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13-FT AKSANO CATAMARANS PROVE DURABILITY ON ADVENTURE TRIP
On Saturday, August 20th, six days after their departure from Puget Sound, two 13-foot Aksano Catamarans returned from the wild and totally successful, Aksano Adventure Trip. The two principals of the Monroe, Washington-based boat manufacturer, piloted the seaworthy power cats through unseasonably rough conditions into Canadian waters. Oz Aksan and Shaun Magruder ran north through gale force winds, 8-foot seas, angry chop, and dense fog.
"When the weather turned on us, we went from flat and fun to gale force winds with a small craft advisory all the way to Nanaimo," said Aksano Principal Oz Aksan, a veteran of long-distance small craft journeys. "Despite the seas we were in, the boats rescued us. Even in the worst of it, the cats proved their durability and performed at speeds of at least 20 mph."
Aksan's partner and the Navigator for the trip, Shaun Magruder explained that the F-3 catamarans performance was "Incredible". The Fact that all of his 3 tanks were full, carrying most of the camp gear, food, cooking tools and fresh water made the boat relatively bow heavy and bow laminar flow breakers ate up the waves up to 2 ½ - 3 ft. The reverse chines directed the rest of the water down and away from the hulls. The assault from waves up to 5 ft in the Georgia Straights was not bone jarring thanks to the air between the hulls. The performance of the F-3 hull allowed Shaun to have confidence in running several miles from the shore line to shorten the distance from location to destination.
On the spectacular roundtrip, the pair navigated durable 50 HP Honda engines using Solas Props north to British Columbia's Campbell River, across the mighty Strait of Georgia and south to home at the Port of Everett. The intrepid duo made a number of stops along the way before crossing the strait and at each stop, incredulous boaters gathered to admire the sturdy cats. To Aksan's and Magruder's satisfaction, the little boats easily withstood crashes with heavy logs that were disgorged like missiles from churning currents. They flew across roiling maelstroms twice the length of the boats.
However, on the last day of the trip, only one hour from home and in glassy seas, the Aksano pilots let down their guard. In a moment of inattention, the red cat ran over the stern of the yellow boat. After backing down off the engine cowling (and eating a few fiberglass chips), Aksan "hauled chili" at 40 mph back to Everett. Upon inspection they discovered a two-foot-long gash in one hull - below the waterline.
As an edifying ending to the Aksano Adventure Trip, the team learned once again that when "Aksano takes a lickin', it keeps on tickin'!" In fact, the cats are so well designed and built that even after the gash, the automatic bilge pumps didn't even turn on. The boat was perfectly intact!
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