Catamaran Build Plans Recommendations?

[Chotu]

I’d agree with everything Paul just said.

An incredible amount of time is spent NOT building a boat. Sourcing has to be one of the worst. Figuring out how to do everything the second worst.

Of note, the kit I was looking at when I started didn’t even require fairing!! It was already faired and painted upon arrival. You just stick it all together and did your interior/rig/components. I seriously considered it.

[Sea-Tribe]

Originally Posted by AdventuringA

Hello,

We are looking to purchase some plans to build our own Catamaran, minimum of 38' / 11.5 m. We are not interested in purchasing a kit, looking solely for plans to purchase. Any suggestions or recommendations are appreciated!

Note, we have a full machine shop as we have our own Engineering company & a shelter to build it in (Since for some reason people always ask)

You might try Dudley Dix Designs, we have built the DH550 model. Dudley also has the 43ft & 47ft version whic Kevin from Exocetus in the UK will supply cnc kit shipped with all other components of your choice. We opted for the kit to be cut by Exocetus & I can only say that I have no regrets. My first catamaran was a Wharram Pahi 31, all hand lofted & cut with jigsaw, very time consuming whereas the kit gets you accuracy that you cannot get by any other method. Both methods are very rewarding to build & ultimately I have a 55ft cat the is far stronger & lighter than any build other than epoxy infusion. You may see the Wharram & DH550 on these links.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPVeZ9ID2Gk&t=352s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsECtcqjZJQ

Catamarans – Sea-Tribe Catamarans You can find timelapse slide shows of the build on youtube as well. We built the DH550 in twenty months which would not have been possible if I had to cut myself.

[Training Wheels]

Originally Posted by GRIT

You wanted photos...



It was a pretty day today, so we took one for you.



Cheers.

Paul.

Very nice!

[GRIT]

Thanks.

Paul.

[GRIT]

I'm curious, AdventuringA, did you decide on a designer?

Cheers.
Paul

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by GRIT

I'm going to disagree with the posters who say that kits don't save time, for an amateur, or first time builder. Or for anyone really. I think those who say that, must never have built from scratch.

With a kit there's much you don't have to do, regards setup, and shelter. You don't have to build forms (or source the material, ship, and shape your forms), buy 10,000 screws, or store several thousand kilos of glass and epoxy. You don't have to invent ways to build things, as a kit already has it mostly figured out. You'll use less sandpaper, and other consumables, especially if you're building a resin infused boat.

I'd bet we spent more than 10% of our time sourcing materials during the build.

You can often assemble a kit in 6 months; you're not going to have a hull and deck from scratch in 6 months. Once you've assembled your kit, you still have to fair it, but you're already miles ahead of a scratch build.

Too many folks plan only the "building" time, or the "fairing" time, and they use professional estimates on how much time that'll take, while ignoring the fact that the professionals have lots of experience, and you have none.

There's "learning" time, and "planning" time, and organizing your dusty, itchy, messy job around your normal life time. It's a lot more itchy to build a hull and trim it so it fits to the other half hull you built, than there is in assembling two hulls someone else itched over. Home built hulls don't come out with perfect edges, even production builders make lots of dust trimming parts. There's also storing big parts out of the way, for months, while building "other" big parts, from scratch. On top of that, someone has to clean all that extra building dust from the shop, every day, for the next day's work. That's you too!

You don't have to spend time sourcing good vacuum pumps, regulators, timers, thermometers, sound sticks, vacuum bags, peel ply, release materials, flow material, butyl tape, and learn how to use them. Nor do you have to stress over any of the actual infusing of 10-15 metre long parts, where several thousands of dollars are at risk, if you happen to lose your electricity at a crucial point in the infusion (Yes, it happened). Ok, that wasn't time related, but stress is important too.

Post curing... that was fun too, and necessary; but not for a kit boat.

There's much less planning, and learning involved in having a hull and deck delivered to you in full, or in kit. And it's much more inspiring to see fast progress on your build. You'll have less than half the dust and cleanup over the course of the build.

I definitely think you'll save quite a lot of time, and stress, with a kit. For some, certainly for me, possibly years.

When folks ask me about building a boat, and my recommendations, I always suggest a kit. I'd probably never do it from scratch again, I'd go for a kit right off the bat. An Oram, or Schionning, or other Australian design.

We built from scratch for financial reasons, and got a lot more boat than we could have bought otherwise. But as to speed of build, I suggest a kit boat, hands down.

If you want to be the guy who builds from scratch, I'd not try to dissuade you from doing so. There's a lot of satisfaction, knowing you did every inch yourself. But this post was about SPEED of build, and time saved.

Cheers.
Paul.

Definitely agree. I built our 44' cat faster than many guys building 38' Easys around the same time.

[Maxgo]

I’ve built my own Schionning in the past few years- nothing but positive things to say about the quality of the kit, the plans and the company. If you need someone to hold your hand through every step of the process then maybe building is not for you but i for one would do it again in a heartbeat

[LostatC]

I’ve read the entire thread and clicked on every link, thank you to all who’s contributed to the interesting topic. It’s been 1.5 years since the last post, I’m curious if anybody’s come across anything new or has anything additional to add?