by Gordon P. Manning
LOA 20', BEAM 8'
You can have a picnic aboard this 20’ pleasure barge. With no bilges to pump, you sit back and concentrate on having fun afloat
If you’ve ever wanted to build your own boat but hesitated because of the difficulty of making it watertight—here’s the craft for you. There are no complicated underwater joints to make, because it floats instead on four large blocks of Styrofoam, the miracle flotation material. With few underwater parts to concern you, the job consists mainly of building the plywood deck, floats, rails, canopy and control box. It’s a cinch, because you do straightforward hammer-and-saw carpentry most of the way. The finished catamaran, measuring 20’ long by 8’ wide, is a wonderful pleasure barge for use in protected waters. You just can’t beat it for fishing, swimming, sunning yourself, family picnics and the like. Drawing only 10” of water, it goes anywhere and can be run right up onto the beach. It will take any outboard motor from 10 to 40 hp. The 10-hp Evinrude we used on the pilot model was just perfect, pushing her at an estimated 7 to 8 mph. The complete boat will weigh about 1200 lbs., so you can trail it anywhere with a two-wheel trailer. And remember, cats like this sell on today’s market for two to three times what this one will cost you.
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