Full Size Printed Plan Easy Foam and Wood Electric Catamaran 25" “XS CAT” for Radio control

Full Size Printed Plan & Building Notes

No material plans only

 “XS CAT”

Easy Foam and Wood Electric Catamaran

Full Size Printed Plan on a sheet 48” x 28”

Six page Article with notes and photos

Four Page Article How to Make a Hot-Wire Foam Cutter

Radio Control

Length 25"

Width 9"

Motor: Astro Flight 05 Cobalt Marine

ALTHOUGH I'VE built many wooden or fiberglass R/C boats from kits, I've always enjoyed scratch-building from my own plans. A few of my earlier designs have wooden frames and planking but, now, foam is my primary building material. It's easy to work with, and foam boats don't sink! This article describes the design and setup of one of my recent efforts.

CATAMARAN HULL DESIGN

The original full-size catamarans were developed for off-shore racing. Designers cut the deep-vee hull in half lengthwise and installed a platform between the two "sponsons" that were formed. This created an air-trapping tunnel that provided the catamaran with lift, which raises the sponsons out of the water and increases the boat's speed. The tunnel has a large dead rise, which enables the boat to operate more smoothly in rough water. The speed and stability of catamarans are so great that deep vees can seldom compete successfully against them. R/C model cats have these performance advantages, too. In fact, they're so quick that they often must compete against outrigger hydroplanes. Most successful 05-powered models are about 2 feet long. Although shorter boats are usually lighter (and, therefore, faster), I wanted to build one that could handle rough water. (Alaska's summers are rather short, so I often have to run in marginal weather if I want to run at all.) I carefully studied several successful model cats, and then I designed plans and patterns for the 25x9-inch XS-Cat.

Thank you for your interest