Designing Stitch-and-Glue Catboat
The Peregrine series catboats by Madeira Mar Boatbuilding School, in Brazil, were designed with the novice boatbuilder in mind. Catboats are the perfect weekend cruisers: roomy, stable, seaworthy, yet they can sail in shallow waters, beached and some are trailerable. The best of cruising sailboats with the best of small daysailers, in an affordable package. Because of their unique characteristics, catboats have remained mostly unchanged in design. But there is always room for improvement.
Catboats are beamy, which results in excelent accomodations. But interior cabin space could be made even better if we could remove the centerboard trunk, which would give us a much more practical interior. But then, where would the centerboard go? How about using a daggerboard instead. And let’s make a forward-angled daggerboard, whose case would be located within the cockpit (the reverse angle of the daggerboard keeps the center of effort forward when lowered). Now the cabin has full, unobtruded access to the galley and the v-berth. Extra room makes it possible to have an enclosed head in the 19-foot Peregrine Catboat.
Since we are working on general improvements to the traditional Catboat design, why not introduce a balanced rudder? Catboats are known for heavy tiller when running downwind, a balanced rudder is a great help. The barndoor rudder is protected by a skeg, but draught is still around a foot deep. Plywood stitch-and-glue construction makes building straightforward and affordable. Spars and rigging are simple too. Spars can be made of wood or round hollow metal tubing (steel or aluminum). The traditional mast foot and mast partner arrangement was replaced with a wooden mast box, much easier to build and align. Mast fitting is as easy as sliding the mast into the box and attaching and tensioning the forestay. If made from dimensional lumber, the mast can be left square-section to fit snuggly in the mast box.
As with most homebuilt boats, each catboat is built to the owner preferences, and in spite of following plans closely, each one is different, but equally fun to sail. Check the gallery below to see some of thePeregrine Catboats sailing in Brazil. Plans will be available through Duckworks in January 2026, so stay tuned!