The Montauk Catamaran Company Chronicles, 10/11/15: Updates and Full Steam Ahead
When completed Mon Tiki Largo will look similar to this boat, Spirit of Gaia
(The Montauk Catamaran Company Chronicles is an ongoing series of posts detailing the construction of Mon Tiki Largo, a James Wharram Designs Pahi 63 MkII. The author’s current boat is the catamaran Mon Tiki, a JWD Tiki 38, which he built in 2012 and currently operates as a day-sailing charter in Montauk NY. You can see all the posts in this series by clicking here.)
Hello Gents and Ladies, ordinary and otherwise. Long time, no see! Updates:
On March 30th we started preparing the Catamaran Mon Tiki for the 2015 season and today is the first day since then that I’ve had that could reasonably be construed as a day off. Mon Tiki splashed on May 12th, had her first commercial trip on May 14th, and between then and hauling out on September 29th Mon Tiki ran something on the order of 300 trips, and carried in the neighborhood of 5,000 passengers. It was a busy summer.
Final US Coast Guard approval from the Marine Safety Center, Small Vessel Branch for Mon Tiki Largo’s structure and stability studies was received in mid-June, but with Mon Tiki already running two and sometimes three trips a day there was simply no time to turn our attention in that direction.
Also during this time we fought off a spurious and perjurious attempt by a competitor to trademark our company name “The Montauk Catamaran Company”. You all can image how amused I was to find myself (yet again) in an intellectual property fight. I may have more to say about this, but for the meantime I’ll leave it at thanks to the OG that let me vent and provided some big picture advice to protect our name, and that the episode is a reminder that if you create anything of value — a film, a song, a photograph, a business name, or a catamaran — sooner or later someone will try to steal it from you.
Last month gave up on the idea of securing shop space close to home (it would seem that Mon Tiki was the last great potato barn project on the East End, a cultural watershed akin to the last real Soho artist’s loft) and on October 9th we signed a lease on 2000 square feet of light industrial space in the middle of Long Island.
Last week the remaining of Mon Tiki Largo’s six massive akas were completed in our driveway between Mon Tiki’s haul out and our search for shop space. What remains are the masts, deck pods (4), engine boxes (2), various bits and pieces, and, the two 63′ hull of course.
For those interested in a pictorial accounting of Mon Tiki’s “Summer 2015” I’d invite you to have a look at our Facebook and/or Instagram pages:
https://instagram.com/sailingmontauksmontiki/
https://www.facebook.com/SailingMontauk
Thanks to all for your past and ongoing support. Attempting to build and launch a 63’x 30′ USCG certified Small Passenger Vessel certified for 100 in eight months is a preposterous undertaking, and yet, that’s what we hope to do. Stay tuned to this space for updates, which if nothing else, should be amusing!
Congrats and godspeed!
“Certified for 100” – “100” doesn’t refer to # of passengers, I assume, based on the photo at top, so what does it refer to? Displacement?Report
Based on our approved structure and stability calculations, Mon Tiki Largo’s provisional certification from the USCG is for 100 passengers. This will be finalized based on the boat’s actual displacement.
For comparison’s sake, Mon Tiki has just under 500 square feet of deck space and is certified for 49 passengers. Mon Tiki Largo just over 1500 square feet of deck space. The Coast Guard doesn’t pull these figures out of their ass. They’re based on how much weight a boat can carry without sinking or capsizing with a generous safety margin, and how much deck space each passenger has (18″ per seat or 10 square feet per person). We’ve done trips on Mon Tiki with up to 46 passengers. It’s crowded, just like a bus at max capacity is crowded, but it works.Report
Interesting, that boat up top didn’t look that large to me. Thanks!Report
Weird. Just yesterday I noticed the absence of Montauk posts and was wondering how your season went and etc. Thanks for the update. And good luck with the new boat build.Report
Congrats on a successful season & IP defense!
Once I get my release done at the end of the month, I should have something for you pretty quick.Report
That will be fun to see. The most important thing in smacking down the spurious trademark claim is the fact that we’ve been registered with NYS since 2011 as The Montauk Catamaran Company LLC and paying people with a checking account under that name for as long.
But where the perjurious part comes into play, OG was invaluable. Because OG has such a high google ranking and my posting here it’s impossible for anyone to claim beyond a reasonable doubt that they were “unaware of any competing claim for The Montauk Catamaran Company”. Google it and see for your self.Report
hello captain ryan bill zirimis here very interested to work @ the boatshop to help build the catamaran! my mom from Germany maiden name is bootz as her ancesters built ships.So as soon as can send my info would like to come for an interview and can start asap.thank you my contact # IS 631–294–8706Report