Good post, Maren.

Also, a personal thank you for the thought you have put into my predicament!

I'm good at learning how to figure out things, with the exception of my own life!

I had looked at Wharrams in the past. I had wondered if it was possible to slap a little bit of a house on the open deck to make it livable - nothing fancy, nothing heavy, just some shelter.

It had always been my suspicion that you could put a boat (catamaran) together for under $20K if you worked hard enough at at and scrounged around for some of the materials.

I guess this guy is a living example of what I have been trying to do. A lot of people say you need this or that, but in reality, the biggest issue is that you need a hull. You can always fit the other stuff out later, as time and money dictate.

Anyway, I wonder why my estimate for Mr. Woods catamaran came in so high as compared to the catamaran we see here?? I know there is a deckhouse, so that's a little more in the materials list. The big ticket items (IIR) were the fiberglass and wood. I wonder if my estimate was incorrect??

Looking back at my Excel spreadsheet for pricing out the Woods catamaran, I see the price to construct the hull was:

HULL TOTAL $14,706.54

I suppose this might be what they are talking about when they talk about this Wharram catamaran coming in under $15,000 to build?

Looking at my cost estimate, solar, wiring, etc... may not apply to this Wharram. It looks like the guy might be doing a bit more "camping" than my estimate for the Woods catamaran took into account.

Is the Wharram in the photo cold molded or epoxied in some way, or is it just a wooden boat with no other treatment?

Now that I look back at the Excel spreadsheet I posted in this thread, I'm beginning to think you could also build the Woods catamaran for the same price as the one listed.

An additional question for me would be: Can the Woods catamaran be rigged up in a similar way to this Wharram? As in... could you find a less expensive rig and sets of sails than the $10K I put in my budget?

If so... building is getting more and more interesting.... and I just might do this.

Talking to myself here again, but another comment on these two types of home build cats:

I noticed that you can't get the materials lists for a Wharram cat without buying a study plan. Seems a little silly to have to buy something to price the project out to me. I like the way Woods shows you the materials list right on his website so you know what you're looking at right away and can make a logical choice without having to dig into your pocket. To me, charging for a materials list is sort of like charging admission at the door of a book store. I sure wouldn't go in there if I had to pay just to see the books...

The middle ground is for a designer to have a set of plans that have the materials list and the hull layout, sail plan, etc on it but not to include the full detail for a builder to recreate the boat. In other words, study plans. You would think its money wasted but at say 10% of the full set, I think it's a good compromise as it weeds out the people who don't really intend to follow through. Also, I think it's fair for the designer to get something for his time and to cover the cost of printing, shipping and handeling.

__________________
Regards,

Maren

The sea is always beautiful, sometimes mysterious and, on occasions, frighteningly powerful.

From the site [ref. 1]
So, it's a ply/epoxy/glass composite. I think this is an excellent combination as it effectively rids you the issue of rot, the material is renewable, fairly inexpensive, easy to repair or modify, light and strong.

My big issue the Wharram designs are with the hull form. V-shaped hulls have a lot of disadvantages, including a high wetted surface with small interior volume. I do have to say two things in support of Wharram cats however. My opinion of them has changed in substantial part based on the testimony of a well know multihull sailor who sailed much of the perimeter of a hurricane in one. There are some currently production boats I wouldn’t trust to do that. So a pass on the “sea test in near ultimate conditions by a skilled sailor” means a lot. Also, I think there is some very novel thinking in the Pahi range for instance [ref. 2] [ref. 3]

Sorry about editing your question so much but I think this is a wider net. Answer: maybe. Again, the graveyard of boats might be the solution. There was a boat I knew of in FL where the whole thing was going for about 5k$. That is less than the value of the parts (hence my boat removal business post)

But as for making a crab claw rig. I don't know, that's a question for Mr Woods.

__________________
Regards,

Maren

The sea is always beautiful, sometimes mysterious and, on occasions, frighteningly powerful.

The Wharram in question is a very basic boat. I haven't seen it but I suspect that it only has the room of a 28ft cat, and an open deck one at that. Remember the guy sails singlehanded. Often an indicator of a spartan boat.

As is well known (at least in the UK) I built my 28ft Gypsy catamaran for GBP5000 (USD8000 at todays rate) to a daysailing state in 1996. So that included sails and engine. But I then spent probably another GBP5000 making it a liveaboard boat.

I was lucky that I got the spars second hand for GBP70 (USD100), rigging (new at auction and cheap because the rigger - going bust - had obviously made a customer stays at the wrong length so they were new wires, just old and dust covered) for GBP7 (USD10). A used 4 stroke engine. But I did spend good money on sails. So realistically I'd expect a new homebuilt Gypsy to cost around GBP17000, USD30,000 at todays prices.

Sister ships to my Gypsy have sailed from Vancouver to Mexico then Hawaii and back and from Panama to Tahiti so it is also a proven offshore boat.

So I suspect the only way a boat could cost USD14,000 would be by using used gear, having it very simply fitted out and by not counting extras added after the first sail.

If you look at his running/cruising costs you'll also be amazed at how little he claims to spend. Clearly he never eats out, nor motors anywhere.

On that subject, for the first time when cruising, we kept a detailed record of expenses last winter. Cruising the east coast USA and the Bahamas we spent an average of USD600 a month. Eating out about once a week and staying on moorings frequently, but only rarely in marinas. We thought we lived well, but many people spend a lot more.

I guess you spend what you have.

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

Woods Designs Sailing Catamarans