New line of catamarans from the builders of Selene

[Chuck Gould]

Jet Tern Marine, best known for building Selene Ocean Trawlers, has introduced the Journey Cat 47. Check out the specs and photos

Pacific Nor

 

[chiropaul]

This was written up in Passagemaker in the Nov/Dec 2012 issue. Very interesting boat. Loved the layout and the wavepiercing hulls.

 

[healhustler]

It was a pretty brave thing to undertake the building of this boat at a time when most other manufactures were barely holding on, or worse. The product looks pretty good.

 

[Parmenter]

wavepiercing hulls.

I always wonder about them interfering with the anchor chain thoght these would be more of a worry

I also wonder what the point is on the Journey Cat 47 - its not as if they have gained any overall boat length, the could just as easily pull the hull from the waterline up to have a normal set of hulls and a gain in buoyancy when pressed

Also from 2010

Wave-piercing Journey 45 LRCat unveiled
Journey Hull #1 is available for delivery in 2011

 

[brian eiland]

It was a pretty brave thing to undertake the building of this boat at a time when most other manufactures were barely holding on, or worse. The product looks pretty good.

I'm trying to remember the exact circumstances as to the beginning of this project, but it was not Jet Tern, nor Selene that began it. I seem to recall it was several young brokers out on the west coast of the USA that felt a need for a product like this. They contacted that designer who had designed a 'photo catamaran' for that America's Cup involving the big cat and the big tri (over in Spain).

They put the whole project together, then subsequently found the Chinese builder. This all happened before the market crash of 2008 if I recall correctly. Then of course as most of us know the boat market went into recession as well, so I suspected they were going to have a very tough time selling their boats/idea in that atmosphere.

I believe it is likely that those fellows that started the project have lost controlling interest, and the Chinese builder Jet Tern has taken control.

I do think they have turned out a nice looking vessel. I am still waiting to see some videos and testing of those bows in really rough conditions,...could be questionable, but also could be favorable. I would have thought that had it been 'real favorable' it would have been touted that way with much more vigor by now.

BTW, I referenced them back in posting #3 over here on my Powercat subject thread.
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/powercat-trawlers-11299.html

 

[healhustler]

I think you may be right about that, Brian. I recall meeting the same two guys at various Trawler Fests several years ago. I don't recall Jet Tern as being involved then, but regardless, it is nice to see the design come to fruition, albeit with a few changes over the original design as I recall.

 

[pilothouse king]

NICE! I hope they do well.

 

[pilothouse king]

I always wonder about them interfering with the anchor chain thoght these would be more of a worry

You know some yachts go their whole lives without dropping an anchor? Just go out from a dock=and back to a dock. Notice all the shiny anchors on yachts. Like Range Rovers that have never been off the pavement.

 

[brian eiland]

Keep in mind they still have to sell a number of boats before they can recover the price of those molds (tooling). And I think there was a fair bit of that likely funded by the original investors, not Jet Tern. Maybe there were some discounts allowed so Jet Tern could absorb the project.

Seems like MaineCat would be there primary competition.

 

[FF]

To me the biggest challenge would be for a std boat co to learn how to create the strong LIGHT WEIGHT boats.

Every item , not just the hull and deck must be selected/created from more expensive light weight parts.

No 3/4 plywood for bulkheads , cored everything is need to make a superior boat.

NOT an easy mindset for folks that built std cruisers.

 

[brian eiland]

....BTW, I referenced them back in posting #3 over here on my Powercat subject thread.
http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/powercat-trawlers-11299.html

Here is another link to some photos of the Journey powercat I made back on the other subject thread:

Here is a Passagemaker mag boat review (nice pics also of quality built interior):

http://www.journeycatamarans.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/JourneyCat.pdf

 

[brian eiland]

Photo Cat design, Water Wizard

I'm trying to remember the exact circumstances as to the beginning of this project, but it was not Jet Tern, nor Selene that began it. I seem to recall it was several young brokers out on the west coast of the USA that felt a need for a product like this. They contacted that designer who had designed a 'photo catamaran' for that America's Cup involving the big cat and the big tri (over in Spain).

I found that vessel design that influenced this hull shape on the Journey Cat. Posted over here:
Trawler Forum - View Single Post - Powercat Trawlers