Building the Farrier F41 catamaran

Another Farrier design - this time a 41 foot catamaran being built by Karel Michielsen in Australia. His story is fully told on a very clear and easy to navigate site linked below. The Editor
Design: Farrier F41 catamaran. Construction commenced May 2002

Current status:
External - Fairing completed, preliminary undercoats applied all hardware located and fixing provisions made.
Internal - Fairing completed, service runs being installed and I hope to pressure test all systems, fire the engines before long, prior to doing the furniture.

Work started on ALCATRAZ a Farrier F41 catamaran in May 2002 with the bulkheads while the main boat building facility, a poly tunnel was being fabricated.


The bulkheads were vacuum bagged with minimalist tools and disposables, yet a satisfactory result achieved none the less.

Once the tunnel was erected the formframes were made and set up and the hulls were assembled as per Farrier''s vertical strip planking method. On the whole it has been, a solo effort, despite the size of the undertaking, as I have enjoyed watching the boat grow and didn''t want the hassles associated with directing others. I did get help for the major movements, rolling and assembling hulls, lifting cabin tops and the like, but on the whole we managed to make social occasions out of the with BBQ''s and drinks after.


During the construction I have looked to complete each element as far as possible, ie fairing, openings etc. in order to avoid building up massive tasks and to avoid delays in having to stop and catch up. I have seen first hand what this can do to morale after visiting other builders caught up in this manner.

Not having a lot of experience with boats prior, especially this size, I had to do a lot of learning prior to purchasing components for the boat and it is this activity that has probably been the most frustrating of the process.

The bridgedeck and cabin seem to have taken a very long time, more than 50%, but I think that is due to me not leaving things behind for afterward.


This photo shows the section in front of the mast bulkhead and shows the tankage build in as well as the anchor winch platform. Doing the tanks with full headroom during the work was relatively simple, getting the components in once the deck was on would have been an accomplishment by it self.

Once the shell was finished I concentrated on completing all the external fairing followed by undercoating with 2 pack epoxy high build to protect the laminate.

For all the interior work, furniture and cupboards I have opted to use Tricel honey comb panels in lieu of foam, it gets away from fairing and fibreglass and I can "flat pack" it. By this I mean that once I have fixed the edge beads to the laminate, I can, measure and fit the panels, dry fit them, fix hinges and hardware and then remove them in their entirety to fill & polish them in my shed before finally fitting them once completed. This process allows me to run all the services prior to the cupboard installation


Imagine doing the bilge pipe work, on the right of the picture, inside the cupboard as outlined by the battens on the wall.

Being a novice I sought out people who could provide me with advice and the Internet was an invaluable tool. Communicating with others and responding to their queries led to setting up a web site, http://homepages.picknowl.com.au/f41_sail33. Due to space restrictions I have had to cull the site in order to update, but hope that what remains provides a reasonable overview of the process. For those after the full detail, including the service and furniture installation a CD is available for purchase.

Karel Michielsen
Adelaide, South Australia