Suggestions and advice

Hello everyone,

I’m new to this forum, but Richard Woods pointed me here, and I’ve already learned a lot from reading through the discussions.

I have experience building airplanes, but now that I’m retired from the Navy, I’m looking forward to fulfilling another long-held ambition — building a sailing catamaran.

The information I’ve found here has already answered many of my questions, and I want to thank Richard for his patience over email. After joining the forum, I realized he had already answered many of my questions here multiple times!

I’m not looking to build Noah’s Ark — I’m one of those builders who follows the plans and isn’t interested in re-engineering. What I’m looking for is the right boat to match our intended use, and that’s where my questions begin.

Our plans for the boat are roughly:

100% Sailing the Great Lakes

95% Sailing down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, along the Alabama–Florida coastline

85% Island-hopping in the Caribbean

70% (Bucket list) Possibly a trip to Hawaii if we gain the experience


I’ll be doing most of the building myself, though I’ll have occasional help from a friend and my daughter’s boyfriend when needed. I can dedicate full-time effort to the project — though I’m not sure if an 18–24 month build is realistic.

I’ve been looking closely at the Gypsy, which I really like. However, when researching weight considerations, the anchor and rode setup seemed surprisingly heavy — around 790 lbs for the whole system (anchor, chain, etc.). Am I misunderstanding something about how to properly size an anchor system?

I also really like the Tamar, but I’m wondering — are the added features worth the extra build time? We’re simple people — we hike and camp often — so we’re fairly minimalist.

Then there’s the Romany — a beautiful boat, but I’m asking myself if we really need something that large. I don’t want to get stuck in an overly long build if a smaller boat would meet our goals just as well.

Thank you for reading through this. I hope I’ve expressed my questions clearly, and I really appreciate any insights or advice you can share.

 

That’s some presidential math there, in your percentages of intended use!
The last item (trip to Hawaii) will be the deciding factor in your choice of vessels.

 

Honestly, the only boat among those I’d take to Hawaii is the Romany.

Those 3 boats are basically rankable as to their seaworthiness in the order you’ve presented.

I built a Woods Skoota 32 demountable. There are good and bad things about the boat, it is about 36 feet long waterline and I’d rank it like the Tamar, but I have 180hp power, no sails.

You’ll need to base your decision on how much open ocean you plan. Romany only.

Or lotsa island // mixed cruising, the Tamar.

Less opens seas, the Gypsy.

And they are all stacked in order of time to build. I recommend you buy a boat, nest and modify it for a year and go sailing.

My 2 cents.