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The CS25 is an attractive looking boat on the water, and performs well
for a simple, plywood, V hull cat. This is her crossing the line in the
Bay to Bay race (Queensland, Australia) where she outsailed many more performance
oriented cats. |
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She did exceptionally well in her class, being beaten home only by
more racing oriented tris (such as the Farriers) and cats, costing considerably
more than she did to buy / build. Not bad for a cheap, build at home, V
hull, plywood cat. She didn't carry a spinnaker either. |
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Here she is in the marina. An attractive little cat, without the 'work
boat' look so many small ply cats tend to have. |
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She can easily be trailed to reach distant cruising grounds, but she
is 'demountable', rather that trailerable. A very basic frame trailer is
all that is required. |
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The hulls demount to reduce to the legal road trailer width limit of
2.44 Metres (8 ft). (this width may vary from country to country) |
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The boat is mounted or demounted on the trailer. The process (either
way) takes about 2 hours for 2 persons. Normally she would stay mounted
on the trailer at the club, and you would demount her for trailing on holidays
etc. |
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Frames for one hull set up on a simple building jig. Each hull can
be built seperately and joined later on, either as a demountable or permenantly |
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Stringers on and ready to plank. You can't get much simpler construction
than this. Stringers are horizontal and placed to accept berth tops etc,
which form part of the structure. |
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Framed up again. Note that parts of bulkheads which will be cut away
later have not been resin coated. bulkheads will join to planking with
epoxy fillets. |
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Planking on. Flat sided ply sides are easy to fit. |
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First hull completed and painted, ready to turn over. |
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First hull turned. |
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These photos make an important point. Just because it is plywood, 'V;
shaped hulls, and cheap to build, does not mean it has to look amateurish.
With care, you can get excellent finishes like this. |
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Interior bulkheads cut out to allow the berths etc. to be installed.
This type of vessel always has limited space, but for what you get, the
25 is quite roomy. |
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The hulls easily fit on standard road trailers to be moved around.
Note timber doublers on bulkhead cabin sections to allow strength where
bulkheads are cut away. |
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Moving house half way through construction. Luckily the hulls are easy
and light to re-locate. |
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Deck / cabin top going on. Very streamlined and all curves are nice
and simple. |
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Notice that the cabin stringers run continuously over the beam seats
to ensure the cabin has a fair and even line. The beam seats are cut clear
later on. |
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Cabin ply going on. Fitting in two pieces makes it easier to get the
slight curve of the cabin top. That's the main beam seat at the middle
of the pic. |
