Catboat #11

 Its been a long time since I've posted here four months ago. The catboat is now finished, has sailed many times, and is quite a success. Let me see if I can figure out where I left off and try to fill the gap up to the present.

I figured if I cover the whole deck first with 1/8 basswood, I could then remove the cockpit and cabin area, leaving behind the sides, bow, and stern deck, glued permanently. I used a printed template to get the right curve. That way it would have the right crown shape (Cross section curve) with deck beams under, as well as an edge to glue the cabin sides.

Voila! cabin and cockpit curve cut.

Cabin sides

Starting to build the cabin top. The Radio board, which fits between the two main frames down in the cabin, is easily removable, except for the small battery box.

Mahogany Rub rails, toe rails, hand rails, Hatch slides. (So many memories of varnishing the hand rails on the "Clam"our real family cat boat every spring.)

Radio board showing Hitec drum winch with loop tension adjuster, rudder servo with lines to tiller, receiver, battery compartment (oval shaped hole in radio board. I figured instead of mounting a box under the radio board for the battery, if the box was glued to the bottom of the boat in the right position, it would be far easier to fit the board in an out of the cabin. There is also a long stick attached to the board that goes all the way forward of the mast. At the end of this stick is a screw eye for the other end of the drum winch loop. The point on the loop that holds the main sheet actually goes all the way through the eye on the stick and then continues aft a bit when sheeted close hauled. I have plenty of travel that way. Not that I need much main sheet travel on a boat that is never going to race, and doesn't need a vang. The twist in the sail lets the gaff grab plenty of wind up high going down-wind. I can even operate the sheet much the same as a real catboat with a two part arrangement leading to the traveler. 

Cockpit showing tiller lines and main-sheet.

Planked hatch

Working Peak and throat halyards. Would love to replace those screw eyes with working blocks if I could find the right ones. The sail is Cotton Muslin which, if your not going racing, works like the real thing. I don't own a working sewing machine so the stitching is all by hand, (Mine).

So the burning question on the mind of everybody, when contemplating weather to build a working model of a catboat is: how's the weather helm going down-wind? Here's the answer: make the rudder twice as big as you think it should be and Voila! you can sail down-wind just fine, most of the time. 

This is actually something that kept me from making a catboat for a long time. I thought all my other boats with Jibs, short booms, and narrow hulls would be way more fun to sail. I was wrong.

Reefing really helps a lot with the helm of course.

Beam reaching in a moderate breeze she glides like a duck with rudder dead center.