considering building Kurt Hughes

Hi John
This is my first post on this site or any site for that matter so guys please be
gentle with me.
In the late 1990's I built a 30' Kurt Hughes cat and helped to build a 36 and 42'er
All were built using the cylinder mold method . I have also built a 42' wingmast for my cat using Kurts plans which I modified for construction.
First off , building a boat isn't for everyone. The journey is long and lonely. It puts strains on relationships ,time, finances and takes a mental toll. But like child berth the pain is quickly forgotten when sharing the joy of sailing with your family.
Building with Kurt is different as well as some of his designs are cylinder
mold and others composite. If your the type of person that wants to build to the mm with curvaceous lines then go composite. If your personality allows you to build with flexibility i.e slight differences in one hull compared to the other then cyljnder mold might be for you.
Performance wise my cat was brilliant as were the other 2 boats. KURT created lovely hull shapes and efficient deep rudders and dagger boards.
I guess its down to, if you have time ,energy determination and a solid marriage
build, if not buy someone else's dream.

 

Hi otama, I'd love to have someone who is conversant with the method on hand when I'm folding up my 40' trimaran floats. Do you ever come across to Melbourne by any chance? I'd love to have a chat sometime about how you found the build method worked out. From talking to other cylinder mold builders the actual curved panel construction, stitch up, spread and fold go quickly. I was looking at doing them in foam sandwich but the cylinder mold method seems to do long skinny hullshapes like floats really well and quickly.