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- Sailboat Guide
Supercat 17
Supercat 17 is a 16 ′ 11 ″ / 5.2 m catamaran sailboat designed by Bill Roberts and built by Aquarius Sail Inc. and Boston Whaler starting in 1985.
Rig and Sails
Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.
The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.
Classic hull speed formula:
Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL
Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL
Sail Area / Displacement Ratio
A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.
SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3
- SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
- D : Displacement in pounds.
Ballast / Displacement Ratio
A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.
Ballast / Displacement * 100
Displacement / Length Ratio
A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.
D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³
- D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
- LWL: Waterline length in feet
Comfort Ratio
This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.
Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )
- D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
- LOA: Length overall in feet
- Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet
Capsize Screening Formula
This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.
CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)
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Supercat 17
The supercat 17 is a 17.0ft frac. sloop (rotating spar) designed by steve edmunds / bill roberts and built in fiberglass by aquarius sail inc. since 1985..
The Supercat 17 is an ultralight sailboat which is a very high performer.
Supercat 17 for sale elsewhere on the web:
Main features
| Model | Supercat 17 | ||
| Length | 17 ft | ||
| Beam | 8 ft | ||
| Draft | 1.17 ft | ||
| Country | United states (North America) | ||
| Estimated price | $ 0 | ?? |
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| Sail area / displ. | 77.71 | ||
| Ballast / displ. | 0 % | ||
| Displ. / length | 32.34 | ||
| Comfort ratio | 1.94 | ||
| Capsize | 4.61 |
| Hull type | Catamaran (no boards/asym.) | ||
| Construction | Fiberglass | ||
| Waterline length | 16.66 ft | ||
| Maximum draft | 2.50 ft | ||
| Displacement | 335 lbs | ||
| Ballast | 0 lbs | ||
| Hull speed | 5.47 knots |
We help you build your own hydraulic steering system - Lecomble & Schmitt
| Rigging | Frac. Sloop (Rotating Spar) | ||
| Sail area (100%) | 234 sq.ft | ||
| Air draft | 28.75 ft | ||
| Sail area fore | 0 sq.ft | ?? | |
| Sail area main | 0 sq.ft | ?? | |
| I | 0 ft | ?? | |
| J | 0 ft | ?? | |
| P | 0 ft | ?? | |
| E | 0 ft | ?? |
| Nb engines | 1 | ||
| Total power | 0 HP | ||
| Fuel capacity | 0 gals |
Accommodations
| Water capacity | 0 gals | ||
| Headroom | 0 ft | ||
| Nb of cabins | 0 | ||
| Nb of berths | 0 | ||
| Nb heads | 0 |
Builder data
| Builder | Aquarius Sail Inc. | ||
| Designer | Steve Edmunds / Bill Roberts | ||
| First built | 1985 | ||
| Last built | 0 | ?? | |
| Number built | 0 | ?? |
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Company profile & Background
Aquarius sail inc..
Aquarius Sail Inc. was established by Tom Haberman in the early 1970s to provide sail, trampoline, and canvas repair to Midwest sailors. Within a few years Aquarius Sail was not only doing sail repair, but providing parts and service to the catamaran community. In 1980 the owners of Aquarius Sail visited the Chicago trade show and met two gentlemen from a sailboat company called Formulae Racing Sailboats. One of these gentlemen was Bill Roberts and they were promoting their new catamaran design, the SuperCat 20. The owners of Aquarius Sail were so impressed by the new design that they immediately signed on to be one of the first dealers for SuperCat catamarans. The early 1980s brought many changes for Aquarius Sail, including the move to a larger location, a wider selection of parts for all makes and models of sailboats and the SuperCat dealership. The early 80s also brought many changes for SuperCat, these changes included the introduction of the SuperCat 17, SuperCat 19, SuperCat 15, and the change in ownership to Boston Whaler powerboats. After being owned by Boston Whaler for one year, production was moved to Erickson Yachts in California. The production and management of SuperCat remained in California for two years when it was again "For Sale" in 1984. The owners of Aquarius Sail were so impressed by the SuperCat concept that they purchased company in the fall of 1984 and moved production and sales to Minnesota. As the 1990s arrived Aquarius Sail teamed up with Bill Roberts of Roberts Catamarans to introduce the SC-22 and continue production of the RC-27 , which Bill had developed on his own in the mid 1980's. The joining of forces between Aquarius Sail Inc. and designer Bill Roberts helped to develop the highest performance and quality catamarans available on the market today. Aquarius Sails has introduced Bill Roberts leading designs, in 1991 the SC-22/ARC-22 , in 1996 the RC-30 , in 2000 the ARC-21 and now in 2003 the ARC-17 . Throughout the 1990s and now into the 21st. Century the products built and designed by the team of Aquarius Sail and Bill Roberts has raised the benchmark in high performance sailing. The name change of the SC-22 to ARC-22 in the year 2000 reflects Aquarius Sails philosophy of being committed to a strict one design fleet program. The superior performance of the 22 design has been demonstrated in both long distance and triangle racing venues since 1992. The decision to solidify the design was in response to the current 22 owners desire to level the playing field in the future.
Bill Roberts
Bill learned to sail and first began racing sailboats in the Snipe class at the age of 12. He sailed during the summer months on a Tennessee river reservoir near Chattanooga. He was fortunate to grow up in a very active Snipe fleet with some of the top sailors in the country. By the age of 17, Billy, as he was called at that time, had won the US Snipe Class National Junior Championship twice. This was to be the beginning of many top level sailing achievements. The next year he attended Vanderbilt University where he studied Mechanical Engineering, while sailing / racing was set aside for a few years. After graduating in 1960 Bill went to work in the Aerospace industry for Pratt & Whitney Aircraft at the Florida Research and Development Center near West Palm Beach Florida. There he did design and performance analysis work on the J58 jet engine and SR71 aircraft better known as the "Blackbird." In the 1970s and 80s Bill worked on the F100 engine and the F15 and F16 fighter aircraft. Bill continued his full time career in the Aerospace industry in the 1990s by working in Pratt & Whitney's Advanced Design Group investigating advanced engine and aircraft concepts. Bill holds several patents relating to Jet engine design which he acquired throughout his 37 years in the Jet Engine Business. Now back to Sailing. Bill returned to sailing on the Flying Dutchman in 1965. This was the two man Olympic boat with one trapeze and a spinnaker. It was here that he designed, developed and patented the "spinnaker launcher and retraction system" that has spread to many classes today. Bill and his crew made an Olympic effort in 1968 where they finished third in the US Olympic trials. In 1970 Bill began sailing in the Contender class, a one man trapeze boat. This boat originally came out of an International Yacht Racing Union design competition and was targeted for the Olympics. Bill was US national Champion on the Contender six years in a row. In the mid and late 1970s Bill began designing wing sails, sails with thickness, and then beach catamarans. In 1978 Bill and a partner started a boat company called Formulae Racing Sailboats under which they designed and produced the SuperCat product line. The SuperCat catamaran design included several unique patented features. One of these features was the elliptical hull shape to reduce the pitchpoling tendency of multihull sailboats. This design feature has become an industry standard in multihulls of all sizes. Many of the big ocean racers, both cats and tri's utilize the elliptical hull shape. The foredeck of these high-speed ocean racers frequently run underwater as much as they run on top of the water, flat decks just won't cut it! Examples include TEAM PHILIPS, SEABAGO, FURY, and the amas on most of the recently designed large ocean racing trimarans. In 1980 Bill went to Holland and sailed the Round Texel Island Race. The conditions that year were some of the fiercest that the race has ever been held in. Bill took line honors that year and set the lowest elapsed time record for the race on a SuperCat 20. That record stood for several years before it was bettered by another SuperCat 20. In 1981 Boston Whaler purchased Formulae Racing Sailboats. That same year the SuperCat product line attended Yachting Magazine's "One Of A Kind Regatta" at New Orleans. Here the SuperCat's dominated the races, taking line honors in every heat and also taking first and second place overall based on corrected time while sailing against the top teams sailing the California designed boats. Bob Bergsted sailed the SuperCat 17 even up with the Nacra 5.2, a "beach boat" pitted against what was considered to be an excellent "board boat." The SuperCat 20 was the only US designed and built boat to ever win this race. Throughout the 1980s Bill remained active in the catamaran industry by sailing, promoting and designing new boats. In 1984 Bill started designing and developing the RC-27 , a design which would set the standard for many boats well into the future. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s the RC-27 set numerous records in the US and Europe. In 1989 Bill, his son Eric, and Peter Zboyan set the record for the lowest elapsed time in the Miami Key Largo race at 1 hour 44 minutes for the 42 mile course, that is an average speed of 26 knots! Bill along with his son Eric have also won the 38 mile MUG Race at Jacksonville Florida more times then we can count and holding the course record for the MUG race for many years, only to be broken by Eric Roberts in 2023 on his ARC-22 , establishing a new course record of 2 hours, 53 minutes & 28 seconds!
In the early 1990s Bill teamed up with Aquarius Sail to continue production of the RC-27 and introduce the ARC-22 (introduced at that time under the SC-22 nameplate). In 1996 Bill continued his commitment to the design of high performance catamarans with the introduction of the RC-30 and in 2000 the ARC-21 . After leaving Pratt & Whitney in the early 2000’s Bill spent his days near the water designing and testing his latest sailing designs. Bill continued to race but had given up the helm to his son Eric whom he crewed for. Throughout the years Bill not only set, but raised the standard for catamaran design and sailing today. Whether it was on a SuperCat, ARC-21 , ARC-22 , RC-27 , or RC-30 , Bill helped to shape the catamaran industry over the past 40 years. We are sad to report that Bill died peacefully in April of 2019 at his home on the St. Lucie River in Palm City, FL doing what he loved best, preparing his RC-30 for the upcoming Miami to Key Largo and Mug Races. Bill, may you always sail faster than the wind!
This web site and all contents are Copyright © 1996-2024 by Aquarius Sail Inc., Wyoming, MN, USA. Unauthorized use of the text and graphics on these pages is strictly prohibited. The contents of this web site are subject to change without notice. Questions and comments regarding this service should be directed to [email protected]
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A discussion area for the owners of ARC & SuperCat Products
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SuperCat 17 digital manual
Post by Gregtilley » Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:22 pm
Re: SuperCat 17 digital manual
Post by Gregtilley » Tue Jun 11, 2019 9:46 pm
Post by Jeff Chase » Tue Sep 29, 2020 6:36 pm
Post by T Peterson » Thu Oct 01, 2020 2:23 pm
Post by bobcoss » Thu Jul 22, 2021 2:58 pm
Post by rafaclaro3 » Sun Jun 19, 2022 2:16 pm
Post by Brjonair » Fri Jul 01, 2022 12:57 am
Post by kbali.0909 » Sun Apr 09, 2023 2:47 am
Post by gahamby » Sun Apr 23, 2023 5:21 pm
Post by T Peterson » Mon May 01, 2023 7:32 am
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LENGTH: Traditionally, LOA (length over all) equaled hull length. Today, many builders use LOA to include rail overhangs, bowsprits, etc. and LOD (length on deck) for hull length. That said, LOA may still mean LOD if the builder is being honest and using accepted industry standards developed by groups like the ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council).
Supercat 17 is a 16′ 11″ / 5.2 m catamaran sailboat designed by Bill Roberts and built by Aquarius Sail Inc. and Boston Whaler starting in 1985.
The only thing I would add are some PNs to relate relative boat performance of other boardless beach cats. SC 17 PN=73.3, Hobie 16 PN=76.1, P16 PN=77.5, P18 PN=74.9, Dart 18 PN=76.9, N5.0 PN=76.4 and ARC17 w/spi=70. The SC 17 can be upgraded to an ARC 17 if you want to with a factory kit.
The longstanding premier class of offshore racing. The Super Cat Class boasts twin hull catamarans ranging from 38′ to 44′ in length powered by twin 850 horsepower engines of various manufacturers, with speeds reaching 140 mph. M•CON | US-1.
Cons: very heavy mast (needs 2 people or a jin pole), less deck area than an 8 or 8.5 wide boat, and VERY VERY WET RIDE in big air. P18. Pros: fun, fast , no boards, lots of spare parts around, more deck area than Supercat, much dryer boat. Cons:no company support avail.
I've got a SC17 I'm redoing right now. I can tell you that Aquarius, make the new version of it, are great to deal with. You can get anything you need for the boat from them, and they will take time to talk you through what you need. --. Mac. Midlands South Carolina. AHPC Viper USA 366. A Cat USA 366. Super Cat 17.
Look at the halyard and see if it has sister clips. 2. the halyard goes inside the zipper as you raise the jib. 3. hoist the jib. 4. tack the jib to chain plate one of the holes below the forestay. 5 use the small line on the shackle (by your left forefinger) to make a spanish windlass through the eye of the halyard.
The Supercat 17 is an ultralight sailboat which is a very high performer. Supercat 17 for sale elsewhere on the web: Main features. Model: ... Catamaran (no boards/asym.) Construction: Fiberglass Waterline length: 16.66 ft ...
Just finished the restoration of this catamaran. It has all new rigging, custom carbon rudder bar, 2 part epoxy paint. Super safe and easy to sail. The desig...
Re: How popular are Supercat 17's? [ Re: BRoberts ] #35669. You're confusing "quality" with "consistancy". Quality of carbon masts can be tightly controlled even though the consistancy can be varied. You can order a high-quality stiff mast, or a high-quality flexible mast.
Bob Bergsted sailed the SuperCat 17 even up with the Nacra 5.2, a "beach boat" pitted against what was considered to be an excellent "board boat." The SuperCat 20 was the only US designed and built boat to ever win this race. Throughout the 1980s Bill remained active in the catamaran industry by sailing, promoting and designing new boats.
Re: Supercat 17 Owners Manual. by Matt Haberman » June 8th, 2015, 5:16 pm. Call Aquarius Sail at 651-462-SAIL (7245). We are the original manufacturer of your boat and all of the parts are available, including the mast pedestal.
Solo sailing Supercat 17 catamaran off Texas City Dike in Galveston Bay, TX
i have a prindle 16 and 18, hobie 18, supercat 17. the supercat is a very quick stable boat that is easy to singlehand. parts are available new through aquarious{arc} and are reasonable. of all the beachcats ive sailed my least favorite is the hobie 16. she is too sensitive and pichpoles easily.
Re: SuperCat 17 digital manual. by kbali.0909 » April 9th, 2023, 2:47 am. Just picked up a SuperCat 17 yesterday, and had a great first sail today. If anyone could send the manual / tuning guide, that would be great! [email protected]. gahamby.
Thanks all for answering my questions on a Supercat 17. Do you think $1500-2000 is a reasonable price for one (with sail #4) with main and jib in good condition, but no other upgrades other than some mainsheet traveler system. No trailer, but a couple harnesses and a cover included, and only been used a couple weeks a year at a summer lake.
1981 Boston Whaler Super Cat 17 Catamaran with trailer good sails have title for both Was the first computer designed catamaran hulls · 1981 Boston Whaler Supercat 17 Catamaran sailboat. $2,750. Listed 3 weeks ago. 3 weeks ago. in Austin, TX. Message. Message. Save. Save. Share. Details ...
SuperCat preowned sailboats for sale by owner. SuperCat used sailboats for sale by owner. Home. Register & Post. View All Sailboats. Search. Avoid Fraud. ... 43' CSK Catamarans Polycon Cabrillo way Marina, California Asking $115,000. 34' Sabre 34 MK1 Norwalk, Connecticut Asking $20,000. 35' Sadler Yachts Sadler 34
Great support (and parts) from Aquarius. Might be too much boat for a small inland lake, but if you've got space you're set. It's a very simple design, let's you sail instead of tweak all the lines. Huge mast for a 17 gives you more than ample power, yet with the righting levers can usually be brought up solo.
The trampoline wraps around the fwd and aft beam and laces back to itself. This trampoline is made from super durable mesh and includes these special features: Manufactured with black 8oz. polypropylene basket weave mesh (high-quality heavy duty trampoline mesh) 12" x 12" halyard pocket near the mast base.
Supercat 17. Sort by: Supercat 17 Double Wrap Catamaran Trampoline - Black Mesh $1,596.39 Choose Options. Supercat 17 Boltrope Catamaran Trampoline - Black Mesh $1,511.89 Choose Options. FREE Trampoline Fabric Sample Pack $0.00 Add To Cart. Connect With Us.
Catamaran sailing repair tips, pictures, forums and classified ads catamarans for sale by owner Hobie, Nacra, AHPC, Solcat, Aqua Cat for sale. ... I am fixing my SC 17, but i need the owner's manual, which i don't have anymore. ... aquarius sail sent me a Supercat 15 manual awhile back, and they do not even market the 15. It was an original ...
Catamaran sailing repair tips, pictures, forums and classified ads catamarans for sale by owner Hobie, Nacra, AHPC, Solcat, Aqua Cat for sale. ... Supercat 17 Rigging Diagram ; New topic; Print topic ... 2013 - 04:24 PM Does anyone have a Rigging Diagram of pics of a fully rigged SC 17? I have been accumulating parts and now have more rigging ...