Modern design, enhanced stability and creature comforts, along with remarkable utility make for a stunning trailerable beach camp cruiser for passionate multihullers.

Hobie Alter introduced the Hobie 16 catamaran in 1969 and the sailing world, as it was known, hasn’t been the same since. In 1992, with many of the beach cat lifestyle crowd having families of their own, the Hobie Cat company introduced a new boat called the Hobie 21 SC (Sport Cruiser) that was aimed at the more leisurely needs of beach cat cruising, rather than the well-known, hull flying beach cats.

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Posted: September 17th, 2009 under Catamarans, Open Bridgedeck Cats, Sailing Multihulls.
Comments: 6

Checking-in with Ben Algera as he builds a boat for a future Watertribe event

With the main hull now successfully launched and then paddled briefly with his wife and kids, Ben has taken the first important step towards the completion of his XCR.

Sailing and paddling trips await Ben with this boat as it can seemlessly morph from a straight-up decked tripping canoe to a very nice sailing trimaran in minutes.

There are all sorts of photos of Ben’s build progress at his Blog site.  http://www.bensboats.blogspot.com/ 

Take a few moments to scan through his entries and you can see for yourself how easy it is to build an XCR of your own.

Posted: September 16th, 2009 under Canoes, Paddled, Sailing, Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans, Uncategorized.
Comments: 1

Underside hull work is complete and the boat has been turned over, right side up. The pictures can speak for themselves.

The boat looks spectacular, guys!

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Posted: July 12th, 2009 under Catamarans, Sailing Multihulls.
Comments: 3

The Athens build team has completed the construction and installation of their bridgedeck, the forward bulkhead and the two transom bulkheads.

With the installation of the most recent elements on the Gato Especial,  the builders are now ready to fabricate the hull turning structure that will stabilize the boat for the big rollover.

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Posted: May 11th, 2009 under Catamarans, Sailing Multihulls.
Comments: 1

Work has begun on the first Cabrillo dinghy for kids

I was finally able to squeeze enough time out of my schedule to get the parts cut out for the Cabrillo Dinghy design. Things have been hectic around here ever since the start of the new year. There are something like 6 boats under construction right now in some very interesting locations around the world.

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Posted: May 11th, 2009 under Daysailing, Sailing Monohulls, Sport Boats.
Comments: 4

I’ve known this guy, Chris Partridge,  for a number of years now. Not in the “let’s go hang out and grab a couple of beers” way of knowing a friend with whom you share a passion. More like a Cyber-Friend who lives in England with whom I’ve shared many interesting discussions over the years on various Yahoo Groups. That kind of friend.

I would just love to have the opportunity and the resources to get over to Europe again and truly spend some time with all of my English boating buddies.

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Posted: May 7th, 2009 under Human Powered Vessel.
Comments: 1

Latest photos of the transition from two hulls to one boat

The guys in Greece are serious about their boat building . They just keep moving along at a steady clip, working to complete their new catamaran. They have installed the bridgedeck installation support strip and fixed the hulls to the correct spacing for the complete joining of the Gato Especial hulls.

Posted: May 5th, 2009 under Catamarans, Sailing Multihulls.
Comments: none

Previous boat building experience and excellent craftsmanship have gotten this project off to a fast start

The construction sequence is moving along smoothly now in Athens, Greece as the builders are ready to join the two hulls with a set of bulkheads and the bridgedeck.

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Posted: April 30th, 2009 under Catamarans, Sailing Multihulls.
Comments: none

A safe, speedy solo cruising craft for adventurous souls

After a lot of input from readers of this site, I have completed the modifications to the Solo16 S design that reflect many of their
expressed interests.

The Solo16 S now has a bit more displacement as a direct response to suggestions for the use of a small 2 hp outboard and some spare fuel. At the same time, the vaka hull was given additional beam above the waterline and the shear was raised some to allow for mods to the amas.

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Posted: April 22nd, 2009 under Sailing Multihulls, Trimarans.
Comments: 5

The Gato build in Athens, Greece has moved another step forward. I just received the second batch of photos of the boat in construction and Wow!, these guys are moving right along.

There had been a very small delay as they waited for their epoxy delivery, but now that it has arrived, they are cooking along with real pace.

The hull panels have all been assembled and they have the first three panels on each side of the hull in place and wired together within the building supports.

The joints of the lower hull panels have been filleted nicely and a layer of glass has been applied, as well.

The builders are now ready to wire-in the upper side panels of the hull and apply a thickened epoxy line to the joint between the lower side panels and the spray chines. They will then fillet the joint between the upper hull panels and the chine panels. After that, they are ready to glass the rest of the interior of the hull.

Before the port hull is set aside in order to build the mirror version starboard hull, a shear clamp is screwed into place on both upper hull panels and a series of temporary thwarts are installed to keep everything steady and in place.

Posted: March 25th, 2009 under Catamarans, Sailing Multihulls.
Comments: none