building a catamaran

notes

Was it worth it?? Of course it was. It was only at the end that I realised how knackered I was... but sailing Martha was very satisfying. And exciting, she is a lot faster than I thought she would be! Roll on next season! In the meantime here are some notes for those considering a home build project

Building a polythene tent is well worth it if you are trying to build (or restore) a boat in any kind of chilly location or weather. Insulate the floor too (I used one inch polystyrene slabs from the local builders merchant). It is easy to get it too hot though - drink plenty of fluids :-)

Keep your epoxy warm - it hates to be cold, and will form lumps which will block up your pump... not a pleasant experience. If it is too hot of course it goes off very quickly!

Use the best materials you can afford - I used some cost-effective ply which was quite up to the job but had a course grain. I consequently spent a long time grainfilling (epoxy and filler), then sanding, then grainfilling... a closer grained ply would have produced a smooth surface in far less time

Keep going - don't kill yourself, but you've got to keep at it if you are going to finish. There were times when I thought I would never be finished sanding...

Well, all done... or are we?? There is some work to be done over the winter -

• Glass and epoxy the centre deck sections (between the two crossbeam housings) on each hull. This is the bit you sit on, and it feels a little too flexible. It will also get a non-slip finish
• Replace the bolt rope at the edge of the trampoline with larger diameter - I used 3mm or thereabouts, and because it is little thicker than the webbing (sewn into the trampoline) it pulls under the aluminium retaining strip. It needs to be 5mm I think
• Replace the tiller joining tube, end fittings and tiller bolts with Dart 15 ones - this is a good simple system, much quicker to rig than nuts and bolts. The Pixie tube is shorter than the Dart one :-)
• Replace the fairlead and cleat on each hull with a single combined block and cleat, a la Dart
• Minor mods to mainsail - trim a little off the top to lift it up from the boom slightly

Page last updated Sun, 2 Sep 2007