Design History

Does this hull look familiar?  There is a reason....

 

This hull design was born by John C. Kiley in the 90s for a northern boatbuilder. That company built this hull into a straight inboard express sportfish and put out approximately 10 hulls. By all accounts, the boats were fantastic. Laid out very well and performed great. We have spoken to three separate owners of that model and all love the boat. For reasons unknown to us they went in a different direction and sold the tooling and rights to another highly reputable catamaran builder in West Central Florida around approximately 2005.

 

The second builder redesigned the topside tooling into a 39’ center console and built approximately 8 or so hulls. Most were configured with diesel stern drives and one was configured with twin 350 outboards on a bracket. Again, by all accounts, the boat performs incredibly. We can attest as we have owned Hull #1 since 2016 and have put her through numerous intense journeys. This company has had enormous success in their original 26’ and the new 32’ models. So much so that the decision was made to sell the 39 to someone who had the passion, time and shop space to share her with the market. We purchased the tooling and rights to this hull.  Cay Sal Boatworks was born. It serves to mention that both companies built a fantastic, high quality, great performing boat. We were lucky enough to acquire the rights to reproduce them through administrative decisions only. We intend to carry on with a superior, high-quality build but of course with our own flare, modernization and power options.

 

Our prototype, "Mad Natave", was originally splashed in 2007 and was powered by twin Yanmar diesels with stern drives. The power and propulsion of Mad Natave did not suit our needs and we decided to convert from twin diesels to quad outboards. The project started in Spring of 2021 and finished in the summer of 2022. It was an extensive project and a giant leap of faith. The project required derigging, structural fiberglass reinforcements, cosmetic fiberglass work, bracket fabrication/installation, new engines and rerigging.

 

Mid way through this project we had the opportunity to purchase the molds and tooling for this boat. Albeit, under a different company name (i.e. Cay Sal Boatworks). What started as a personal conversion project turned into the creation of a prototype for future builds. After owning and operating this boat for 5 years and experiencing its performance, comfort and versatility we walked through the door of boat manufacturing without a split second of hesitation. We already knew we had an excellent product. We would not have taken such a massive risk to reconfigure the power if we did not personally love this boat. Having the chance to build them with our own twist is, well….. exciting to say the least!

 

Since splashing this prototype in August of 2022, we have been dialing in engine height, alignment, props and weight balancing. In short, the conversion was a massive success and has met all of our expectations. We have ran numerous offshore trips of various loads and distances and she has performed incredibly. Powered with quad 300 Suzukis, we have a cruise range of 23 to 42mph, a top speed of 54mph and a real-world economy of 0.9mpg at ~31mph. With an authoritative displacement of ~20klbs, these are very impressive numbers.  Mind you, these are true real-world performance numbers.  Quad 300's comfortably carried us on a 3 day, 550 mile offshore tournament hauling 5 guys, 800gal of fuel, 100gal baitwell, 1klbs of ice, 300lbs of bait, 50gal Freshwater, generator and all the tackle, gear, food and drink you could imagine.   We had a full odometer average of .75mpg.  Admittedly, some of our lighter cat peers can do a tad better on economy.  But not much....  Our comparable mono peers carrying the amenities and sleeping arrangements we offer do not hold a candle to our fuel economy. This particular trip gave us the confidence that the boat performs very well with 300hp power, which is a favorite power option among our charter and high-use customers.

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The boat measures out at 41' (NOT counting the swim platform) with a beam of 14'-2" just forward of midship. With top speeds at 65mph+, we will not be laying claim as the fastest performance catamaran on the market, but we feel our speed is sufficient for many.  We do intend for Cay Sal boats to fill a frustrating gap in the market by offering more space, comfort and amenities while still providing respectable speed and economy. All without sacrificing fishability in any way shape or form.

 

We have engaged with reputable naval architects to provide renderings and engineering of our builds with modern outboard power as well as updated and stylish seating, furniture, hardware and electronics. The prototype was built with an aluminum Armstrong bracket. Production models will NOT have a bracket & will be constructed with a fully integrated transom totaling 41' in true length from bow to mounting face of the transom.  Our experience with the prototype has influenced our design for production builds and the additional planing surface & waterline length will even further improve on performance.  

 

Builds will be semi-custom and any/all reasonable customization requests will be entertained.