31' stepped hull cat - Build thread

Thought I would share this build post. New 31’ Al Falasi cat.
This will become part of our charter fleet operating from Fujairah in the UAE.

Designed primarily for 4 / 6 guests and 2 crew. Average daily trip is about 80NM. Seas are flat to slight 50%, slight to moderate 30% and moderate to rough 20%.
Target species are dorado, tuna, sails, occasional marlin (but not really targeted except during comps) and assorted other gamefish (kings, queens, cobia, rainbow runner)
.
From the front, 80 litre centre anchor hatch flanked by 2 wet storage hatches (ropes).
Two 150 litre storage lockers under front seat (fenders and safety).

Two in deck forward 200 litre insulated fish hatches with direct drains.
Two under deck midship 500 litre vinylester fuel hatches with baffles.
Two in deck midships 200 litre insulated fish hatches to store ice – drains to the bilge.

Centre console with electric flush toilet, fresh water bidet and bean bag storage.
Console seating with 2 LeBroc helm chairs. 2 large general purpose drawers and 3 x lithium batteries underneath.
Side console storage for fire extinguishers, buckets and dry storage.
Rear of console has sliding cooler with seating on top and 3 tackle drawers.

Two 250 litre rear floor hatches in each sponson – one with 50 litre freshwater tank and 42 litre greywater tank and one with seachest and 3 pumps. Each has space at the front for a 75 litre dry box for tools / first aid kit etc.

2 x 1000 L/H bilge pumps with one spare.

150 litre Centre transom livewell, flanked by 2 tuna tubes.
2 x saltwater wash down pumps (one hose at front and one at rear), 1 freshwater wash down / shower at rear.

Lightweight T-top with reinforced radar mount and outrigger mounting plates. Electronic box underneath for radio.

2 tunnel mounted blue / white underwater lights, 2 rear facing LED’s on the T- top and 1 forward facing.

Power – 2 x 250hp Suzuki’s. We were keen on the Merc V8’s (47 knots at 4500rpm) but supply and support is an issue. As this will be a lightly optioned boat we can cruise with the 250’s at 32 knots / 4200rpm and WOT of 48 knots.

Electronics - 2 x Garmin 1223XSV MFD’s, GMR1224Xhd2 12kw radar, TM275LHW transducer, Reactor 40 auto pilot. Garmin VHF, Shakespeare antenna.

And a triple axle custom designed trailer so we can tow to Dubai, Musandam, Muscat etc once a month when we run full weekend trips.

The boat is the second in a new line of cats. Designed by a team of marine architects with input from the UAE Victory offshore racing team.

Starting the lay up. The entire process is vacuum infused and the entire boat is foam cored, 30mm in the hull and 20mm in the gunnels.

The recess boxes at the stern are the pockets for the trim tabs. The funny lattice style at the hull bottom is designed a, as a load spreading absorbtion mat in case of high speed impact and b, as a base for the insulated boxes to keep them out of direct contact with the hull. Note that the water temp can easily be 35 degrees in summer and that means your ice doesn't last long!

This pic is of the bulkheads going in - again, all foam cored.

Front fish hatches going in - all insulated and these are direct drain. Each box is designed to carry at least 2 large tuna.

And mid ship ice boxes going in. Just a note that the lids are also insulated.
These hold 2 x 50kg bags per side and the ice lasts for 36 hours. This allows us to take out one bag at a time and use it to cool the fish in the front boxes and still have ice left for the run home / overnight trips.

And fuel tanks - 510 litres each. Means we can do coastal trips for 3 days without worrying about refueling. The tanks have both horizontal and vertical baffles.

We kept the tanks squarer than normal as they sit on top of the steps and we want to keep the weight central. If it is more rectangular, then the weight transfer (sloshing) can cause the steps to operate less efficiently.

And out of the mould.

That looks lovely man!

On the dolly ready to join the production line.

Freshwater and grey water tanks getting positioned. We ended up downsizing both...no need to carry more.

After pulling the console (made in one piece), time to measure and cut for the pullout cooler / seat.

T Top getting infused. The total weight of this was 24kgs, a 50% saving over the pre-production model due to the foam and reinforcing only where necessary (radar mount etc)

The gunnel cap - this was a bit of a worry when demoulding due to the length and lack of support. Luckily, we did it on a hot day and it popped right out.

Back of the console getting finished before mounting.

getting some jewellery

Console, T-top frame, head, seating installed

On the trailer and ready fo electronics and engines

Wow! Very nice boat Fin-S.

T-Top on and sitting on the trailer

Console / seating in place, first round of electronics (note the LED's on the hard top)