Seems to me that you can best steal all the idea's that are good about the catri and then have you own boat designed by an trustworthy (marine) engineer. Forget about the patent, that only applied when you are building the boat for commericial exploitation. If you only build one boat for personal use then no patent rights can be brought against you.
Patent law in Europe only protects commercial exploitation of an idea, not the (private) use of it.
In this respect, patent law is the same in the US
Derek Kelsal wrote in another forum that he doubts the patents could resist any serious attack. I did not know that the law allowed for private use of patents. This opens a new area of possibilities for my next boat. But first I must check how this one performs.
Thanks a lot for the comments and support. It feels very bad to be fooled like I was.
All the best,
