I see the term being used here. What does home-made in this case mean?

Built by the owner?
You can buy plans on the 'net for home-building any type of boat. Cats are no exception. Especially if you don't like the idea of pouring a ton of molten lead while inhaling the fumes...

Of amateur contruction. Buying building plans of some party or design it yourself and then building it without any commercial intent. Most often for your own use or at most for use by a friend. Basically "not being build by a commercial party or organisation"

Thanks! I guess that means if afterwards, two neighbors down the street liked the outcome and wanted me to build for sale to them, I would have to get some kind of permission from the patent owner, right?

Also, about how much would I save (rough estimate) if I bought the plans and built it myself? About 50%? 75%?

I can't speak for all available plans on the internet, but I can speak for the Taipan and Blade F16 building plans. Also a bit for the F12 plans. F12 plans are all free-of-charge currently and the designers don't care much who uses them; basically those plans are freeware. Taipan and Blade F16 plans cost 250 bucks and the copyright owners don't mind whether you build boats as a small homebuilding group (TOGETHER with your neighbours). It only becames a different matter when you build boats and then market it to "unfamiliar" buyers. Because then you are becoming a (one man) company who builds boat with full intent for commercial exploitation.

Cost savings ? Think More in the order of 10-20%. My own homebuild costed me 12.000 Euro's (incl. all taxes and that sort of high markups for EU based persons) upon completion where now I can buy a brand new fully fitted VWM Blade F16 for 14.250 Euro's. 16 % cost savings, although in my case I couldn't buy a ready to sail F16 as the class had only been formed weeks before the building of my F16 commenced. So I didn't have a choice.

When put to the question again then I'm not sure whether I wouldn't just buy a F16. 2.250 Euro difference (16%) is not much money considering you'll be spending many hours on homebuilding it; say 150-250 hours in total. You can just as well get a second job as bar tender in the evening or shop assistent in the weekends start and just buy the same package.

You should homebuild because you want to enjoy that experience or alter the design significantly, not because of any perceived financial gains.

Wouter

Most designers wants a fee for each boat built. Something to check with the designer when getting the plans.

As to saving money.. Unless you have done it all before and have lots of contacts to source parts and materials really really cheap, your homebuilt boat can be even more expensive than one you buy. Especially so if you buy a used boat! Buying a used boat is the most economical way to get a boat unless you really get into sourcing parts on the cheap and have the industrial contacts.

There have been lots of discussion about this before, some searching should give many interesting posts making just the points Wouter made.

E.g. ref: http://www.catsailor.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=0&Board=Fleet45&Number=60234

Thanks guys! Very informational.

I am not skilled with fiberglass, so I won't be attempting the home-build.

BTW, any viewable pics of your boat, Wouter?

If you want to have a look at the effort it takes to build a plywood cat, and the end result..

http://www.thebeachcats.com/index.php?module=pictures&g2_itemId=11955

Of my boat sailing go here : http://f16.beasts.org/gallery2/main.php

Any deep yellow boat you see in the pictures is mine; there is only one pale yellow Blade F16 but that one is rather new and we hardly have any pics of it.

Here is an example : http://f16.beasts.org/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.ShowItem&g2_itemId=6029

by clicking on the link : 1024x683 in the upper right hand corner you can see the orginal high resolution version of it.

like so : http://f16.beasts.org/gallery2/main.php?...ageViewsIndex=1


For building pics go do a search on the net as my hulls are basically Taipan 4.9 hulls with some slightly modifications : raised mainbeam, round rearbeam landing, slighly reinforced bow tip to that the point load of the spinnaker pole support lines.

Also it is very similar to the Blade F16 in many building aspects and Phill Brander has made a full photo report on that.

Wouter

Great advice Wouter. I would never build a boat just to save a few bucks. I built a wooden kayak and saved a fair amount over direct purchase. The choice for me to build was mostly the pride I gained from knowing that I built the boat with my own hands. I know the boat inside out and every little detail that I would not know otherwise. I get great enjoyment from peoples reaction when I say I built it myself. They always seem surprised. Then I wonder, are they surprised I could build something that is so nice, or are they surprised that something so nice could come from someone such as myself. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Just to clarify. The plans for the DS12 are free to home builders, however, I do try and control them and one of the conditions of "sale" is they are not passed on to third parties. If people were looking to produce these boats for sale then a royalty would be due.

Chris Tucker