So I just acquired a Peter Lynn Kite Cat recently, and was told that there are only a handful of these left in the world. I'm pretty sure this is the only one currently in Alaska. Curiosity is getting the better of me, so I want to know, who all is still flying them? Post pics if you can (I'll do the same when I get home). I'd love to see how many are still in action....

There aren't too many around. I have one in Cambridge Ontario Canada and a friend named Eric near Ottawa has an early design. Last I heard Aaron still had his in Minnesota and was trying to sell it a number of years back. Todd Hanson had acquired two from Hawaii and last I heard a few years ago they were sitting in San Diego and one was sold and the other was either going to Wisconsin or sold if the price was right. Tom/Red Sky has (had?) one in the UK...hmm a couple more about overseas that i know of but not many in north america.
Where did you acquire yours from?
I'll post a bit more later on the one i have.
Mark

New ones might be able to be had for a nominal fee.

http://www.peterlynnkites.com/vehicles/kitecat

There haven't been any kite cats made for quite a few years, as far as I know there are only used ones for sale but some are in pristine condition with little use. Dave Kay (formerly of DK kiteboarding) was building the hulls and he then went on to be in charge of Cabrinha's board building. The cats went through a few mods over the years and my friend Eric has one of the first few and mine was the first with a hinged frame to fold narrower for transport and then you'll see later models had the rear rudders moved from extending off the rear of the hulls to slightly forward and all underneath the hulls and then the side spray skirts were included as well

I saw your post about the wind rider trimaran as a kite boat and when i saw one many years ago I thought they should work great - the Race (hydrofoil version by Windrider) looks fantastic to use with a kite .... but $$. The kite cat really bounces and plows more constantly throwing a lot of splash in your face.

Never got a chance to ride the foil version of the windrider, but the 16ft single #@%$#!pit version works great for kiting. It upwinds much better than the Cat, and isn't as bouncy. You sit a lot lower as well. The upwind capability is due to the huge keel built into the shape of the hull. Where it falls short compared to the Kite Cat is turning, the Cat turns on a dime, while the windrider makes big sweeping turns. The other disadvantage is the weight. By the time I've pushed the windrider down to the waterline I'm exhausted, while the Cat can just be picked up & walked down. I like both, they're a lot of fun when the wind's not strong enough for the kiteboard, wouldn't really recommend one over the other. Both have their merits. Kite Cat is new to me, so I'm sure for the foreseeable future it will see a lot more use.

The one I have is the first generation, I believe. It showed up in Homer, AK back in 2009 at our summer Kite Fest. It was owned by a guy from Wasilla, Tim is his name, I think. He's a member of PKF, or at least was, "cometaflyer" was his screen name. He sold it to Steve Carr, who is the co-owner of Alaska Kite Adventures out of Anchorage and a Ozone rep for AK. Steve unfortunately had a paragliding accident and broke his back. He's been slowly on the road to recovery, but felt the Cat needed to be in the hands of someone that would put it to use more often, so I bought it, and his PL buggy from him. I took a few snapshots of the Cat on my way out to work this morning. The pics are kinda lame, it's sitting on my trailer next to the Windrider, but here it is:

hahaha, PKF changed "c o c k p i t" to #@%$#! that's funny.

I'll post a few pics of mine later today. The one I have was owned by a long time kite friend in Buffalo NY. She was in a relationship with another good friend a PKF legend named AJ (actually Charles Jackson). AJ rode the cat in Hatteras while he lived there then after his death Meg and I came to an agreement on the kite cat as it was sitting in her back yard in very poor shape in buffalo for a couple of years. I picked it up and sanded it down and patched the holes in the hulls and got a new seat for it. The first thing myself and a buddy noticed when we sat in it was the steering and seat position was WAY too short for us - being over 6ft in a cat you have your knees in your arm pits. Eric had told me that he had cut and moved his steering set up to the other side of the frame, moving it 10cm forward and that also helped get his weight centered better and the hulls riding a little flatter. long story short but I moved my steering forward as well and it's a much better position for me. Looking at the way you have your front straps for the seat going straight ahead, the only thing i do different is run them out at an angle and around the T join of the side rail and front frame. They are long enough and being at an angle opens up the area to stand in front of the seat better. I also sewed up seat belt webbing in a criss cross trampoline/net to fill the area from side rail to hull. The idea being it would help crawl back on if i ever came out of it. makes a nice spot for someone to sit as well. For me it's a pain just getting set up to take it somewhere. i have to strap a wide 2x4 in front of my roof rack and run the straps down through my vehicle so while driving i have a strap around my head - then another 2x4 behind my roof rack and strap that down through my car just to get a wide enough support to transport the cat - so the set up on the rack takes longer than actually putting the cat on etc. And I think it's the long trips at higher speed on the roof rack that keeps causing small stress cracks along the seams of the two hull pieces. Having the cat warm up in the sun then going in cooler water will draw in water through the small cracks with the internal pressure change. I'm going to sand down the hulls again this winter and glass along the seam to strengthen that join area. Also when i have ridden it in some good wind and waves I'm sure I'm pounding and twisting the heck out of it as I do a lot of power down loops with the kite to do fast turn and submarined the front end a few times as the tail is lifted by a wave as the kite starts top go full power as i'm pointing down - all good and a real laugh.
Overall I ride it in lighter winds with my big arcs up to the point when have enough to surf. The biggest problem here is I find the cat works best in flatter water and as soon as we get wind it will go from small chop to bunched up waves and chop and swell mixed together and it doesn't take much wave height before the bottom of the seat is always slapping a wave or small chop so i feel myself speed up and that slap of water on your butt and you feel the drag. turns on a dime and feels like riding a buggy. I love it the most when i find a place with flatter water and the wind comes up more and i can throw the kite around and just crank the turns and power it up and get that big splash of water and spray and try and get it up on one hull and then crank another sharp turn - rock and roll! I have never ever taken any of my go pros out with me on the cat so i've never taken video riding it and the best sessions I've always wished I had video but i do have photos of the cat - you can even see it sitting in my driveway on google street view!

I like the webbing. Think I'll have to do that too. That way I can traumatize my children some more... I'm 6.2", but I didn't seem to have a whole lot of issue with the footpeg position. My seat has a lot of play in where it can be positioned by adjusting the front & rear strap lengths. I've yet to get it right, the first time I adjusted it to where I was struggling to reach the pedals comfortably, the second time my knees were in my chest. Somewhere in between & I'll be good, hehe. Unfortunately I don't have a garage, what's my best bet for longevity? Is cracking from the sun going to be my biggest concern, or do I need to worry about the Alaskan winter temps too? Putting a tarp over it is easy enough, but protecting it from the cold will be far more challenging. Fortunately I've gotten pretty good at fiberglass work.... I just had to repair my kiteboard last week after an" interesting" session at low tide... rode for about 1.5 hours in about 3 inches of water. Hit lots of shells & rocks along the way, chewing up my heelside edge. oops! A bit of putty and a strip of fiberglass & my board is good to go.

I had the one Peter Lynn brought over to the states for NABX about 10 years ago. I bought it in 2010 and sold it last year. It is now in Mexico.

Quote: Originally posted by AD72

I had the one Peter Lynn brought over to the states for NABX about 10 years ago. I bought it in 2010 and sold it last year. It is now in Mexico.

this one? (from my 2006 NABX photos)

There's a fish out of water.

Quote: Originally posted by markite

Quote: Originally posted by AD72   I had the one Peter Lynn brought over to the states for NABX about 10 years ago. I bought it in 2010 and sold it last year. It is now in Mexico. this one? (from my 2006 NABX photos)

I think that is the one you have. The one I had was yellow.
I had the same problems with you fitting into the small seat. I was thinking of making modifications but never got around to it. I got it when I was first learning to kiteboard. It was just much more fun on a board and cumbersome to launch the boat. If I was closer to water I would have hung on to it.

Click on the photo to get to the other shots of the boat. This was at Thermalito Afterbay not far from Chico California. There were cracks around the front rudders that I fixed. One of the pontoons was damaged in the original shipping to the states.

The one I have was also a coloured hull, it was very faded light orange when I picked it up. Mine also has hinged connections at each point where the two struts that come off the pontoon meet the main frame. Then there is a short support underneath each hinge that is tightened to fix the hinged connection at the proper angle...but I don't fold the frame anyway, I'd have to undo each small support to swing it away and also disconnect the steering linkage.
I recall hearing a story of a tow motor fork going through a hull when it was being shipped.
For me there are a couple of places that I can use it where I drive about an hour and a half and can park within 100 feet of the water but other places it's a hundred yards or more over dunes etc and always heavier carrying it back. And I don't know how many times I banged into something sticking out when it's on my car no matter how many times I warn others and twice Fiona has turned around walked straight into a rear rudder edge and put her down on the ground crying so I really need to make some foam cover I fit over them for safety. It is far easier to get out kiteboarding but when I can take it to one of those beaches when it's a lighter wind forecast and still get out on the water it a fun ride.
photos: picking it up to start fixing it, first time back in water after refurb

damn...need one of these to fall in my lap