Any finished Kurt Hughes 38 catamaran?

Hello everybody,
is there any already finished 38' catamaran presented on
http://www.multihulldesigns.com/designs_stock/38catcmp.html ?
Can somebody compare complexity of building this boat with just one foot shorter trimaran also from KH
http://www.multihulldesigns.com/designs_stock/37tricmp.html
brgds

 

Are you building in fiberglass or using cylinder mold?

 

Just evaluating for now. Preffered method will be fiberglass foam sandwich

 

I am building a Kurt Hughes 45 and have some experience in both cylinder mold and now am starting a foam/glass sandwich of the same 45'.

My experience so far is that the catamaran will be the easier of these two to build.

The fact that you have 3 hulls to build makes the trimaran more complicated to start. Second, the shape of the trimaran vaka hull is much larger than one of the catamaran hulls. The ammas will be easy, but the vaka has a complicated shape and is large.

Because the catamaran hulls are smaller and the cross beams are small, as is that pod in the center, you will be able to handle moving all the pieces easily. Also, there will only be one mold making the catamaran. There will be two molds making the trimaran.

 

Any opinions about 38' catamaran?

 

The boat in general?

All of Kurt's boats are designed to sail very well. Having no deckhouse means you'll sail even better than most.

It really depends on what type of boat you want.

I was going to say this in the last post, but I didn't want to go too far off topic on your thread.

You should select a boat based on what kind of boat you want in the end. Do you go out jut for the day? Maybe for a weekend? Are you planning to sail to Australia in her?

You should always think carefully about what type of sailing you plan to do with the boat. For example, I chose the 45' bridgedeck Kurt Hughes because I need a boat I can take charter guests on overnight. That is my business reason. My personal reason is I want a boat that sails very well and doesn't need to motor in light winds. Also, I wanted a strong ocean-crossing boat that is large enough for me to feel safe on while crossing the Atlantic. For all of those reasons, I chose the 45' bridgedeck.

It is important to select your boat based on how you will use her, so I cannot suggest any of boat to you unless I know your plans.

 

It looks like at least one has been completed, probably the earlier version.

http://www.multihulldesigns.com/designs_stock/38cat.html

 

The trimaran seems a bit more practical for cruising which is a funny thing to be saying. Pod cat hulls are like huge amas which aren't used for much accommodation which loses a cat advantage but is fast racing. The cat would be easier to build for sure. I think Tennant and Crowther also had pod cats if you want to compare apples to apples.

 

I was looking for a fast cruising catamaran for 2 persons, occasionally 4. Open deck spaces, because I want to sail in mild climate places - Mediterranean, around the world maybe . I have seen Sig 45 catamaran and I like that deck concept. I know that KH 38 is something different but is also sporty and open.

 

Maybe not

I would be really really careful about an open bridge deck design like this for serious cruising. If you do go to the tropics you will want shelter -from the wind, sun and rain. You will get heaps of exposure anyway.

Cruising on far on such a light and fast boat is probably a mistake. I cruised for two seasons on a Crowther Twiggy. A fast trimaran. Strangely enough we went faster on our much more commodious cat a few years later. This is because a light boat is like a Porsche and requires the crew to put up with discomfort and heavy accelerations to go fast. When cruising this gets on your nerves and you slow the boat down. A light speedster is more subject to accelerations than a heavier cruiser so they need to be throttled back much more for sanity's sake. You really want to cruise in a family car rather than a sportscar.

I think everyone likes the idea of a podcat when they build a normal cat. But there are not many around. So the idea doesn't hold anyone strongly. You can make a bridgedeck cat fast, commodious and spartan. My cat originally was designed with no cabin but I put one on after a year in the tropics. If you do decide to go down this route I would suggest you get the hulls of a normal cat of the same size so that could retrofit a cabin on if you change your mind.

cheers

Phil