Its been over 5 years since i built my first and only RC BOAT. It was a tunnel hull with a K&B outboard engine. It ran really good and was alot of fun. Well, i decided to build another RC BOAT after subscribing to RADIO CONTROL BOAT MODELER and looking at all the cool RC BOATS for over a year now. I live in Las Vegas, Nevada on the east side of town, just below Sunrise Mountain. The temperatures in winter are mild and the summers are usually very hot. No, i don't gamble in the casino's!(G) I usually go out to LAKE MEAD on my 26 ft SEARAY and camp on the weekends with my family. Also there is a place called SUNSET PARK that RC BOAT enthusiasts usually run their boats on the weekend. It's a nice size pond with a cemented and covered pit area. I figured i would try my hand at a fast CATAMARAN this time, powered by a GAS (HOMELITE), inboard this time. What i saw with INBOARD NITRO boats left me with a sour taste, even though they were very fast. Expensive fuel, hard to manage, etc. But NITRO boats are usually faster. After a great deal of searching both RC BOAT MODELER magazine and the WWW (World Wide Web) with my Internet connection, I decided i wanted another "TUNNEL". But this time it would be an OFFSHORE CATAMARAN with a WEED EATER(HOMELITE) gas/oil(premix) motor, as I had 2 WEEDEATER (HOMELITE) 35 cc motors i recieved from friends just laying around. Well, I made a phone call to TOYS FOR BIG BOYS and talked to BILL who was taking calls that day. TOYS FOR BIG BOYS is in California and is real close to my LAS VEGAS, NEVADA location. There were really no LOCAL hobby shops that carried any full size GAS or NITRO boats in the LAS VEGAS area. I did notice in the RC BOAT mag that B H HANSON and RADIO ACTIVE HOBBIES both were here in LAS VEGAS, but RA HOBBIES was no where to be found(out of business) and B H HANSON only did ZENOAH motor stuff or so I thought. Hmmmm. So, I talked to Bill at TOYS FOR BIG BOYS and I finally decided on a AEROMARINE LAMINATES OFFSHORE 50 inch PRO CATAMARAN with the dual engine covers. This boat is available for both single and double motor configuration and a few different color GEL coatings as well as 3 engine hatch's. It is a GEL-COATED FIBERGLASS hull with STRINGERS already GLASSED in. Twin motors would be cool, but since I am starting out I decided on a single motor. Cost of this hull was 350 dollars including oversize shipping. I ordered the hull just before Christmas (98) even though I knew the mail system would be clogged and delay the delivery. Well, 10 days later, I recieved the 5 X 3 foot UPS delivered box with my new AEROMARINE LAMINATES OFFSHORE PRO CATAMARAN in it. I realized i needed a nice stand to put the hull on. It would help make things easier in the building process. I proceeded to build a stand for the boat out of 3/4 inch schedule 40 PVC. This would hold the boat both in transporting and at the local pond for powering up and repairs. Cost was about 10 dollars.

I might add, a nice set of 5 foot by 5 foot paper blueprint was include. This shows exactly where everything should go. Below is a picture of the blueprint. Though, it is hard to see here, this blueprint came in very handy. I pinned it to the wall above my workbench for future reference. It showed and named every part that was required for the boat and where it was suppose to go. All available for AEROMARINE LAMINATES. Three (3) holes where drilled into the forward bulkhead. A special FOAM FLOATATION would be installed through them. This will keep the boat from sinking in case of a blowover. A must for any RCBOAT or any BIG SIZE boat for that matter!!!

OK.... Next would be the motor. I set the HOMELITE into the boat and realized that the HOMELIGHT was just to BIG for the hull, even though the hull was 50 inches long! ACK! THIS CATAMARAN style hull was just not suited for a large HOMELITE. A DEEP VEE hull was more suited for the HOMELITE motor. Well, at least THIS Catamaran was not. The HOMELITE would stick out like a sore thumb, and make the boat to top heavy. Hard to control too! According to the 5 X 5 foot BLUEPRINTS that came with the hull, it called for a 23cc ZENOAH. (Which Bill at TOYS FOR BIG BOYS recommended) OK. I decided a 23cc ZENOAH was the power plant for the new CAT. EVERYTHING that the boat needed to be operational AND was to SCALE. Very professionally done!. Congrat's AEROMARINE LAMINATES!

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