Duo Cat ? Has anyone heard of one?
 

I found a 17 ft Duo brand Catamaran and I might be able to get it for free. I has a 115 Merc on it an is from the late 60's or early 70's. Has anyone ever seen one. I searched the net but the only Duo boat I found were Runabouts.

Any info about this would be appreciated.

Oh man, memories. I ran one of those in the 60's at the Marina I worked at. Scary fast and flighty and your butt is 2" off the bottom. I think we had a 115 or 105 Evinrude on it then too. Biggest there was at the time. I loved it.

Duo's were mostly runabouts but they did make this one cat. We had one at Grand Island Marina in Grand Island N.Y.

Duos.... This is stretching my memory.

X15 was one of their boats, vee, the boats were great value. Windshield, did 15mph faster than competetors, and were a lot cheaper.

i think.

ironman- i had my eyes on the exact same boat. there was one just down the way from our cottage on lake Erie. i vaguely remember it being in the water once when i was like 7 or so. than it sat in the same place for years until about 5 or 6 years ago it was gone (the asscoiation made him move it). if memory serves me they only made a handfull of that model. the one i saw was yellow with a black interior and a 115 OB merc. man that brings back memories, think i have a pic of it some where. if you have any please post em. very cool lookin boat, would make a great classic show piece :cool: :cool:

btw- i believe it was called the Duo Mystry ( with no e) and it was pulled from the same mold as the Starcraft

A guy I grew up with had one back in the early 70's with a 115 Merc. It too was yellow with black interior.
I remember riding in the back and I could tell how much of the hull was in the water at speed......not much. It seemed like only the engine was in the water and the hull was flying. Rally cool.
I do recall that they had trouble with the transom cracking in the early years. I believe my friend returned two hulls to the dealer with cracks. Both replaced under warranty.



It was called the Duo Mystry 17.

Found this at http://www.dicksmarine.net/boat_duomystry.htm .

Thats the boat. In fact the boat in the picture is exactly like the one I am looking at. It has not been run since 83 and needs a new floor, steering and throttle/shift cables, seats, and some engine work. Should be about a 3-4 day project.

This has a 115 straight six merc on it. Any idea on how fast?

Speed in MPH?....no idea. I think my friend said it did something like 60. But that was in the days before GPS.
But I'll tell'ya, it sure does fly. Riding in the rear it felt like the entire hull back to the rear seat was out of the water. I recall I couldn't feel any water vibrations (water hitting the hull) forward of that area.

Thanks Iggy

I reallly want to get this boat now with all the feedback I am getting. I have a baja 302 that does almost 70 but I think this boat will be alot of fun.

I was into wooden hydroplanes at that time and they felt a lot less scary than this fiberglass thing although I bet we were running at twice the speed. Id guess 60 was probably about right but felt like 200, especially at night in the Niagara River.

Does anyone have any idea what a restored boat like this would be worth.
I plan on putting in a permenet fuel tank. New throttle/ shift cables and control box, new steering system, new paint and clearcoat, full motor tune and repaint and fix the trailer.

It has a 115 hp merc straight 6 and looks to be the origonal motor.

I would guess it would be worth 5-6K.

All of your input would be great.

one of the best places for boats like this is screamandfly.com these guys are big on outboard stuff and seem to have a good amount of history knowlege on board. i just picked up a mid 70's 16 foot glastron lookin thing and they were able to help me identify it. i did a search for Duo and got a bunch of hits but you have to sort out the ones for volvo duo prop.

Re: Duo Cat ? Has anyone heard of one?
 

I have a Duo Mystry 17 hull - it had an inline 6 150hp mercury when I bought it. That outboard lasted 1 season. I spent an entire summer reinforcing hull and transom and put a mercury 175 on it. I used it mostly for waterskiing and kept the 19 pitch prop on it, it still did 60mph w/ such a low pitch. What a fun boat. I ended up selling my outboard years ago when I needed the money. I am planning on repowering for next season. If anyone would like any more info. or photos I would be happy to provide. This is only the second time I found this boat mentioned on the internet, other than the link you guys already found.

Re: Duo Cat ? Has anyone heard of one?
 

I own one of these boats. It is restored with a 150 Yamaha. It is the neatest thing to drive . I get alot of looks on the lake as no one has seen one of these. Email me [email protected]

Re: Duo Cat ? Has anyone heard of one?
 

damn. . .now even the new guys are bringing up ancient threads :D :D . . . Awder, welcome and enjoy the site. do you have any pics of yours that you can post?


hey ironman any new news on the Duo? i pulled my fishing boat out of Claras storage building and was looking at that thing again but that was last fall. sure would be great if someone could get their hands on that thing. :cool:

Re: Duo Cat ? Has anyone heard of one?
 

Had one..1971 17 ft "mystry" 1981 140 merc. Ran it in the ocean when i was 16. Friend fell out once..stuffed into a wave once.when it stuffed .deck and hull seperated at rubrail for first 5 ft of boat water pressure through "opening" in bow blew tach out of dash..lots of stories i cant remember. Very stable i thought..i think it did very close to 60. Wish i had it now..i would treat her better :sorry:

Re: Duo Cat ? Has anyone heard of one?
 

GlassDave

Haven't had the chance to talk to the guy about it again but the last times that I talked to him he was a real prick and he wound't even entertain the thought of selling. It really pissed me off. He hasn't used it in probably 20+ years and he owes my neighbor who stores it for him all the time. He pays a little then lets the fee ramp up again. Yet he won't sell............I'll keep waitng. I am building a house now and I don't have the time or the money to buy it and put it back together.