Powerplay: Catamarans and Pod Drives

James Dewing started building boats in Australia and he has since built in China before settling in Thailand. As for other expats he finds the country to be the countries relaxed life style and excellent food a perfect fit for him. And, like Toyota, Nikon and other high tech industries he has found an educated and skilled workforce.

With a staff of about 65 he is able to fabricated, from start to yacht-finish, a 20 by 8.18-meter catamaran in about 12 months. The vessel that is currently building in the firm’s Pattaya facility is fabricated from PVC core with a Vinylester resin System. The company, Powerplay Catamarans, offers the option of an epoxy resin system. The current vessel will have a displacement of about 27,000 kilograms light ship.

Accommodation on Powerplay catamarans can be topsides or in the hulls. The model currently in build will have a total of ten berths. These will be located in forward and aft cabins in the two hulls. Additionally a master cabin, with king-sized bed and ensuite, is located forward on the bridge deck. The galley, dinning and extended cockpit are all located aft.

Variations in the design can provide more berths on the topsides and other variations. The beamy nature of the catamaran lends itself well to nearly infinite design opportunities for use of accommodation spaces. James Dewing explains that in recent vessels he had kept to the same hull shapes. “In this iteration, I have achieved the best balance of speed, economy, range and good looks” he explained. “Individual owners can opt for variation in the main deck spaces and layout of the flying bridge, but the hulls have been optimized.”

In the current model, that optimization is enhanced by the pair of bow thrusters, one in each hull, that are linked to the twin Cummins QSC 8.3-liter main engines, each producing 600 HP. The joy-stick allows the shaft props and bow thrusters to act in concert for ultimate finger-tip control. An option of Cummins Zeus Pod drives with the 8.3-liter engines is an available. These innovative pod drives allow for excellent station keeping in wind or currents as well as good handling when docking. The single joystick controls combine the drives with bow thrusters to give ease of handling and efficiency of maneuvering.
 

Photos courtesy of Haig-Brown/Cummins

For further information:
https://www.cummins.com/engines/zeus-and-cummins-inboard-joystick
James Dewing
Owner
Powerplay Catamarans
Pattaya, Thailand
Phone: +66 6416 78377
E-mail: james@powerplaycatamarans.com
Web: www.powerplaycatamarans.com

Jennifer McQuilken
Marketing Communications, Marine and Oil & Gas
Cummins Inc.
4400 Leeds Ave. Suite 300
Charleston, SC 2940
E-mail: Jennifer.McQuilken@Cummins.com
Phone: +1 843-696-9534 (call or text

Alan Haig-Brown
A. Haig-Brown & Assoc. Ltd.
New Westminster, BC,
Canada,
Phone: 604 377 1577
E-mail: alan@haig-brown.com
web: www.haigbrown.com