced by the American Panther P1.
At that point most appeared on the market in a relatively short space of time as there was now no race series for them, and they were quite cheep to buy. However as most seem to have gone abroad now and been adapted to other race series, and are now quite scarce.
It's quite sad really as if it had been developed further may be with and inboard for low C of G, it would have probably been the best race boat ever produced for its size. Because of the build cost it unlikely unless someone has very deep pockets that any more will ever be produced.
One of the problems with them now is that the fuel tanks had a design life of 5 years, however according to the manufacture so may last 7 years but that's it they crack and leak. I was quoted £2500 for a replacement so I went over to aluminum. The problem with this is that as the originals were flexible, it is impossible to replace them in the same shape as you cant get them in the trough the foot well or the hatch. In my case this wasn't a problem as i enlarged the foot well into a cabin doorway.
They were deigned as a sports racer and still make an excellent sports boat.
Just out of curiosity does any one know what happened to the molds and who owns the rights to now?
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