More on affordable multihulls...

Multihulls are HIP and as a result multihulls demand a higher price and this includes used boats. Which, I suppose, is good news if you happen to be selling a catamaran but bad news if you want to buy one. In my opinion, multihull prices are mostly inflated and don't quite reflect their actual value.

Here's an example;

I've been following an Iroquois 30 catamaran built in 1969 that has been for sale for ages at $45K but recently came down to $35K. Maybe it's just me but I think that either price is way too high for a fifty-two year old boat. As the Iroquois has a displacement of 6560 pounds that's right around $6.86 a pound at $45K and $5.34 at $35K.

As it happens, "So It Goes" is a 1969 CAL 34 and I also tend to track what the model sells for and, by my addition, a 1969 Cal 34 costs between $5K in OK condition to $20K where the boat is pretty much pristine. So, by my figuring, the average price of a good to very good CAL 34 hovers around $14K. That said, with a displacement of 9500 pounds the CAL 34 is a lot more boat than the Iroquois but sells less at $1.48 per pound. 

The big question for me is whether or not the hipness factor of a 52 year old geriatric catamaran is worth the extra cost. The fact is if you were to base the value of the Iroquois on its displacement which, by rights it should be you'd be able to buy the Iroquois for around $2 a pound which would be along the lines of $13K which is very close to several other Iroquois cats I've seen over the last few years.

Most builders I know tend to budget a sailboat based on how much it weighs and not so much on what you can sell the boat for. Working out what a boat is worth in terms of weight/displacement is a great way to sort out what you should be willing to pay for a given multihull.

So, what's a person going to do if he/she want a multihull on a VolkCruiser budget?

Well for starters, I'd take a look at smaller designs like the Heavenly Twins, Iroquois, and Prout Sirocco because they're good boats and long enough in the tooth and in a less-than-hip size to have a few out there at reasonable prices.

If those boats are a bit small for your tastes you might check what you can find in the 30-35 foot niche but be warned that deals are very few and far between.

While I've not mentioned multhulls of the DIY sort I'll go on record and say that finding an inexpensive multihull in the under 40-foot niche is, more than likely going to be a DIY boat. The downside is that a lot of folks consider home-built boats inferior and, to be honest, there's a valid reason as the old adage of...

"You build your first boat for your worst enemy, the second for a friend, and the third for yourself."

... which has more than a passing resemblance to reality and, as a result, there are some truly heinous examples of boat butchery laying in wait with a "For Sale" sign laying in wait for the unwary.

More on the subject of home-built designs, what they should cost and building yourself in the near future...

Regarding affordable multihulls...

This morning I read an article "10 Small Catamarans For Cruising" which ranged in price from $50K to $300K which seems to be somewhat out of reach of VolksCruiserish folk in spite of the fact that  the boats in question, apparently, represent the affordable under 38-foot niche on the market.

Kind of depressing reading as it happens.

Of course, if you're not looking for condomarans and on a VolksCruiser budget you're thinking of building a DIY multihull (cat-tri-proa), shopping for a well built used one, or looking for an older pre-condomaran classic plastic production boat.

Which has me thinking that a short list of possible VolksCruiser multihulls would be no bad thing.

More soon come.

In the meantime, check out Michael Schacht's "Herbie" cruising proa for a Volkscruiser friendly multihull.

Since we were talking about cats...

So, here are a couple of out-of-the-box designs I really like...

First up is by Michael Schacht of PROA File infamy so not exactly surprising it happens to be a Proa named "Herbie". What impresses me off the mark is that in the proportions shown you won't have to go up towards fifty-feet in length to get a thirty-foot monohull interior...

I'd expect the sweet spot of a boat like this would be in the 34-40 foot zone with a cost to build on par with what an equivalent accommodation/payload monohull would. For my needs I'd expect a forty-foot version would work out just fine.

Two more reasons I like this concept is it sports a powerful, but inexpensive, balanced lug rig which makes all kinds of sense in a shunting sailboat and the design in general lends itself to an easy affordable build. Which, after all, is what a VolksCruiser is supposed to be about.

The other design for today is the Bit & Kontell 5.5 by Yann Quenet and it's not a Proa but then again neither is it a cat in the accepted sense...

Now, at 5.5 meters (18-feet) it's a little small for most folk's tastes but I've been very tempted to build one and sail it around the USVI/BVI/Puerto Rico for couple of months long surfari of all the good surf spots as a proof of concept to see just how it works and whether or not scaling up the concept to a full time liveaboard cruiser would make sense.

Offhand, I think an 11m50 version of this boat would make a great cruising boat...

So, do you know why we don't see more interesting designs like these? Why most multihull and monohull designs are just the same old same?

I could blame the yachting press for slavishly promoting/pimping whatever their advertisers are selling, the idiocy of designers only really designing for three markets (those being yacht charter, racing, and luxury play toys for the rich) none of which are optimum for just plain normal folks, or the collective greed of the marine industry where profit trumps everything else... To some extent I'd be right.

That said, the real reason we're not getting the boats we say we want and need is that we're simply not supporting the sort of designers who are putting heart and soul into different boats knowing full well that, more than likely, no one is going to take that leap of faith, buy a set of plans, and build them.

It's our fault...

So, if you want more innovative cruising boats whether it's a bluewater sharpie, a scow, catamaran, or proa buy a set of plans, build a boat, and go scandalize an anchorage .

Nuff said...

Some more volkscruiser proa news...

Michael Schacht of ProaFile has released a couple of interior renderings of "Herbie" his new in-progress proa design...

Better yet, he's hinted that a forty-foot version which, I expect, has some folks (myself included) doing the happy dance.

For more info check out the continuing thread...