Sizzler 16

The Sizzler was one of various small cats that appeared in the 1970's and tried to ride the coattails of Hobie Cat's success. The name of the company was Great Lakes Manufacturing Co., located in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. It started in about 1974. The owners of the company were Ed Vlack and Art Bates. Bates was the one who ran the company. The designer of the Sizzler was Paul Swenson, an engineer who had built catamarans of his own in the past.

The Sizzler was unique in that it was made out of aluminum. And the process of making it was also unique -- the aluminum was stretch-formed to give it its shape. Each hull consisted of two pieces of aluminum that were fastened together all the way around, top and bottom. In order to give these two flat pieces of aluminum a boat-like shape, the two pieces of aluminum were first clamped together in a big jig, and compressed air was pumped in between the two aluminum pieces, forcing them into the desired shape.

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