Catamaran Build Plans Recommendations?

[Philipcataproa]

If you want a stunning cat use the plans from Dudley Dix, very nice and glamorous His service is good. If you are prepared to look at unconventional but very good boats look at Bernd Kohler's designs. Very fast light boats but very seaworthy. In any case any cat should not be loaded with all your clutter, get rid of it and only load useful and light stuff.

[Morph]

So for my totally biased opinion. If you want a fantastic sailing catamaran with two queen cabins, double, couple of singles, and full headroom ... and is considered the 'boat to beat' in races the go for Mark Pescott's Whitehaven 11.7.



I built mine 10 years ago--well I had the shell built and then did the fitout, rig etc. A beautiful looking and amazing sailing boat. They're built out of WRC strip planking and for the large flat areas, foam composite. The bulkheads are WRC with some carbon and the latest plans from Mark are detailed but you do need to know some basics in boat building--hence why I had the shell built professionally. My boat came in at around 4 tonne, I lived on board for a year and she went up considerably but still was doing 8 knots upwind.



They are daggerboard boats, usually have outboards--I had twin 20hp Hondas and they were incredible--would never go back to diesels--they lasted 10 years and the problem was they did not get used enough--basically these boats sail in any wind so you drop the mooring, motor for 2 minutes and put up the sails... They are amazing sea boats, I threw mine at everything I could and she could still take more.

THere are over 25 boats built of different sizes and they have a devoted following by people who appreciate great sailing boats that also have room.



Here's there FB page link https://www.facebook.com/pescottdesigns (King of the Gulf Regatta is my boat--I've just sold her)

Here's us in 40 knots of wind sailing up the NSW coast (https://youtu.be/tRv-mmG_hOU)


As you can see I am totally biased--for us she was the perfect boat--gave us all the space we ever wanted in a boat that sailed amazingly.

Phil

[NevilleCat]

The Whitehavens certainly look to have most of MY wants in a cat covered, but sadly I personally can't come at a boat with such poor forward visibility from the saloon.
I get that he wanted them to look racey and maybe the airflow drag of some practical vertical opening windows will knock off a degree or so of pointing ability but would trade that off for a deck saloon.
Not sure how practical it would be to modify...

[Morph]

To be honest the lack of forward windows was never an issue--I thought it would be but the view from the side windows and through the hatches was fine. The really big advantage is that you don't get the 'glasshouse' effect that cats with lots of glass get. Pescott is pretty fanatical about windage so you'd never get Lagoon type windows in there. She's very well suited to warm climates too--we survived many 45 deg days with no aircon.

[Morph]

...and I am totally one eyed about them so don't listen to me...


On the other hand, the other designs I would go for is Craig Schionning's (as opposed to Jeff Schionning) 1480--see the youtube Surf Sail Roam. Gorgeous boat that sails wonderfully and the owner has a stack of information on his website about the build--really good stuff.

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by billgewater

Have never sailed a Schionning, but a few warnings.
The first from a professional builder in Western Australia some years ago. His grizzle was that the curved sheer lines (deck to hull join) used longitudinal timber strips and this created an exceptional extra amount of work. Building and fairing this part of the hulls was very time and labour consuming.
..

Clearly he needs to lift his skill levels.
Build them fair, sand and plane them fair before glassing and there is not much work at all.
If you want to save effort again, bring the non skid down over the radius.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Simi 60

Clearly he needs to lift his skill levels.
Build them fair, sand and plane them fair before glassing and there is not much work at all.
If you want to save effort again, bring the non skid down over the radius.

This is an important step in weight reduction too.

I made sure my foam was fair before glassing. It’s a lot easier to fair foam then epoxy! So I have just an 1/8” of fairing compound here and there in the lows.

[Narfi]

It seems Prescott's website doesn't work either?

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by NevilleCat

The Whitehavens certainly look to have most of MY wants in a cat covered, but sadly I personally can't come at a boat with such poor forward visibility from the saloon.
I get that he wanted them to look racey and maybe the airflow drag of some practical vertical opening windows will knock off a degree or so of pointing ability but would trade that off for a deck saloon.
Not sure how practical it would be to modify...

Take a look at Prescott's Lombok 11.5 essentially what you are asking for.

[Thumbs Up]

Haven't seen the OP and hasn't answered my question. How to transport from Colorado?

[Narfi]

Originally Posted by Thumbs Up

Haven't seen the OP and hasn't answered my question. How to transport from Colorado?

I know some of Woods catamarans are demountable for trailering.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by GRIT

I have first hand experience dealing with Mr and Mrs Schionning,
Paul.

Mrs Schionning (Lorraine) passed away some time ago, about 3 years ago. Lovely lady. May she RIP

[catsketcher]

I am interested in how you get a big cat to the sea from Colorado.

I really liked building my own cat (11.6m). We have/had a lot of great designers in Australia. Mine is a Chamberlin (who you can't go past for seamanlike fast boats),

https://www.chamberlinmarine.com.au/index.php/about-us

It is interesting that a builder did not like the fairing of the radius on a Schionning. In some ways strips can be faster than a chine to fair and the two mates who built Schionnings did not worry too much about doing it. I do not really like tight chines in amateur boats as the chine line can be really hard to fair, so rounding off a chine or deck radius is sometimes okay. Although even Schionning has a flat topsides on his Arrow designs.

Dulfex is fine IF you build it right. I prefer foam to duflex, although I really like ply for flat parts that do not require stringers . Also I would urge the OP to prioritise the sentiments of those who have built larger multis. After building four - cedar/ply/foam/duflex, foam carbon, Kiri/ply, foam/ply - I have realised that all materials can do a great job when well built.

[Morph]

Phil, you're right Chamberlin is an amazing designer... insane enough to sail one of his open bridgedeck cats two up to the Antarctic circle....



You're right about the radius, mine is very rounded and it was not that difficult. The reality is that building the shell is only about 1/3 of the work--took me years to get the interior properly done!

[Dave_S]

Originally Posted by AdventuringA

We had considered kits but are located in the US currently, so it would be exceptionally expensive to send them to us. PLus the ability to modify is really what we are interested in as well!

I believe, but am not sure, if you contact Schionning, they will confirm or otherwise that they can provide files for a local cutter to produce the kit local to you.