Minimum cruising cat-size & cost

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Alex.A, Feb 24, 2010.

  1. Richard Woods
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    Richard Woods Woods Designs

    Getting an accurate build time estimate is really hard - even for professional builders (look how many project overruns there are). So I don't even attempt to quote past the basic shell stage.

    Fairing/sanding/painting can be quick or take for ever. It depends on the quality of finish the builder wants and has nothing to do with the performance, strength or seaworthiness of a particular design. That is why I talk about "50ft boats" on my website.

    I think everyone would agree though, that a flat panel boat will be quicker to fair than a double curved shape. A big plus for ocean cruisers is that it is easy to scrape a flat panel hull clear of weed when the boat is afloat.

    Apart from a bit of time saved by not climbing ladders a square meter of hull will take the same time to sand and paint whether the hull is long and thin or short and fat.

    There is certainly no difference in time when painting a 6mm thick ply hull compared to one 9mm thick

    Richard Woods of Woods Designs

    www.sailingcatamarans.com
     
  2. Alex.A
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    Alex.A Senior Member

    How many others are there out there looking for similar - thread has a lot of hits.......?
     
  3. CatBuilder

    CatBuilder Previous Member

    Nearly everyone! :)
     
  4. Timothy
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    Timothy Senior Member

    Not all. But most.
     
  5. yahshoor
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    yahshoor New Member

    Yeah, I'm lurking in this thread because there isn't a thread called "Maximal camper-cruiser cat - size & cost." This thread is the closest thing I've found to what I'm looking for. Seriously, it's a goldmine.
     
  6. david@boatsmith
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    david@boatsmith Senior Member

    Maximal camper cruising cat? Take a look at these drawings. LOA36 BOA19 weight 5500 lbs draft 32" bridge deck clearance 32". Cost nicely equipped $190,000 glass/foam
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  7. DarthCluin
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    DarthCluin Senior Member

    Sweet boat.
    Do you know if Jim Wharram is going to offer ply stitch and glue plans for the home builder, or is this going to be production only, like the Tiki 8m?
     
  8. david@boatsmith
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    david@boatsmith Senior Member

    For now this model is only available in glass/foam pro built. David
     
  9. Alex.A
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    Alex.A Senior Member

    David - is it true/possible that Glenn Tieman built his Tama Moana for $14k?
    And what is your take on the rig - as a Wharram 'agent'?
    Being a modified Pahi - would it be viable to put that rig on a pahi?
    One more Q - whats happenning with the 27' Tahiti Wayfarer...?
     
  10. david@boatsmith
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    david@boatsmith Senior Member

    Alex.A
    I heard it was more like twice that amount.
    I have only sailed on one new Tiki 38 with a crab claw rig which was
    not completely debugged so was not a proper test. I am not ready to put it onto my personal vessel. Beat Rettunmund built his entire rig/sails for $500 and his entire Tiki 38 cost him under $50,000
    Viable ? Yes.
    James is working rather slowly these days. David
     
  11. rob denney
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    rob denney Senior Member

    I would treat any claims regarding hours and materials with a healthy does of scepticism unless there is a list of materials and times showing every hour, every job and every material used. Even then, it may not be correct as it is very easy to miss things.

    rob
     
  12. david@boatsmith
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    david@boatsmith Senior Member

    Glenn Tieman is a unique individual. He sails a very basic vessel and doesn't have a motor or much electricity or much plumbing and only sitting headroom and is content with very low miles per day boat speeds. This is certainly not every body's cup of tea. It don't fly with the girls I run with and I favor the low maintenance heavy duty variety.:D
     
  13. oldsailor7
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    oldsailor7 Senior Member

     
  14. david@boatsmith
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    david@boatsmith Senior Member

    James has finished his chemo and appears to be recovering well. Bitchin:D
     
    Last edited: Jun 14, 2010

  15. yahshoor
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    yahshoor New Member

    That sure is a nice cat, David, and I would happily camp for the next ten years on it if someone cares to give me my next ten years' earnings in a lump sum, but I suppose that I missed a word when I described my ideal thread-that-does-not-exist: "Maximal camper-cruiser cat - minimal size & cost." For what it's worth, my hunch is that my personal minimal camper-cruiser ideal is a lot more along the lines of the twenty-four footer stretched to thirty feet, as previously mentioned offhandedly by Richard.

    Yeah, the ladies I ride with tend to enjoy long-term bicycle-touring, so we're already accustomed to squeezing the maximal amount of comfort out of thirty pounds of gear (at most). Glenn's boat would be pretty ideal, but for the fact that I (and some of the bike-touring ladies previously cited) have significant backgrounds in the social anthropology of Melanesia, and none of us would be caught dead in something that looked so much like a refuge from Grampa's tiki-torch parties. However, I have certainly seen photos of Glenn cooking on a Dragonfly MSR, which shows that he's thinking of exactly the same kind of light mountaineering gear that I would be thinking of in that situation.

    So, when I think "minimal price, maximal camping comfort" the cheap & short end is Ray's Slider, and the expensive, long end is something like the Child of the Sea. (And, while I may not have any experience whatsoever building boats, I have enough project management experience to be certain that, in order to build that boat for the price Glenn cited, you'd need to be a completely self-reliant DIY whiz with lots of boatbuilding experience and off-the-charts scrounging skills. Any ordinarily resourceful amateur boatbuilder could multiply the cost estimate by pi, I'd guess, if not more. Same goes for Ray's Slider, but ~$8k is a lot easier for me to swallow than ~$40k.) There are a bunch of boats in between, and I've learned of about half of 'em right here.

    For someone who has never owned any kind of boat, I am starting to develop a pretty clear idea of what it is that I want. I've been researching the matter carefully for almost a year now, but if I have any idea what I want, it's mostly because of this thread & the people posting in it. So, keep it up, fellas. :)
     
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