I decided some 7 years ago that I would build my own cruising dinghy. Did I know what I was I letting myself in for? Well I thought it would be satisfying, could be easily altered/tailored for cruising and would save me money. Well all these years later I’m not at all sure the latter is true, it has been a long and tedious – sometimes painful - process but I am very satisfied with the boat that has slowly grown from the pile of timber and plywood.

I had never built a boat before, barely even managed to put up a straight set of shelves in the living room. So the project daunted me, though I had read a few books on the subject, and had been dreaming about building a boat for many years before that. I first bought a set of plans for a 18’ John Dory – the Swampscott design by Iain Oughtred. Much as I loved the clean beautiful lines, the glued clinker ply frightened me, and the size was really too big for a boat that would be single handed much of the time.

I was looking for something relatively easy to build, carry 2 adults and camping gear, stable and unsinkable (at least a lot of buoyancy and dry stowage), trailerable, easily reefed, ok single handed, and carry an outboard. All the usual requirements; and everything then has to become a personal compromise.

Well I eventually settled on a Hitia 17 – one of the smaller James Wharram ply and epoxy Cats. She largely met all my requirements, and with a large deck has plenty of room whilst in fact being a light and easily manoeuvred boat. She is 17’ by 10’11’’ beam (as a cruising boat much wider than racing cat equivalents). She weighs 295 lbs, can carry 550 lbs and sets 160’ of sail. She might be a wet sail (as all small cats are in any sort of seaway), but she’s fast, very stable and each hull has 4 separate watertight compartments. Last year the 21’ version (the Tiki) completed a single handed circumnavigation, so whilst the design is a little alien to many western eyes, and not in the European tradition, these Polynesian sailing canoes have an ancient and established pedigree.

Her beam is too wide for legal towing so you have to dismantle the beams and hulls before putting her on the trailer. Easy to do as the hulls are very light but it does take a little time. No problem for a couple off on a weekend sail but too much for an occasional sail or single handed launching. However as each hull is easily carried she can be launched just about anywhere, and put together on a beach waiting the incoming tide. As she now lives on a mud mooring up a drying creek in Essex it is not such an issue. One day I will get her up to the West Coast of Scotland. She is easy to put together as the beams are lashed on. This allows the hulls to work and absorb shocks in a seaway. James Wharram likes ‘appropriate technology’ – rather than metal fittings everywhere. The rudders too are lashed on by ingenious figure of eight knots, which work very well and give the tiller just the right feel. Even the large ocean going Wharram’s have their beams and rudders lashed on.

The building I must say was a long drawn out process with lots of emotional ups and downs. I began in the dinning room – the deal with Alison being that as we were in any event living in plaster dust and the rest of the house needed redone she would not mind being without a dining room for a couple of years. Well 5 years later we were nearly in the divorce courts – so be warned about unrealistic time plans! At least we never got burgled as anyone in the street who looked in the front widow saw a dusty builder’s yard and thought, “nothing worth going after in that place!” I worked on the boat on and off – usually giving up during the summer months to do other things with the family. It all took so long because of the house, changing job, new baby, moving house, doing all the building work on my own, and everything else that takes up your daily life. I had not factored having so little time. Nor had I realised how much time each thing would take. A lot of the skills were new to me, so things took ages to measure, prepare, fit, test, sand and re-sand! I never gave up – just worked in spurts for a couple of months at a time then returned to it a few months later.

The plans said, “build time: 250 hours”. A skilled amateur maybe, but not me! I think I spent a lot longer than that but gave up trying to record the hours years ago! However I did spend a lot of time on the hull, finishing it carefully, sheathing it in resin and cloth to make it as weather tight as possible. At the time I felt I was being over zealous – after all it is the bigger Wharrams that spend all their time on the water and go round the globe. However as my boat is now on a mooring I’m much happier with all the careful work that went into it. Working with epoxy and glass cloth though is a horrible and messy experience I would not repeat in a hurry. I could write a whole book on my experiences trying to get used to wetting out cloth with resin before it went off – only subsequently discovering the weave of the cloth I’d bought was too tight which made things difficult. Then the hours of sanding the glass to get a good finish. Dirty toxic work with a mask on. Never again. Or if there is another time I will buy a proper disc sander. (Working without one of those proved to be a false economy) The lessons you learn first time around! If Alison has anything to do with it there will very definitely not be a second time to put all these lessons to use.

Whilst I was delighted with the final outcome the boat is not perfect and I had some problems during the building. Both hulls are not 100% perfectly in line and all the bits do not fit quite exactly as they should. But they are close enough, you certainly would not know it when she sails; epoxy fillets are very forgiving.

I used marine ply, Douglas Fir and West epoxy. I bought the timber from Robbins in Bristol and have nothing but praise for the quality of the wood they supplied me. Long lengths of timber for the cross beams, mast and spars, arrived by van without any blemishes or knots. One piece that did arrive broken was promptly resent without a quibble. The sails were made by Jeckles. Paint was the expensive 2 part stuff to last – I cannot face having to paint her again soon. All spars and beams had 2 coats of epoxy before being painted or varnished. Non slip areas on the decks and beams are something I need to correct for next season. Various nasty bruises this year showed me I had missed something in my zeal to get a smooth finish!

The Modifications: well I fitted solid lipped ply hatch covers rather than the soft flexible ones the plans suggest. More dry stowage and they make comfortable seats. I also wanted to mount permanently a 3.5 hp long shaft engine. I have a bad back and do not want to be hoisting engines on and off in a seaway. Also as she is cruising the Essex rivers and creeks, and lives on a tidal mooring, she needs to be able to scuttle in and out against the wind or tide. The design has no fitting or place to mount and engine. Something temporary off the stern beam (as others have made) is ok in harbour but would snag the tiller bar or main sheet traveller when sailing. However James Wharram kindly sent me a copy of the engine mounting for the 21’ Tiki which I downsized and it works perfectly well on the Hitia. It’s a light weight boxed shaped frame that fits between the 2 cross beams and supports the engine either in or tilted out of the water. She charges confidently along in 1.5 foot seas under engine alone.

Under sail she hisses along as you would expect. She has deep V hulls (no centre board) but grips the water well and points remarkably well for cat – albeit losing a lot of speed close to the wind. She will not plane but like all cats has a fast hull speed – though I have not been able to work it out. She has a sprit rigged main, which wraps round the mast to improve the airflow, and the sheet is on a 10’ traveller. This is an elegant and traditional rig and with the large gib/genoa she is easily handled. The 11’ beam and low centre of effort in the rig prevents any serious risk of capsize. A bigger risk is driving her bows into a wave in a steep wind over tide seaway, so you have to make sure she is not overpowered. In a blow she sails ok without the main and if the seas are too steep to get her about you can gibe her just as easily as she has no boom. The long banging sprit above your head takes a bit of getting used to. She has a single deep reef and a brail line makes for easy instant dousing of the whole sail when coming alongside.

My next plan is to get the head sail put onto a roller reefing fitting. Then there’s the tent to make so I can go away overnight. There is an excellent detailed plan for the tent, along with all the other parts of the boat. James Wharram and his team have to be congratulated on their excellent and easy to follow plans for the amateur boat builder.

As for the creeks and tacking up the narrow channels. Well I’ve had some practice this year and while she will not beat tightly up a creek like a traditional centre boarder she does pretty well and gets there.