Looking for a small coastal cruising catamaran

[Andrea Wasserliebend]

Short description
A costal cruising catamaran of channel width smaller than 5m
For a couple with sometimes shorttime guests
With standing headroom all thru
With pivoting daggerboards
With 2 doubleberth in the aft section
Full visibility at the bridgedeck Cabin
Building Material Plywood (interior visibility)
2 outboard engines for manouverability
Dinghi
Solar panels
Bimini

For buy or to build

 

[bajansailor]

How small is 'small'?
I presume under 10 metres, re your maximum width of 5 metres - is this to fit into a specific marina berth?
I think you might be hard pressed to find a cat of this size with full standing headroom in the bridgedeck cabin.
Do you really want pivoting daggerboards (centreboards?). Most cats have either small keels, or vertically operated daggerboards.

It will ALWAYS be much cheaper / easier / less stressful in the long run to buy an existing boat, rather than building a new boat.
But if you really want to build a cat, have a look at Richard Woods' site - he has some very nice designs.
www.sailingcatamarans.com

And do some googling for sailing catamarans for sale, including on sites like www.yachtworld.com

 

[Andrea Wasserliebend]

We live in the north of Europe and would like to sail south and later back again by boat. If you don't want to take the long way around the Iberian Peninsula, the boat can have a maximum width of 5m to be able to go through the canals.

I once met a couple in South Holland who had a Woods Gypsy. They were very happy with their boat, but had meanwhile moved to Cyprus. They no longer dared to sail the long way and finally sold their boat.

A catamaran that would meet some requirements is the Gemini 105. It is said to be very stable and sail well. I'm not so happy about the fixed foredeck and the fact that you don't have an all-round view from the saloon because of the owner's berth in the foredeck.

What I also really like is the Iroquois. It's very popular, but just too small. It is only 4 meters wide and only 1.54 m headroom in the cabin. But otherwise I think the concept is quite good.

I was looking at a Woods Sagitta that was for sale. A shipyard building with a slatted hull. I really liked the layout and the visible wood in the interior. The last owner had lengthened the hulls because the boat was too deep in the water. But today's designs already allow more payload. The cabin only has a headroom of 1.5 meters. And the width is 5.95 meters.

The more recent design is the Tamar. Headroom everywhere and the design also shows that there are a few years between the two designs. The payload is also significantly increased. Unfortunately, at 6.0 meters, the Tamar is also far too wide.

 

[rberrey]

K- designs has at least 3 with beams that will fit , 7.5 , P9 and DUO 900 , there are older designs much more tailored for cruising like Ed Horstmans 27' cat that has the beam you want and a lot of room for the size .

 

[Andrea Wasserliebend]

K- designs has at least 3 with beams that will fit , 7.5 , P9 and DUO 900 , there are older designs much more tailored for cruising like Ed Horstmans 27' cat that has the beam you want and a lot of room for the size .

Hi rberry, thanks for the tip about Ed Horstman's 27'. That looks interesting. I'll definitely order the study plans. But it also looks like it was designed a long time ago. Do you know something more about the boat and the designer?
I've never been entirely happy with Jürgen Kohler's designs.

 

[rberrey]

Ed was an aircraft engineer , he started designing I think sometime in the 1960,s . You don't see many Horstmans for sale , it seems people tend to keep them . They are designed in both ply or foam , take your pick . I have all three of his books , the info can be applied to what ever boat you build . Most of Ed,s designs are for cruising and are sometimes called roomerans , that is a bit unfair and he is very underrated , a very impressive designer if you research him . You can build a small fast cat , overload it and cruise maybe at 6 to 7 kts , or you can build a small roomy cat , load it up with what you need and cruise at 6 of 7 kts . He designed mostly cruisers and if that is what you want then built with foam it will be as modern as you can get . I have a set of his plans , I didn't build , but off hand after studying them I had no questions , you can build without much help . There is someone on the forum building a 28' Horstman trimaran , you can search for him and ask questions .

 

[fallguy]

Ed stayed pretty current. He originally wrote Foam Fiberglass Sandwich Construction in 1975, then updated the book in 91.

I have the book on my nightstand at the moment.

But for speed and cost, I'd stick with plywood. Plywood is not cheap, but time savings on the hulls is massive and hand laminating; epoxy use less.