Beetle Cat Plans Enquiry

[Big Red]

Hey guys and gals, I have been looking around for a sailboat to drool over and the Beetle cat is near the top of the list smile.gif I take it that Beetle Inc. is the only manufacturer of these little beauties and that plans for home building would be nonexistant? At least their site doesn't offer plans :(

Please tell me I am wrong smile.gif Weren't the original plans published in Rudder magazine? Anyone have a copy or know where I could locate one?

http://www.beetlecat.com/pics/pic15sm.jpg http://www.beetlecat.com/pics/pic10asm.jpg http://www.beetlecat.com/pics/pic12sm.jpg http://www.beetlecat.com/pics/pic19sm.jpg

More pics available here : Beetle Heaven (http://www.beetlecat.com/pics/index.htm)

Red.

[ 04-15-2004, 11:51 PM: Message edited by: Big Red ]

[rbgarr]

I doubt that true construction plans were EVER drawn for the Beetle Cat. They are built on a form and as far as I observed, from a visit to the shop, there is a master pattern for every single piece of shaped wood in the boat. The pieces are cut out in batches and the boats are assembled almost like kits. I've seen a profile drawing , but no lines, offsets or construction plans.

That was also the way Beetle whaleboats were built for the whaling industry, I believe, and they may have sold knocked-down 'kits' of whaleboats to whaleship carpenters for storage below decks to be put together as needed.

[garland reese]

I too, doubt that you'd be able to get plans for the Beetle Cat. If any were ever available, they'd have sold many, many sets I'd imagine.

You could probably make a scaled model of Bolger's Tiny Cat (which is essentially a Beetle in plywood form), and use it to round the bilges and then take/make a set of lines from it for mold making. The tiny cat is a very popular boat, and has great looks as she is, and is designed for simple, economical construction.
http://www.chebacco.com/articles/chebacco12.5/IMG_0104.jpg
http://www.instantboats.com/images/tinycatprof300.gif
http://www.instantboats.com/images/tinycatst600.gif

[JimD]

I was interested in the Beetle cat too and considered rounding out Bolger's Bobcat/Tinycat which is a plywood interpretation of the Beetle. Trouble is redrawing a chined plywood boat probably won't end up much like a Beetle except in general dimensions. It would be 12ft long and 6ft wide but that wouldn't make it a Beetle. I settled on the Wittholz 11 foot catboat although it is smaller and lighter than the Beetle. On the other hand if you added 10% to the dimensions of the Wittholz boat you would have a hull almost exactly 12X6. The Beetle sail is about 110 sq ft, the Wittholz about 80 as designed.

[holzbt]

Why not look at William Garden's "Tom Cat"? The plans should be available from the WB store this month.

[DugT]

You might also check out Selway-Fisher's Woodlark 13.

[Big Red]

You know what I gone and done? I tried drawing the lines of the Tomcat/Beetle from the latest issue of WB. I drew it in profile and it just didn't quite look right. Then I reread the article and it says she has 30% more volume
than the Beetle... D'oh! Just too darned clever for myself ;)

I've had a squiz at Bolgers designs, in fact as many designs as I can find on the net. I think, even though it would be easier to build in ply, this little design looks better with the rounded bilge.

[celiloman]

I would agree with DugT about the Selway-Fisher Woodlark 13. Here is a link: http://www.selway-fisher.com/Other1013.htm#CAT I sent for the plans. Includes both clinker/ply and strip building options! Nice if you want the rounded hull.

[BrianY]

You might try contacting the International Yatch Restoration School in Newport RI. They have an ongoing beetle cat rebuilding/restoration program that's part of their regular curriculum. I don't know how many they've completed, but they always seem to have two or three for sale and another three being worked on. Their we site says that the students take off the lines and do a construction drwaring so maybe you could get a copy....

http://www.iyrs.com/collect4.htm