Best Design for 55' Cat to Cruise Asia, Pacific?

[peterthai]

Hi
this is my first post.
plan:
55 ft catamaran, cruiser ( will be build)
wood/epoxy
pacific asia waters: Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines

best design for this region?

[Boracay]

Would you care to share a few design parameters.
Number of crew, projected budget, available build time in years and hours, available building space. That sort of thing.

[peterthai]

yes
I am sorry.
so cat will be 55ft, crew of two, budget ~ 250 -300.000
I can work full time for 2 years, have some people, helpers. The building space is not a problem, will be build in Thailand. I have house there.
The mast, watermaker, and electric systems will be done by my friends, they have technical knowledge and they are ready to go. Even now we are working on some design of electric propulsion system. But no decision yet.
this cat is for me, not for sail, and i like the wood/epoxy system.
My choice now is Dix dh550 cat design, but I like some more information from people who have sailing experience on these waters. Sorry for me English.

Originally Posted by Boracay

Would you care to share a few design parameters.
Number of crew, projected budget, available build time in years and hours, available building space. That sort of thing.

[Boracay]

55' looks real big for 2 people, and would be very hard to manage to do on a $250k budget.

Have you looked at 40' cats? They should be plenty big enough for 2, and would come inside your budget.

[peterthai]

yes it is big, but i am going to build only one boat in my life. and I like this size.
as I said, I have everything under control (money).
What I am looking for it is information , if i need something specific for this water, or just regular design should be ok?
I am in a good position, because I have many friends. So carbon mast, sails, etc. I will have for the fraction of the cost.
so the cost is not the problem, problem is design, which one?

[Abaco]

Peterthai,

You have picked a very nice boat. The co-designer of the Dix 550 built the first Gunboats. I hope you build it.

[tongaboys]

Originally Posted by peterthai

Hi
this is my first post.
plan:
55 ft catamaran, cruiser ( will be build)
wood/epoxy
pacific asia waters: Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines

best design for this region?

I intend building in wood/ply+ epoxy as well and have also emailed DixDesigns, so we have a lot in common (your English is perfect).

The designers using wood/ply+ epoxy to build multihulls are from the 70's and 80's. They are as follows: Kurt Hughes, Norman Cross, John Marples (searunner), Ed Horstman, all have designs for around the 55' mark.

Be your worth while having a look at this builder for possible information... Boatshop Philippines, Inc. He has built multihulls for all/most of the above list I have given here. Personally I'm going to build a 38-42' Horstman Trimaran.

Include pic of 60' Horstman. Anyhow hope I been a help you... tongaboys..
(there is one builder in Thailand I would not use!)

[multihullsailor6]

Originally Posted by peterthai

yes it is big, but i am going to build only one boat in my life. and I like this size.
as I said, I have everything under control (money).
What I am looking for it is information , if i need something specific for this water, or just regular design should be ok?
I am in a good position, because I have many friends. So carbon mast, sails, etc. I will have for the fraction of the cost.
so the cost is not the problem, problem is design, which one?

Hi peterthai,

Instead of going through all the hassles of building a nice cat, why do you not buy this one and equip it to your specification:
Multi Sailing - Second hand multihulls - 26490 Proto 52
With a lower offer it seems a good buy to me.

Roger

[peterthai]

hi
multihullsailor6 - yes but this is my boat, part of me. first i want to build my boat, and second i have some idea which i like to on this boat. if i buy one i must make some compromise which i don't want to.
tongaboys - thank you very much for info i will follow the links you suggested. i like the trimaran, but decision i final, i go for cat
Abaco - yes i like this boat, when i saw the gunboat and dh i had the feeling that these boats have some connection. i asked Phil about that in my first mail. I think it will be a good boat. and yes i must build it, have no choice, this is my dream

"lose your dreams and you will lose your mind"

[Catsoon]

Hi there- I am relatively new to the cat seen but recently saw and toured a Schionning in Northern California. They are designed in Australia and can eitehr be built from scratch or you can buy kits. Schionning Designs -

The one I saw, Sea Level, was built by the owner and was stunning.(I think she was a Wilderness 48) Apparently she is quite a sailing performer as well.

If I had the funds and time- this would probably the route I would go. The owner/builder also had/has a web site of 900+ pictures of his building process.

Hope that helps

[Mark424]

I'm not sure if you can take a design that was spec'ed for foam core and build in plywood, but two of my favorite designs in that range are the Chis White Atlantic 55 Chris White Designs and the Kelsall 54 (love the twin free standing wing masts, but I think you can use a traditional rig).Kelsall Catamarans - Sail Cat. Then there is always the Tektron 50, Tektron 50 yacht design you could do a hard or soft house on the bridgedeck (or hybrid similar to the Maine Cat 41).

I'm not sure what your goals are, but these are all more performance oriented cats as opposed to a Taj Mahal condo-maran. Since you don't need huge amounts of space, I'd suggest keeping the boat very light, and hulls very thin, that will require a smaller rig and make it easier to handle shorthanded.

[gbanker]

guess i didn't know your qualifications regarding building a boat but you might want to try building the dinghy first and see how that goes. also, you might want to think about whether your enjoyment of boating is about the building or the sailing before you start.

[imagine2frolic]

I like your dream. Building a cat to your own specifics. Imagine is 46ft., and if I was to build a cat I would go another 10ft approximently. We are only 2, and Imagine is plenty big for us. When we have guest we wish we had that extra 10ft.

The longer the cat, and the fewer people, and stuff. Gives you the opurtunity to go with some long thin hulls which equeals speed. BEST WISHES in your venture being a success......i2f

[schoonerdog]

The major difference seems to be the build method between these designs. Wood/Epoxy versus Fiberglass epoxy infusion. How would the plywood hulls hold up to a nick or chip below the waterline and water penetration?

[mikereed100]

Hi Peter,

The Dix designs are very nice and would certainly be suitable for your purposes. The only thing that gives me pause with his method is that it looks like you may have to do a lot of fairing of the finished hull. Another good designer in wood is Roger Simpson. http://www.boatcraft.com.au/simpson.html Check out Imagine2Frolic's boat for a beautifull example. Any catamaran designed for cruising will be OK for Southeast Asia. If you go with ply, be very confident in your supplier and do a boil test on some samples prior to commiting. Where in Thailand are you planning to build?

Mike