Dix Cape Henry 21 or Vagabond 23?

Hello,

I live in Singapore (work) and would like to build a small sailboat to travel fairly well protected tropical waters and coastal cruising. Most of the time we will have 2-4 adults traveling. It needs to have shallow draft to explore coves and areas with lots of reefs (and possible beachable).

I've never built a boat, though I've worked with wood most my life (very basic stuff).

My wife and 16 year old son (plus some school friends) will be working with me on the boat. I can get marine plywood cheaply here. I need to build a monohull and as short in length as possible to save on storage fees here. (Multi-hulls are too expensive to store here, even if foldable).

I've looked through many designs, but I think I've narrowed it down to the Dudley Dix Cape Henry 21' (plywood lapstrake - http://www.dixdesign.com/ch21.htm [NOTE: webpage has been down for 2 days] or the Vagabond VG23 (23' stitch-n-glue - http://www.bateau.com/studyplans/VG23_study.htm?prod=VG23).

Mr Dix estimates that the Cape Henry will take 950 hours to build. The VG23 estimates 700 hours. I want to be able to build it in time to actually sail with it (estimate about 30+ manhours a week, possibly more).

Do you guys have any advice about build times, ease of building and which boat would be a better bet? I like the look of the Cape Henry and think it would resale better if we get transferred out of Singapore in a few years.

Or if you have a different design you think would work well, I'm open to suggestions.

Finally, I may be asking the high school boys to help as part of a school project and would want something they can help with.

Thanks!
Steve S

 

If you want a project then build the either of them. Personnally I like the Vagabond better. Don't underestimate the amount of work involved, I built a Glen L 18' runabout many years ago. My build time was about double the estimate in the plans.
I would think for the price there ought to be a used coastal cruiser available, then you can sail now.

 

Steve,

You are aiming your design brief directly at a small cruising multihull, probably a cat, if shallow draft and beachable conditions are truly on your short list of things to be able to do with this boat.

Nothing wrong with the boats you have selected, but it would be to your own benefit if you also considered a multihull solution for your stated objectives.

Chris Ostlind

 

Thanks

Thanks for the replies guys. One reason I began to think about building was for the pleasure of just building, plus there was really not much available here in a coastal cruiser, especially anything in a reasonable price range.

I really wanted to build a cat, but the problem is that for dry berthing at the marina (I live in an apartment), I get charged double fees because of the wide beam. Hence, I'm looking at a monohull.

Chris, the cat you gave me a pic of looks rather narrow. What design is it?

Thanks,
Steve

 

Couple of Cats at 21' LOA

Hi Lejie, (Steve)

The renderings are of a design study that I have done as a collection of ideas for a cruising cat that is 21' LOA and trailerable. I did some preliminary weight/volume studies of what size cat could be trailered successfully by a mid-sized vehicle without the potentially outrageous wide load charges one sees in some countries and from state to state within same.

The renderings shown are of the full cabin model that sports a queen size bed, room for a semi-private head environment and a separate cooking area. The optimal crew within the cabin space would be an adult couple (plus). There is a provision for a couple of teen kids to sleep aboard if they rig a boom tent and use the cockpit seating for sleeping space. (and manage to avoid killing each other while doing it) Ask me how I know this.

The other boat in the design study was a more Spartan affair that gave individual sleeping quarters in each hull, a huge, open, hard deck space between the hulls for a standard camping tent or, again, a boom-rigged tent that would provide a generous amount of space for sleeping, cooking and enjoying the environment where one decides to sail.

You can see this last boat at this site:
http://proafile.com/view/weblog/comments/fatcat21/ Renderings of same are attached below.

The orange, Polynesian style, boat expands to 11' of beam from trailer legal width by way of sliding, rectangular section beams with self-aligning bearings to prevent binding.

The previously shown, fixed width boat in blue, the "Gato Especial", is built to a width of 8' 6" (or an eleven foot beam if you plan to keep it at one location)

Both of these studies are for stitch and glue building methods in marine plywood with full interior, as well as exterior, laminates. The rigs come directly from a used Hobie 18, Hobie 20, or Hobie 21SE, as does much of the sailing hardware, rudders, etc.

Neither of these boats have been built as of yet and I have not finalized the plan sets for them. I am not soliciting the sale of boat plans here, but I would be very interested in seeing one, or both, of them built if there were a builder who was interested. I would be willing to donate the plans for either of these boats, along with full support during the build, if it would help to get the project rolling for an interested party.

You should contact me off list if the concept suits your interests.

 

Chris,
I tried to contact you about the Gato Especial through duckworks but never got a reply. This is a design I am very much interested in. We are finishing up a mono at the time and our next build will be a multi. We have run the range from reasonable to ridiculous and now that the economy has chosen the go turtle we are scaling back on the size of the cat to build. Please contact me if you can about this design.

Anyone interested in what we are building now can see it at http://sb18site.blogspot.com/
The site may be a little behind right now but I will get it up to date soon.

 

Howdy, and thanks for pursuing your interest with the Gato Especial. I have written a private email to your address in response to your query. If for some reason, it does not get through, feel free to write me here. I'll watch this thread for any action.

Very nice set of blogosphere sites. That mono looks like it will be a fun boat to out cracking around on. It also looks like you are having a blast putting it together. Nice photos of the build process and an honest take on what is going on.

Chris Ostlind
Lunada Design
www.lunadadesign.com

 

Thanks Chris, I got your reply and emailed you back