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Typhoon is a high performance catamaran that is a thrill to sail and is easy and inexpensive to maintain. Typhoon was exported to Thailand by Typhoon Sails owner Matt McGrath. Sailing in regattas and cruising the seas around Thailand and Asia has been his passion for eight years. Typhoon is located in Phuket.
Lightweight, Typhoon is constructed of Nomex Honeycomb composite and West System epoxy. Easy to sail single-handed or with eight friends out for a day sail, this performance cruising catamaran is the perfect vessel for exploring the coastal islands of Thailand and racing in the regional regattas.
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Typhoon was completely refit in Westport, Connecticut, USA in 2007 and launched and registered in Thailand in 2008. New Lewmar portlights and hatches, new cockpit canopies, Raymarine instruments, LED nav lights and cabin lighting, running rigging, topsides and bottom paint, mast refit, new racing sails including Mylar genoa and power head mainsail, new trampoline and tramp tracks, deck hardware, new engine remote controls with low hours Tohatsu 9.8 engine complete with electric start and alternator. Also new is a top-of-the-line Duel I-Pod compatible 200 watt sound system. New battery, tinned wiring, new computer cut Naca foil kick up rudders. Lewmar rope clutches and new Harken blocks complete the job. More inventory below.
Typhoon has a very functional double axle trailer. This trailer expands and contracts with the boat on it. The Stiletto has telescoping cross beams and by removing the retaining pins the boat and trailer go from 14 feet down to 7 feet 10 inches wide. The trailer also has a lever system to allow easy raising and lowering of the mast. The boat can be set up for launch or ready to trailer in under 2 hours.
"The Stiletto Catamaran is no ordinary Sailboat, it is one of the most advanced production sailboats available anywhere. Stiletto represents the most significant advance in materials and construction since Fiberglas replaced wood in this industry about 45 years ago. Stiletto is built of a honeycomb composite that is state-of-the-art in the aerospace industry. The entire laminate is baked at 250f degrees for an hour and a half while under 14 p.s.i. vacuum pressure. The result is a tightly compressed laminate that is absolutely uniform and flawless and very tough. The composite used to build Stiletto has the highest strength-to-weight and rigidity-to-weight ratios of any material currently available. It is, for example, 74% stronger and 32% stiffer than an equivalent foam sandwich. And an added bonus of honeycomb construction is integral floatation. Stiletto will not sink- even if holed and filled with water.
Stiletto was
conceived and designed as a trailerable high performance coastwise cruiser, a
concept that has resulted in unparalleled versatility. Trailering her is a
breeze and two people can set her up for sailing in just over one hour. Her
shoal draft (9 inches) and kick-up rudders means you can safely sail her right
up onto the beach. With head, pipe berths, galley, sleeping tent and other
amenities, Stiletto is a catamaran cruiser’s dream.
As a daysailer you just can’t beat Stiletto. She is sea kindly and very easy to
sail. Her huge bridge deck (80 sq. ft.) is comfortable and dry and features
moulded in bench seats and back rests. Forward of the cockpit is an equally large
trampoline that will soon become the favourite sunning and lounging spot for your
crew. Altogether, there is enough bridge deck and deck space for 8-10 people to
day sail in comfort.
And for those who like the speed and excitement of racing, imagine (if you can)
sailing a 27 foot boat at 25 plus m.p.h. It’s an experience that’s impossible to
describe. As a racer, Stiletto is rapidly accumulating an impressive list of
victories including Yachting’s 10th One-Of-A Kind Regatta.
Stiletto is practical. She is virtually maintenance free, thanks to a lustrous
polyurethane coating (not a gel coat). And she is designed to provide maximum
sailing pleasure and performance over a wide range of wind and sea conditions.
Her versatility means you get more use out of your boat because there is so much
more you can do with a Stiletto. You have the freedom to trailer your boat
anywhere easily and quickly- to cruise all those enchanting places you’ve been
wanting to see, not just your own backyard. She is ideal for areas where dock
space is limited because she can be stored right on the trailer, all set up and
ready for launching.
The Stiletto Catamaran is a quality boat. Note the detailing on her and the
thought that has gone into her sophisticated design, the care that is shown in
her construction. Stiletto is still much less expensive than the average 27 foot
sailboat." (the above excerpt taken from the Stilettocatamarans.com website)
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Recalling a trend setting speedster: By Charles E. Kanter |
| Out my
back door, bobbing gracefully at the dock is Bahama Hunter, a
beautifully refurbished Stiletto 27. It recalls memories of a truly
innovative boat. The Stiletto was the first truly yacht class multihull
made in America. It was a production vessel built with the latest
aircraft technology and met every possible criteria for superb
workmanship, modern high tech materials, exotic aesthetics and exciting
performance. It is one of the vessels that really started the current
catamaran revolution.
The Stiletto was built from Nomex prepreg honeycomb with an exterior finish of AwlGrip. It was baked in an autoclave to kick the resin. This construction technique has many advantages, including an ability to produce lighter, stronger and definitely more uniform structures. Eliminating the gelcoat also eliminates the osmotic blistering plague. The Stiletto has some unique and advanced features such as its rotating mast, a loose-footed main, an exceptional kickup rudder system (which keeps the rudder blades completely clear of the water when raised), a solid bridge deck rather than trampoline for the cockpit area, a center daggerboard (rather than having boards in the hulls), and a host of other equally innovative concepts. The cat slides together on its own extendable trailer, bringing it to the maximum legal trailering width without special permits. The original Stiletto, though aesthetically pleasing, was strictly a racer/day sailer and had a minimal interior. Demand grew and a "special edition" was built, which provided a custom interior and port lights integrated into extraordinary graphics. Nevertheless, it was still too small for any serious cruising. Some years later, the Stiletto 30 was introduced and added wide bunks on the bridge deck, trimaran style. The concept never caught on. The Stiletto is a handy boat to manage. It has broad flat decks and even wide flat deck areas in the stern, making it simple to dock or raft up. With the mast and all controls in the solid cockpit area, it is a dry catamaran to sail. The intriguing flip forward fighter pilot hoods give good access to the hulls and also make a quick solution to the "open hatch in-the-way problem." Cleats at the ends of the bows eliminate the need for chocks. The Stiletto marketers at the time put much emphasis upon the performance aspects of the boat and not enough emphasis upon its other superb qualities. Thus they lost a terrific market and eventually went out of business, but not before they sold several hundred boats. |
I used a
Stiletto 27 for the Multihull Sailing School, which at the time was
operated by Denis Blaise and myself. I took out boatloads of students
from Yachthaven on Spa Creek at Annapolis, MD. We sailed out into the
Chesapeake Bay, then into Back Creek and proceeded to short tack all the
way up that very narrow and congested waterway. A good deal of the time,
we would do it under mainsail alone.
Onlookers were incredulous. They would just stare at this catamaran, zooming in at the docks at high speed and at the last possible moment, deftly tacking away without a murmur. In other words, we were doing what multihulls were allegedly unable to do. If there ever was a sweetheart of a boat to sail, this is it. We sailed both into and out of our slip each time. Jim Butterworth, then with Annapolis Sailing School, was so completely taken with his demo ride on the boat that he convinced the school to buy one for his St. Croix, USVI, operation. They did, and he proceeded to win the Around St. Croix Race the following year sailing the Stiletto. I also sailed in the 1979 Stiletto Nationals held at Pier 1, Kent Island, MD. With Charlie Reddick's Charlie, Tod Knowles and myself finished in a respectable fifth place. I have surveyed ten similar Stilettos, including one severely damaged by capsize. There are a couple of improvements I would like to see made to the existing boats as they upgrade or transfer to new owners. Most important is the addition of watertight flotation compartments fore and aft. While the Stiletto will not sink, it does not float high enough to prevent capsizing if flooded nor to allow people inside the hull while flooded. It really helps if there is enough buoyancy in a flooded hull for a person with a bucket to stand inside and bail. If you climb inside a flooded hull, your weight may be sufficient to force the hull below the level of the coamings, and more water will pour in. The boat should have enough encapsulated flotation to prevent that from happening. The second item is a relocation of the outboard fuel tank. The original design has the hose crossing the traveler, and the tank itself is loose in the cockpit. I had once suggested incorporating the tank into the motor mount as a solution. Are there faster boats? Sure there are. Are there more weatherly boats? Sure there are. But none of those "miracle" boats quickly telescoped onto a specially designed trailer and ramp launch. None that I know of are as easily sailed in and out of an ordinary boat slip. Few boats are as handsome or of such superb quality. And most important of all, none ever made it with the public. That is a lesson for speedophiles. |
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Stiletto 27
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Copyright © 1998, 1999, 2000 Southwinds Media. All rights reserved.
Inventory:
New power head Dacron Mainsail, New Mylar genoa, #3 Mylar jib, #2 Dacron jib and masthead Randy Smythe spinnaker.
Rotating mast with new Lewmar rope clutches for main and jib halyards.
Double axle trailer with spare tire
New Harken carbo 75 mainsheet triple blocks and hardware throughout. Lewmar jib sheet cam blocks.
2 Ritchie flush mount compasses
Harken lazy jack system
Swim ladder
LED nav lights
Pipe berth in each hull
2002 9.8hp Tohatsu long shaft outboard engine with remote controls, electric start and alternator and new 120 amp main battery.
2 new fire extinguishers
Emergency flare gun kit with hand flares and gun flares
1,000,000 c.p. 12v spotlight
4 new life jackets
New Dual 200 watt I-pod compatible stereo system with 2 x 175 watt Dual marine speakers.
Raymarine ST40 Bidata instrument with depth and speed.
Port-o-potty
2 high quality fenders
Computer designed and machined Naca foil kick-up rudders, stainless steel nitrogen shock assisted.
Ash and Mahogany tiller arms
Carbon fibre tiller extension with aluminium cross beam.
2 Danforth Anchors with chain and rhode. One 9.2 kilo and one 6 kilo
New three man tent for pitching on forward trampoline
New rubber non-skid bridge deck padding
Camping stove
Teak cockpit table and 2 x teak slatted floor inserts
6 gallon main fuel tank
New circuit board and wiring with volt meter
Thai registered and includes original double axle trailer. Detailed inventory below.
Typhoon's asking price is US $35,000
Please call Matt at Thai phone# (66) 089 587 1862 (exclude 0 if outside Thailand)
e-mail : mmcgrath2@hotmail.com
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