Hi
have purchased a Cloud 9, in circumstances where the seller is not able to give me any introduction or a once -over on the boat. Unfortunately there is almost zero documentation as well.
I have posted and joined several/many Facebook groups ( including one titled "Simpson catamaran owners" ) and have had no responses in the last 2 weeks.
My insurer actually suggested this forum, so does anyone have , or know someone who has/had a Simpson Cloud 9 ?They are quite different from the associated production Cloud 12 which had centrally located engines and a prop drive. Cloud nines' all have saildrives located further aft.Any and all help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Search " Simpson 30 " in Utube and you will see one in action :)

what info are you chasing

Blue dog, it sounds very similar to the cat a mate had a few years back. From memory had wee little diesels ( maybe 10 hp cat ? yellow ?) port n starboard, mounted in the aft section of the hulls. The mast was blue. Simba was her name

Boatcraft are the agents for Simpson plans they may be able to help.

boatcraft.com.au/Shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=32_33&sort=20a&page=1&zenid=596aa9f7c34f3262bd49a1efdb170d76

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Ihi all, thanks for the replies
I'll try to reply in other :)


'm after some info re a few mystery switches and hull tanks , like an unlabelled old Style electrical toggle switch above and near the WC.
I saw that tomcat had been sold , are you, or do you know the previous or new owner
Boat craft have been contacted and advice that they have no information re the cloud nine.
Any help appreciated :)

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woko said..
Blue dog, it sounds very similar to the cat a mate had a few years back. From memory had wee little diesels ( maybe 10 hp cat ? yellow ?) port n starboard, mounted in the aft section of the hulls. The mast was blue. Simba was her name

Yes that would be it, original were 10 HP Yanmar. Did / does your mate still have any photos or info, or can put me in contact with the new owner ? Thanks for the reply

Unfortunately he's no longer with us. It was sold on to a very salty young family on the tweed

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BlueDogOz said..

Ihi all, thanks for the replies
I'll try to reply in other :)


'm after some info re a few mystery switches and hull tanks , like an unlabelled old Style electrical toggle switch above and near the WC.
I saw that tomcat had been sold , are you, or do you know the previous or new owner
Boat craft have been contacted and advice that they have no information re the cloud nine.
Any help appreciated :)

when you say hull tanks do you mean the keel water tank ,if so i think there volume is about 200l each .your wiring will be differnt to mine as mine has been rewired, wc could be in rear of boat or the center ,best to trace out wiring to see what it does. mine has shower sump, toilet pump,and holding tank pump out located in the wc.my boat is a modifyed design of the cloud 9and now 10.5 meters long they used the cloud nine mould and then added to it

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grich62 said..

BlueDogOz said..

Ihi all, thanks for the replies
I'll try to reply in other :)


'm after some info re a few mystery switches and hull tanks , like an unlabelled old Style electrical toggle switch above and near the WC.
I saw that tomcat had been sold , are you, or do you know the previous or new owner
Boat craft have been contacted and advice that they have no information re the cloud nine.
Any help appreciated :)

when you say hull tanks do you mean the keel water tank ,if so i think there volume is about 200l each .your wiring will be differnt to mine as mine has been rewired, wc could be in rear of boat or the center ,best to trace out wiring to see what it does. mine has shower sump, toilet pump,and holding tank pump out located in the wc.my boat is a modifyed design of the cloud 9and now 10.5 meters long they used the cloud nine mould and then added to it

yes, the wc here is in the rear in front of the port engine. have located the two fresh water tanks in the keel/hull , and have located holding tank under the seat opposite the nav desk on the port side. These seems to be another mystery tank on the starboard side with an inlet on the side deck with "fuel" marked on the cap, dont know if this is for the starboard water or for some independent tank that is under a screwed down access interior floor plate the the aft of the water tank access plate on that side.
its all early days as a total newbie - every day is an adventure :)
any chance of a photo of your cat ? I assume they added sugar scoops. I'm particularly interested in how the wc and shower have been located and finished. from what i have been able to see so far, the "voyager 36" cats are the cloud nine design (with saildrives etc) , albeit quite larger, with a head in a module in the middle of the boat.
I'm not allowed to post links or photos here yet as I've just joined up- but i will as soon as i can
cheers

An advert for a 10.5 here which may have some useful information. 2 small sail drives. Some advert text re the engines appears to be not valid or confused. May or may not be the Cloud 9 extended.

www.inautia.com/used-boat-27126110192299100569710057495445.html

A link to a 10.2 with photos on 2nd page - may or may not be Cloud 9 extended.

www.boatdesign.net/threads/simpson-catamaran-designs.57892/

where are you located

grich62
the boat is in the Port Stevens area in NSW.

Thank you so much for those photos, it gives me hope/direction to upgrade the interior of the filthy pit that the current head is.

Unfortunately I still cant do photos, but I can see that you have far more headroom for the shower.I assume that the decorated porthole and sink is opposite the wc and the porthole opens to the cockpit area,
in this boat there is only 5cm from the porthole's top to the "roof" - which is the port cockpit seat.
However I can definitely get the surfaces for the head and shower to that stage (which looks good by the way), as they currently have grimy stick-on vinyl , and is totally open to the engine enclosure .
Also really like the swim platform and sugar scoops,

EDIT: Just worked out the difference, in the first photo, you have an extended area painted green aft of the port windows, in this cat that area does not exist, and the fibreglass follows the window slope down and is only about 50mm away from the window slope. So thats where your cat gets its headroom from - very good design alteration.if you get a chance would like to get some photos of that exterior form, to see if its possible to make a similar alteration . No rush, just glad you posted these photos ;)

i think that area you talk about is where the original cloud 9 mould was cut to add in a meter to become a cloud ten my boat was further modifyied to repair the original builders sloppy work you will notice the rudders and the bulbus bow were changed and the stern was lifted out of the water to allow better water release as well as longer keels all this was professionally done

the starboard aft cabin has also got full standing room


i dont think you could do much as you would loose your rear seating i think that is why some cloud 9 had wc in middle of the boat

Im giving my boat a real hard look, and I don't see how, the way it ,is that you could put the WC admidships and still have stair/hull access on both sides to the aft and forward berths.
the "nav desk" would be gone totally of course.i'll measure the bulkhead to bulkhead width later today to double check.
I can see how those Side "cabinets" ( for want of a better word) in the cockpit can be done, I'm fairly certain that the seat form incursion into the aft berths in my boat actually continue past and forward of the front of the engine/bed front panel, where it seems that yours finish level with that panel, that would be the start of those "cabinets"
the stern sugar-scoop extensions are of course a no-brainer if you have the money and opportunity and want to upgrade the sailing speed and reduce hobby-horsing (JIMHO)
If at some time in the future you could give me a measurement for the horizontal width of the inner face of the port cabinet, the side/face that has that butterfly transfer on it, near the tiller/wheel i'd be very grateful.
I'll take a measurement of the horizontal seat length of the port cockpit length today and post it up to see if it is the same or longer than yours.Really like the rain gutter lip on the cockpit binimi

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BlueDogOz said..
Im giving my boat a real hard look, and I don't see how, the way it ,is that you could put the WC admidships and still have stair/hull access on both sides to the aft and forward berths.
the "nav desk" would be gone totally of course.i'll measure the bulkhead to bulkhead width later today to double check.
I can see how those Side "cabinets" ( for want of a better word) in the cockpit can be done, I'm fairly certain that the seat form incursion into the aft berths in my boat actually continue past and forward of the front of the engine/bed front panel, where it seems that yours finish level with that panel, that would be the start of those "cabinets"
the stern sugar-scoop extensions are of course a no-brainer if you have the money and opportunity and want to upgrade the sailing speed and reduce hobby-horsing (JIMHO)
If at some time in the future you could give me a measurement for the horizontal width of the inner face of the port cabinet, the side/face that has that butterfly transfer on it, near the tiller/wheel i'd be very grateful.
I'll take a measurement of the horizontal seat length of the port cockpit length today and post it up to see if it is the same or longer than yours.Really like the rain gutter lip on the cockpit binimi

the center wc had 2 door ways and you had to walk through the wc to get to the port cabin it also ment the center table area had a wall on the port seat its a bad design
the side cabnets on my boat are also great to lean on while driving
iwill try to measure the area, but i wont be on the boat till next week end
your observation of the rear berth area is correct ,that is were the exta length is . its about 800mm longer to the main bulk head .
the sun has killed the bimmy up hear so i am going to build a hard top in winter

bulldogoz do you have the bulbus bows on your boat,as they were ment to stop hobby horsing in smooth water

yes, they are there, they are also to give a lower energy requirement/cruse at a single specific speed, by manipulating the bow wave to imitate a longer waterline, , at least that is the reason (AFAIK) for their existence on large ships , and I took photos while out of the water, but cant post them yet :(
OK - I now get that WC "passageway" concept - yes not so great.

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BlueDogOz said..
yes, they are there, they are also to give a lower energy requirement/cruse at a single specific speed, by manipulating the bow wave to imitate a longer waterline, , at least that is the reason (AFAIK) for their existence on large ships , and I took photos while out of the water, but cant post them yet :(
OK - I now get that WC "passageway" concept - yes not so great.

the orignal cloud 9 did not have bulbus bows but when the first boat went in the water it porpioised badly so the builders toke a part mould of the bow and made the secion required and then fitted them to the bow ,it was more about getting some bouyancy in the bow .this story was told to me buy a guy who use to build them

That is very interesting about the bows, then only cloud 9's I've been able to find all claim to have been built by Marinetec in Qld.
Your post indicated that yours started as a home build, did any original plans come with it ?
BTY I've measured the cockpit seating, they are 1.5 m long. so if yours are that without the cabinets, then there is clearly part of the 1.2m extension, along with the stern extensions.

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dialdan said..

Hi , I knew that Tomcat had been up for sale, are you one of ( or do you know) the new /old owners ?I had only had found 2 remnant photos of it, do you have more ? - or a link to a full description of the old add ?thanks

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BlueDogOz said..
That is very interesting about the bows, then only cloud 9's I've been able to find all claim to have been built by Marinetec in Qld.
Your post indicated that yours started as a home build, did any original plans come with it ?
BTY I've measured the cockpit seating, they are 1.5 m long. so if yours are that without the cabinets, then there is clearly part of the 1.2m extension, along with the stern extensions.

my boat was built by manx i think they modifyed the mould, when they put it in the water it did not float on its line as she was to heavy so they then added to the bow and stern to lift the boat up more this was done badly and failed in later years so the boat was removed out of the water dryed out and the bow and stern were profesionaly rebuilt to its new design in 2000. i will measure the seats on the week end


the orignal design

any advice as to why rotated 90 degrees ?

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BlueDogOz said..
any advice as to why rotated 90 degrees ?

Why this is happening is discussed here: trailersailerplace.com.au/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16169&p=203429&hilit=EXIF#p203429

as discussed in our PM here is some view of the existing canopy/hardtop/Bimini slopes downward slightly relative to the deck and is only 175cm high at the rear.It is wider at the back than the front, but does nor go directly over the cockpit side seating ( you can stand on them and still be clear of the hardtop.It Is only screwed into the timber that you can see in photos 1-3. It also stops well short of the Boom traveller and has a canvas awning covering the last 500mm. I think that is to allow for fishing/casting from over the transom.
the purple windows are fixed, the clear hinge up and can be lifted out over and onto the top of the canopy
It also has a clear trapdoor lifting panel immeiately over the helm so you can stand on the footrest on the bulkhead and poke your head up through that trapdoor, the top f the binimi is about 150mm beloe the resting position of the boom.

the ideal would be to lift 10cm, and to open up the interior companion way.I know of a Crowther Eureka owner who did this and lifted the entire cabin headroom, but the eureka has the mast ahead of the cabin, mounted on top of the front berths/cabin bulkhead, and it resulted in the helmsperson looking ahead through two sets of windows like a seawind or some Simpsons (edit to come) I know of another project on a eureka where the intent is also to lift the entire deck over the hulls as well, but that is being done by a professional boat business owner.I have to lift the headroom to accommodate at least 185cm and 187cm headroom, I will either/both
1) bodge up and initial lift with sorting out a taller wood mounting and two longer stanchions
2) entire new hardtop

Im also going to put most pics up here in the tread so that other Simpson Could nine owners may/can eventually discover it through search engines, and find the content useful and even perhaps join in.
Hope you can get to your boat this weekend inspite of the covid and that you can take it out etc
cheers :)

be care full how wide you make the hard,you have to duck mine to get out the side of the cockpit

i have been studying your hard top and i think your best way to lift the top is to leave the wood there attached to the hull and make your lifting blocks out of 30 x 150 planks recessing the top to allow the top to remount

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grich62 said..
i have been studying your hard top and i think your best way to lift the top is to leave the wood there attached to the hull and make your lifting blocks out of 30 x 150 planks recessing the top to allow the top to remount

Totally agree.would do that as a first attempt to see how it went, before launching into a full rebuild.
I was thinking that still being able to stand upright on the side seats and be clear of the hardtop ( and even put my arm on it for stability) would be a good idea, and your advice confirms it. wider over those seats would not be better.
But I'm thinking wider at the very front with the screens, perhaps with a gentle curve rather than the 'V" may allow for increasing headroom in the bridge-deck cabin-way. That would be a design issue for a final "ultimate" cockpit hardtop.