Waller 1200 or Easy Sarah? Advice please.

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by JasonCatt, Jan 9, 2017.

  1. brian eiland
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    brian eiland Senior Member

  2. JasonCatt
    Joined: Sep 2016
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    JasonCatt Junior Member

    Hi Brian,
    Ah yes, Dudley Dix designs.... some of the most beautiful cats anywhere in my opinion. I fell in love with the DH550/Dix470 as soon as I set eyes on them.

    I also love the jigsaw joins, what a great idea. The simplicity of the kits, available in modules, all precut and at quite a reasonable price too... interesting stuff indeed. I've been following the build of "Marram" over in Melbourne for some time now.

    I have two problems though:
    Firstly, 47ft is just a little too big for me. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to retire on something that size, but I have to be realistic...
    Secondly, I'm not entirely won over by the berth layout, preferring a transverse island style berth using some of the forward bridgedeck volume to a longitudinal berth a la Dix design.

    Very beautiful boats though... if only the Waller was available in a totally precut kit, in stages, with jigsaw joints. I think that would be my perfect home!
     
  3. JasonCatt
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    JasonCatt Junior Member

    I have just checked Dudley's website and see that they are getting a lot closer to releasing the kits for the redesigned 38/43ft... looks fantastic too, just like her larger siblings, and will include precut bulkheads complete with hardwood door frames.
    Damn, now my shortlist of 2 looks like it's back up to 4!
     
  4. catsketcher
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    Gday Jason

    The Dix boats are very different from the Easy and Wallers with the forward cockpit. I have not sailed on a forward cockpit boat but don't really want one. You can get good vision from the cockpit on most cats if well designed. Then when you are sailing you can go inside and watch from there as the autopilot steers - before anyone cries poor seamanship remember that all ships have interior helm positions.

    I think any advantages of forward cockpits are slight compared to the loss of cover and large back deck for swimming, kayaking and mucking around that a large back area gives. With good design you can have good vision from from the cockpit, good vision from inside the cabin and a large protected stern cockpit.

    I don't mind going forward - my halyards are at the bottom of the mast. If you want to go up front, when going downwind for instance, it can be great - autopilot on, watching the bows cleave the water.

    cheers

    Phil
     
  5. catsketcher
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    Aargh

    I just saw the backward facing wheel in the cockpit - oh no. I had one on my Twiggy and it was just awful, truly dreadful. I replaced it with a tiller very quickly.
     
  6. JasonCatt
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    JasonCatt Junior Member

    Agree with what you say...
    You still have a forward facing wheel in the front cockpit though, so I'm not too bothered. I've also come from a motorboat background so I'm not too concerned about the layout.
    The smaller rear deck may be an issue though, I'll definitely need to head over to Melbourne once Marram is up to that stage.
     
  7. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Corley epoxy coated

    Having sailed on a Chris White 46 Atlantic I can say the front cockpit makes a great place for sailing. In a blow I suppose you would just reef right down and use the inside helm. My only concern with that is that the sheets etc are not brought to the inside helm and there is in my opinion no quick and easy way to depower. You could rig that up with a bit of thought though.
     
  8. brian eiland
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    brian eiland Senior Member

    I'm not really a fan of those fwd cockpits either, but on Dix's designs these are relatively small cockpits. Those cockpit spaces might be retained:
    a) for just providing an easy pathway to the fwd portions of the boat
    b) might be made into an enclosed space for housing other vessel items
    c) might be just eliminated by only a slight modification to the pre-cut kit pieces
     
  9. jorgepease
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    jorgepease Senior Member

    why not bring lines inside house like a few others do.
     
  10. brian eiland
    Joined: Jun 2002
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    brian eiland Senior Member

    What makes it a 'great place for sailing'?

    In a blow is JUST the time that you DO NOT want to be hanging out inside the boat. You need to be outside monitoring things, and be able to duck behind some sort of wind break at times,...like the back side of the deckhouse.

    I've sailed in the fwd cockpit of a friends custom 58' cat,..and in moderate conditions,...and I was not thrilled at staying out in that constant wind for hours on end.

    And that fwd cockpit 'depression' in the deck structure ate up room for some berth areas that might have been located there. In addition it relocated the deckhouse in a manner that took away space for a larger aft deck area.
    I'd rather have some nice big social area out back, along with a fishing chair and diving platform.

    I'm just not a fan of the fwd cockpit design. Besides what do I need that fwd cockpit for if I'm going to have an all-furling ketch rig and halyard locks??

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    HK40-catamaran-charter-version-06b.jpg


    And why would I need to have a duplicate helm control, and duplicate sheeting controls at a fwd and aft cockpit??
     
  11. jamez
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    jamez Senior Member

    The 550 is an elegant looking design. Whether the styling concept shrinks down well to a <40 footer remains to be seen. Its good to see people trying out different ideas/layouts etc.

    Also at the risk of adding another designer into the mix, Ron Given has designed a few larger cats for ply construction including a 12 and 14.5m.
    http://www.lifestyle-yachts.co.nz/Katariana-LY1.html
     

  12. JasonCatt
    Joined: Sep 2016
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    JasonCatt Junior Member

    Thanks James,
    I have already ruled out Ron's designs. Not my cup of tea. Definitely waiting to see the full drawings for the Dix 430 - this may well be worth a closer look for me.
     
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