Ok, so it's not *really* a RIB, but below is a photo of my Christmas present to myself. Only the seller has no idea who designed or built it. Any help you can provide is greatly appreciated.
Here is what I know.
- Catamaran built in Australia around 1988, originally didn't have the tubes on it.
- Bought in 1994 by one of the americas's cup teams who added the tubes and bar around the engines and used as a tender to the big boats and other random duties.
- Hull # is AUP01P1PP01
- One of they guys that works for the former owner thinks it was originally designed as an offshore racing one-design class and that 8-10 of them were built. He thinks they bought it from someplace called Piper Marine (which I can't find online in the Aussie Marine Directories) and he doesn't remember what town it was.
- The basic hull is 28', with 2' bolt on motor mounts, if you include the outboards and protector bar in the back it's about 33' LOA.
I'm trying to get insurance so I can charter it out through one of the local charter companies to help it pay for it's slip and maybe a facelift. But the insurance companies are balking since the builder is completely unknown, even though it passed the survey with flying colors.
Any help traking down the builder, the hull number, or Piper Marine in Oz is greatly appreciated!! -- Mark
P.S. Thanks to all here for the great forum, it really helped learning and getting psyched up to make the purchase. I was originally looking at the Hysucat, but the US dealer's website disappeared and they didn't return email/calls. I came across this one totally by accident. Still thinking about adding the hysucat foils, but she needs a few other things first.
