August 9, 2022 — With boats in fisheries like New England lobster and Bristol Bay salmon getting progressively wider, and fuel getting more expensive, some boat designers believe it’s only a matter of time before fishermen embrace multi-hull vessels. While the ferry and wind farm industries have been taking advantage of the speed, stability, and fuel efficiency of catamarans for years, multihulls have been a hard sell with commercial fishermen.
“You know how it is with fishermen,” says Marathon, Florida boat designer Walter Schurtenberger. “They stick with what they know.”
Schurtenberger has designed a 65-foot catamaran for the spiny lobster fishery but has not had anyone build it — yet.
“I had two brothers from up the Keys who were very interested,” he says, but he thinks they dissolved their partnership and neither could fund the project on his own.
“The initial design is for a 38-footer,” says Tom Duym of the MCCF. “They built a 22-foot version that they’re going to test.” According to Duym, Maine lobstermen who have looked at the boat have been skeptical about its stability.
“They’re wondering how it will handle in a cross sea or on the stern quarter,” says Duym. “They think it won’t handle so good.”
Professor Doug Reed at the Maine Maritime Academy has been modeling the design and extrapolating how the boat will handle at its full size.