Crowther 48 owned by Jock and Ruth Main.

Boating Hardware supplied all composite materials, deck hardware, paint and internal fitout.

Jock and Ruth just returned from a 6 year cruise of The Indian Ocean where Backchat was their home and faithful cruising platform.  Backchat also turned a few heads in some regetta’s along the way as well.

Backchat is currently located in Queensland and is for sale.  Contact Boating Hardware for more information.

Galah is a 29ft x 20ft Corwther Harrier built by Chris Gaudet (the owner of Boating Hardware) out of foam sandwich kevlar/epoxy.  She is cross beam dismountable cat with full headroom, a generous 1.2m hull beam, rotating rig and spectra sails.

The name says it all as many people think you would have to be a Galah to sail a cat, let alone build one!!  In keeping with this theme each individual hull is painted differnt colours, pink and grey, inside and out!

The boat used composite technology far in advance of even the design plans.  It took Chris some 6000 hours to build, even the iside of the hulls needed to be faired.  Galah weighed 17ookg in full cruising trim including inflatable, outboard and diving gear.

Some comments from Chris “Galah’s rig was a bit small and she strugled to impress in light airs, but in 15 knots she was fast and in 25 she was unbeatable.  I have never sailed a boat before that felt so safe and powerful, right up to the limits.  She would plow into the backs of waves at 17 knots, slow a little then burst out the other side.  Top speed was 22.3 knots in FLAT WATER!!”

“At those sorts of speeds she was a weebit wet.  Sometimes on a long reach the spray was so bad my eyes would refuse to open”

Chris eventually sold the boat to a local buyer who recently sold her on to her current owner on the Eastern Seaboard.