Self build catamarans designs

[Dymaxion]

Norman Cross larger tri designs were in dual diagonal in varying width strips of 3-ply. Some small ones were hard chine. This was his preference over dual or triple diagonal layup using red cedar, voiced in a letter to me in late 70's, as he felt it made a stronger hull. If you want boat building porn, search YouTube for foam-infusion technique vids. Impressive, like the materials cost.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Bunji

44c u missed the point, a 39 c was sold less than 12 months ago for not much more than $100,000, Hop on go sailing realize your dream don’t become just another statistic

Im pretty sure 44C has been living the dream on his self built Oram 44C for about 10 years now.

[Lance]

Good decision to up grade to a Catamaran .
I have owned restored and built several Cats over the past twenty years .
Someone mentioned Fusion 40's .
I built one with a team of workers and it took close to four years .
It was an excellant Sea Boat .
BUT apart from some romantic delusion I cannot understand why in this day and age some one would invest time and money into something that will lose them a lot of that time and money , because there are so many affordable Cats out there already built by some deluded sucker like myself.

I have owned designs from Schoinning, Lidgard, Pescott, and my latest a Roger Simpson . Once you have your boat no matter if you build it from scratch or if buy a ready to go project that some one else has laboured over then there will still be plenty of romantic resin glassing jobs with the sanding necessary as a bonus .There will be the electronics to maintain , new or old, etc etc .
Whilst people here have mentioned caution with ply in my experience it suffers when near the tedious end of the build short cuts are taken and quick resin jobs eventually cause water ingress and some rot will happen . Every plywood boat I have thoroughly inspected had some rot some where ! IMHO

Buy the Dream Dont Build It .

[Bunji]

To funny, Factor u to are missing the point, I am well aware of wot 44c has done is doing an continues to do, a tremendous achievement that he is understandably very proud of. My comments (reply) relate directly to the questions asked by the op. Can’t agree more lance, How many boat building suppliers, boat builders, designers have gone leg up since the gfc. The same is happening in my home town with regards to realestate, Why would I build a house when I can buy one cheaper. The market has fallen buy 30% in the last 4 years.

[delcrest]

Hi everyone just to “chip in” about building your own catamaran, I have built a Mike Waller cat, the pictures can be see here https://www.facebook.com/MikeWallerY...type=1&theater
My reason for building was there were not any cats about in South Africa that I could really afford and those that were need lots of repairs and a fortune to repair
I really liked the Mike Waller design and after talking with him, and seeing the good quality of his plans I started the project from nothing, having to build the “tent” to construct the boat
It took me 4 years of working weekends and the odd days when I was able to spend more than a weekend building, with myself and one unskilled helper
The boat is marine ply, epoxy and glass, (no polyester at all) she weighed on the crane scale when being launched at just over 5000 kgs
I am more than happy how she turned out; she light sails very well and is fast with her 48sqm main and 38sqm genoa
It was a lot of hard work for a 65 year old to start this project, but now I have a new cat, with all new shaft drive engines, sails mast rigging electronics etc which I never could have afforded
Would I do it again, at my age now NO, maybe if I could do it as a full time project
Building your own catamaran is a heck of achievement, and if you have the skills, the money and the time I would not hesitate recommending to anyone build you own
Hope I am not shot down in flames for adding my bit, merry Christmas everyone

[Tusitala]

Delcrest, very nice boat, looks like an excellent build. Enjoy

Pat

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Bunji

44c u missed the point, a 39 c was sold less than 12 months ago for not much more than $100,000, Hop on go sailing realize your dream don’t become just another statistic

The one that had the bottoms of both hulls torn out, was repaired, but still needed quite a bit of work?

Yes, you can buy second hand boats cheap. But then you start spending money on them.

Building definitely isn't for everyone. But you really can save money if you're sensible. If you choose your design well you can save lots of money. You can build a boat more spacious and faster than say an Outremer 45, for about 1/4 of the cost.

[Steamer]

Originally Posted by jonannie@f2s.com

I have recently looked at Bernard Kohler designs but no little about him he does however make claims of close winded boat and also good cruising speeds . Who has built one and even more important sailed one

There are Germans plywood built KD860 and they asked Eur 184K for her Specs, or Eur 153k for base boat in 2015-2016 built in Duflex panels.

[Bunji]

Gday 44c. I can do the same thing on Dunmaglas 38/39c or whatever it’s called now, the boat I was referring to as u can on somewhere, if I’ve got less room and an hour or 2 slower into the next anchorage I’m happy with that. I’m even more Happier that I didn’t have to build it, Realizing the dream sooner and still have my health and because I paid peanuts for it I won’t even bother insuring it. Cheers have a good one

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Bunji

Gday 44c. I can do the same thing on Dunmaglas 38/39c or whatever it’s called now, the boat I was referring to as u can on somewhere, if I’ve got less room and an hour or 2 slower into the next anchorage I’m happy with that. I’m even more Happier that I didn’t have to build it, Realizing the dream sooner and still have my health and because I paid peanuts for it I won’t even bother insuring it. Cheers have a good one

If you have less room and you're slower, then obviously it's not the same. Why not get a 20' trailer sailor? Even cheaper...

Is your wife coming along? Guests?

BTW, Dunmaglass isn't a 39C, it's an old "Mango" design, much smaller than a 39C. It also needed quite a bit of money spent on it, and several months of work. I did some of the work. It would cost a few more peanuts to buy now....

But yes, obviously if you buy a smaller, older boat that needs work you can spend less. But it's not really comparable to a bigger brand new boat.

[Fore and Aft]

Bunji you are really showing your ignorance by claiming you would not insure the cat. Where on the East coast of Australia can you berth or slip an uninsured boat? No marina and only one boatyard I know slips uninsured boats.
I have surveyed a few $100,000 forty foot cats and all of them needed work or the design was really outdated.
Delcrest nice effort on that cat you built. That’s quite an achievement.
Sometimes the boatbuilding itch is one that just has to be scratched despite all reasons not to.
Cheers

[Bunji]

Okay, so now it’s a crime if u don’t insure your boat. What makes u think we need to berth, slip or park our boat in a marina on the east coast. At the moment our catamaran (power) is sitting on a haul out trailer that I built under a shed that I also built on a block we own whilst we finish the hull extensions. Why would I pay a fella like u to tell me that our boats good to go when I know more about it than u ever will and then give the insurance company a whole bunch of money. Try getting insurance on a swing mooring above the 26th parallel. We don’t do insurance on anything, once bitten twice shy, that’s our choice. If u can afford to replace it why insure. Don’t assume u know that’s arrogance

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by Bunji

. We don’t do insurance on anything, once bitten twice shy, that’s our choice. If u can afford to replace it why insure. Don’t assume u know that’s arrogance

Insurance is also for damage you do when damaging others property.
I have been hit on a previous vessel by some uninsured twat that simply sailed off into the sunset leaving me with several grand worth of damage to fix.
Are you like that guy?

[Bunji]

Ok That’s one of many reasons why we live where we do rural Darwin (kimberlies) Cowboys are rare, chances of that happening are pretty slim, been around boats most my life reckon I know wot I’m doin cheers

[Bunji]

That sucks, Couldn’t you have taken photos and given them to your insurance company to chase up