Boat builders

[Rgoddard]

I have spent the last 12 months designing a new Catamaran. It can be adapted to 50, 74 and 110 feet. It contains 6 bedrooms 6 baths. Large salon. I am looking for a good reliable boat builder that can take this to the next step. I have found that many will either not respond or not quote estimates for construction costs. This Cat is designed for single handed sailing using both the aerorig rolling main sail a rolling jib and a rolling spinaker. After years of sailing a monohull and limited catamarans. The cat is the answer. If anyone can assist in finding the right builder please let me know. I will not list those builders who have been arrogant and non-responsive. I had the same problem with designers, that is why I spent a year designing my own. I am ready to go so help if you can

[Rgoddard]

Comments welcomepage 3.pdf

[Richard Woods]

I am not a boatbuilder, just a designer.

However if I was asking builders for a quote on such a large project I would expect to have to pay for the quote as it will take the builders a long time to prepare.

I assume you do have complete building drawings and specifications of everything. Otherwise the quote won't be accurate and builders will naturally err on the side of safety and over quote.

Most builders working on this size of project will probably suggest working on a time+materials basis, or possibly a fixed price for say the first 20,000 hours (it will take more than that to build a 100ft one off catamaran) and then hourly after that.

I guess you are looking at several million for a 100ft cat, although I am puzzled how you can get the same boat at 50 ft and 110ft????

I don't think a builder or designer is being arrogant if he doesn't reply. I'm pretty sure you haven't emailed me, but my apologies if you have.

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

[Rgoddard]

I really appreciate your response, I originally sent out 20 plus requests for designers about 18 months ago with only minimal response and it was pretty sad response i.e. send me 10k and we can talk. I teamed up with an Architect and engineer and we worked through the design as a team. The final plans can be adapted from a 50 to a 110 version since we have gone down that road already. I have potentiall buyer who have placed desposits for two 110's and one 74 version. Now I need to team up with a good quality builder that will work as a team.

[Richard Woods]

I just had a look at your sketch. I assume you have more detailed drawings than this.

Not sure where the rudders could go, the rig doesn't look sensible as drawn, how to you plan to make the (very expensive) curved windows? Can you not save money by restyling them to straight windows? I assume the keels don't really end in points

The boat won't tack too well with such a long keel.

Please post more drawings so others can comment in more detail

Hope you find a builder

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

[sailsocal]

My impression is that the design doesn't break much new ground. What advantages will your design have over existing designs?

[Saylaman]

Thanks for posting your design. It is always nice when ideas are posted for everyone to see.
My initial impressions are that the bridge-deck clearance seems a bit small? I don't know how much head clearance the weather shelter on the aft deck has, but if your drawing is of a 74 foot boat it seems to be very high up with excess head clearance? Could it be better to have it lower down, the main sail could be lower, resulting in lower CE on the sailplan and better stability/sail carrying capacity.

[Manie B]

The guys simply have not replied because your design is absolutely poor

I teamed up with an Architect and engineer and we worked through the design as a team

and none of you know what you are doing

sorry to spil the beans but somebody has got to call a spade a spade and stop you from killing somebody one day

[gwboats]

What a great thread this one is. It is the reason I view this forum most days.

Here we have a new contributor with a new design and deposits to build 3 new very sizable catamarans and no builder wants to know. Are we really in a recession or has everyone got too much work.

As a designer myself, I must agree with the comments so far that the drawings are a bit lightweight but must assume that for copyright reasons the designer is reluctant to show his hand at this stage.

I would also agree that with such a novel product no builder is going to be able to cost this one for free, but with deposits taken for three boats there must surely be money available for some preliminary estimating work.

The yards that I deal with (mainly UK) would be happy to start some dialogue if they are convinced this is a serious enterprise. They would however like to see some documentation of such things as material specs, weight estimate, internal finishes and classification society requirements amongst others.

Good luck with your project and I hope you succeed but I think we all need to know a bit more about the boat, the designer(s) and your set-up.

[Rgoddard]

Thank you everyone for your comments. This is a great forum. I have received four estimates for construction and you are right about copyright I posted a preliminary drawing...not the finished product. By the way the interior is Teak and leather. I am also suprised by the marketplace it seems that people with money still want toys. I am open to your suggestions. We are still working on the mast.boom and sail design since we are looking to make this single handed sailing. I had the opportunity to sail with a rotating mast modified Areorig in Hawaii both the main and the jib were on a fixed boom. It was a 50 and we had no prolems and in fact it was a dream to operate. I would appreciate anyones thoughts on sail rigging similar and pitfalls.

[Richard Woods]

Clearly no one will/can make sensible comments about a boat that even you don't want in the form you posted. It just wastes everyone's time and also devalues the overall usefulness of this forum.

And I don't think you will get any fixed quote if you are still working on the rig (and therefore deck and hull structure) never mind the accommodation layout - which of course must fit the rig.

I wrote some comments about Aerorigs on my FAQ's page.

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

[fullcave]

I agree it's going to be difficult to tack. Low aspect daggers or center boards would be an improvement without question.

Originally Posted by Richard Woods

I just had a look at your sketch. I assume you have more detailed drawings than this.

Not sure where the rudders could go, the rig doesn't look sensible as drawn, how to you plan to make the (very expensive) curved windows? Can you not save money by restyling them to straight windows? I assume the keels don't really end in points

The boat won't tack too well with such a long keel.

Please post more drawings so others can comment in more detail

Hope you find a builder

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

[Ike]

I don't agree that it is necessarily a poor design, because this is just a preliminary drawing. We would need more detail and anyone who is going to cost out construction is going to need complete detail drawings and specifications. Any thing else would be a wild guess. I have to agree with Manny in one respect. It is obvious from the third sentence in your first post that you are not a professional yacht designer or you would know that yachts have staterooms, heads and a saloon. A salon is where you go to get your hair done. You had better do some research and learn the language before you start talking to a builder. Any experienced builder is going to be very wary of taking on a design that hasn't worked out all the details, done all the work on structural computations and hydrostatics, and done complete detailed design drawings to build from.