John Weitz

Honu Comfort Cats John Weitz the owner

John’s passion for fabricating began at age 14, when he got his first job at an auto body and collision shop in Drayton Plains, Michigan. His initial tasks included sanding primer and applying Bondo. After a couple of years of gaining experience, he advanced to become a technician, performing all aspects of car repair and painting. He worked at multiple body shops and custom automobile centers, steadily climbing the ranks until he ultimately concluded his automotive career building street rods at a speciality shop.

Pontiac, Michigan. His next adventure was working at a dive scuba center on Big Pine Key, Florida, selling scuba trips and gear. He eventually worked as a mate and dive master, and finally as a dive boat captain and scuba instructor on Catamaran dive boats at Multiple dive shops in the area. This is where he earned respect for multi-hull vessels, astonished by their stability and amazed that a 45-foot catamaran dive boat could carry 40 scuba divers and 80 scuba tanks with only twin 200-horsepower outboard engines through 3 to 5-foot choppy seas.

His passion for houseboats began when he purchased a small one. He loved the idea of being able to go out for days at a time with all the comforts of home. However, he was always disappointed that the boat couldn’t navigate much beyond small waves; it was definitely not an ocean-going vessel. Building an ocean-going houseboat has always been his dream, one that combines the stability of a large catamaran with the comforts of a houseboat. He envisions a concept that would integrate various activities people enjoy, all wrapped into one versatile boat.

His next adventure was opening a boat wiring and rigging company after 20 years of rigging and wiring boats. Seeing poor designs repeatedly fueled his motivation to create a vessel with the boat rigger and repairman in mind.

The experience he gained working on nearly every type of boat provided him with the expertise to design a superior ship made from the best materials, with a structural design and rigging to perfection.

He then bought a test boat to help with the final design, even though this was not an ocean-going boat. It helped him with the design, knowing where the ship needed to shine. The Houseboat was taken out on average 5 days a week for 3 years, during which time its layout and design were tested and altered. This was a critical step in the design of the Honu Comfort Cat.