What type of multihull is this?

[David M]

Does anyone know who makes this multihull? I like the boat just on her looks and am curious to learn more about this design. I would guess her length to be around 40 feet?

[Factor]

Looks like a Gary Lidgard design. (very similar to the Fusion 40 that Gary designed). There are a few similar boats sailing in Australia, called "even Bet" and "saloon bar"

[MidLandOne]

It is a 13m Lidgard.

[David M]

Thanks guys. What type of reputation do they have? Do they tend to be high end boats? Any opinions about Lidgard designs? Interestingly, he has a bit of a resemblance to Carl Schumacher.

I found Lidgards website. There are some pretty nice boats there. Lidgard Yacht Design

[MidLandOne]

As far as I know Garry is based in Queensland so Factor would likely be more familiar with him than I.

He is a NZ'er and the rest of his extended family have a high and good quality profile in yacht design and building here in NZ. There are a lot of Lidgard boats around (a lot of human Lidgards too ), either built by or designed by members of the wider family - I suspect you could not go far wrong with one of his boats.

A friend has a very nice functional and fastish boat designed (and built too I think) by Duthie Lidgard and a lot of John Lidgard designs around - but these are mostly (maybe all?) monos.

[David M]

Originally Posted by MidLandOne

As far as I know Garry is based in Queensland so Factor would likely be more familiar with him than I.

He is a NZ'er and the rest of his extended family have a high and good quality profile in yacht design and building here in NZ. There are a lot of Lidgard boats around (a lot of human Lidgards too ), either built by or designed by members of the wider family - I suspect you could not go far wrong with one of his boats.

A friend has a very nice functional and fastish boat designed (and built too I think) by Duthie Lidgard and a lot of John Lidgard designs around - but these are mostly (maybe all?) monos.

Very interesting and thanks Midland. He seems to have quite a variety of types of boats that he has designed and not just catamarans. All are very aesthetically pleasing to the eye and the designs seem to be something that are functional as well. I am adding Lidgard's designs to my list of boats to consider.

David

[MidLandOne]

David, forumite GMac might be able to tell you more about the family, their boats and sailing reputations as he is in the thick of their territory.

[Factor]

I havent seen a bad lidgard in the multi arena, I have little knowledge of his mono boats. His designs are the sort that every time you see one on the water you tend to think positively about the boat.

found a link to that boat
R O T K A T

[MidLandOne]

An interesting site, I wonder how the electric propulsion is working out? The stanchion bases of interest here too.

I didn't realise the owner had built it himself - a big job. It would be interesting to see some photos of the completed interior (unless I missed them on the web site?).

[David M]

Thanks for the link Factor. Nice website indeed. The boat in person certainly does not look homemade at all. I did not see any ripples in the hull or other things that did not look right when I took those photos. It looks very professionally done and to much higher standards than most homemade boats I have seen. Lidgard has a 63 foot catamaran on his website that I think is a knockout.

[mikereed100]

An interesting site, I wonder how the electric propulsion is working out? The stanchion bases of interest here too.

I may be able to shed a little light. I had been following his progress with interest as his was the same configuration I was planning for my own cat. As I recall, the 48v system was insufficient so he switched to 72v which also was a little too anemic for the SF bay. The last I remember he had decided to go with a couple Beta Marine diesels.

I too was impressed with the stanchion bases and will do the same on my cat. Anyplace a ss bit with it's attendant fasteners can be eliminated is a step in the right direction.

An aquaintence built a 40' cat over 20 years ago with no fasteners, all molded fiberglass including the traveler and steering system. The boat is still sailing strong and has hit sustained speeds of over 20 knots in the SB channel.

Mike

[TaoJones]

David, apropos your interest in the Lidgard 43, RotKat, check out this from today's 'Lectronic Latitude:

* * * * *

"Two Crazy Cats

"June 9, 2008 – Vallejo

(Click on the photo to enlarge it.)
Funny, Arjan and Jim both look normal.
Photo Latitude / Richard
© 2008 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc.

"The two men in the photo above — Arjan Bok of San Francisco and Jim Milski of Colorado and the Bay Area — are crazy. We know they are crazy because both not only built their own boats, but the boats are both rather large catamarans."

* * * * *

For the rest of the story, go to:

Latitude 38 - The West's Premier Sailing & Marine Magazine

TaoJones

[arjan]

It is indeed a Lidgard 43, I spend a long time going over the different designs available and choose the Lidgard because of the looks, the high bridge deck clearance, too low and the waves slam into it giving you the feeling of sailing over depth bombs. After about 4-1/2 years of building on the weekends and whatever other time I could find. I launched her about a year and a half ago and have been using her almost every weekend.
It was a lot of work but well worth it in the end, hey it even got me in 'lectronic latitude today.
As for the motors Mike Reed was right on the money, the electric propulsion was not adequate and to make it powerful enough to maneuver a light boat with a lot of windage I would have needed to add too much weight, so after a year of experimenting I went to the dark side and bought diesels.

Arjan

[TaoJones]

Welcome to the forum, Arjan. Glad you're here.

My sincere compliments on your very professional looking RotKat. You must be very proud of your accomplishment. I have to ask, did you really spend one year sanding and fairing?

My hat's off to you, Arjan. You're an artist!

TaoJones

[arjan]

Yes Tao, The actual building of the boat is relatively fast but you can imagine that fairing a boat that is 43 x 26 and about 10 feet tall is a tremendous job the exterior is a high gloss LPU and the finish is like a car, every imperfection shows.
When I started I wanted to make sure that the finished product would be at production boat level of finish and the only way to do it is to fill and sand and altogether that took a little over a year. I did all the building myself but after sanding for a few months it got really old and I was lucky enough to find a nice Mexican guy that would work like a dog for a reasonable amount of money, that's what saved me from going nuts.

Arjan