Do we all get the most enjoyment from our first boat and then spend subsequent years trying to better it, looking for the ever elusive perfect boat? Before we know it, our lives are consumed, not to mention our front gardens/garages/back yards/sheds. And will what we think we want really bring that original sense of enjoyment? There are no definitive answers, but only individuals' experiences of how different boats suit their circumstances. This is my experience of the Hitia 17 catamaran. It is not the perfect boat for all occasions (I have had to accept inevitable compromise), but it suits the kind of sailing I tend to do most and has the potential for much more.

The Hitia is an unusual boat. Even for a catamaran she is unusual. Whereas most dinghy-sized catamarans seem to exist for racing or frolicking at sunny beach resorts, the Hitia is designed for cruising. Accordingly, her hull-form is immensely stable, she is appropriately rigged (not excessively canvassed) and has loads of stowage space in the hulls. And yet she is reasonably fast. Catamarans tend to be faster than monohulls of similar length because they are generally lighter, their hulls are sleek and narrow and, whereas a monohull spills wind when it heels, a catamaran more efficiently converts wind force into forward thrust by remaining upright (the forward thrust is frankly astonishing at times). These combined traits of safe cruising potential with good performance were what first attracted me. What I sought was something with good sea-keeping qualities in which I could confidently extend my single-handed coastal cruising range, and yet be sufficiently responsive that I wouldn't feel obliged to be encumbered with an engine. Also, ideally, it should afford overnight camping trips for two adults and two children. The Hitia is one of James Wharram's designs and has the further attraction of following the principle common to most of his boats of keeping everything fairly simple: why use a specialised stainless steel fitting when you can do the same with rope?

After much reading and several phone calls, I knew that this boat was for me. So, never having seen one, let alone even having sailed a catamaran in my life, I drove the breadth of the country in mid-winter with blizzard and flood threatening, with a pocket full of cash and an empty trailer, to look at one in a shed that I wouldn't even be able to see in the water: it was obvious that I was going to buy it.

Impressions

1) Stability - She feels very reassuring. You have to imagine the difference in the security of your stance in a moving railway carriage between standing with your feet together (one hull) and standing with your feet well spaced apart (two hulls). Several stout crew members hanging out on trapezes would fail to lift one hull out of the water. Capsize simply doesn't feel realistic. Little anxiety is involved in changing the foresail or reefing the mainsail single-handed.

2) Handling under sail - She is responsive to light airs and the double-ended, narrow hulls seem to cut cleanly through the water leaving little turbulence. In a chop, the hulls' deep V-sections let her plunge comfortably into the troughs with no slamming, although waves can explode violently against the fore cross-beam making for a wet ride. Turning needs a little more anticipation than a light dinghy: she likes a bit of space to manoeuvre. The helm feels pleasantly light, and some might say the steering is slightly insensitive, but she's well-balanced and probably no different from any boat lacking deep bladed foils. Turning through the wind she loses speed quickly so tacking needs to be done positively and at speed in any chop. I routinely wait for the foresail to back before paying off, sometimes reversing the rudder when she makes stern-way; that failing, a few powerful strokes with a paddle can do the trick, and I always try to leave room to wear round if necessary, gybing presenting no terrors on such a stable boat.

The hull form enables her to grip the water well with no centre-board. I used to think that the lack of a swinging centre-board would be a disadvantage because of the extensive drying sandbanks I often have to negotiate, but now I appreciate the benefit of retaining full windward ability in a foot of water.

3) Speed - When I first sheeted in on a reach with a good breeze, my crew and I burst into spontaneous laughter out of shear enjoyment! In only light airs I've measured five and a half knots.

4) Alternative propulsion - The impracticality of oars on a catamaran once seemed a significant disadvantage to me. However, the good directional stability makes paddling from one side perfectly feasible. I tension the tiller-bar with elastic cord and sit side-saddle on one hull, making small adjustments to the tiller with the small of my back. It is hard work for long periods, though, and this season I'm considering fashioning a long, bent, oriental style skulling oar (a "yuloh", I believe it is called). If you kept her up a narrow tidal channel, you'd probably want an outboard.

5) Comfort - It is a major difference, both physical and psychological, to sit on a catamaran trampoline rather than in a hull. You are undoubtedly more exposed, and you have to squat, sit cross-legged or recline to be comfortable, and working the boat I spend a lot of time scrabbling about on my knees. Whether this bothers you probably depends on the age of your joints. In some conditions water seems to squirt up through the trampoline from every conceivable angle and inevitably gets either down your welly or up your trouser leg. I often wear a wetsuit and am considering a drysuit for longer trips.

6) Sleeping afloat - We're talking about a floating king-sized bed here: six and a half feet width of trampoline lashed between the hulls; it is very comfortable - no being crammed under a thwart or lying on hard boards for me! There's the added novelty of being playfully slapped on the buttocks by the odd rogue wavelet (a waterproof ground sheet is worthwhile). Extra care is needed not to drop accoutrements through the gap where the two halves of the trampoline are lashed together. The advantage of this gap is to be able to aim through it to relieve nature from a prone position in the middle of the night (and wonder at the excited luminescence in the water). To set up tent, I lower the gaff to a horizontal position four feet above the trampoline to form the ridge and tie the edges to the useful cleats at the extremities of the cross-beams.

7) Handling ashore - I've left this until last because it is the Achilles' Heel. With more than ten feet in the beam the Hitia is too wide to be towed intact on a trailer and must be taken apart and re-assembled every time, which is hard work fastening all the lashings. It takes two to carry a single hull, otherwise everything can be done single-handed. I'd like to think that a well-practised crew of two who can work efficiently might consider trailing her somewhere for a long weekend, but I've found that having assembled her for the season the tendency is to leave her in the water. I carry all the parts down onto the beach, put her together there, then wait for the tide to come in. She is robust enough to live on a mooring (I've watched her in a near gale and, whereas other boats are snatching, rolling pitching and yawing, she gives no cause for concern). If you're looking for a catamaran with which frequent trips by trailer would be a priority, you should probably investigate the Catapult or the Shearwater; I'm not familiar with either, but I imagine they're easier to put together. Alternatively, if you do plan to stay on a mooring, you might want to consider the Hitia's bigger sister the Tiki 21; this weighs and will cost two and a half times as much, but the draught is only three inches deeper and it has been sailed round the world.

Details

Length 17 ft 6 in; beam 10 ft 3 in; width each hull 27 in; draught 11 in; weight 300 lb; sail area 160 sq ft. The two hulls are lashed to three cross-beams by rope, and mesh trampolines are lashed between the hulls and cross-beams. The plywood/glass fibre/epoxy hulls have deep V cross-section, are double-ended and have considerable rocker and pronounced skegs which protect the rudders. The rudders are attached by thin rope threaded in the manner of figure-of-eight seizing. The original design specifies a sprit mainsail which envelopes the mast in a sleeve closed by a zip. Some boats (mine included) have a boomless gaff mainsail instead (like the Tiki 21), which allows for deeper reefing. A forestay sail overlaps the mast. Wharram cats are intended for amateur builders and are not built commercially. There are relatively few Hitias around. Asking prices second hand seem to be in the £1,300 to £2,000 range (less than the cost of the building materials).

Info: James Wharram Designs, 01872 864792, wharram@wharram.com, www.wharram.com