home built small catamaran

Donald, The respondents to your post are knowledgeable people who have given you the best advice. That friendly advice says: Do not design you own cat! If you buy a good set of plans it is almost a sure thing that you will save time and money....yes you'd probably save money

Invest in a proven design from Richard Woods or other established expert. Build it yourself if you must. It is a reality that you can buy a good used boat for less money than it will cost to build your own. On the other hand, some of us like the smell of sawdust, having epoxy glop on our fingers, and itching from handling fiberglass.

I confess that I am one of those guys who, through extensive experience, has come to terms with the self flagellation called boat building.

 

I hate the smell of epoxy, can't stand glassinmafingers and sawdust from
Corecell seems to stick to everything.

But I am building a very nice boat.

 

Dear Donald. You're wasting your time as you have not the sailing experience, nor the technical knowledge for designing a boat. I'll surprise you but a good used catamaran is often cheaper than to build one, and has the immense advantage that it saves you many hours. You buy it and go sailing.
A good club is a big plus. You'll see how are doing the best guys, and you'll have the occasion to sail on many different boats so you'll see the pros and cons of each model. It's acquiring experience.
For designing, you must have acquired a theoretical basis, that means reading and understanding a bunch of books, learning at least some basic engineering, and building methods. After having these tools in your brain plus real life experience, you'll be able to analyse the existent boats and find your your own solutions.

Amateur builders often underestimate the real cost of a DIY building, the true investment in money and time needed. No beach or sport catamaran is cheap to build, I can tell you because I built not one but seven, plus two proas, and a Fireball dinghy. Cats are complicated boats.
It's not a 10 feet rowing boxy doris for going fishing on a lake, that you can make with a few salvaged planks, a hand saw. a hammer and nails.