32 Active Cat resto-mod
 

or Crazy glassdaves and Big Al's wacky adventure lol

Well boys and girls . . . been a while since i did a build thread :D not sure why really other then been so busy it gets tough to keep up sometimes. I've actually had quite a few boats come and go and really should have got back to it long ago but with three or four . . . or ten projects going at any one time its a bit overwhelming to do them all so i kinda got in the back seat a bit. I really mis doing them so i picked this special little (big) girly to get my feet wet again. Ironically the first build thread i ever did was a 39 Ocean Express cat that by design is related to this Active Cat in that they both came from Ross Focht. Al will have to fill in the details on where this particular boat came from, it is very unique from any that i have seen in that it has extensive use of carbon fiber and Kevlar throughout and is quite heavily laid up.

this is a pretty extensive project to say the least and a quick run down of the punch list is to re-deck the back half of the boat into a bustle, cap the rubrail, new transom and superstructure for bustle, custom windscreen and move seats to side by side center, custom windscreen/fairing, new dash and gauges, etc . . . . whatever else sh!t i (we) can dream up lol . . . Al and i discus it often and come up with new ideas . . . like where on the deck the pole should be mounted . . . . a recessed cooler in the back of the bustle . . . you know . . . important details :cool:

give me a couple days to get this thing rolling i have to sort pics from two tablets, one laptop and one desktop lol, i should have this thread up to speed in no time and will update as we go after that.

Al will have to shed some light on the history of this hull but it is a very BIG 32 footer and wide body boat as well. I dont know the story with Active but i do know its a Focht design. Its very well built and it very good shape for the most part. The transom was a bad but with any boat this vintage that is to be expected.

Couple pics of when Al got it (and before i cut it up . . . more on that later lol) . . . . . Gangsta' Style . . . . yeah that was the first thing that went lol. i believe that was on it from the previous owner :D

I'm just gonna leave this here . . . . no comment . . . . :D . . . . . Al?

this was a rendering i did early on to establish what we were trying to do. Its a bit basic but you get the idea. It will have some sort of scoops to house some pretty big AK Racing G'jillion HP blower motors. In the rendering i also trimmed down the original windshield but have since come up with a better idea in that department . . . also got rid of the Frankenstein bolts through the side that held the engine mounts in favor of traditional stringer mounts

first things first . . . dig saw out . . . get choppin . . . (a lot of what i do starts this way for some reason :D)

i built a large deck section from a "one time use" mold i made to start to establish a shape for the bustle. Its a simple structure of 1708, vinylester and half inch Baltek, i really like end grain balsa for something like this because its easy to build a rigid panel with. I have to sort some of the early pics out from my shop laptop to add to these tomorrow. . . . gettin sleepy anyways lol

heres one i found on my home pc of the deck section being laid up, simple schedule of gel/1.5oz mat/1708/1708/core/1708/1708. i will find more of this part tomorrow . . . . .



zzzzzzzzzzzzz

interesting perspective in the shop next to a race 388 and a 32A :cool:

So... just to make things clear for me
the guy from toronto brought you this boat to restore it...
he sold it and you are doing the resto for new owner?
or
it still belong to the same first customer and you are starting the project for him?

will follow this tread for sure! Inspiring for my chris cat project!

Oh the memories // LOLLIPOPS a Daytona beach pole bar... lmao since ya mentioned "the pole"

Not sure of any of that or how it relates but Al has owned it since i have known him. I've had the boat for a while know and have been poking away at, its been a bit of a side burner project between regular workload. Making a steady push to wrap it up so Al can terrorize Lake Simcoe :D speaking of that man that looks like one hellofa place to be a boater, i was up that way earlier this year picking up a pair of AK Racing cylinder heads . . . if you dont have them . . . get some now! :D (shameless plug lol)

To answer your question Jeff, yes I (adk61) am still the owner... I decided after a couple of flakey buyers that I would turn this craft into something really trick rather than have the tire kickin keyboard junkies on OSO discredit what is and has always been... an awesome boat!!
Dave and I have collaborated on a plan for this big bad girl, and as illustrated in Dave's cat lineup she's no slouch!! and when done she'll be sporting a pair of my 1100's with beefed up 15" boxes and #5s... I chose this option to save some weight on the back end as 6s are not only expensive, they're heavy... more on this at a later time, I am busy busy busy!!!

WOW!! Thanks Dave, yes we have some fun in the sun up here!! it is a helluvaplace to boat.. many spots on the lake for my kittie to cuddle up with other kitties and hotrod boats alike!!

as for Heads,, yup I am a busy guy lol and eager to please those in need...

you know this brings up a good point, i have often thought that #5's make sense as an option on bigger 32 foot cats like this one because of the weight over sixes.



Prolly shouldn't use the word head and eager to please in the the same sentence Al . . . . . my build threads have been know to spin out a bit lol . . . the ill fated boat painting 101 :D lol

I am just happy there are more "resto mods". I am anxious to see what you do with the windscreen. My aluminum frame and plexi-glass has to go!

Subscribed.

well there's nothing wrong with adding some humor and levity to the thread... let's refer this to a mild drift rather than spinning out lmfao!!

Dave I can give you a little early history of this cat as I had the sister cat to this one that belonged to Pete Smith, this was his pleasure Wolverine cat not the race boat. The hull you have I believe was hull #1 of the pleasure 32' cats. It belonged to Bud Drettman owner of Active marine in Algonac Mi. Ross Focth built them & who would later takeover Active Marine now Express Marine. It originally was all black with Merc speed II drives. Bud would later sell it to a car dealer here in the Detroit area Terry Mullens he renamed it TRUST ME a fitting name for a car salesman & keep it rack storage @ Miller Marine St Clair Shores Mi. At some time later it became Gangster Style & the speed II were removed. There were about 3 or 4 of these cats made as pleasure boats & about the same as race boats [ Cougar, Motor City Magic] [Gallo ] & [Blue Max]. The Cougar, Magic had the best race history as it won the 1983 worlds in Modified class. Around 1986 we made the Magic into a pleasure cat replacing the race deck with a open cockpit version. My white cat had Kamma drives & was later sold to someone also in Canada,, today ???

thanks Mark! . . . .i can tell you one thing this boat has a pretty amazing layup considering its vintage. The tabbing joints i cut out on the transom were somewhere on the order of a dozen plus alternating layers of carbon/kevlar/glass and the bulkhead panels forward are CF. Interesting stuff and would love to find out anything i (we) can about this particular hull. The transom was a Baltek and ply mix and the stringers are foam, somewhere in the twenty plus pound density, as far as anything i have cut into anyways . . . .

Mark you'll be happy to know i have a couple Magnum resto-mods this winter as well :cool:

It will be largely unrecognizable when i get done (sorry to all you restoration purests :D)

somewhere i have a piece of tabbing i cut out that was where a tunnel stringer and the transom met and its like counting rings in a tree, this pic was from the face of the inside of transom i believe . . . . .

One has to "LOVE IT" when they end up with "the owner's" personal boat!! I'm quite sure a lot of xtra love went into its creation!!!
I'm quite happy with what we've seen in layup structure on this "PHATTY" She is definitely sturdy I can't wait to see more!! and I am at Dave's mercy as I am entrusting him as he is me to bring this dream to life!!

:daz: . . . . .

hmmmmm

i fixed your picture Al :D . . . . good to be a moderator around here lol

ok . . . couple more pics to get closer to caught up to speed. to make the 12'x12' deck piece i made a quickie one time use mold by vac bagging a series of overlapping staggered four by eight sheets of quarter inch Luan. this just served as a temporary pre-form to layup the actual piece. I bagged all the sheets together with a simple wood glue and then mounted them on a large buck that i built. Nothing really fancy as it is a simple layup but i thought casting it as needed would be easier then putting the roll in it after the fact, i felt it was a little to curved to rely on standard flat deck techniques.

ok now this IS the baddest azz transom i ever built. Three layers of half inch with a full layer of 22ox tri-ax in between each and a surface layer that covers five axis at about sixty ounces total. i built it in three sections and tied them together with a kind of a sandwich joint.

i made the transom panels arbitrarily tall so it can be cut down to height necessary for the bustle. panels were bonded in with a Vinylester bedding compound i have custom blended, my supplier is also the manufacturer and can do special blends no prob and this sh!t rocks.

going kangaroo hunting with these as they are no longer necessary :D

how did you bond the joints on that transom
where would you source that 20 pound foam that the stringers are made from
and how thick is that foam
surface layer that covers five axis, could you explain that
thanks

typing at the same time you and beat me to it
the material on the transom looks very heavy (stout)

had to build some bomber stringers to get rid of the above plate thingies. i laminated a layer of three quarter and half inch marine ply together with a full layer of 22oz roving in between. While roving is way old school by todays standards its great for building stiff flat panels plus Al said it would be ok as long as i used some sort of marine clamping device . . . . . and these are 088 heads of an Innovation 600 :D

because the transom is three layers i just staggered the joint in the middle layer by about three inches and it is also carried at the ends of the outside tank stringers so there is plenty of redundancy. hard to explain but i made the outside transom pieces outside the boat and bonded them in then cut/fit and built the center piece inside the boat. the joilt itself is lapped and 100% bonded within the joint. if you look at the one pic in #24 you can kinda see the joint.

well its actually four axis but five sounds cooler :D its a layer of 0/90 and a layer of 0/45/45 and a layer of 45/45 so technially the zero in the first and second are on the same axis. i suppose i could have rotated all three at intervals giving me seven axis :cool:

i can get foam in prety much any density, none of these need replacing and engine stringers are wood only for this build. if i was to replace any of these i would use ThermoLite tough or something from space age synthetics

Attachment 571242

ohhhh it is :D . . . its going to have to hold a standoff box . . . a speedmaster . . . . and a lot of ponies :)

Nice Build GlassDave, look forward to following.

Jon

I sure hope so as I'm stuffing the power to her!!

0/90 is woven roving ? 0/45/45 is tri ax ? 45 / 45 is bi ax ?
i read about warp, fill, thread, tow and so on but it just got me a headache and. more confused !

last year i pulled apart some 1708, because it sqee gee'd w/ the stitching and at a 45 w/ the top layer of 17 nice,
but not against the stitch or top layer.
i was thinking placement (direction of stitching c/w strength) and how i would sqee gee it once it was in place. "overthinking it."

so if placed 2 layers of bi-ax material, 1 layer stitching north/south, and the 2nd layer stitching east/west would it be 4 axis

thanks for putting up another thread like this and keep throwing out the insider stuff like the trick w/ the roving

0/90 is one ply running in warp (length of roll) and one ply running in fill (width of roll) and yes you can orient these two fabrics to be on four axis'. I'm not really sure if you gain any advantage in any more then that though at least not for our purposes. I have always thought multiple 0/90,s give a stiffer laminate it the direction of the fabric and mutli axis around four is more dynamic. I was also always taught that you can direct strength with fabric direction but you have to be mindful of the minor axis and what you give up in doing so.

just for educational sake here is what the numbers mean when discussing fabric
The first two number denote fabric weight in sq/yds and the second two denote mat weight in sq/ft
1708 = 17 oz bi ax with a 3/4 oz mat stitched on
1715 = would be same as above but 1.5oz mat
1700 = same as above but no mat (this is an epoxy or VE onky fabric as no mat should ever be used in an epoxy system)
1808 = is an 18oz fabric with a 3/4oz mat stitched on and this fabric is generally a Chinese import and a 0/90
2200 = the triax i use is a Vectorply with a full uni in warp and additional 45/45 bi ax in three layers totaling just under 22oz . . . . good stuff

Not to get off subject but what 388 skater race boat is that in your shop. Dont mean to hijack. btw you do awesome work.

that was JD Byrider, was here for touch-ups . . . . lots of little ones all over. Beautiful boat that is and i believe the very first race 388. Tony's a great dude hope to see him out there racing again :D . . . and thanks for the compliment i still really enjoy doing this stuff weather it be helping out a guy on here or cutting the heck out of a boat . . . like this one lol . . . its a sick hobby gone wild

Looks good, Thanks for the explanation on the D-port fiberglass panel press tool. ;-)

no wimpy oval ports here :D . . . its gotta gotta hold a couple of these.

found a pic of actual joint, tight and uniform but simple/basic and wil have no prob carrying a load :cool:

and these