Shark Catamaran (Shark 17 or 18)
Description
The Shark Catamaran (Shark 17 or Shark 18) is a lightweight beach/racing catamaran designed by Dale Whittington in 1969, first built by Shark Catamarans (Florida) and later by Hobie Cat Company and Performance Catamarans through the 1970s-1980s. Thousands were produced (exact count undocumented but high-volume like Hobie models), using fiberglass hulls, trapeze wires, and sloop rig for speed and agility—popular for beach sailing, racing, and instruction. Key features: narrow hulls for planing, rotating mast, asymmetric spinnaker option, and easy righting.
Construction Details
| Designer | Dale Whittington |
|---|---|
| Builder | Shark Catamarans (Florida) |
| Length | 17.167 ft |
| LOA | 17.167 ft |
| LWL | 17.000 ft |
| Beam | 7.833 ft |
| Displacement | 320 lb |
| Max Draft | 3.000 ft |
| Min Draft | 0.750 ft |
| Year Built | 1967 |
The standard boat dimensions
| i | 18 ft |
|---|---|
| j | 6 ft |
| p | 21 ft |
| e | 10 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 ft | 6 ft | 21 ft | 10 ft | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Shark Catamaran (Shark 17 or 18) - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 26 ft - (7925 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 10 ft - (3048 mm) |
| Leech | * 27.4 ft - (8352 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88.01 ° |
| Diagonal | * 27.53 ft - (8391 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 4.5 in - (114 mm) |
| Area | 129.85 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Shark Catamaran (Shark 17 or 18) - JIBSAIL
| Luff | 20 ft - (6096 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 8.25 ft - (2515 mm) |
| Leech | 18.5 ft - (5639 mm) |
| Length Perpendicular | 7.63 ft - (2326 mm) |
| Area | 76.27 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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