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Here's a shot of Ron Drynan's first boat, the PropCat. It started life as a 14' Hobie Cat sailing catamaran in 1981, He bought it used and dilapidated late in the summer of 1999. In three weeks with a great deal of help from Jake Free he was able to convert it to the one seater "version 1.x" using bed frame angle iron and cannibalized 10-speed bike parts.
In late fall of 1999 and early winter 2000, Ron ran through the "version 2.x" series, which is a two-seater arrangement with both riders facing sideways, inspired by the German boats "Close to Perfection" and "KATastrophe", but driving a single prop shaft down the middle. The boat is far too heavy at 300+lbs., so the "version 3.x" will either be to add a third rider facing forward in front of the frame, or to replace the fiberglass hulls with smaller, lighter hulls specifically designed for this HPB. In late summer 2000, he tore apart version 2.2 (shown below) and drastically simplified the entire drivetrain, as well as taking about 20lbs. out of it. Unfortunately, he didn't get it finished in time for the last race of the season, and it now sits in a driveway cocoon waiting for more attention (he's working on a different boat now, but hopes to have the PropCat running again once the lake thaws).
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