Qatar Turbine Cat Out of the Molds this Week
Slated for domestic offshore racing action in 2013, the hull and deck of the 50-foot turbine-powered Qatar catamaran will come out of the molds this week. That’s according to John Cosker of Mystic Powerboats, the Deland, Fla.-based outfit constructing the carbon fiber and epoxy boat.
“Steve Curtis (the planned throttleman for the Qatar team) and the rest of the crew will be in the shop next week to start working on mock-ups of the cockpit and engine compartment,” said Cosker. “The Sheik (Hassan bin Jabor Al-Thani of Qatar) was at the shop two weeks ago.”
The Qatar team has ordered two sets of twin engines from Whispering Turbines. With an output of 1,850 per side the cat’s T-53-805 engines will be used for turbine-class racing. Rated at 3,000 hp apiece, the boat’s T-55 engines will be used for special events such as the Lake of the Ozarks Shootout and kilo runs.
Both sets of engines will use the same mounting rails, so switching them out will take no more than a day’s work, according to Cosker.
“We designed the whole drive train to handle the T-55s, so all you have do is pluck out one set of engines and drop in the other set,” said Cosker. “Changing engines won’t be difficult. In a day you can go from a 3,700-hp boat to a 6,000-hp boat.
“It’s going to be a beautiful boat, by far the nicest cat we’ve ever built,” said Cosker. “Chris Dilling of Grafik EFX is doing the renderings and I’ve seen them. It’s going to be pretty. It really is.”
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