Hi David, I  have had so the same idea : before to leave the NZ in February 2018 I bought the B. Kohler plans of the micro catamaran ECOnomy 5.50 cruiser. 

In a few years, after to have sold my Tiki 46 I plan to explore the protected coasts, estuaries, rivers and lacs of Europe in towing a such little cat behind a little car as her empty weight is only 290kg.

Despite I stayed 10 months in France, I did not yet find the time to begin her building.

At the end of this month I'll be back on board Grand PHA to prepare her re-launch after new bottom painting and to have re-rigged her new sails in junk rig.

Good luck, Bertrand

Slow but steady progress over the past two weekends. Last weekend I faired the framing ready for the plywood. There was a lot of material to come off the keel , especially in the forward parts of each hull. An electric plane was used to remove the bulk of the wood, but followed up with a good old Jack plane for final finishing. And of course the 4 inch angle grinder with coarse pad helped out a lot.

This weekend I glued on two plywood panels. These are probably the biggest single gluing job in the whole construction - not helped by the fact I am using fast hardener in summer temperatures! I need to go shopping for more resin, and plywood. There is probably about 3 hours work in each hull panel. Measuring, cutting, sanding the inside surface, 2 coats of epoxy sealer, which then needs to be sanded down. Then the final gluing onto the frame operation.

There will probably not be a lot of progress over the next couple of weeks as I am hauling 'Footprints' next Friday for a week of maintenance which includes removal of very old anti-fouling. Hopefully a week of full time work will see her back in the water the following week. Then back into boat building, but with at least one day of sailing fitted into each weekend. 

David wrote:

Having finished the boat he decided there was no reason why he could not build his own sails. So he made some very nice radial cut, full length batten soft wing sails. I sailed on the boat a few times and I seem to recall it went well to windward, despite the long shallow Wharram type skeg. I like the idea of this type of rig because it is low tech, and I could do a lot of it myself. food for thought. 

David Tyler wrote:

Have you considered the Wharram pattern of wing sail, with a wrap around sail and a short gaff, plus a furling headsail? Designed for catamarans, after all's said and done. I wouldn't enjoy reefing it, but otherwise, I think I'd favour it over the gunter or flat-top bermudan.

Hi David.  I love your new cat project.  Funky design and for me the gunter rig looks fabulous, the perfect rig for this small light cat.  When the main is deeply reefed or furled, it becomes a very snug rig.  I have not yet been able to sell Arion (zero interest this side of the Tasman) but if I ever do, a small cat would be ideal for cruising the QLD coast.  I also love that you are building both hulls on your back porch!  Yesterday I was on a friend's Tennant designed Great Barrier Express catamaran, the so called Sports version, which is actually more of a cruiser, with a central cuddy and a double bunk in each hull.  There are quite a few of them in QLD, but outside my price range at 60-80K.  I've said many times there will be no more big boat projects for me, but a small, simple Kohler cat could tempt me.  I'll be watching your project with keen interest.