Quote Originally Posted by Top Banana View Post

So as the 24's were taking on a life of their own, we moved up to play with the big boys. A new 38 footer was tasked to French designer JC Simon. I wanted a race boat that was the latest in design and could also be used to build a pleasure boat version.

We were able to block the mold at 4 feet shorter and take both 38 foot and 34 foot boats out of the same mold. JC Simon wanted to build boats oput fo the mold also for his European customers, so we agreed to share the molds. He would call his boats Coyotes and they would be 34 feet long. Mine would be called Banana Boats and would be exactly the same size, but for marketing purposes for sales to the USA customers I called mine 33 footers.

I built one 33 footer for myself, to see how it would turn out and these are the photos of the boat from beginning to end. The boat was delivered to me in all white gelcoat. I had it painted black with a tan boot stripe and left the deck white. I put in twin Mercruiser sterndrives of 454 cu in and 370 HP ratings with TRS drives and cleaver props. This was going to be a pleasure cruiser not a race boat. I kept it in the water in Newport RI to watch the America's Cup races that summer.

I wanted to change the standard interior of these go fasts with a little more comfort. The cockpit floor and cabin floor was done with a wood parquet. Extensive use of teak through out the cabin area was used. Upon entering the cabin, you were greeted with a circular couch with a pit for your feet. You could seat 8 people in this first cabin. Above your head was a skylight that flooded the cabin with natural light. The next area forward was for clothes storage and the sound system. Then the next cabin forward has the vee berth with porta potti under and a teak arch above to support the long deck span. The interior fabric was corduroy and suede in various shades of brown / tan. The hulls sides next to the berth held teak shelves for watches or billfolds or whatever. Standar large hatch was over the berth. The rear seat carried a deflated 10 foot Avon raft tender and a small 4HP Merc outboard for the tender.

Not sure if I missed it, but what year was this?