My friend, Jim, who lives in Florida showed me his Herreshoff Cat Ketch, S/V Dream Weaver. His yacht was the last of the line of these custom made by Cat Ketch Yacht (CKY) company. Hull#2 is located in Maryland, hull#3 is in New York, hull#4 and hull#5 are in Florida. Jim has many nautical miles under his sails, and has sailed Dream Weaver to the Bahamas more than 100 times. He has also made many improvements and/or changes to the boat to accommodate his preference for cruising adventures.
The most notable change S/V Dream Weaver has are the masts. The masts are not elliptical as the original design. They are circular in shape, which makes them flex less. The stiffness means that the boat does not spill air as the original masts, and they provide power to move Dream Weaver faster on the water. As Jim wrote me "..We've been in some 10-15' quartering seas surfing at 14-18 kts in 25-40 kt winds.." The masts have platforms for winches, and they are taller than the original masts. Both mast look new and show plenty of care.
Some additional features of Dream Weaver are redundancy in many of its systems; water, electrical, charging, auto pilot, navigation, and safety. Moreover the interior includes some of following: hatch hood to redirect air to forward birth, special designed latch so the deck hatch can be opened fore or aft, water maker, added foam for higher level of positive floatation, drawers in cabinets that extend to within an inch of hull -- makes use of all space, storage for 40 bottles of wine, -- Who needs drinking water eh? -- and much more. Jim has a technical spec document of all the additional features and functions that Dream Weaver contains, which can be forwarded upon request.
One can easily note that Dream Weaver has been given much attention. Although Jim, will always stay a sailor in some regard, he has recently told me that his boat is available for purchase. Any future owner of Dream Weaver will quickly realize that it is a unique boat.
