Dragonfly Cat

Hello Bolger-ites.

I'd like to ask y'all a question but...

First let me say Hi.   I've been sailing for 30 years but I've only recently joined this Bolger group.  I've been restoring old sailboats for the past 12 years but I've never built one from scratch before.  I have come close though.  I took a hull from an old Coronado 23 that had all of its stringers broken and the keel crushed back to a very lovely sailing vessel.

At the moment I have two seaworthy sailboats and one under restoration sitting in my yard.   I have a Balboa 26 and a Hobie 18 in good working order and cruise the Balboa along the N.C coast.

At the moment, I'm working on  a salvaged Rhodes 22'.  I've repaired all the cracks and holes in the hull and I've painted her but I have not started on the interior or topsides yet.

I first learned about Phil Bolger years ago when I read a book called "Boats with an Open Mind".   Recently I've read a book on how to build your own sailing outrigger and another on how to build a junk rig... it really got me thinking about Bolger again.  His boats look so practical....  much like the old Cajun pirogues (I'm Cajun on both sides -- so I guess it is in my blood)

So I joined this group in the hopes of talking to some Bolger builders.

I want to build a coastal cruising catamaran for some of that thin water in the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds and have been looking at the Wharram catamarans.  I've ordered Wharram's plan book ... but dang those plans are expensive... and a well-made Wharram can set you back $20K in materials (assuming you have the shop and tools already) and in truth a Wharram is maybe more than I really need.  I only get about two weeks off each summer so I don't need something quite so luxurious as a Wharram cat.   And I'd like something I could build more quickly and as an experiment, less expensively.

Has anyone ever thought of taking two dragonfly hulls, slapping a deck on them and tying them together with some amas?  I really like the pictures of the dragonfly I've seen on this site and I can easily imagine modifying a pair into a very cool looking and fast catamaran.  Put a tent or a lean-to structure on the deck and hit the water for a couple of weeks each summer.

I think I need something in the 25+' range.  I have family that likes to go with me on these trips so I need some space for bunks on deck.

Thoughts?  Discouragements?  Encouragements?

I got thick skin so if I've overlooked something obvious, please let me know.

Fair winds and following seas.