I've been working on this project for almost a year now, mostly on weekends. During this time my enthusiasm stayed unimpaired but there certainly were moments that I doubted about the result of my efforts. My previous experience in boatbuilding was zero, although I used to make some wooden furniture for my appartment. My tools are mostly electrical hand tools which sometimes made it impossible to achieve precision cuts or a smooth finish ( It seemed funny to try to cut identical plywood pieces, with a lot of curves, that measured 286,5 mm for example, with a jig saw!). If you add to these my minimal free time, the fact that I have to work without any help, the strict limitations the use of epoxy and glassfibre imposes and the confined, not perfectly sheltered space in my "boatyard", you have a good idea of the causes of my doubts! However, one of the reasons I had chosen to build a Wharram cat on the first place was that it could be built under imperfect conditions from totaly amateur builders. At least that was what JW and his enthusiasts claimed.
Now, after almost 400h of work, I also believe so! The plans have some mistakes but they are precice enough and they give you a step by step guidance throughout the process. As for the tools, there always seems to be a simple, low tech way to do things. You just have to use your imagination but, I guess, this is something you start doing the moment you choose to build a boat like this.
Some friends came over a couple of days ago to help me lift the hull and place it on mounts. The moment the two hullsides, wire stitched along the keel, stem and stern, were opened and the starboard hull took shape in front of our eyes, all my doubts and fears were gone. For the first time I was certain that what I was building in my garage was the boat that would take me to the seas I dreamt of!
