Hobby Kat
Description
The Hobby Kat (also spelled Hobby Kat or Hobby Cat in references) featured in the December 1973 issue of Mechanix Illustrated (Vol. 69, No. 547) was a plywood home-build catamaran sailboat plan (Plan No. B-12-73 or similar designation), presented as an affordable, DIY alternative inspired by the popular Hobie Cat beach cats of the era. The article/plans appeared under the Mechanix Illustrated Plans Service (offered by Fawcett Publications), with the cover price of 50¢ and a teaser noting it as a buildable project drawing from the Hobie Cat phenomenon ("By now, everyone who digs boating has heard of the Hobie Cat..."). It was a simple, lightweight catamaran design intended for amateur construction using plywood (likely stitch-and-glue or framed plywood with fiberglass options in some adaptations), featuring twin hulls, a basic sloop or cat rig, shallow draft for beaching, and suitability for daysailing, lakes, or protected coastal waters—emphasizing low cost, ease of building, and fun performance similar to the Hobie 14/16 but more accessible for backyard builders. The plans were one of several boat projects published in Mechanix Illustrated during the 1970s DIY boom, and surviving copies or scans (e.g., via Svensons.com or builder blogs) show it as a ~14–16 ft catamaran with straightforward lines for home construction.
The standard boat dimensions
| i | - |
|---|---|
| j | - |
| p | 20.16 ft |
| e | 8 ft |
| p2 | - |
| e2 | - |
| i2 | - |
| j2 | - |
| I | J | P | E | P2 | E2 | I2 | J2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | 20.16 ft | 8 ft | - | - | - | - |
Sails
Hobby Kat - MAINSAIL
| Luff | 20.17 ft - (6148 mm) |
|---|---|
| Foot | 8 ft - (2438 mm) |
| Leech | * 21.33 ft - (6501 mm) |
| Tack Angle | * 88.02 ° |
| Diagonal | * 21.44 ft - (6535 mm) |
| Head (inches) | * 3.5 in - (89 mm) |
| Area | 80.58 ft² |
| Edit in Calculator |
Disclaimer. Boats are not all the same -- even when produced in the same factory of the same model. Sailrite does its best to publish accurate dimensions, but we often find it worthwhile to have our customers measure their boats carefully before we produce kits for them. You should take the same precautions, especially when the data is not from Sailrite. The information on this site is not guaranteed to be accurate. Sailrite offers this content as a service to our community, but takes no responsibility for the reliability of the data provided.
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