Houseboat Katamaran ECO62

[heimfried]

End of April this year I started the build of an ECO62 Houseboat Katamaran (Power), a Bernd Kohler Design http://www.duckworksbbs.com/product-p/bk-eco62h-id.htm . It is my first build and I didn't own a boat. I live in Berlin, Germany and in the last 4 years my wife and I were boating a few days with hired boats in the waters around Berlin and north east Germany.

The ECO62 will have an electric drive only, probably outboard and some solar panels, because we don't like the noise of combustion motors.

strbh.jpgstristem2.jpgk006.jpg

[Ian McColgin]

Nice detail shots but hard to figure what you're about without an overview. Perhaps you have plans you can photograph and load here. Not all plans, but basic accomodation and profile, maybe general construction plans.

G'luck

[NickW]

Ian,

I think it's this one.
http://www.ikarus342000.com/ECO62hlayout.htm

Nick

[heimfried]

Sorry, I added above a link to the boat plans.

Nick, you are right.

[heimfried]

I started the build in my shop which is a former garage (which didn't see any car since over 20 years). This shop is hardly large enough to build one hull at a time. To assemble the boat I erected a tent in the garden in which I was building the bridge deck (6.2 m * 2.5 m).

k001.jpgk002.jpg

[Ian McColgin]

Nice. I didn't look if wind loading data is available. Particularly with a houseboat, I'd want some very exact stability and wind data. I have seen a houseboat rolled on its side at the dock and I've seen a catamaran cart wheeling across the bay in a good wind. If you're not at a dock but riding at anchor, is she better off tethered abeam or from the bow. You'll mostly be in protected water but it still is nice to know what sort of seas and winds are safe. Just want to know her limits.

I very much admire the accomodation and the clever tuck-under for that double berth.

Very practical. She may be the sort of boat that's nicer to look out from than to look upon but the right paint scheme should help emphasize her practical virtures and otherwise let her blend into the waterfront.

Really lovely.

G'luck

[heimfried]

Thank you, Ian.

We will go only on sheltered inland waterways. Basic stability data I calculated by my own (until now without wind load): http://www.bootsphysik.de/booteco62.php (click button top right: "English")

(Transverse) initial metacentric height is 4.4 m (estimated VCG 1.5 m from base plane = 0.9 m above bridge deck).

[MADOC1]

i like this idea. please keep up the posts and pics.

jim

[rudderless]

Maybe you can omit some of the batteries if you add fittings for a backup yuloh oar:

[Rich Jones]

Very nice. Your workmanship looks excellent. Will be following this build.

[heimfried]

[...] She may be the sort of boat that's nicer to look out from than to look upon [...]

The outlook will be a bit different to the designer's suggestion. She will have no sidewalls at the foredeck which are restraining the view and will have a different paint scheme.

Anyway, she is a roomy houseboat, so she will never achieve the most elegant lines of, say, a classic sailboat.

A boat building friend of mine started his build in September in Saxony. He already drafted another look for his boat: https://www.boote-forum.de/showthrea...9&#post4378679

[heimfried]

If anyone is interested in more pictures, my build until now is partially documented (in German) in this thread:

https://www.boote-forum.de/showthread.php?t=260166

[heimfried]

Maybe you can omit some of the batteries if you add fittings for a backup yuloh oar:

Thanks, it is interesting for sure. When I was 12 years old, I accidentally met an inland sailor and he teached me "wriggen", which means, to propell a boat with one oar at the stern. Like yuloh but using an odinary oar.

[heimfried]

This year the bulding speed becomes very low. I built the second hull and had a lot of little things to do and to build.

k021.jpgk022.jpgk001.jpgk002.jpg

[FF]

Guenter, soon there is the Traditionele Schepenbeurs in Den Helder, also with the Abba, for amator builders. It is worth a visit and one can sleep in the big charter boats. I would like to meet other forumites from the neighbourhood. And good luck with your catamaran. Groet, Frank

[MADOC1]

the hull looks nice. what other pics do you have? have you done anymore on the bridge deck/?

jim

[heimfried]

The bridge deck is on the same condition as I left it at the end of the last year.
Today I moved the second hull (90 kg) from workshop 1 via the garden to the workshop 2 (tent) alone. I used a garden hand cart and additionally "invented" a wheeled beam with support wheels.
k005.jpgk008.jpgk019.jpgk022.jpgk032.jpg

[heimfried]

The hull has to be turned around (pivot at transom) to fit into the tent shop. I put the transom at a ring mount (between the wooden plates) lowered the support wheels and the wheels of the cart lost ground contact. Then it was easy to turn the hull around the pivot point and afterwards pushing it into the tent.

k034.jpgk035.jpgk036.jpgk038.jpgk040.jpg

[ben2go]

Very nice. Good work to move those hulls out and back in. Cats are rare here. Monohulls rule due to space. Not many places have a slip wide enough for cats.

[heimfried]

To be able to handle the hulls (85 kg each) alone, I built two getry cranes. With this cranes I can lift the hulls, turn them, place them exactly on the bridge deck etc. The boat building advances very slowly.

[heimfried]

Semi hulls are glued to the bridge deck, and some painting is done.
002kn.jpg

[ben2go]

Nice looking cat. Those hulls have a lot of shape to them.

[heimfried]

Yesterday we flipped the boat.
ausvid2ak.jpgausvid3ak.jpgausvid4ak.jpgbf2k.jpgausvid8ak.jpg

[heimfried]

Meanwhile the cabin is growing and gets windows.
005k.jpg015k.jpg017k.jpg20200729_164355k.jpg

[heimfried]

I started to build the galley, corner seat, table, fitting some thermal insulation, mounting glass at the window openings and so on.
002k.jpg001.jpg010ak.jpg004k.jpg

[heimfried]

I fitted teak handles and think of coating them with boiled linseed oil. In which way will the surface of the handles come out after that? I would like matt surface to provide grip.

[jshaley]

Gruß, Günter,

Great progress. look forward to seeing her afloat. The hulls are so much more shapely than some of the boxier cat / houseboat designs I see.

[heimfried]

My building proceeds very slowly. The last year I was mostly busy with painting. The areas are quite large, 6 coats, the roof alone is about 11 m² (120 sqft).

(The pics show not finished paint jobs.)

002k.jpg


006k.jpg


005k.jpg

[Garret]

Your boat is looking great! I've been watching since the start & should've said so sooner

[Peerie Maa]

This

is a really elegant hull for a house boat.