35' Predator Walkaround 2001

It takes most production boat builders a few weeks to build a 35-footer. It takes four months (or 7,200 man hours) to build a Predator 35. Here's why.
Predator uses the finest ingredients money can buy - most of them made especially for this company. The laminate consists of special fabrics combining 50 percent Kevlar and 50 percent hybrid S-glass and carbon fiber sewn together. Kevlar has the best strength against pulling apart and S-glass the best compression strength.

First the outer laminate gets laid in the mold and vacuum-bagged. Then the Core Cell foam (one inch thick in bottom and decks, three-quarter-inch hull sides) coring, then the inner laminate, then the stringers and bulkheads get installed, with each layer receiving a separate vacuum-bagging process. Finally, the entire boat gets baked in an oven at 150 degrees for 26 hours, which causes the chains of epoxy molecules to align and link together for the strongest yet lightest material you can build a boat out of. There's no more labor-intensive, expensive way to build a boat. On the plus side, however, the Predator tips the scales at 12,500 pounds with the tower, the teak deck and trim, and fuel tanks that form part of the structure of the boat.

Another expensive and significant difference between the Predator and almost anything else is epoxy resin. Epoxy is much stronger than any other resin. Bend equal size slabs of cured resins, and polyester will break in about two bends; vinyl ester lasts about 10 cycles. Epoxy will never break.
Special \"shoehorn\" tools help mount the deck to the hull since it's such a tight fit. A new wonder adhesive called Plexus bonds the two. Then it's all screwed together with special epoxy-laden screws that glue themselves into the hole. You'll never back them out. You can lift the entire boat out of the water with the deck cleats.

Interior
Predator builds the entire interior of each boat in full-scale model form in the factory so each owner can get a complete feel for it. There's no excuse for
anyone not getting a boat exactly the way they want it.

Elegant comes to mind when sitting belowdecks. The Predator's interior features super-lightweight Tri-Cell composites, covered by meticulously selected sequential veneers for a perfect grain match. Simple also comes to mind as there's one berth forward, a galley with built-in refrigeration and a full head. Of course, since this is a custom boat, an owner can make the interior anything he wants.

Sure, a $370,000 base price may be a pretty penny for a 35-footer. But for those looking for the very best, who's counting?