Charlotte Harbor Company embarks on new boat building project

by John Lange on 4 Sep 2013 For over 10 years John and Marge Lange have been serving in the boating community. The first six years in Portage, Wi as owners of a Tracker Marine dealership selling and servicing the small boat market with annual sales nearing $1.5 million. They currently own and operate a boat dealership in Charlotte Harbor, FL Charlotte Harbor Sails where they specialize in selling trailerable and brokerage sail boats.

In early spring of 2013 John and Marge embarked on a process to bring the Manta Catamaran Sail and Power Cats back to life. As a small business they lacked the financial means to fully fund this project and began seeking financial assistance with a few well-chosen private equity firms and individuals. To this date they have been unsuccessful in attaining the funding that they need to be successful at building and marketing the line properly.

In August of this year, after emailing with Kurt Hughes a marine architect in Seattle, about his various Catamaran and Trimaran designs, John approached Kurt about designing a scaled down version of his 40 foot Trimaran design. He immediately came back with the updated Trikala 19 that he original designed for an Italian company many years ago.
The second John saw the wave piercing bows, slim waterline and expanded cockpit area, he knew that this is the boat for their future. This project they could afford to build and would fit in their existing building without having to rent major industrial space to get started.

After many, many emails back and forth and making some initial forays into the market to see if this design was feasible, John ordered the blueprints on August 24, 2013. Hoping the plans will arrive soon, so that they can begin ordering materials and start construction ASAP.

John and Marge hope to have a functional boat built by Mid-October to be released and shown at the upcoming Buzzelli Multi Hull Regatta in Sarasota Florida.

For more information go to 3Hulls website