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REBEL PRIDE
Chris Craft 381 Catalina

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The boss was retiring. Now, it seems the boss has a long-held dream of owning a boat. A nice, big cabin cruiser. Some discrete James Bond work determines that his dream boat is a Chris Craft 381 Catalina. Now, the question is, can I build it in a bottle? And, since he was a high school administrator, how about calling it "Rebel Pride" after the school motto? Sure, I could build one - but I didn't know quite how difficult that would turn out to be...

For starters, Chris Craft has long stopped making the cruiser and plans are impossible to come by. Too bad it isn't a destroyer... E-mail requests and library research finally turn up a tiny accommodation plan and two photocopies from old Catalina sales brochures. A couple more hours on the web produce 15 or 20 photos of Catalinas for sale. With the photos and 7 more hours at the drafting board a full set of plans (deck plan, port and starboard elevation) are drawn out, model size.

Some sixty hours later, after much sweat and worry, the ship is finally done. Only rub is that the sea, despite weeks and weeks of drying is still shifting in the bottle - and the ship is now due for the retirement dinner - in less than a week! How on earth am I going to get it there in time? It seems that the sheer mass of the hull is pulling the sea away from the bottle every time the ship is on its side. Question now is how will it ever survive the shipment? In desperation to make the deadline I shore the ship up with two padded props to the sides of the bottle, leaving long strings for the presenter to remove them before presentation. I test this by shaking the bottle violently a couple of times and, crossing my fingers, send it off by express courier just in time. Needless to say, the boss is speechless...

In production from 1980 -1989, the Chris Craft Catalina is particularly noted for its lavish accommodations. With full sized stove, refrigerator and microwave oven; full-size bath tub and queen-sized bed in the master stateroom, the 381 is almost a second home afloat. And with her 330 hp MerCruiser gas engines this fast cruiser's gas consumption is calculated, not in miles per gallon, but in gallons per hour - Burning up 28 gallons (106 liters) an hour at a steady 17 knots (32 kmph).

The Building of Rebel Pride:

Hull carved, sitting on bottle neck .. . .. A real Chinese puzzle.. ....... Two upholstered bucket seats...... ...Sanding the hull. .. ...The completed ship. ..

Displacement: 21,600 lbs (9,800 kg) Length: 38 ft.0 in. (11.6 m) Beam: 14 ft 0 in ( 4.3 m)
Top Speed: 36.8 knots (68 kmph) Fuel Capacity : 410 gallons ( 1500 liters)
Scale: 1 in 84 Length of Model: 6.25" (128 mm) Bottle Size: 40oz (1200 ml)