stiletto 27 catamaran

Original Classic Stiletto 27 Catamaran in Avon

Nearly mint condition 1976 hull #3 standard edition, original owner, meticulously maintained, fresh water sailed.

We found this early model Standard Stiletto 27 in North Carolina and is an amazing example of the Stiletto 27. The Stiletto-27 is the lightest and shallowest draft, hard cockpit, trailerable catamaran ever made. Built with material conventionally reserved for aerospace and The Americas Cup, this 27 foot long x 14.5 foot wide boat collapses to 8 feet wide for trailering behind any normal car with a hitch, at only 1200 lbs. This is a special boat that comes with original documentation and paperwork from Force Engineering original signatures from the first year selling boats in 1976… almost like a time warp!

Used gently and occasionally over the years on fresh water lakes for family memories and adventure, everything on board is as you would have found it if you had purchased it yourself in 1976. This is vintage boat needs to be owned and appreciated by someone who cherishes sailing history, and still wants to have fun sailing super fast! Fully equipped, this package includes: working trailer, carbon/kevlar tape drive mainsail, original jib (in good condition), 6 hp engine, Interior and Exterior cushions, canvas, re-stitched trampoline, refurbished paint, super clean and dry interior, plus many more bits and useful pieces. Serious Inquiries only .

Original Stiletto 27 documentation

Original Documentation of the Stiletto 27 is hard to come by, but when you have an original owner of a boat that has never changed hands otherwise it is a special and rare situation. Below are a few samples of the original documentation saved in perfect condition over the last 43 years.

Boat Inspection

Inspected by jay phillips, founder stiletto-x series.

The boat was inspected and images taken on January 20, 2021

Jay Phillips, founder and developer of the Stiletto-X Series, has experience owning and refitting the Stiletto-27 models for last 30 years. Jay developed and produced the Stiletto X-Series Catamarans with a similar prepreg laminate and honeycomb core construction. There are very few boats built using prepreg honeycomb and even fewer boat surveyors who have the proper experience to evaluate these types of composites.

Stiletto-27 Inspection Report

Impeccable condition for a boat of this age, there are just a few small maintenance issues and even fewer nicks and scratches. Jay spent more than 4 hours in a detailed inspection.

• Hull Condition – Almost perfect except for some damage to the keels from the trailer rollers being in the wrong location. The keels were repaired professionally and from I can see adequately, but it is difficult if not nearly impossible to repair a prepreg laminated hull back to new condition, so the repairs are evident on the inside of the boat hull, to the discerning eye, not so much to the average person. There are no cracks around the beam interfaces to the hull, which is common on the Stiletto 27. There are no cracks along the hull deck connection, also common on many older Stiletto 27s.
• Canopy Cover Condition – These Lexan Canopy Covers are not original, but have been replaced with newer covers that are in excellent condition. There were some dacron straps used for lifting the covers forward that have decayed in the UV and not been replaced. It would be very inexpensive to replace with some new webbing.
• Cockpit Stress Cracks – The Owner reported one event where the centerboard hit an underwater stump while sailing at 10 knots on the lake. The centerboard framework was bent and some damage to the cockpit laminate was incurred where the metal supports attach. It looks to be repaired on the underside, but there are some light cracks visible in this prepreg fiberglass/honeycomb front seat corner on both sides of the cockpit. This is an area where the cockpit laminates have consistently been easy to damage on several of the boats I have owned. Repairing the cracked area is not a very expensive repair, but it is recommended that it be done.
• Deck Nonskid and Hull Paint – This boat was refinished in the late 1990s and the wear and tear on the paint in the freshwater environment the boat is in is negligible and can be polished to look like new. The deck has an evenly coated blue non-skid.
• Mast and Standing Rigging – Original rigging. The mast has been repainted and looks like a fresh paint job even though it is several years old. All the Stainless Rigging looks to be in good condition and original. The earlier masts like this one have straight spreaders and no jumper struts, whereas later models started using swept spreaders and a jumper to reduce pumping. The rig works fine, but rotation should be tightly controlled, as the straight spreader rig is a little less forgiving.
• Trampoline – The Trampoline looks like an original trampoline that has been restitched with Black UV tenara thread which is in good condition. The older white dacron thread is still remnant though. The trampoline is black polypropylene and still in good condition with several years of remaining useful life. Had I not been informed that the canvas and tramp been stored indoors for many of the winter seasons, I wouldnt believe it could be a 40 yr old trampoline. The owner did upgrade from original hooks on the side of the hulls to an anodized aluminum keder track, which does make installing the trampoline easier.
• Engine – A 6 hp 2 cycle older model engine that started up immediately on first try.
• Rudders – Fiberglass rudders of the newer stiletto design on the boat and are in pristine condition. The new fiberglass rudders like the ones on this boat are balanced better than the original mahogany rudders.
• Centerboard – Centerboard has a few paint chips and the stainless steel framework underneath the cockpit that was damaged has been replaced and in excellent condition.
• Beams and Tapered Pins – These show no signs of corrosion and look very clean. The holes in the beams were clean and tight. As the boats wear, the holes sometimes get larger and you notice the pins sinking in deeper, but on this boat they were still sticking out as they would have when new. (trailering the boat in the coming days and will report on how they collapse and expand.)
• Mainsheet Traveler – This boat has an early version of the original traveler with ceramic rollers and an anodized aluminum extrusion. The anodized aluminum has some minor wear and tear but is in working condition and we have a video of the traveler rollers working.
• Mainsail – About 20 years ago, the original mainsail was replaced with a UK Tapedrive Mylar/Carbon Scrim Sail. The sail looks to be about 10% depreciated because of its age, but barely used and in good condition. It is difficult to tell how fast the mylar laminate will last when it starts being used again, just because of the age of the laminate adhesive. It has the UK Sailmakers Kevlar Tapes which are adhered along the load paths of the sail. These types of sails are no longer manufactured, but worked and held their racing shape pretty well. UK Tapedrives were a more economical sail that competed with the North 3dl Technology of the time period. The Original Dacron Mainsail is still in pretty good condition and has been stored well. The jib is in good condition, but is an original wire luff hanked on jib.
• Hull Interiors – Both sides were bone dry and clean. Only the keel damage repair was slightly visible under the bunks. The floorboards were near mint condition as were the pipe births. The canopy gaskets have been effective in keeping out water leaks and the Standard Edition had no port lights or deck hatches to let in water leaks.
• Electrical System – This boat is not equipped with any electrical system that I could see. A new buyer would most likely want to install running lights, electrical panel, battery, etc., but not necessary to sail during daylight or with battery powered running lights.

Note: Phillips Boatworks has been contracted to trailer and broker the boat. As of the last week of February 2021, the boat will be located in Avon, NC for sea trial and inspection.

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Big Beachcats: Stiletto 27 - 25 Years Later

Added by damonAdmin on Apr 10, 2004 - 03:21 PM

THERE ARE, to be honest, few really new production boats, vessels of such original conception that they demand a different yardstick by which to judge them. In recent years, the first Hobie cat and the J-24 are two examples of new concepts that have succeeded, but there are far more failures--hoats with a single, brilliant idea that are lacking elsewhere, boats whose builders have just enough funds to go off half-cocked, boats that are exciting but not quite thrilling enough to cause cautious buyers to break from convention.

And if the person who builds a genuinely different boat faces these odds to begin with, the creator of a new concept in multihulls has an even greater problem making the leap to credibility, just because it's a multihull. Given this state of affairs, the early success of the 27-foot Stiletto is remarkable: Not only is it a boat that breaks ground in several directions at once, but it's a catamaran as well.

Boats with this kind of accommodation, weighing a tad over half a ton, are typically 20-foot monohulls, like the classic O'Day Mariner. Even small cruising multihulls, such as the 24' Hirondelle cat, weigh a good deal more. Aside from the ill-fated Warrior 29 catamaran, nothing comes close to this sail area-displacement ratio except for out-and-out racers.

But accommodation is clearly secondary in the minds of Stiletto's designers and builders In a warm climate she'll do well for camper-cruising, but her real raison d'etre, by which she stands or falls, is her sailing ability. We set up a sailing trial based on the marina at Captiva Island. the plush resort on Florida's West Coat that's a headquarters for Steve Colgate's Offshore Sailing School. Stiletto arrived at the island on a trailer, pulled behind a Datsun sports car, for the first demonstration put on by her enterprising young builders, John Cloud and Larry Tibbe.

In the event, John and Larry made it just under the wire. The compressed boat, still on the trailer, is expanded on its telescoping frame. Next the rigid cockpit (normally carried upside-down on the trailer) is dropped into place, and then the mast is stepped and set up, using the running rigging as block and tackle to raise the stick. Clearly, John and Larry's familiarity, with the operation made the 45-minute time limit possible for two; equally clearly, three accomplished people could shave 10 minutes off their time.

The wind being light, we decided to begin with the working sails and drifter in a double-headsail rig. The drifter sets on a bridle that runs between the two stem fittings while the jib and genoa are tacked farther aft between the hulls. For additional flexibility in sail trim, the drifter's tack location can be moved anywhere between the hulls, allowing one to fly the sail way off to one side, out of the way of everything else.

Although there's not a winch on the boat, the various combinations of Harken blocks make Stiletto easy and nearly effortless to handle, except as one approaches really hairy conditions. On a beam or broad reach, with the genoa or the 265-sq.-ft. drifter rigged to a forward bridle. the boat skims along with little or no fuss and considerably faster than normal hull speed for a monohull.

Harden up to a close reach or a beat. and with the wind over 10 knots you can have a breathtaking ride We had her out on a relatively sheltered hody of water along the Intracoastal. between Captiva and the mainland. It was blowing 10-15 with a light chop,- and Stiletto took off like . . . well, like herself: There is no great feeling of acceleration, just a zoom, and there you are. We could broad reach easily at 10 knots or so, and hardcn up to a close reach. As we did so, Stiletto changed her whole personality: A fine mist of spray streamed back over the windward bow, the rudders threw off a respectable roostertail, and the cocked-up outboard dropped lust enough to provide its own wake. Estimates, with which I am not about to argue, put us around 20 m..p.h., and the boat has been clocked at 25. She did not come unglued, although I dare say one could have done it simply by strapping in the main.

We were charging along in about six feet of water when there was a dull crack from beneath. and the longer half of the centerboard bobbed up in our wake. Rigged like the rudder blades to kick up on impact, the inch-thick laminated mahogany airfoil had succumbed to a combination of torque and an internal fault. The boat seemed to handle quite respectably without any centerboard at all, using only her narrow, deep rudder as fins. (Since then, a new. stronger centerboard has been adopted.)

Off the wind, of course. no board is really necessary in open water, and in fact one can increase speed appreciably on a long passage by pulling up the centerboard and one rudder completely, and steering with just the immersed tip of the other. For close-quarters handling under power or sail, however, it's a good idea to have all three appendages fully dropped, to keep the hull's windage from taking over.

Later, with a new board, we tried maneuvering. Like all cats, she jibes with insolent ease, and one can easily pick up some bad habits that will have a monohull staggering badly. Tacking is a bit different: Like most lightweight, modern catamarans, Stiletto tacks abruptly: in a light breeze or a steep chop, she loses way quickly and has a tendency to stall. In irons, she picks up sternway immediately. Put the helm over, and she'll slide around to a close reach with no trouble.

Once the timing of a tack is mastered, however, she can be slapped from port to starboard fast and confidently, by keeping her moving and in the groove as long as possible. On a beat, she appeared to sail comparably close-hauled to a well-designed cruising sailboat, and in light airs, only slightly faster. This is, of course, a trap and every multihull sailor knows better than to pinch with a monohull when he can drop off five degrees and steam past her.

Under power, pushed by an outboard in the six-hp. range, Stiletto is easily driven and very maneuverable indeed, once one has become used to the feel of something at once so light and so beamy. I could imagine that she might be something of a handful in a crowded marina with a stiff breeze blowing, when the only course of action is to drive her right up to the pier and then kill the engine.

One of the principal reasons behind Stiletto's performance is her construction. The basis is aircraft-type Nomex honeycomb core about a quarter-inch thick. This extremely light and strong material is laminated with a fiberglass cloth that has been preimpregnated with resin. The pre-preg is stored in large refrigerators, holding the catalyzed resin in suspension. Removed from the cooling chamber, the cloth is quickly applied over the Nomex and then the combination is cooked until it has set. The result is an impressive degree of control (and thus uniformity) in construction, and a far easier material for the building crew to deal with John Cloud keeps samples and heating records of each batch of laminate. so that if there are any problems they can be tracked and corrected.

The level of finish throughout each Stiletto is impressive. Not only are the hulls remarkably fair and the equipment well planned and installed, but the whole product shows an attention to detail characteristic of the best traditional yacht builders.

Although Stiletto can certainly make a case for herself among people who already own a multihull it seems to me that her potential appeal is considerably broader. For much of the country, her cruising accommodations are pretty basic except for the young and hardy, but she is quite suitable for the warm-weather weekending that so many people enjoy. Still, her real strength is a combination of scorching performanceshe has already proven herself a boat to beat in a number of distance and day races-trailability, and the ego-building boost of owning an unusual, obviously sophisticated performance boat without having to develop stomach muscles like the ridges on an oldfashioned washboard or the biceps of a light-heavyweight boxer.

And all for $13,985 with sails Force Engineering. 5329 Ashton Ct., Sarasota, Fla., 33583.

Reprinted from YACHTING, October 1979

More articles in category Big Beachcats & General Stories

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• Adventures of a Newbie (by delaunhe on Apr 22, 2010)
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• Sailboat Guide

Stiletto 27

Stiletto 27 is a 26 ′ 10 ″ / 8.2 m catamaran sailboat designed by Bill Higgins/Don Ansley and built by Stiletto Catamarans (Force Engineering) starting in 1976.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Originally called STILETTO as this was the first in the series. Available as: Championship Edition (1977) Special Edition (1978) GT (daggerboards in each hull) Beams collapsible to 7.95’/2.42m for transport. Dimensions and all up weight as shown on 1976 brochure.

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performance in cruising catamarans

Sailing on a Stiletto® 27 (VIDEO)

Major Stiletto Hacks

There is, by definition, no boat out there that is ready to accept our electronic systems and magically become the Microship. We have too many strange requirements. The following comments are not intended as a complete catalog of mechanical projects, but instead address the major issues that MUST be dealt with if this is to work.

Kayak stow/launch

We need some sort of dinghy on the ship, and would like playboats as well for exercise and exploration. An excellent solution is a pair of kayaks (seaworthy, fast, light, and fun), but where to stow them on a sleek 27′ cat? After pondering this problem, I like the idea of fold-out stainless steel davits that hinge at the crossbeams, lay across the hull decks, and curve gracefully to match the decks of a pair of Current Designs rotomolded Solstice kayaks, one on each side (we’re trading the Libras back to the factory for the new singles). The interesting twist here is that the boats would be supported in stiff slings, linked to the mothership via blocks with about 6-part purchase. To deploy a kayak, simply load the hatches as necessary, step into it from the adjacent hull, uncleat the line, lower yourself into the water, and paddle away. To return, glide into the slings, haul up, cleat off, and step out. Since these would be in the way under most docking situations, the davits fold back onto the wingdeck and the kayak(s) stow onboard or under the boat between the hulls (the basement).

Self-trailering

This is not at all defined yet, but is a critical and inflexible requirement. Basically, the Microship will only work for open-ended technomadics if there is a way to take it on the road without having to import a tow vehicle and special trailer, and that translates into the need for a built-in trailer (trucks we can rent). Currently, the Stiletto trailer looks like a normal boat trailer with slide-out arms to accommodate the mode change; we’re going to need landing gear that deploy from the crossbeams, swing under the hulls for additional cradling support, and include adequate suspension. There also has to be a structure that serves as a tongue and hitch, but goes away when we’re on water. In addition, the boat has to come out of the water at 14′ beam and then slide into an 8′ road width… Charlie had the elegant idea of simply jacking up one side, slipping a little wheeled carriage under it, doing the compression, then removing the carriage. We discussed the self-trailering issue at length, and it seems possible; I’m hoping a UCSD student engineering team (Ames 156B next quarter) can take this on.

Mast deployment

Somewhat related to the foregoing is the mast deployment system. Normally this is part of the trailer — a gin pole is erected and used to winch the mast up and down. Here, we’ll need a pole or triangulated frame that can be folded vertically at the forward crossbeam and guyed, allowing the mast to be winched down (constrained loosely by the shrouds), until it comes to rest in a pair of rollers on the radar arch at the stern. At this point, the mast has to swing up off its step, rest on or near the winch, and roll forward until the CG is within that of the boat. This not only will allow us to raise and lower the mast when mode-changing between land and sea, but also when approaching a bridge that’s lower than 40′ off the water! Since we’re planning on some river and ICW travel, this is essential.

Solar array

Another major issue involves the 720-watt folding solar array. This is about 80 square feet of surface area, and there are only two possible places to put it when deployed: atop the tramp at deck level, or over the rigid deck as a cabin roof. In the former case, which is simplest, the 24 modules (30 watts each, 20×24″) are accordioned into a stack that is mounted athwartships just forward of the tramp. To deploy, we simply unfold the whole thing and lay it across the tramp, cinching it down along the sides to prevent problems with wind and water. (It is slightly frustrating that the 4-by-6 module array ends up with no exposed solar face when folded in this way, but I’m sure that’s a soluble problem.) The other idea is to perform a similar unfolding maneuver, but have rollers at the ends of all the hinges that carry the modules along an elevated track to form a convertible cabin roof. This can have zip-on fabric sides that extend over the cockpits, and otherwise be a useful space, but we would have to move jib tracks, change the centerboard to pivot (a good idea anyway), and reroute a few lines. To be truly comfortable, we might also want to raise the boom a bit, but the height is not bad as is and doing so involves a performance hit. I should add that there is currently no good place for Faun and me to comfortably share a berth, given the width of the hulls — in mild conditions we’ll want to tent over the tramp or do something similar with the main deck. So this could fit right in, as long as it doesn’t complicate sail handling overmuch…

Cockpit design

Finally, one of the Truly Major Issues here involves our actual working and living space. We have two hulls in the Stiletto, one for each of us, and they are not exactly palatial unless viewed beside the Fulmar. We had hoped to embed recumbent bicycles into the hulls as our primary seating area, auxiliary power generation system, and deployable land transport — though I still like this idea in principle, it badly impacts access to the berth areas. Abandoning that for now, the image I have is a rotating, sliding seat, allowing easy crawl-through access to the berth, comfortable forward-looking piloting with full helm control and console use, and backward-facing use of utility work areas (a lab/comm workstation in one hull and galley in the other). The bunks fold up to provide access to head, gear stowage, tankage, batteries, and so on; the bows are available as sail lockers and additional provisioning. The nice thing about this is that I can keep the console areas clean, limited to the Macs, navigation, and system monitor displays — moving the bulk of our control systems, power management, comm gear, and the like to the lab behind my seat where it won’t be so intrusive. There’s actually a moderate desk space there, giving me a small work area and chart table that can open to expose the systems for maintenance.

Well, Shall We?

As you can see, this possible Microship substrate would require some interesting mechanical engineering, but it is large enough to do the job without turning into a yacht. One of the reasons it’s so appealing is that I have found no other multihull that provides trailerability, adequate working/living space, good performance, and a high-tech “feel” at anywhere near this price (just under $15,000). The F/27 is a lovely machine, but even used ones cost $60,000 or more and, as Faun pointed out, they carry the cultural connotations of a BMW. Used trimarans abound in our price range, such as the venerable Searunner 31, but they cannot be made small enough to trailer (and we simply can’t relax that spec — not only do we have to do the development work in a land-based lab, but open-ended wandering requires occasional portages). Cheap monohulls are all over the place, but they don’t have enough deck for solar area and I don’t find them too interesting anyway. In short, we may at last be looking at a reasonable solution that does not involve a lengthy foray into boatbuilding or a radical departure from our basic design goals.

I look forward to any comments you may have… I want to make this decision soon, while the opportunity exists (although Stilettos do appear frequently in the classified ads in Multihulls Magazine , this one is in excellent shape, has rarely seen saltwater, and I have a good rapport with the owner).

Meanwhile, we press on — things are heating up with the project teams and overload is a way of life. And thanks go out to Adobe for the donation of PageMaker 5.0, which just arrived yesterday!

Continue to Issue #82…

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• Sailboat Reviews

This so-called “coastal cruiser” (we don't think so) is far out on the fringe, but does offer some advantages.

Many sailors consider multihull sailing to be on the fringe of our sport. If that is true, then the Stiletto catamaran is dangling one hull off the edge. It’s hard to mistake her appearance, with blazing topside graphics and aircraft-style, pop-top companionway hatches. It’s also hard for the average sailor to appreciate the sophistication of the Stiletto’s construction—epoxy-saturated fiberglass over a Nomex honeycomb core.

The 26′ 10″ Stiletto is anything but conventional. Multihulls larger than 20′ can usually be classified into one of two genre. The largest group is that of the “cruising” multihull, characterized by beamy hulls, with a cabin house across the bridgedeck, stubby undercanvassed rigs, and monohull-like displacements. They often have mediocre performance, and are sometimes regarded with embarrassment by multihull enthusiasts.

The other genre of large multihulls is characterized by light displacement, powerful rigs and lean interiors. Custom ocean racing trimarans fall into this category, as do a very few production catamarans like the Stiletto.

The Stiletto’s builder touted her trailerability, “scorching performance” and “cruising comforts.” She is supposed to be the next step for the sailor weaned on small high-performance catamarans. In fact, three of the five owners we spoke to were former Hobie 16 sailors.

Almost anyone can understand why catamarans like the Hobie 16 are so popular—they offer breathtaking performance without making great demands on a sailor’s expertise or pocketbook. To step up to a Stiletto is expensive, however. She was offered in three versions, along with a 30′ version introduced in 1983. For $17,950 in 1982, the Standard Stiletto had a mainsail and all but stripped interior and no options. The racing version, called the Championship Edition, came with a few options like deck hatches, rubrails and removable berths, plus extra racing sails, winches and a knotmeter; it cost $22,900. The cruising version, called the Special Edition, cost $24,900. That healthy chunk of cash bought the boat equipped with the options needed for pocket cruising, such as galley, head, berths, carpeted interior and running lights. Most Stilettos are Special Editions, followed by Standards and Championships.

Force Engineering (later Compodyne), a small, high-tech outfit in Florida, formed to build the Stiletto in 1978. Before he joined Force Engineering, co-owner/marketing director Larry Tibbe was an aircraft account salesman for Ciba-Geigy, a manufacturer of Nomex. Nomex coring is used in a variety of aircraft parts (for example, helicopter blades), as well as for the Stiletto’s hulls. Force’s survival strategy included the manufacture of several non-marine products out of Nomex, which helped them survive some bad times.

Construction

Very few boats are cored with Nomex honeycomb as are the Stiletto’s hulls and bridgedeck. Sandwiching a core material between two layers of fiberglass laminate is not a new technique; many boatbuilders use cores of balsa wood, Airex foam or Klegecell foam. Core construction offers several advantages over single-skin construction. It is stiffer for a given weight, lighter for a given stiffness, makes the boat quieter and reduces condensation.

Honeycomb is rarely used for boatbuilding because the molding procedure is far more sophisticated (and expensive) than with balsa or foam cores. Honeycomb can be made of several materials. We question the use of paper or aluminum honeycomb in boats, because of their susceptibility to water damage should the outer laminate of the core be ruptured. The Stiletto’s Nomex honeycomb core is made of nylon.

Force Engineering stated that a Nomex honeycomb-cored panel, for a given weight, is stronger, stiffer, less brittle and more puncture resistant than foam or wood cores. Nomex is also said to be impervious to water, so there would be no water migration between the honeycomb cells should the outer skin be ruptured.

These grandiose claims depend on a sophisticated and expensive molding procedure. Getting the honeycomb to bond to the fiberglass skins isn’t easy. First, Force Enginering buys its fiberglass cloth preimpregnated with epoxy resin. Most boat builders use polyester resin, which is an inferior adhesive, and saturate the fiberglass after it has been laid into the mold—a messy and inexact procedure. Preimpregnated cloth, or “prepreg,” has an exact resin-to-cloth ratio, which means that the builder always has the optimum strength-to-weight ratio. Most boat builders must err on the resin-rich side when saturating cloth, which increases weight but not strength.

To keep the prepreg cloth from curing before it is laid into the Stiletto mold, it must be shipped and stored in a refrigerator. To completely cure the prepreg after layup, the mold is placed in a modular oven and baked at 250 degrees for 90 minutes. At the same time, the fiberglass skins are vacuum-bagged to the honeycomb to ensure proper adhesion. Vacuum-bagging cored hulls is not a new technique, but for many builders it simply means laying a sheet of plastic into the mold and sucking the air out with a single pump (polypropylene line is often placed under the plastic to help distribute the vacuum).

Force Engineering uses a blotter to absorb any excess resin and 16 spigots to distribute the vacuum, a more effective technique. When finished, each of the Stiletto’s hulls weighs only 220 lbs. and is impressively strong and stiff.

The Stiletto’s hull and bridgedeck may be state-of-the-art, but the rest of her rig, like her aluminum mast and crossbeams, is built with conventional (and relatively heavy) technology. All-up, the Stiletto weighs 1,100 to 1,570 lbs, depending on optional equipment.

We wonder whether building the Stiletto of Nomex is worth the extra trouble and expense, or if she is being used as a platform to prove the material’s viability. Gelcoat cannot be used in the Stiletto’s molding process. instead, each boat must be faired with putty and painted with polyurethane. Paint has the advantage that it will not chalk like gelcoat, but it is more susceptible to nicks, scrapes and peeling, especially if improperly applied.

The Stiletto’s optional hull graphics are sticky-backed vinyl. Both the paint and the graphics were chipping on one five-year-old Stiletto we looked at.

The spars and the crossbeams are also painted with polyurethane. Although Force says it carefully sands and primes the spars, several of the masts we looked at had adhesion problems. The fittings were unbedded. The crossbeams were not anodized, and were only painted on the outside. Water can get inside the beams and accelerate corrosion.

The deck rests on an inward-turned hull flange, a common, safe design. But the deck is only epoxied to the hull without screws or bolts, inviting separation in the event of a catastrophic collision. Epoxy is undoubtedly stronger than polyester. However, we prefer mechanical fastenings in addition to a flexible adhesive like 3M 5200.

The Stiletto has a single daggerboard that is mounted on centerline through a slot in the bridgedeck. It is held snugly in place by a latticework of stainless steel tubes extending downward from the underside of the bridgedeck. This daggerboard frame is designed to collapse in the event of a hard grounding. There is no chance of the hull rupturing, as there would be with a daggerboard trunk built into the hull itself.

The Stiletto’s single board is not as efficient as the dual boards found on other catamarans, and the board’s support frame does tend to drag in the water while sailing. To keep water from squirting through the bridgedeck slot, the slot is covered by cloth gaskets. The gaskets occasionally jam.

The Stiletto has an airfoil daggerboard. Older models were made of wood, and chipped trailing edges were a common problem, The board is molded of fiberglass and more resistant to minor damage.

The Stiletto gets high marks for her rudders. They have strong aluminum heads and double lower pintles. To be beachable, a catamaran must have kick-up rudders; these kick-up systems often refuse to work when you need them most. However, the Stiletto’s rudders worked smoothly and positively.

The Price of Performance

Multihulls are separated from the monohull mainstream by several things (in addition to the number of hulls). The first is performance. Multihulls, particularly catamarans, are lighter, more easily driven and hence far more exhilarating to sail than most monohulls. Yet even a novice can enjoy catamaran performance in most wind conditions because of the tremendous initial stability that a catamaran’s beam offers.

The flip side of this hot performance is safety. Catamarans also have tremendous stability after they have capsized and turned turtle. All but the smallest catamarans are nearly impossible to right after they have gone completely upside down, especially if the mast is not airtight.

When reaching in strong winds, many catamarans have a nasty tendency to bury the leeward hull and pitchpole. Some cats can even be blown over backwards if a very strong puff catches the underside of the trampoline. Nearly all trimarans that are raced

offshore have watertight hatches on the bottom of the main hull to allow escape if the boat flips over.

Another price of performance is comfort. Multihulls tend to be wet. When you’re flying along at 20 knots, even a light spray can feel like a fire hose. It’s harder to find a comfortable spot to relax in when you’re sailing. The trampoline/bridgedeck separating the two hulls of a catamaran is usually flat—you sit on it, not in it. Moreover, the hulls of a thoroughbred multihull are narrow, so there is little space in which to put creature comforts. The wide-hulled, cabin-housed “cruising” catamarans are no more spritely than a monohull of similar displacement.

Multihulls are also less maneuverable than monohulls. They can be difficult to tack without getting into irons, and they have a much wider turning radius. Sailing in a crowded harbor takes greater care.

Trailerability

Force Engineering emphasized the Stiletto’s trailerability. True, she is light enough to be pulled by a modern automobile of modest power. But all of the owners we talked to said they rarely, if ever, trail their boats. 80% of the boats were sold with trailers, but it appears that most are used only for winter storage.

Rigging and launching the Stiletto is not a simple chore, despite the fact that the builder claimed a man and woman can do it in only 45 minutes. Owners say it takes at least several men well over an hour to do the job. The Stiletto has a beam of 13′ 10″; legal highway trailering width in most states is 8′. To solve this problem, both the Stiletto’s crossbeams and the trailer collapse to legal width. The compression tube that spans the bows must be removed for trailering, as must the dolphin striker beneath the mast step, and the 125 lb bridgedeck.

To raise and lower the mast, the headstay is shackled to a short, pivoting gin pole mounted just aft of the trailer winch. The winch is used to pull the gin pole, which in turn provides leverage to hoist the heavy mast. Owners say that lifting the bridgedeck and manhandling the spar is next to impossible with just a man and woman. The Stiletto assembly manual points out, “…she never fails to draw a crowd, so help is usually available if you are shorthanded.” As long as you have the muscle, this clever system does work.

The Stiletto is a performance catamaran. In a breeze, owners report, she is as fast or faster than a Hobie 16, but a bit undercanvassed in light air, especially with her 106 square foot working jib. This is preferable to over-canvassing; a catamaran of the Stiletto’s size cannot afford, for safety’s sake, to be a bear in heavy air.

According to owners, the Stiletto does not have some of the bad heavy air habits of smaller catamarans. They say she is relatively dry to sail, does not hike up and “fly a hull” too easily, has no tendency to pitchpole, and does not get “light” as she comes off a big wave sailing upwind. Like most catamarans, the Stiletto has a fully battened mainsail. The advantage of these sails is that they can have a much larger roach, and because the battens dampen luffing, the sail will last much longer. However, this inability to luff can present a real safety problem in a sudden squall. It is prudent to reef when the wind reaches 20 knots. A smaller roached, short-battened cruising mainsail is available as an option for offshore cruising. The sails that came as standard equipment seem to be of better than average OEM quality.

Stiletto sailors told us that they sail very cautiously in a strong breeze, knowing the dangers of capsizing so large a multihull. Once capsized, a catamaran turns turtle (completely upside down)very quickly. A turtled multihull with a mast full of water is nearly impossible to right. The Stiletto’s builder offers a self-righting kit as an option, but they have sold very few. The kit consists of a bulky foam float permanently mounted to the masthead, and a 17′ righting pole stowed under the bridgedeck. The float is supposed to prevent the boat from turning turtle while the righting pole is extended outward and its three stays are rigged to the underside of the boat. Then two crew swim out to a ladder dangling from the end of the pole, climb up to right the boat, then quickly swim free before the ladder drags them 17′ toward Davy Jones’ Locker. It’s no small wonder that the self-righting kit is not a popular option.

Force Engineering points out that the air cells of her honeycomb construction make her unsinkable in the event of a holing or capsize. However, they do not point out that once the hull is flooded, the boat cannot be sailed or motored home without inviting the flooded hull to submerge and pitchpole the boat. The Stiletto, like most high-performance catamarans, has a rotating mast. Owners say they have not had problems with the mast popping out of rotation while sailing upwind. The older masts have only athwartships diamond shrouds; the newer masts have an added third diamond extended forward to control fore-and-aft bend in a strong breeze. This three-diamond system is strongly welded together and a real plus for heavy weather sailing.

Deck Layout

The Stiletto has a solid bridgedeck stretched between the two hulls aft of the mast, and a polypropylene cloth trampoline forward of the mast. Those few sailors planning to venture offshore might want to remove the trampoline, lest it collect water in heavy seas. On Stilettos older than two years, the trampoline is laced with a series of hooks. On the newer boats the trampoline has bolt rope edges, and slides into tracks on the hull and crossbeams, a simpler and cleaner system.

The bridgedeck, which is where you spend most of your time, has no seats and is said by several owners to be uncomfortable. Because of this, the temptation when sailing is to sit on top of the flimsy companionway hatches. We feel that a “cruising” catamaran should have proper seats with angled seatbacks.

A wire stretched between the bows forward of the headstay acts as a traveler for the optional reacher/ drifter. Most sailors opt for this sail before they buy a cruising spinnaker. Poleless cruising spinnakers are more effective on a catamaran than on a monohull because they can be tacked on the weather hull, away from the blanketing effect of the mainsail. A roller furling headsail with a Hood Seafurl system was an option. Headsail winches were standard on the Championship Edition, otherwise they were an extra-cost option. A main halyard winch, which owners recommend, was another.

The Stiletto has a ball-bearing mainsheet traveler, a worthy item rarely found on catamarans. But the mainsheet has only a 6-to-1 purchase, which owners say is insufficient in a breeze. The tiller extension passes behind the mainsheet and the tiller crossbar is adjustable so you can align the two rudders. The jibsheets are led to Harken ratchets to make trimming easier. The outboard engine bracket is hung off the aft compression beam.

Those of you who have peeked below on the Stiletto might ask, “What interior?” It’s a valid question. The Standard Stiletto version is nothing but an empty shell below. Depending on the care that was taken during the vacuum-bagging process, the interior hull surface can be smooth or quite rippled. Either way, the Nomex gives the boat a long-lasting smell similar to mouse droppings (we could still smell it on a five year old boat).

The popular Special Edition was described by the builder as a “luxury coastal cruiser”; though it cost nearly $25,000 new, we would be more comfortable on a Catalina 22. The Special Edition’s interior is completely covered—ceilings, overhead and sole—with Aqua Tuft marine carpeting. Owners say it is durable and does not mildew, but we feel carpet belongs in a house, not a boat.

The Stiletto has the narrow hulls of a fast catamaran, which means that her berths are only 31″ wide. The Special Edition has 14′ of built-in berth forward of the companionway in each hull. For two people to sleep easily in a berth, they have to lie end-to-end.

Crawling toward the bow to get to the forward berth is like crawling down a narrowing tunnel—it gave us claustrophobia. If a normal-sized couple really wanted a good night’s sleep, they would have to bed down in separate hulls. There is some stowage area under the berths, but access to it is just plain difficult.

The Special Edition has a self-contained head under one berth. A pump-out head was not an option. The Special Edition also has a small galley built of “marble finish” plastic laminate over plywood; we think that even the most “with it” cat sailor would consider it gaudy. The galley has a sink with a hand pump and a two-gallon water tank. There is no permanently mounted stove; a portable stove is more practical for the weekend cruiser.

An option that we recommend is the mosquitotight bridgedeck tent. The bridgedeck cushions that are standard on the Special Edition should make the tent, and hence the whole boat, somewhat livable. The Special Edition is also the only version of the Stiletto that has running and interior lights.

Perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Stiletto is her conical companionway hatches (“canopies,” as in jet fighter-like). It’s hard to be impartial about their appearance—you either like ’em or you don’t. We don’t. The canopies are formed of dark, bendy plastic. They open vertically like a pop-top hatch, and swing on flimsy aluminum tubes that are not well secured to their mounts.

Owners say the canopies are watertight, but the rubber gaskets in which they sit were rotting badly on the older boats we saw. For that matter, the rubber gaskets on the bridgedeck were rotting, too. Trying to sleep in the Stiletto’s hulls could be very stuffy on a rainy night. Because the canopies rock forward as they “pop-up,” it’s hard to leave them open a crack like a conventional hatch, and there are no companionway boards.

Conclusions

There is probably no production hull built in the US with a better strength-to-weight ratio than the Stiletto catamaran. Her Nomex honeycomb fabrication is truly impressive. But is it necessary? Just as some builders “overkill” with heavy solid laminates, we feel that Force Engineering overkilled in the other direction. Conventional coring probably could have created an adequately strong and light boat that would have provided just as much sailing fun for less money.

The next question is, “What do you do with her?” The Stiletto seems to appeal to the catamaran sailor hooked on high performance, but who wants a boat in which he can “go someplace.” The Stiletto is quick, but she won’t get someplace any faster than a small catamaran. She may be dryer, but she still lacks comfortable seating and sleeping. When you get to where you are going you have very little comfort for the money you’ve spent on the boat. And when you get home, you have a considerable chore ahead of you if you plan to load her onto a trailer.

All the owners we talked to said they love the way the boat sails and have no complaints about her construction. Yet we still don’t feel the Stiletto is practical. There are other, less expensive options for the multihull sailor who wants to weekend cruise. Any catamaran can be rigged with a tent on the trampoline/bridgedeck. Inflatable air mattresses stow easily and make fine temporary berths. And some catamarans, such as the much-less-expensive P-Cat 2/18, have the dry stowage in their hulls to carry camping supplies. Small catamarans are ultimately safer, because they can be righted from a capsize, and they are infinitely easier to trailer.

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The official website for owners of the stiletto catamarans, welcome to wildjibe.com.

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Stiletto Catamaran made their first boat, the Stiletto 27, in 1976. The Stiletto 27 is an American trailerable catamaran sailboat that was designed by Bill Higgins and Don Ansley as a racer/cruiser. It was one of the most technologically advanced sailboats ever built in production. 43 years later, hundreds of Stiletto Catamarans are still sailing today, faster than most catamarans in her size range. Over 500 Stiletto 27s were built between 1976 and 1985. With an epoxy and Nomex core this cat was ahead of her time.

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1977/ 2005 reconditioned Stiletto 27 Price Reduced!!!!

Irving, 4107 Wingren Drive

Mark.Williams

Sold my Lake House, need to sell the "Bad Girl". One of the finest and fastest beach catamaran sailboats ever made. Great for day sailing, camping or weekending. It has a hard cockpit with a forward trampoline. It will sleep 2 people in each hull. You sail high and dry on this boat, not a wet ride like smaller beach catamarans. This Stiletto 27 catamaran was reconditioned to like new condition by the manufacturer in 2005. The boat was set up for blue water sailing around the Florida Keys by Stiletto Catamaran. It has many upgrades: structural glassed in bed frames with extra floatation, upgraded and upsized sea hatches, upgraded Harken winches, cockpit sun shade, new Optima gel battery, 2 Harken roller furling head sails, updated square top main, lazy jacks, 15hp Mercury motor, VHF radio with mast mounted antenna, Sony Marine AM/FM CD, porta potty head, new upgraded centerboard, hull mounted GPS antenna, coffee table gas tank cover and galvanized trailer. Bottom job is in very good condition. Dry sailed in fresh water since 2005. Kept on a custom lift at Cedar Creek Lake,TX see photos. Forward trampoline is in like new condition. 14' beam and transforms into 8' wide for trailering. Many sailors single hand these boats because they are so easy to sail, but there is room for plenty of friends or the whole family. She sails sweet and makes you feel like you are on vacation. I paid $27k and added roller furling, radio, lazy jacks and gel battery. My loss, your gain!! Call me to schedule a viewing : 214 577 1928