Spirited Catamarans - Why build your own boat?
Many people may ask why would you build your own boat. If you look at what consumers want, it becomes obvious that a large percentage of people either can’t find their ideal boat or simply can’t afford one. In either case a Kit-System boat fits the bill and provides many options for personalisation.
Apart from the above reasons for building your own boat there are also other sometimes personal reasons. DIY builders often gain a huge amount of satisfaction by creating their perfect dream boat to suit their exact requirements. Many of these builders feel it is a useful advantage to have intimate knowledge of every aspect of the workings of their boat. From engineering, systems and even the electrical design and installation, knowing these areas of the boat can be instrumental when in a time of crisis on board. This is a good safety feature.
Being in control of moulding every aspect of the building process to produce a very personalised result is a very unique experience. Watching your dream boat unfold is a very fulfilling journey that can be exciting as well as rewarding. From designing your own layout to choosing the colour scheme, the detailed finish is in your hands.
To achieve a high quality result, an amateur builder needs a high quality design and kit package as well as good support throughout. Utilising high quality light-weight materials for the structure is essential, as supplied in all Spirited Kits. This is an important aspect of any boat which is out of your control if buying a production boat.
Many of our projects underway involve the participation of the whole family and usually all family members will be involved in the use of the boat once completed. This is a great bonding experience for everyone with every member contributing their view and input, helping to mould the finished product. This is a unique advantage if compared with buying a standard production boat. Even though the children may end up with some of the less-interesting jobs, these still play an important roll in achieving the end result. Lets face it a teenager's energy could be utilised on a project like this, in many parts of the build! Often these projects will involve the whole family living aboard while cruising the world, another great experience.
Spirited Designs supply the kit including some of the more complex shaped parts of the boat which help to guarantee the highest success of the final result.
If compared with outboards of a similar size, weight-wise there is not a great difference and taking into account using a flooded 'wet-well' in the hull, the water in the well equates to extra weight.
Add this to the wet-well sides and deck, sail tracks and fittings, transom sliding bracket etc.
These factors quickly add up to help remove unnecessary weight in this area on the 380. The traditional ‘targa bar’ has been replaced with light weight composite davits. Solar panels are also often fitted to the targa-bar but these are not required with the extra charging ability of the Diesels, also saving weight.
In respect to the usability when cruising/operating, I feel the benefit of the simple and reliable aspect of the saildrives means that operation is instantaneous.
