39′ Pod Cat Power – Lily

In late 2007 I sat down and did a bit of analysis on what my boating requirements would be for the next couple of years. We’ve still got a 14 year old at school so the big trip away on the 46’ sailing podcat (the hulls are built and sitting in the shed) is still 4-5 yrs off.

I had my 28’ tri hull power boat and while this is a great boat for the Great Sandy Straight, I wanted something with a bigger footprint when offshore, and with much longer legs (duration). While a full size 40’ power cat is a nice jigger to have, I simply didn’t need the room and didn’t have the time nor money to build one.

Now most builders realize that building the hulls is the easy bit, the accommodation is the slow complicated bit. I already had a comfortable and workable accommodation area in the 28’ power boat that with the addition of a small aft cabin, would give 2 private sleeping areas.

So quicker than you could say, “nee how maa” (that’s Mandarin for ‘Gidday, how are you’? Kevvy) out came the saw and off came the hulls and wallah we had the pod for a 12m power cat.

The 2 new 12m hulls are complete (roughly 6 weeks work) except for the back decks and engine transoms. The hulls and beams are attached to the accommodation pod.

I eventually made the decision regarding engines and have bought 2 x 60hp Yamaha high thrust out boards. They are cheaper to buy and fit and also quicker to fit than diesels and have the ability of being raised up out of the way for real skinny water exploring (I do a lot of this). Top speed will be a bit quicker but the down side is the greater fuel consumption, although the better fuel economy from diesels is offset by the 10 to 20 cent extra cost per litre at the bowser. Reliability simply isn’t an issue. The new 4 strokes give thousands of hours of reliable service with less service costs than the diesels. They also have the option of being easily removed for any surgery that may be required. I think it will be a decision based on personal preferences.

I’ve decided to release this boat as a standard design as I feel there are other people out there that have much the same requirements, big on water footprint for sea keeping and boatspeed with smaller but comfortable accommodations for ease and economy of construction and operation. The on water cost for this boat is anywhere from $70k to $100k (owner built) which I think is a breath of fresh air considering the costs involved in anything else with this footprint, duration and economy.

Why have I called the design ‘Lily’? No reason, it’s just a nice easy word to say. J come up with ‘Lily Pod’ the other day.

(Click on the image for .pdf version)

Photographs of “Lily”