Alcort Catfish

The "only 1 of 3 in existence" reminds me of the guy who claimed Alcort Hilus were very rare and commanding $20K resale prices AMF Hilu Fortunately this Catfish seller seems to realize his boat is not worth a small fortune!

I think I may have seen a Hilu when I visited my Dad in Clearwater, Florida in the mid '70's. On the AAMPHI-CRAFT, what is the purpose of the wooden triangle that hangs horizontally (roughly) around the sail? It seems like it would impede its motion.
 
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I think I may have seen a Hilu when I visited my Dad in Clearwater, Florida in the mid '70's. On the AAMPHI-CRAFT, what is the purpose of the wooden triangle that hangs horizontally (roughly) around the sail? It seems like it would impede its motion.
That substitutes for a boom, which, on this little boat could be a hazard. (I didn't know they existed in the 1930s :eek:). It's bent outwards so it doesn't impede the shape of the sail.

On a windsurfer, they're used as a sail "grip" to stay upright on the hull, and balance the hull against the pull of the sail. (The mast is hinged at the base, and "the works" falls down if released). Windsurfers regularly tie with multi-hulls for fastest sailboat speed records, with speeds approaching 60-MPH! :cool:

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Hi Barnacle B That AAMPHI-CRAFT has always caught my attention, the craftmanship and thought that Herreshoff put into a small, trailerable boat. They were way ahead of their time on that one. Cheers. Clark and Skipper
Interesting trailer—spoked wheels, and a trailer made of wood!

They towed the boat backwards, which makes sense. There's no point in streamlining the transom, which faces the tow vehicle, and the boat's taper at the bow would produce little drag. (Of importance the faster you tow). Launching into waves would be easier.

I wondered what kind of trailer springs they'd engineer for a ~174-pound boat—as opposed to the lighter ~140-pound Sunfish. Sure enough, what I can see through the spoked wheels was a single (½-elliptical) spring. If you're trailering a single Sunfish, but have more than one (½-elliptical) spring, I'd guess your trailer was "over-sprung".

As for car-topping a boat on a pickup truck, I don't recommend this bow-first application:

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"On the AMPHI-CRAFT, what is the purpose of the wooden triangle that hangs horizontally (roughly) around the sail? It seems like it would impede its motion."

That is called a wishbone boom, or wishboom. It is a loose footed, light weight sail rig that got the boom up out of the cockpit and was very efficient to maintain and adjust sail shape. The mast rotated as well. Their research showed that the loose footed sprit design increased the drive area efficiency and allowed the draught to be changed, the sprit rig simplified sail handling and increased speed. Many sprits are only on one side and the sail lays against the sprit on one tack, disrupting sail shape, like port tack mast interference on the Sunfish. The wishbooms were curved and went down both sides, and there was a line (snotter) at the front of the wishboom to control tension on the tack of the sail.

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The new UFO foiling cat uses a wishboom

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The trailer wheels where made by Indian Motorcycle.

Cheers
Kent and Skipper
 
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Hey gents! I actually have an Alcort Catfish that’s been sitting in my yard for about 3 years. I’m looking to maybe sell it but not sure exactly what it may be worth. Everything is in pretty good condition as far as I can tell. Mast and sail has been wrapped up in the basement. Rudders and everything look great. And I have the original flyer as well! Any help with providing some info would be great.
 

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Awesome. Here's the thing with the Catfish, there are a lot of specialty parts with it. We restore boats and when we sell them we like to have all of the parts there, with the boat ready to sail. You can decide if you want to check all of that out or sell a project boat. The rudders, tillers and crossbars are specific to the Catfish, and so are the dual centerboards. So is the sail, boom, mast. We had to get new side stays made for ours, one was missing so we replaced both.
 
I raced the Catfish and won numerous SAYRA silver great boat. I also instructed on one while in the first High School sailing club in Charleston. Wish I had on today. Mine was given to a kid on Sullivan’s Island. Light blue new paint then. I drove by but it was not visible from the road
We are restoring an Alcort Catfish, to round out a collection of Alcort boats :)

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Hey gents! I actually have an Alcort Catfish that’s been sitting in my yard for about 3 years. I’m looking to maybe sell it but not sure exactly what it may be worth. Everything is in pretty good condition as far as I can tell. Mast and sail has been wrapped up in the basement. Rudders and everything look great. And I have the original flyer as well! Any help with providing some info would be great.
Like this one looks like my old boat 66-70. Love to restore one. Fond memories I raced the Catfish and won numerous SAYRA silver great boat. I also instructed on one while in the first High School sailing club in Charleston. Wish I had on today. Mine was given to a kid on Sullivan’s Island. Light blue new paint then. I drove by but it was not visible from the road
 
Awesome. Here's the thing with the Catfish, there are a lot of specialty parts with it. We restore boats and when we sell them we like to have all of the parts there, with the boat ready to sail. You can decide if you want to check all of that out or sell a project boat. The rudders, tillers and crossbars are specific to the Catfish, and so are the dual centerboards. So is the sail, boom, mast. We had to get new side stays made for ours, one was missing so we replaced both.
eBay is presently advertising an all-aluminum "Sunfish rudder"—

 
I have an Alcort Catfish. Fun boat, but nobody to race against. For Sale. All parts are there. Not stock sail. I had one made. Sailable, but could use some work. Custom trailer. Near Boston. $750.00
 

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That'd be a nice little boat for these lakes in Arizona... I regret selling my Minifish a couple years ago, I used to sail her on Show Low Lake in the White Mountains when I lived there. But I thrashed my knee while dirt biking on the Mogollon Rim, and at the time I figured my knee would never be able to handle the whole cartopping scene again. It took over a year for the knee to get better, but by then I had sold the boat... at least it went to a family man who wanted to teach his kids how to sail, so that part was cool. :rolleyes:

Oh, well, maybe one day I'll pick up another boat, though it'll probably be on a trailer, as I'm not getting any younger. The knee's okay now, but it'll never be 100% again, same as the permanently-injured shoulder (tendon or ligament damage). Meh, ya get older and things fall apart, that's just how it is... funny thing, the worst damage this ol' body has sustained over the decades has been caused by myself, LOL. But I'm not about to give up dirt biking either, I'll just tone down the crazy throttle-wide-open trail riding, leg out like a Vegas hooker in the turns... :eek:
 
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FMI: Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY Restoration Log

SMEDLEY has some roller damage and needs some cleaning.

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He's at our friend Eddie English's Boat Trailer shop getting fit for a new catamaran trailer. We borrowed one of the Skipper's trailers to haul him up there.

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Our hope is to get him seaworthy in time for Juana's Good Time Regatta in September, maybe he'll run a few laps.

Cheers
Kent and Audrey
Hi Kent, I'm also restoring a (1964) Catfish. Do you know where I can get an Owners manual? Tim 248-866-6000
 
Hey gents! I actually have an Alcort Catfish that’s been sitting in my yard for about 3 years. I’m looking to maybe sell it but not sure exactly what it may be worth. Everything is in pretty good condition as far as I can tell. Mast and sail has been wrapped up in the basement. Rudders and everything look great. And I have the original flyer as well! Any help with providing some info would be great.
Did you sell your Carfish?
 

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