35' cat concept for the inside passage.

Be sure you can use 100 percent of all deck space for living , rain or shine.

Particularly forward of the wheelhouse with the classic, hard framed ,foredeck awning thats seems to have gone out of fashion these days .

And since it rains a bit over your way...gutters and downpipes on the cabin house , to harvest sweet rainwater, would be a nice detail.

 

Bos, I've been playing with my 30' x 9' cat plans for 2 years--based on the Glen-L plan Bearcat. I'm back to a mono hull now, same size because it costs far less and does not have 1/2 of the plywood needed for the cat. I did succed in getting the cat down to 1 outboard engine of 60 hp by adding a partial 3rd sponson centered. Same angle and shape of the 2 outside sponsons just a little narrower and runing thru 3 frames forward before dying upward to the top of the tunnel. Total length 12'. This will insure enough water to the outboard prop. Can not afford 2 big outboards only 1 medium and a small kicker engine 10 hp hi thrust. I figure the 60 hp will pop the hull up to plane at about 20 + mpr. The cat just priced me out so will be going with a mono. Stan

 

You are not alone.......

A mooring costs what you spend on it, they used to be installed for $2k, I'll bet it's somewhat more now, but many folks build their own. Due to high marina costs and insurance requirements most decent harbours in this area are becoming clogged with moorings. Of course this means some will demand that something be done about this "problem"......so if you want a mooring you better be quick........on the up side in the winter there are many empty moorings available......

 

well and thats another issue, once I get some kinda design hammered out, whats it cost. Two smaller hulls plus all the connecting "tissues" does look like a lot more ply than in a mono. If you compare it to the cost of hardwood though its about the same. $64 bucks for a 32 square foot panel of ply is $2 a foot, exactly what I pay for most hardwoods. Its just I can tie the hardwood into a knot and the ply has its own advantages.

But thats getting ahead of myself. brrrr its cold out today. I should be back out at the warehouse getting that truck done. Oh and the gear order I've been waiting for to run my WMO pump on got canceled. No particular reason, plenty of money on the card, just ooops. OK so NOW is it on the way. ;-)

you folks will love the bycicle chain drive system for the two 24V DC motors running the big tank on the truck. Very trick.

OH and hey Stan, post a link so we can check out what your thinking of building.

 

Don't they need to be inspected and all that before the coast guard will let you park there for any length of time ? And I'd have thought they'd already be regulated as to where you can drop a chunk of concrete with a marker floating over it. Something about channels and boating lanes I was thinking I'd just rent one for a c note a month or something. Seems there's got to be a nice marina with a restaurant, parking, and access to town, I can park in. Reality is most of the time I'll be stationary.

Oh and my main thing all along governing the size of my boat is parking fees, That and maybe hauling fees. I could build a pretty damn big boat, but could I afford the marina ?

Ok its way late and a cup of coffee later I'm not going back out to freeze my *** off working on the truck. Might as well go for it with some of the suggested changes.

 

Cuddy Sport widened to 9' and stretched to 30'-06" Will raise the stem up 9" and it will have a full cabin with a 6' open deck in the rear plus space next to the 3' wide outboard
area which is an option on the plans.https://www.boatdesigns.com/products.asp?dept=735 5/8 bottom takes 9 sheets ply sides take 10 sheets because they are going to be taller.

 

Mooring fields are something entirely different from marinas (though marinas may own moorings).

Moorings are regulated by the local town or city government under the control of the local harbormaster.

Just about every municipality has a waiting list for the private moorings in their mooring field. A private mooring costs nothing in your home town. There is a pittance of $30/yr or something like that to pay as a fee, like registering your car.

However, when I last checked about getting myself a mooring in my home waters, I was put on the waiting list. I have about 12 years left to go. The list was 22 years long for non-residents when I put my name in. Residents get first dibs, but their wait was something on the order of 7 to 10 years at the time too.

What this means, effectively, is you aren't going to get a private mooring.

You will either rent a mooring or rent a dock. Moorings are far less money seasonally than docks and IMO, better, since you don't have people walking around near your boat.

Of course, you need to produce all of your own power and heat, etc... while at a mooring and you have to shuttle provisions and fuel to the boat, then garbage and sewage from it on return trips.

That's how it works, Bos.

A C note a month isn't very likely in any place that has a nice restaurant and parking. If you are up North, they usually take them all out of the water in the winter as well. You will probably need to double or triple that C note a month estimate for a mooring.

 

This might be so, but frankly speaking space planning on sketches here is poor...

 

what you must bear in mind is that what you are are seeing is the development of space usage, rather than the final product.

I am very deliberately thinking out loud so as to include a number of different ideas from a number of different people

 

OK, understood. Actually this is job of designer to transform Customer's wishes into feasible and attractive design. We used to work this way: tell us what You want and how You want to use the boat, then let us design/draw and make a proposal. After that, get Customer's comments and modify/rework if required.

In Your case, making sketches is creative and fun process, understood. But don't push the designer with those sketches on later stages.

 

Yah, so many boats these days that all harbours look like supermarket parking lots. In high season you can barely see the water in the harbour . Come low season, when all the blow ins are back home in their cubicles , selling real estate or financial products , the waterfront is a ghost town...great place to live.

Many local boats , the ones owned by non financial types, are dry sailed during high season from farmers fields via a specialized local transport company . The boats moved to olive groves are big...up to 20 meters. Many times..at 3 in the morning ,you see a convoy of these land yachts creeping down the road under flashing lights. .

Perhaps a good detail in your cruisers concept would be the ability to haul ashore during high season, when everyone and his uncle is down on the waterfront causing trouble, , smashing up rub rails, chumming with money and driving the cost of a cup of coffee thru the roof. . . Guess this would mean air height.

 

a definite concern. If you look the "air height" is under 12" which is my limit on a double drop trailer. After that it gets pricey. The idea is to keep the concept within the spectrum of modular construction. Something that would puzzle together on arrival. After that it would be nice if it was beach-able, keeps haul out costs down. I keep thinking of ways I could haul it out myself on a public ramp. Without dragging the truck underwater. But none have really struck me as practical yet other than just a big custom trailer. But in a cat design thats not really happening either. Cats have advantages, but they have disadvantages as well. The mono's issues in hauling out are minor compared to those of a cat.

 

I was surprised when I first moved to the Canadian side of the PNW that there were basically no rules for laying moorings. If you can find somewhere shallow enough then lay it

Marinas and especially government docks are much cheaper than in Europe. The marina on our island charges about CAN3 a foot a month. And there is still lots of room to lay a free mooring

Most travel hoists can handle up to 20ft beam. If you pull out on a slip you can always make two launching trollies that fit under each hull. But your bridgedeck floor will be strong enough to support the weight of the boat

One of the big differences between houses and boats is that the latter not only float but also have to move. So you need to know exactly how heavy the boat is and where your C of G is, otherwise the boat will not float level, never mind on its marks. You cannot just add a steeple at one end "because it looks nice" as you can with a house.

And even after passing that hurdle you need to have the right shape to minimise drag when underway. And even then that isn't enough because you also want a seakindly motion. And then some people want accommodation fitted into that hull as well. The problem list goes on.

Read my "Rocket Science" and Hull Shapes notes on my FAQs and Articles pages for more

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

What you say is obviously true...for a " Boat " . For a resonably seaworthy, protected water houseboat, you can fool with the rules. I see nothing wrong with water tank ballast , holding tanks in the bow to offset the cabin house. The same goes for making the cabin structure asymmetric or single diesel propulsion. Again...dont go to sea with it.

 

Damn and I was just thinking a widows walk would look good right next to a glass cupola reading room.

Oh and I was considering something like a log trailer, couple of wheels connected with a single beam. In this case that beam would also have two cross beams that tied the whole thing together, I could swap those cross beams out for two shorter beams when not in use and keep it street legal. Store it somewhere off site. Maybe even just use the trucks off the back end of an 18 wheeler.

But once again thats getting ahead of ourselves, not even sure yet if the style of boat I'm after works on a cat footing