THE FACTS AND FIGURES

grp semi-production boat with round bilge hulls, foam sandwich decks

(NOTE Plans have not be drawn for wood construction nor for building from scratch)

LENGTH O.A. 11.55m
LENGTH W.L. 10.92m
BEAM OA 6.7m
DISPL (empty) 4.5 - 5T (fit-out dependent)
DISPL (loaded to WL) 6.82T
HEADROOM 1.9m saloon, 2m hulls
DRAFT 0.9m (daggerboard version)
(1.1m LAR keel version)
SAIL AREA 76.2sq m
Air Draft 17.5m
Mast Height 15m
Bridge deck Clearance 600mm

 

You can judge the size of the hulls by the two laminators working on boat no 3

Bridge-deck of boat no 1 being fitted Oct 2006, sidedecks are ready to fit to hulls.

Below are photos of Transit no 3 taken in December 2007

TRANSIT is a bigger version of Eclipse and Sagitta and has a distinct family resemblance. Most catamarans in this size range are designed for the charter market. Not TRANSIT. We have designed it for those who enjoy sailing and for those who want to cruise with a family.

Various interior layouts are possible. Please email me if you would like a study plan pack and photos of the interior of a home finished Transit

As with Eclipse, TRANSIT features standing headroom throughout and all round visibility from the saloon. 4 double cabins give lots of privacy for guests or older children. We have drawn a layout that we think will suit most people. However changes are possible providing the main bulkheads are not moved.

For example one of the forward cabins could be replaced with an office. Or the forward cabins could be moved forward to give a dressing area. As drawn the aft cabins have space for a wardrobe, vanity unit and general lockers, but an extra heads compartment, possibly en suite, can be squeezed in.

The centre cockpit offers immense security and a more comfortable ride. Wheel steering is standard, while options include daggerboards or low aspect ratio (LAR) keels. Recommended engines are twin diesels (20 - 27hp)

We have drawn a rig that is not too extreme, yet it will offer great performance and still be one that is easy to handle. (The genoa is smaller than on the Flica for example.) As a result the TRANSIT sails as well as Sagitta and Eclipse. (see the videos for proof!). Having said that, we have recently drawn a bigger rig (total area 87sqm main and genoa) for a very experienced cruising sailor who will fit it on his new Transit, see below

With far superior load carrying than either Eclipse or Sagitta, Transit will be the ideal family sized ocean cruiser.

As should be clear from reading the rest of the site I believe that boats over about 12m/40ft are too large for home builders. It simply takes too long to build a boat this size unaided, life's too short. Thus we will not be selling complete sets of plans. Rather we will be selling hull mouldings and plans to complete them. This is not only a huge saving in time (many builders take over a year to build the hulls), but also you will have the security of knowing that the hulls have been built to the highest standards. 

The boat is built using a Divinycell foam core, biaxial and quadraxial glass with polyester resin. The foam is vacuum bagged to ensure adhesion and to minimise weight. Each hull and side deck fit in a container for transport abroad.

The first few Transits were built in the UK (plus one fitted out in the USA) but the moulds are now in Australia. Please contact Ferdinand Hartzenberg for more details.  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In November 2008 the first Transit 38 was launched (on the east coast USA), then in May 2009 the second (a Millbrook based boat) was also launched. After a brief sail the builder wrote:

"Bill and I sailed his boat in the Hamoaze; about 5 knots wind, it sails fine; like a giant Strider but tacks faster, we did about 5 knot to windward with apparent wind at 9 something so probably approaching windspeed. Boat steers fine etc." (Photos are from a later sail)

Mike drove down for a test sail and reported:

"Bill's boat is very impressive. Wonderful space and comfort and goes through the sea with a silence and lack of fuss which is astonishing for such a big ship. Spins on a sixpence (as used to be said, perhaps a dime would be better). Bill and Jane are going to the Scillies and back for a test run and then across the Bay to Spain and home to the Med."

Another potential customer who viewed this boat wrote:

"It is an incredibly roomy boat, but also very light, I was impressed by the layout, on the way up from Plymouth in about 20-26 knots of wind she was merrily going along at 12-14 knots very comfortably."

"I know how Woods boats point into the wind so I do not have to take a trial - my Romany points far better than a Leopard 45 that I sailed last weekend. The Leopard was terribly slow and pointed poorly. They are great for charter and in the Marina.

Performance wise we have sailed past Catana 42s which are made down here in Canet. As with all Richards designs the windward performance is particularly good." (Note by Richard - when we sailed a Transit in the Bahamas we found we were faster to windward than a Norseman 43 and a Lipari 41)

In 2010-11 we cruised a Transit from the Chesapeake to the Bahamas from November - March. See the Year Reviews of 2010/11 for more details.

Review of 2010 (scroll down)

Review of 2011

We also sailed this boat in the winter of 2013, see the Cruising Blog for more

We took several videos, see the Video page for more, but here is one, taken when overtaking a Fountaine Pajot 41. We were actually sailing downwind in the other direction when they passed us, beating to windward. So I thought I just had to turn round and give chase. So when we started off we were some way behind them and down to lee. I was surprised how quickly we caught them up, and how much higher we were pointing.

Both boats were liveaboard cruisers being sailed by a couple. (It's quite hard to steer to windward and film at the same time so both video quality and boat speed suffered)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEkkfBwypXw

 

 

 

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