Photo Gallery: Beetle Cat

"Rainbow" Fleet Parade - Nantucket, MA

"Convent Bells" at rest - Georgica Pond, East Hampton, NY

Kent Zimmerman had an interesting trip cross-country with his Beetle Cat. He started out with a sail with Mark Williams in Wareham, MA and then hopscotched along lakes and rivers all the way to Port Townsend, WA. Below left is a sail in Glacier Park, Montana and below right is on the Missouri River in North Dakota. A trip of a lifetime!

Rental Boat - off Great Neck, Wareham, MA

Hawk & Reardon Families aboard "Sea Hawk", West Dennis, MA

"Huckleberry" - Nantucket Rainbow Fleet

Filippo Tagliavia keeps an eye on "Sea Bee" - Onset Island, MA

"Two Black Dogs" and "Bufflehead" - Westport River, MA

"Schnellfahrt"(High Speed Travel)-1st boat launched in 2009- headed to Martha's Vineyard, MA

"McNamara's Band" - picked up in March from a Camp in the Adirondacks and all set in April to head back out for another season

Building the Beetle Cat Sailboat

Parts are built in batches, then assembly of the backbone (Keel, skeg, sternpost, transom and centerboard box)begins

The backbone is setup on the Beetle Cat mold (which all Beetles have been built on since 1946!). The white oak ribs are then steamed and bent on. The atlantic white cedar planking is also steamed, bent, and fastened to the ribs with #8x1 domestic bronze wood screws.

The hull is lifted off the mold and the oak shear clamps are installed.

The hull is faired, caulked with cotton(which is specially made and imported to us from the Netherlands), plugged, and sanded.

The waterline is scribed and the interior and exterior of the hull are primed with paint.

Forward parts(mast step, mast partner)are fastened in and deck structure and natural cedar cockpit are installed.

Cedar planking is nailed to the deck structure and cotton canvas is stapled over it and primed with a thin coat of paint

Oak coamings are steam bent on a jig and a day later installed, followed by oak rubrails.

Off to final paint and varnish, hardware is added to the deck, mast and rigging is checked for fit, and the Beetle Cat is ready to go!