Oppikat Junior Catamaran News

There is a lot of interest in our junior catamaran design, the 9ft Oppikat. It is built from a combination of cedar strip for the compound curved surfaces and plywood for bulkheads and flat surfaces. Some amateur builders have produced exquisite examples, showing beautiful craftsmanship that highlights their skills.

This Oppikat was built by Pavel Arzhevitin to a gorgeous standard.

We all have our own ideas about finishes, hardware layouts etc. so what one builder does to suit their own intentions for their boat will be different from another. That is part of the attraction of amateur boatbuilding, producing one-off craft that exactly suit our own needs.

The Oppikat was intended essentially as a boat for junior sailors, to have a boat of their own that has a good turn of speed and can give exciting sailing before moving up to bigger and more challenging boats. But time has shown that these little boats aren't only sailed by their intended lightweight skippers. The Oppikat has high-volume hulls for safety and fathers have sailed them, both by themselves and with junior.

Oppikat built by Frank Nagel, with his son sailing.

Oppikat can be built from plans only, which include full-size patterns of bulkheads and transom. Now we have added another two build options.

1) Build from plans and pre-cut bulkheads, cut by CNC router.

2) Build from plans and a wood parts kit that includes all plywood components, pre-cut by CNC router, plus bead and cove strips for the lower parts of the hulls and timber for all of the framing in the hulls.

These are available in USA but may be expanded to suppliers in other countries if requested. For USA buyers, go to our plywood kits pages for either computer or mobile devices.

I have also been asked numerous times over the years to draw a slightly bigger sister that can carry an adult or two. That is now on the drawing board and should be available in a week or two. Watch this blog for future news.

To see our full range of designs, go to our main website or our mobile website.