skoota catamaran

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The Skoota 28 is a 28 ft plywood demountable coastal cruising power catamaran for a couple. Ideal for the European canals, the PNW or the Great Loop. It will demount for transport on a flat bed lorry/truck or could even be towed by a large car but should not be considered “trailable”. When disassembled it does not need a “wide load permit” for transport

Design Specifications

Richard Woods of Woods Designs [email protected] www.sailingcatamarans.com

Foss Quay, Millbrook, Torpoint, Cornwall, PL10 1EN, UK

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SKOOTA 28/36 Power cat

Discussion in ' Boat Design ' started by daruffians , Jun 28, 2013 .

daruffians Junior Member

Good day brethren.. I would like to ask if someone in this Forum had built or building or have seen or any information on WOODS DESIGN Power Catamaran Skoota 28 or Skoota 36. Thank you guys. Edwin  

tomas Senior Member

I assume that you've already been to www.sailingcatamarans.com The designer, Richard Woods , is a member here as well. Here's the latest Skoota video: Looks great. for more Skoota videos on Richard's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodsDesigns/search?query=skoota 28  

Yes i have, I am thinking of buying the plan. But would like some opinions on the design and the sea worthiness of the design.  

John Perry Senior Member

Looking at the video, if this were a sailing catamaran I would think that the bridge deck clearance is on the low side. Can power catamarans manage with less bridge deck clearance than sailing catamarans? And if they can, is this because they tend to have narrower overall beam for the same length?  

Mr Efficiency Senior Member

Given that the demihulls are asymmetric, I wonder why all that beam was needed.  

I wonder if someone in this forum actually build a skoota design and used it in open water. Also, instead of using an outboard, was wondering if you could use an inboard diesel engine on boat hull.  

groper Senior Member

Richards skoota designs are only very recent, I think there is only 1 skoota 28 has been launched to date, it's the one in the video, and it was only launched about 3 months ago. I'm not aware of any skoota 36 that's been launched yet. And yes, with narrower beam, the bridge deck clearance can be lower.  

Richard Woods Woods Designs

Thank you for your interest in my Skoota designs. As Groper says, and as I write on my website, the Skoota 28 and 36 are new designs. Only one Skoota 28 is in the water (mine, in BC, Canada). One other is building (in Europe) and two Skoota 36's (one in BC, one in the UK). However about 40 of my smaller Skoota 20 and 24's are building or launched. I don't know the conditions in the Philippines, but the Skoota 28 is certainly seaworthy enough for the coastal cruising most people do. Including going to the Bahamas and island hopping south. Or crossing the English Channel and going through the French Canals to the Med. Obviously one of the major limitations for all small powerboats is their range under power. Having said that, a powercat is no less seaworthy than a similar proportioned sailing catamaran (more so really, as it cannot capsize). So anywhere it is safe to take a 28ft sailing catamaran you could take a 28ft powercat. Two of my 28ft Gypsy sailing catamarans have made Pacific crossings, and several of my 30ft Windsongs and Sagittas have crossed the Atlantic. So the implication is the Skoota 28 could do the same if it could carry the fuel In an ideal world every catamaran would have a very high bridgedeck, but that is clearly not possible, because of aesthetic reasons and also because of windage plus the fact that, as the freeboard increases, so does weight. So a high bridgedeck clearance means a slower boat. It's all a compromise. But I have found that powercats don't need the same clearance as sailing catamarans. In part because they don't heel - which effectively reduces the clearance. And for sure the ride is way more comfortable than in a conventional planing powerboat One reason for the Skoota 28 wide beam is to fit in the accommodation. One reason for the Skoota 28 narrow beam is so that it fits in a standard 14ft wide slip I like the twin outboards. More reliability, more manouverability, no smell in the accommodation, quieter. Cheaper to install and repair (I take the engine to the mechanic, not the other way round) I have only taken a couple of people out for test rides, one bought a Skoota 36 plan. The other offered to buy my boat on the spot for 20% more than we paid for it. I said "But we haven't cruised it yet ourselves". Our plan is to go to Desolation Sound in a couple of weeks time, and then cruise the San Juans and Puget Sound in Sept/Oct. Next year, after a summer heading north towards Alaska, we will trailer it to the Great Lakes and do a "Great Circle" cruise, stopping off for a couple of years in the Bahamas. I will be talking about things like bridgedeck clearance, fuel consumption, seaworthiness of powercats etc in my seminars at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival in September this year where my Skoota 28 will be on display. It will also be at the Vancouver BC Wooden Boat Show Aug 22-25 I hope that helps the debate Richard Woods of Woods Designs www.sailingcatamarans.com  

Richard, Thank you for the information. Please if you could email me the price of the plan @ daruffians at gmail dot com. or [email protected]  

srupp9271@yahoo New Member

"Great Circle" i'm responding to richard woods message from 06-30-2013. you said that you might do the"Great Circle" in i guess 2014. i live in key west fl and if you plan on stopping in key west i would love to check out the boat. i'm especially interested in a boat for the bahamas like the skoota 36 . thanks!  

Thank you for your post and interest in my Skoota 28 powercat As always, my plans never quite work out as I hope. But in my defense, we did get to the Bahamas and Florida last winter - but it was on a Transit 38 catamaran. We have now motored about 1200 miles on our Skoota, and quite a number are now building, with a lot of interest in the PNW. Sorry, but it won't be this year that we head south and east, maybe next year though Meantime, you can catch up with our cruising here http://woodsdesigns.blogspot.ca/?view=magazine Richard Woods of Woods Designs www.sailingcatamarans.com  

i would love to get some more information on the skoota 36. I think before I could make up my mind I would actually have to see the boat and hopefully take it for a sea trial. I would be happy to pay for that. In the mean time do you think you might be able to have some pictures of the boat as soon as one is finished and more detailed specifications like weight of the boat, displacement, draft (i saw the draft is i think 53 cm but is that with engine up or down?) and a list of materials needed to figure out the cost of the boat and how many man hours on average it takes to build the boat. I did read on your webpage that 2 sets of plans for the skoota 36 have been sold one in Canada and one in the UK. If your customers in Canada would be willing to show their boat I would be happy to pay for that. Otherwise any more information on the skoota 36 would be highly appreciated. Thanks.  

Capt. Peter Wilcox Junior Member

Hi Richard, Do you know the location of the Skoota 28 that was built in Canada? We'll be sailing far up there for much of the summer, or could make a driving trip up from Portland (our home port) well before that. I have contacted Joshua but not heard back from him yet; sounds like he is a probably not going to want to stop his furniture work anyway. We have already built one boat with the NW Boatschool in Port Hadlock and would love to do so again. We'll need to get in the queue soon if we are going to build a Skoota 28/30 starting next fall, so I'd like to actually see one ASAP. Or, as I am turning 75 this year and have been planning to take a rare and special faraway trip, we might be able to come there to see yours in the fall. I have never been to Cornwall although that is supposed to be where my great-great grandfather emigrated from, so that would be special by itself. My real hope for that trip is to go with my wife to Norway and Sweden to ride electric and H2 ferries, as I am a ferry fanatic and have been working on getting electric passengers ferries on our two navigable rivers here for over 20 years, and am still at it as a serious 5-year volunteer with the Friends of Frog Ferry...Thank you.  

fallguy Senior Member

Capt. Peter Wilcox said: ↑ Hi Richard, Do you know the location of the Skoota 28 that was built in Canada? We'll be sailing far up there for much of the summer, or could make a driving trip up from Portland (our home port) well before that. I have contacted Joshua but not heard back from him yet; sounds like he is a probably not going to want to stop his furniture work anyway. We have already built one boat with the NW Boatschool in Port Hadlock and would love to do so again. We'll need to get in the queue soon if we are going to build a Skoota 28/30 starting next fall, so I'd like to actually see one ASAP. Or, as I am turning 75 this year and have been planning to take a rare and special faraway trip, we might be able to come there to see yours in the fall. I have never been to Cornwall although that is supposed to be where my great-great grandfather emigrated from, so that would be special by itself. My real hope for that trip is to go with my wife to Norway and Sweden to ride electric and H2 ferries, as I am a ferry fanatic and have been working on getting electric passengers ferries on our two navigable rivers here for over 20 years, and am still at it as a serious 5-year volunteer with the Friends of Frog Ferry...Thank you. Click to expand...

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Thanks for the info and thoughts; I agree that the 28 is the one for me/us. I hadn't heard that Richard's 28 was destroyed; was this by a fire or striking a reef in the Bahamas....? I'd willingly drive up to Vancouver to see a 32 or 36, if I couldn't find a 28. Can you provide any way to contact one of those owners, would one be you? Could come next weekend.  

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A dismantlable powercat can be transported on a simple flatbed trailer... as long as it is of reasonable length and light in weight. Naval architect Richard Woods was able to test the validity of the concept with his own Skoota 28.

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Cruises to St. Petersburg, Russia

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There’s no destination on a Scandinavian cruise that’s more mysterious and enduring than St. Petersburg, Russia. An enigma of historic and religious sites and the birthplace of of some of literature’s greatest works, here you’ll explore museums housing some of the biggest and best art collections in the entire world. St. Petersburg is an intellectual city, a cultural capital where arts, music, and creativity thrive despite the bitter winters. May to July brings about the White Nights, a short time in St. Petersburg where the sky is completely lit up throughout the entire day, making late spring and early summer a prime time to visit St. Petersburg.

Make a day of museum hopping from the Hermitage Museum onto the Dostoevsky Museum, finishing the afternoon off at the Russian Museum. If church tours are more your thing, check out the ornate domes of the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood, or take photos of the beautiful Nikolsky Cathedral. Vodka tastings? You bet Russia’s most famous export is alive and well in St. Petersburg, too. Whatever you fancy, Russia’s cultural capital will captivate you on your St. Petersburg cruise.

With the safety of our guests and crew always our top priority, we are removing St. Petersburg, Russia from upcoming itineraries in 2024, due to the current situation in Ukraine. Our thoughts are with all who are impacted by this conflict.

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Top sights & attractions for cruises to st. petersburg, hermitage museum.

There are over 350 rooms in the world-renowned Hermitage Museum, so you’ll find it impossible to see everything in the short time you have there. When you cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia, come here with a plan on how to see your favorite artists and time periods on display here.

Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood

Elaborate and breathtaking, this Russian Orthodox cathedral is one of the most recognizable sights in all of St. Petersburg. The mosaics and colorful domes are what the cathedral is famous for, along with it being the site of an assassination attempt of Tsar Alexander II. Beauty and Russian history collide as you explore the church.

Russian Museum

Even if you were previously uninformed about Russian art, the Russian Museum is the perfect primer for the local art scene. Spend the day perusing the museum at your leisure, then bring all sorts of art history tidbits back to the ship with you.

Peterhof Palace

This set of palaces and gardens is yet another example of St. Petersburg’s opulence. Meant to invoke a similar reaction as the Palace of Versaille, Peterhof stands up to the hype. It’s open from 9am to 7pm Sunday through Friday, and closed Mondays.

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Top things to do in st. petersburg, tour the palace of rasputin’s famous murder.

The elaborate Yusupov Palace along the Moyka River was built for Russian aristocracy in the late 1700s, and it encapsulates the art and culture of Russia at the time. Don’t miss a tour through the very castle where Rasputin was assassinated. It’s a harrowing place where you’ll quickly get a taste of the wealth and status of the day.

See the Winter Palace

The Winter Palace also comprises part of the Hermitage Museum, but you could easily spend your entire time there simply walking the colorful grounds, where the palace glitters in gold and teal blue. Russian emperors lived in the Winter Palace from the 1700s until the 1900s.

Explore the Dostoevsky Museum

Famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky lived in St. Petersburg for much of his life, and the Dostoevsky Museum was erected in the apartment where he lived from 1878 to 1881. Today, you can walk in his footsteps and experience his apartment for yourself. It’s a must-see for literary types and fans of Russian literature.

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Classic Russian cuisine comes with a side of history at Palkin, which was also the site where famous Russians like Dostoevsky, Tchaikovsky, and others once sat and broke bread together. Try the fried foie gras, the salmon caviar, or the boar and venison dumplings. Adventurous, filling dishes are the name of the game here. 

Address: Petropavlovskaya St., 4, St Petersburg

You might not have tried truly authentic Russian food before, but Chekov is the place to change that. Inside, you’ll feel transported back to the 19th century, though the menu is decidedly modern. Try the marinated brandy trout fillet or the chicken liver pate. Delicious dumplings, called pelmeni , are stuffed with meat and made in-house daily.

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Address: Mikhaylovskaya Ulitsa, д. 1/7, Saint Petersburg

Located within the Grand Hotel Europe is a fine dining experience like no other in St. Petersburg. It’s one of Russia’s oldest restaurants, which only adds to the charm of getting to spend an evening here. Sunday brunch is a favorite. Every Wednesday, dancers and performers move to the classical sounds of Tchaikovsky during the dinner service. There is a wine-pairing menu as well as an elaborate seven-course menu including dishes like duck confit, salmon tartar, red caviar, and a four-cheese tortellini.

Culture & History of the St. Petersburg Cruise Port

Tsar Peter the Great founded the capital city of St. Petersburg in 1703. Ever since, St. Petersburg has become a cosmopolitan hub for arts, culture, and style. Famous authors like Nikolai Gogol and Dostoevsky were inspired and influenced by their times living in the city, which is immortalized in their literature. Though the climate was harsh and the winters almost unbearable, St. Petersburg remained a place where immigrants and visitors flocked to for hundreds of years. Today, it’s the second-largest city in Russia behind Moscow, home to a population of over 5 million people.

St. Petersburg Port Facilities & Location

When your cruise to St. Petersburg, Russia docks in port, you’ll have to quickly go through immigration before continuing on to explore everything the city has to offer. The port, called the Marine Facade, is a passenger port equipped to handle wide berths and plenty of cruise traffic.

Transportation in St. Petersburg

The metro system in St. Petersburg is comprehensive and runs daily until midnight. Otherwise, biking and taking a taxi or shuttle bus from the port into the center of town are great bets for getting around during your St. Petersburg cruise stop. It’s about a 30-minute drive from the cruise port to the city center, or around 45 minutes to get to the Hermitage Museum.

Shopping Near the St. Petersburg Cruise Port

You won’t be hard-pressed to find some of Russia’s enduring souvenirs, from famous nesting dolls to Russian vodka, chocolate, and other goods that tourists love to take back home with them. These souvenir shacks and stands are scattered throughout the city, making it easy to shop when you feel like it. But St. Petersburg isn’t all kitschy wares. There’s also a growing boutique shopping scene here, like the impressively large Galeria or a smattering of vintage shops selling clothes dating back to the days of the Soviet Union.

Local Currency & Tipping Customs

The local currency in Russia is the rouble (stylized as R), and you’ll find credit and debit cards are used all over the place here. Still, it’s handy to have a little bit of cash in case you need it. ATMs are widely available, too. Tipping your taxi driver isn’t expected, but you can round up or leave behind a few R if you’re particularly happy with the service you received. At restaurants, leaving 10% is customary.

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Skoota 20 Power Cat Plans Download

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About Woods Downloadable Plans

Click HERE to download Free Study Plans

In September 2010 I was very pleased to announce the launch of my first powercat design, the trailable Skoota 20 (although I'm afraid to say it is still cosmetically unfinished). The photos below show it on launch day.

It uses a central 25hp Yamaha outboard and features a small central cabin (with double berth and galley) so can also be used as a basic cruising boat.

With one person on board it will do 15 knots, or 14 knots with three on board. The Skoota hull is a semi-displacement hull, so unsuitable for higher speeds. I actually designed it to run at 12 knots, so 15 was a very pleasant surprise.

The overall beam of Skoota is 12.5ft, but it folds, like my similar length sailing catamaran Wizard, to 8ft on the trailer. Which is one reason for using a central engine as two would make the steering and throttles harder to organise.

Note, the Skoota design actually has transom steps even though the prototype has decked over transoms.

However before motoring far I will be fitting a small (4hp) get-me-home outboard on a transom bracket. That's because I am very nervous about the Skoota as I have never before owned a boat that I couldn't sail home. But I know that for many, if not the majority, of boaters a single outboard is all they have.

As I just said, I am a sailor, not a motor boat man. So I have been using a very experienced outboard motor/small craft expert as a consultant, although after the first few minutes he tends to lose me during our discussions. But then, why use a consultant if you know as much as they do? His advice seems to work though, for after seeing the videos (above) he wrote:

"Your latest videos show proper trim , no wake between the hulls, no rooster tail. Very impressive actually. I think you are getting her dialled in now. 15 knots on 20 foot hulls ! That is unbelievable. And there is no visible bow wave! I think it's in there somewhere, right under your cg. You can't possibly be displacement at that speed. Bravo! I am very impressed."

And then later, after I emailed him my final outboard nacelle drawings he wrote:

"That looks very good. You are adding about 15 degrees of driveshaft angle and 5 inches of depth simultaneously. So when the going is tough you can tuck your bows in and slog it out, and when the conditions allow you can let her run her bows higher. Users can experiment with trim pin positions to fine tune the system. The result is a completely tune-able boat. A 'completely tune-able, semi planing, single engined power catamaran' Brilliant."

And my consultant is not alone in his praise. These two recent emails about Skoota are typical:

I just finished watching the Skoota 20 launch videos. As I watched the video, I kept on saying to myself over and over again was "THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!! ". ED.

"I have watched the video footage....and I've only got two words to say... VERY IMPRESSIVE Those lovely slender hulls look very efficient. My ultimate goal is to travel in that elusive 12-16 knot range regardless of chop. Skoota looks to be just what the doctor ordered. " NJ

The photo above was taken as we were moving the Skoota to its winter storage behind our house. You can see how stiff the boat is, one hull is only supported at the transom, the beams hold the rest of the hull up in the air. (The other hull has supports at bow and stern of course). I think you'll agree this is a pretty extreme test compared to what a boat endures when at sea.

Although not a Skoota, the photo below (of the much bigger Savannah 26) shows the trailer to water principle. As the trailer backs into the water the buoyancy of the hulls opens it out automatically. On retrieval gravity folds it up. Two bolts hold it all together when afloat, strong enough as the photo above shows. So no lifting or winching needed - nature does the work in seconds.

Skoota 20 plans are now available as a pdf download. I have also drawn a 24ft version for those who want a more cruising orientated boat. You can download a studyplan HERE . It also includes some more details on the ideas behind the Skoota range. Plans for the 24 will not be available until later.

Skoota 20 powercat to 10 knots from standing start.wmv

20ft Skoota power catamaran by Woods Designs 0-10 knots in 6 s...

Skoota 20 powercat doing "doughnuts".wmv

Skoota power catamaran by Woods Designs www.sailingcatamarans....

Skoota20 powercat at 10 knots.wmv

Skoota power catamaran by Woods Designs at 10 knot cruising sp...

Skoota 20 powercat motoring at 15 knots, again.wmv

Skoota trailable power catamaran at 15 knots with 25hp outboar...

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The Grand Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg – Russia’s royal gem

A blog about the magnificent peterhof palace in st. petersburg, home to a thousand fountains and one of the most beautiful gardens in russia..

It feels incredibly hard to wrap words around all that you can see in Peterhof. Peter the Great’s grand palace is often referred as the “Russian Versailles”. For good reason, because the French original quite obviously inspired the tsar. But the whole Peterhof-ensemble goes one step further: through its uncounted fountains, it brings royal splendor onto a whole new level, like it was not even a place for mortal anymore.

That being said, it is quite peculiar that it took me so long to visit the formidable palace. Even though there is an easy explanation: I really love spending time in St. Petersburg in winter, especially on New Year’s Eve ( I wrote about that here ). During that time, all the sky-reaching fountains are, out of obvious reasons, closed and thus there really was no solid opportunity to visit Peterhof in the first place (fountains operate between May to Mid-October).

This summer, while I was staying at the amazing Four Seasons Lion Palace luxury hotel ( read my review here ),  I finally found the time to visit Peterhof. After having seen and written about the Catherine Palace and the Kremlin in Moscow , I really thought nothing could top those two experiences, but spending a day in Peterhof really thought me different. Read on, to find out why!

The Grand Cascade at Peterhof Palace

The most recognizable feature of Peterhof certainly is the Grand Cascade. At its center, a lion sprouts a 20-meter high fountain. Sadly the original (much like the rest of Peterhof), has been ransacked during the German occupation.

Behind it, you can’t help but see the actual cascade – a sheer endless amount of terraced fountains. Golden statues and mosaics are cluttering the ascent to the Grand Palace, outdoing themselves in their golden splendor.

Abutting it all is a spectacular checkerboard terrace. Standing on the pristine marble floor, it is quite hard not to feel like a tsar, overlooking all that he conquered.

And that was indeed the very reason tsar Peter the Great constructed Peterhof. It was just one of the ways  to show off the imperial expansion into the Baltic Sea. It comes as little surprise that the centerpiece of Peterhof, the Grand Cascade, ends in a wide channel overlooking the newly claimed territory.

The Fountains of Peterhof

But I would absolutely wrong the Peterhof Palace reducing it to the Grand Cascade. Surrounding the Grand Palace are several smaller and bigger gardens. In the middle of each and every horticultural gem, you will find at least one fountain. Some of them quite playful in their nature.

Others quote elements from ancient roman originals, presenting Neptune’s copious bounties, much like a temple.

Lower Grottos: Getting underneath the grand Cascade

All those fountains are fed from a central pipeline, a pipeline that you can actually visit. Underneath the Grand Cascade, you will find the Lower Grottos. These grottos are actually a series of artificial caves, accessible through iron barred doors below the Grand Cascade. The largest one features a marble table with a fruit bowl at its center. Try to reach for a fruit and splash!, the rigged fountain will soak the unwary visitor.

You do need an extra ticket to gain entrance to this part of Peterhof, but it is well worth it. Why? Because like I said it allows you to see the very intestines of tsar Peter’s palace. The sheer size of the pipelines certainly blew me away!

Monplaisir Palace and the Royal Bathhouse

Another special place to visit at Peterhof is the Monplaisir Palace. This enchanting little palace was not only the private retreat of tsar Peter the Great, but also the very first building to be constructed on the site today is known as Peterhof.

While this fact is already quite amazing in itself, the palace gives you the unique opportunity to see how the Russian tsars took their bath. The Bathing Wing of the Monplaisir Palace will yield its spectacular secret to you for another extra ticket – a couple of Rubles more than well spent. Make sure to read my blog about the Bathing Wing of the Monplaisir Palace here.

Gardens in Peterhof Palace

After you’ve seen the Grand Cascade and the Monplaisir Palace, you really should take your time and walk around the gardens of Peterhof Palace. They are nothing short of breathtaking and so very vast.

Every so often you will stumble upon a little palace, some housing fountains or baths while others appear to be some sort of tiny hermitages, with watery moats around them.

Water really is the theme of Peterhof in St. Petersburg and personally speaking a day was not even close to enough to explore the many channels and sideways of this amazing palace.

What I did not do at Peterhof Palace

I did not go inside the Grand Peterhof Palace itself, even though you can. That is just a personal preference because I’ve seen just too many Versaille-inspired palaces around the world. (There is actually one just an hour’s drive from my hometown Munich). Be aware that the Great Peterhof Palace is closed on Monday and there are special hours when only Russian citizens can get in.

I also didn’t check out every small palace of Peterhof (like the Marly Palace). There really was not enough time to see it all. The whole ensemble is just so huge, that you can easily become footsore. There are a couple of tourist trains getting you from one point to the other, so do not be scared, even if you are not all too fit.

I also did not check out every last fountain. I am not even sure if anyone ever counted them all, but Wikipedia lists at least 22 major ones . In my opinion, it really pays off to limit yourself to a few sights you really want to see and are special to Peterhof, rather than rushing through it trying to see it all.

How to get to Peterhof Palace

Peterhof Palace is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in St. Petersburg, but to tell you the truth, it is anywhere close to the city center. In fact, it is not even located in the city proper, but in a far away suburb now called Petrodvorets on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland.

As you are probably staying in St. Petersburg itself, the easiest, by far fastest and certainly most fun way to get to Peterhof is by hydrofoil. Tickets can be bought right at the pier behind the famous Hermitage Museum (by the way, check out my guide to the State Hermitage Museum  – an equally spectacular must see in St. Petersburg). The hydrofoils leave every 30 minutes and there are a couple of companies operating them. Still it will take you roughly 40 minutes to reach Peterhof.

Alternatively, you could take the train to Novyi Peterhof and then a bus to the actual palace, which would be cheaper but also more complicated and time-consuming.

Taking a taxi or car is absolutely NOT recommended. First of all it will take you longer than the hydrofoil. Then there is a high chance to run into a traffic jam and last but not least it will also be more expensive. A scam (meaning paying twice the price a local would pay) is almost guaranteed.

Tickets for Peterhof Palace

There is no need to buy tickets for Peterhof Palace in advance. The parks are so vast that there is no limited amount of visitors ( unlike Machu Picchi for example ). Simply buy them at the entrance. Several attractions (like Monplaisir Palace, the Grand Palace or the Grottos) will require an extra ticket. Tickets for the gardens and the Park will be 500 Rubles or roughly 8 US-Dollar.

Last thoughts in my Peterhof guide

Peterhof really is a special place. I hope my pictures were able to convince you that the palace should be on your list of things to do in St. Petersburg. If you are on a tight schedule I’d definitely prefer Peterhof to the Catherine Palace , even though it means you will be missing the Amber Room – at least in summer.

Do pack some snacks and water, because there are not too many opportunities to eat and drink within the park (there are a couple of vending machines and 2 or 3 restaurants though). Comfortable walking shoes are definitely recommended. The walk from the pier to the Grand Cascade alone is more than 500 meters!

I Hope you liked my little guide to Peterhof Palace. Have you been to Tsar Peter’s palace yet or are you planning a trip to St. Petersburg? Share your thoughts with me!

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

20 amazing things to do in St. Petersburg, Russia

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Monplaisir Palace, Peterhof – The Bathhouse of the Tsars

Seeing your post has made my day! I have always wanted to visit the Palace at St.Petersburg. All I need is sufficient time to get there from Australia …

Australia is indeed quite far away! But Russia is sooo worth it. Might want to plan for a bigger itinerary and cover more than just St. Petersburg. After all Russia is the largest country with such a beautiful culture and history!

Great guide to one of the most iconic attractions of St. Petersburg! I would only add that another option of getting to Peterhof is to take a public transport – a van (they called “marshrutka”) from Avtovo subway station. It’s the cheapest way of getting to Peterhof and it takes about 40 minutes as well.

Thank you for your suggestion. That is indeed a valid alternative – but i’d only recommend it if you actually speak a little bit of Russian :)

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Introduction to the Skoota Power Catamarans

This article is based on a talk I gave at the 2013 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, which is in the USA, so it was given to an American audience. I began by talking briefly about my career and my introduction to sailing in the Pacific North West, which you can read elsewhere on this site, so I won't repeat it here, and then I said :

"So that's a brief introduction about me, I'll talk more tomorrow about my multihull sailing and design experiences.

Right now I am going to talk about what might make an ideal PNW cruiser. In the last 7 years my wife and I have owned two sailing trimarans, a sailing catamaran and 2 powercats in the PNW. I've also sailed monohulls around here, not just the Downeast38, but several others, including a Thunderbird in the Shipwrights regatta held here in February, and most recently I raced a wooden 6m, built in 1938, during the Vancouver wooden boatshow. So I’ve been able to sail all sorts of boats in the PNW

We have a waterfront summer house on Saturna Island, which is one of the Canadian Gulf Islands. So even when we are not cruising we spend a lot of time looking out over the Strait of Georgia.

I think everyone knows that winds are light here for most of the summer, so much so that for weeks at a time anything over even 10 knots is a rare event.

Unlike, say, San Francisco, where one really only sails in the Bay, here in the PNW there are many places to cruise to, even if you just daysail. For you can go hundreds of miles, anchoring each night, yet staying in sheltered water the whole time. After all, the most popular cruising boats round here are actually kayaks, with their paddlers camping on beaches at night.

A kayak is very limited to wind and seastate, over 15 knots and they go into survival mode. Which really proves how benign the local weather conditions are. You don't see kayaks in the UK, it's just too rough and windy.

To get to more distant cruising grounds even multihull sailors like ourselves spend a lot of the time motoring. We got frustrated drifting around until say 4pm when, 10 miles short of our anchorage, we'd start the engine and motor in for the night.

For unlike the UK and the east coast you cannot sensibly sail at night, there are just too many dead heads and logs. Having said that one of my most memorable sails was in the Swiftsure race, sailing Bad Kitty at 22 knots through Race Rocks at 1am on a pitch black night.

Again, if we were cruising in the UK, or on the east coast of the US, we could have a trailable boat and drive to our favorite cruising area. But up here, once you're north of Lund there are no coastal roads, period, so you have to get further north in your own boat.

Even if you are live aboard cruisers you still have limited time, because the summer season is short and few people want to leave their boat in Alaska for the winter. Unfortunately the Canadians have now made it difficult to leave your boat in Canada without paying an 8% sales tax. So you have to allow time to come home again.

So on a long trip, and with limited time, you need to make fast passages, so you can get to your destination quickly and then relax and enjoy yourself. And unfortunately round here you cannot do that under sail. After a lot of soul searching, for after all I've been a keen sailor for 50 years, we eventually decided the best thing to do was to have a fast daysailing boat for the days when there is wind and we wanted fun on the water, and at the same time to have a powerboat for cruising further afield.

OK I know you can motor a sailboat. And it is often fuel efficient to do so when compared to a powerboat. Even so I cannot see why someone would be motoring their sailboat downwind in 15 knots of wind, especially early in the day, as so many people seem to do. I mean if they don't sail in ideal conditions then when do they? Maybe it's simply that having a sailboat was a romantic dream and it's just too much effort to sail one efficiently. Or maybe they find they are more comfortable driving a boat like you do a car, rather than actually learn how to sail. I don't know, any ideas? but wouldn't they be better off with a powerboat in the first place?

Before I describe the boat we now have, and the reasons for choosing it, I want to digress for a moment and talk about yacht design in general.

Ocean going boats have always done two things. Carry lots of people or carry a heavy cargo. Much of boat's development happened in Europe where generally it is easier to move people by land, not sea. So most boats there were designed to carry cargo. Thus they were big and heavy and relatively slow. Yachts developed from these boats and so also tended to be heavy and slow as that was what people expected from a boat.

The place where it is impossible to move people by land is the Pacific ocean, and it was there that multihulls were developed, as they are ideal people movers with a big level deck space for living onboard and easy beaching anywhere.

People are a light cargo and want to get to their destination quickly, which is still as true today as it was 2000 years ago.

You all know the phrase “it's not rocket science” meaning it's not the ultimate in technology and design. Well I say “rocket science is not rocket science, but yacht design is”

I went to the Kennedy space centre a few years ago and got talking to one of the Saturn rocket designers.

I asked him what he would change if going to the moon today. He said, “only the computer”. The rest was basically just a big fuel tank, while I was surprised at how small and simple the engines were. I believe the Russians still use the same basic rocket that Gagarin used. The space shuttles first flew over 30 years ago, so were obviously designed much earlier. The supersonic Concorde aircraft was designed in the late 1950's

Now think of the changes made to yachts, and especially to multihulls since 1968

It is easy to design something static, like a bridge or a building. It doesn't have to move, or even float. So you can put a steeple in a corner of a church and not worry about it falling over.

Once in space a space ship has no loads, no gravity and only one atmosphere between the interior and outer space. Even a static houseboat is harder to design – it has to float level for a start.

Harder still to design are moving things, like a car or plane. They not only have to keep their shape and support a load, just like a static building does, but they also have to move efficiently.

Hardest of all are what I call “interface vehicles” like boats, that work in two mediums at the same time. Air and water in our case. Planes don't usually fall out of the sky, or break when taxiing on the ground. They have incidents when landing and taking off – just when they become an interface vehicle. Space craft have their problems on re-entry when they reach the interface of the atmosphere.

Everything in design is interconnected. It's what we call the design spiral.

At it's simplest - suppose we want a boat to go faster. We put in a bigger engine. But that's heavier, so the hull has to be bigger, so it has more drag, so goes slower, so we have to put in an even bigger engine. That is spiralling up and is the easy option.

An alternative is to make the boat lighter. Then we can use a smaller engine, so the loads reduce, so we can have thinner scantlings, so we can have a yet smaller engine. That is spiralling down and is usually the route I prefer

Although it is easy to find a solution to a problem, it's much harder to come up with a simple one. Harder still to design something that can actually be built. Hardest of all is to design something that can be built in wood

It's best to design the whole boat in your head first, only later do you draw it. Even then you can expect several false starts.

The smaller the boat the more you have to compromise your ideas. That's mainly because people don't get shorter when they go on a smaller boat. So, for example, freeboard is always proportionately higher. Furthermore the essentials for living on board weigh pretty much the same for a small boat as a big one.

Clearly when sailing at sea you always need a minimum freeboard for safety and comfort on board. The bottom line is that the bigger the boat the better it looks. Not only that but bigger boats perform relatively better. So it is really hard to make a good looking, fast, small boat. Science and the human anatomy are against you.

Usually professionals draw the lines plan last. For you cannot finalise that until you know, for example, how big the engines must be to go at the required speed. And thus how much space they take up and where the centre of gravity will be.

A good hull shape isn't just a matter of having the right centre of gravity and displacement. It also has to allow the boat to move efficiently through the water. After all, and as an extreme example, a boat might float level and on its marks at rest, but may do 60 knots going forwards and 6 knots backwards. So knowing which end of a boat is which is important!

Before developing my Skoota range of power catamarans I studied the available data on pontoon boats.

I found that a typical 20ft pontoon boat weighs about 1500lbs, so is similar to a Skoota 20, yet it needs a 50hp outboard to motor at 16 knots. Whereas the Skoota goes that speed with a 25hp. Or put it another way, the Skoota hull has nearly half the resistance of a similar sized pontoon boat. Proving that proper hull design DOES matter.

And in some ways having an efficient hull is more important on a powerboat than even a racing sailboat. That is obviously because a powerboat hull with higher resistance uses more fuel, whereas the wind is free.

So who thinks fuel is expensive here? Well for comparison in the UK gas costs USD 9 a gal, in Canada it is USD 6.4 a gal. Even in the Philippines it is over USD4 a gal and that is in a country where the average wage is under USD300 a month. Right now gas is 3.20 a gal in Seattle. So you shouldn't be surprised that boats have smaller engines in other countries, and that huge sectors of the US boating market, like sports fishermen for example, just don't exist anywhere else and will die out here once US fuel prices match the rest of the world.

And while on the subject of fuel. To get to Alaska you only need a maximum range of 250 miles. Less than you need in the lower Mississippi if you are doing a Great Loop cruise. Mind you in many places round here you can buy fuel, but there's no water. Saturna and Galiano are two Gulf islands with no dockside water.

OK, back on topic:

Monohull sailboats are very different to powerboats. They roll in both wind and waves, they heel over, have a deep draft, a small cockpit and limited accommodation, and generally have no view out when down below. So it is a big change to go from a sailing monohull to any powerboat, whereas a sailing catamaran is similar to a power boat in many ways. Both offer level sailing, good accommodation with all round visibility and no deep keel. So maybe that's why it has been easier for us to make a transition from a sailing catamaran to a powerboat.

So given that we wanted a powerboat what sort should it be? There are 4 basic choices: displacement, planing, semi displacement and multihull - and I think you know which I'm going to suggest.

But before I do I'll talk about the options.

Displacement boats are slow and heavy, but as a result generally have a seakindly motion. They are limited to their “hull speed” which roughly is proportional to 1.34 times the square root of the WL length. So it's difficult to go over 8 knots if the boat is under 40ft.

Thus most displacement powerboats cruise around 7knots, just like a motoring sailboat does. They are usually sold as rugged “go anywhere” vessels, and, because of their bulky hull shape, fuel consumption can be high if motored fast. However many people say they look like a proper yacht and many displacement boats are sold purely on that classic styling look

Planing hulls are typically at least twice the speed of a displacement hull of the same length, slower than that and they aren't fully planing.

They are very inefficient at slow speeds due to the transom drag. And are also less seaworthy, because in bad weather and big waves

when they are forced to slow down, they trim down by the bow and so the risk of nosediving is considerable. At best they are then wet and uncomfortable. Even in flat water the hull slams when planing, so it is uncomfortable and noisy on board underway. The engines have to be large and they use a lot of fuel, so much of the interior is taken up by machinery and tanks. That reduces living space and also means engine noise, smell and vibration increase.

A semi displacement boat

might be a good compromise, or the worst of both worlds. In part it depends on the cruising speed you chose. One definite advantage is that one can go faster when needed - to outrun bad weather, catch a tidal gate or even cut across the bow of a ship, which a displacement hull can never do. However it is never as efficient as the other types, so fuel consumption is higher than for a displacement boat. It will have more room than a planing boat as the bow section will be fuller and probably has a smaller engine space. Another drawback of the semi-displacement is poor seakeeping in a following sea, while steering can also be tricky unless you can outrun the waves. But even so, it's way better than a planing boat that has slowed down.

There is an alternative to these boats - the powercatamaran. Now you may say "Oh no, I don't want one of those modern untested things". But then you probably don't know that possibly the second motor boat ever built was  a powercat. Launched in October 1788 in Scotland (the first motor boat was launched a couple of years earlier in France). See more here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Miller_of_Dalswinton

Power catamarans offer many significant advantages over monohull power boats. In general they offer low wake and much improved fuel economy compared to other powerboats. They are comfortable under way with no slamming or broaching in waves and have excellent handling in a seaway, They use two small engines not one big one. That's clearly much safer and more manouverable. You can turn on the spot without using the rudders for example. You can run just on one engine when cruising at low speed, or run one for battery charging, which is better for the engine life. They do not roll when fishing or at anchor and are easy and safe to beach. If you don't roll at anchor and have a fuel efficient boat you visit marinas less often and can spend the money saved on more fuel so you can cruise further.

They can maintain high speeds in rough conditions, and have superb directional stability. They are safer, due to their high stability, fully buoyant hulls and self draining cockpit. They do not heel when cornering, nor trim excessively at speed, so you can always see what's ahead They have more deck and interior space for a given length, not just because of their wide beam, but also because they have an essentially rectangular living space. Thus they do not have to be as big as a monohull to give the same interior room, performance and safety. Furthermore, docking is easy on a catamaran as its sides are essentially parallel, while anchoring is also easier on it's big wide foredeck.

And that's one reason why I don't think a power trimaran is a good idea is, because it is so hard to dock or even to board when alongside.

However most power catamarans available today are planing boats, with all the disadvantages that the type implies.

Furthermore they tend to have a narrow, 8ft 6in, maybe up to 10ft beam, so they can be trailed, so that many of the advantages of the catamaran form are wasted. In part the choice of design boils down to how fast do you really want to go and why? You aren't on a cruise ship with deadlines, nor towing waterskiers. It seems that few boats cruise at more than 12 knots, however fast they potentially are – I know that, because we overtake most cruisers when going at our normal 11 knot cruising speed. So few cruisers really benefit from having a planing boat.

Regardless of hull type, one of the big differences between a sailboat and a powerboat is you helm a sailboat and drive a powerboat. You don't need to look at sails and don't need to feel for weatherhelm. So you can steer from anywhere, inside or on the coachroof, or both. However twin steering is not only more complicated, but also takes up more room, both inside and out. For remember you have to include a passageway to the helm seat. So basically on a small boat it's not worth it – as I said, everything is a compromise

A flybridge has more motion when at sea and needs protection so you end up with a third story, with lots of added weight and windage in the wrong place. When it's not very clear outside, interior reflections will interfere with visibility from an enclosed wheelhouse. As will steam from cooking. Maybe it's because I'm a sailor, but I prefer the conventional behind the aft bulkhead at the front of the cockpit helm position. That position also means I can see the sterns, which is often really important when docking

Now I want to talk briefly about stability There are three basic ways to lose stability, the first is by wind, which obviously mainly affects sailing boats, but also some high freeboard powerboats in very high winds. The second is by being rolled over in a big wave and the third is after being swamped, usually because your cockpit is too big and when full of water the stern goes underwater and the boat sinks.

The only sort of boat that can self-right from a knockdown is the monohull keelboat, but even then it may still need rescuing, in part because hatches may be open and the boat floods. I'll show you a video tomorrow of what I mean

All other boats throughout history can capsize. A typical fishing boat or even warship will capsize at about 40deg of heel, so a trawler yacht will obviously be much the same. We’ve been on a US warship in bad weather and were told - “we’re staying hove to, it’s too dangerous to continue into it, and yes even we stop fighting in a storm - but then so does the other side“. A high freeboard boat with a flybridge probably capsizes at an even lower angle.

Although a low c of g is very important for stability in a sailing monohull it is less so on other boats as it only has a major effect at high heel angles. A high cofg still increases pitching and rolling though

If you don't have a deep ballasted keel then you have to rely on what we call “form stability”, which is the shape of the boat. At its simplest a boat is considered stable in waves until the wave height exceeds the beam of the boat, so the wider the boat the safer it is. And if you heave to and stop you are generally safer than if you keep moving. Unfortunately, wave resistance is proportional to the cube of the wl beam, so narrow hulls are faster, but less stable

One of the worlds leading yacht research centres is Southampton University's Wolfson unit. Some years ago they performed model tests of various boat in waves. I've seen the videos they made, which were more realistic than even the Perfect Storm movie. However they are not public domain.

In the Wolfson tests they found it very easy to capsize a monohull powerboat, but try as hard as they could they never capsized the power catamaran.

Ok that's the basic choices, now we need to refine it

As I've just said, design is a spiral, but one has to start somewhere. Lets start with size.

So how big a boat should the ideal PNW cruiser be? I always say get the smallest boat you need, not the biggest you want. Smaller boats are more fun, and easier to handle. Obviously they are also cheaper to buy and maintain. For remember running costs are usually about 10% of the purchase price. I never go for styling for the sake of it, I chose the boat that best meets my needs regardless of looks or price. And please, don't think “we'd better buy a big boat, just in case the grandchildren want to come” Instead, get one you can handle easily with just your normal crew. You'll use it more and it won't be such a stressful experience.

Famous local designer Bill Garden has said that the ideal sized PNW coastal cruiser for a couple with occasional guests is 32 feet. Which is a good match for the “drinks for 6, meal for 4, sleeps 2” concept.

You live in a house, not a hotel, so when cruising for longer periods you’ll want a comfortable home, not a hotel room. That’s why buying a boat designed for chartering doesn't make much sense. Most cruisers don’t want lots of bunks and ensuite showers. Instead, one good double bunk is enough, although maybe a spare for friends or family is useful. More important are a big galley and a good heads compartment.

Absolutely essential is a comfortable saloon with an all round view. After all, when on land we don’t choose to live in a basement, the expensive apartments are always the penthouse suites. So cruisers, who spend much of their time at anchor, should be able to enjoy the view from inside, not just from the cockpit. Of course being able to stay inside, yet still be on watch, makes passage-making safer and that much more enjoyable. Especially round here with all the floating logs and weed to avoid.

My first power catamaran was the Skoota 20 which we built in Canada and used for a couple of seasons.

Our longest trip was to the Princess Louisa inlet, but since the cabin was only 5ft long it wasn't that comfortable for long cruises, for it was really built as a test bed for my ideas.

It worked well, so I later drew 24, 28 and 36ft versions. The two small boats fold and are trailable, the Skoota 28 is transportable, as it bolts together, and is the one I have on show here.

The Skoota 36 is a live aboard cruiser, there's a wooden one being built in Vancouver for an experienced cruising couple. They just came back from a Pacific cruise, and, like us, have chosen a powercat over a sailing boat as their ideal PNW cruiser

My Skootas use semi displacement, non-planing, asymmetric hulls.

The hulls are finer than those used on a sailing boat, because power boats always have power available to get over the hump speed, so wetted surface friction drag is less of an issue, as that's really only relevant to slower speeds, well below the normal cruising speed for a powerboat

Tank testing I've done has shown that there is significant extra drag caused by wave interactions between the hulls, it's up to 20% at certain speeds, if the hulls are close together. That's one very good reason why I don't like the narrow powercats you see around. My Skoota 20 and 24 are 12ft wide but fold for trailering.

The Skoota 28 has widely spaced hulls, yet will still fit in a standard 14ft slip. Put simply, the hull asymmetry helps fool the water into thinking the hull spacing is wider than it really is.

In the last 10 years we have owned sailing catamarans from 25 – 38ft so we have a good idea of the size of boat that suits us best. Basically we know that 38ft is too big for us - the 38fter we sailed had 800sqft of living space. Bigger than our PT condo. Lots of boat to maintain and clean, even when at anchor, never mind the extra effort involved in sailing it

We had thought about building my Skoota 36ft powercat design, but after looking at similar sized monohull powerboats we realised that even that would be bigger than we needed, and certainly the running costs would be be higher. It might be different though, if we were living on board full time.

So we decided to have a Skoota 28 professionally built in wood. And that's something you should consider doing as well. Buying a one-off wood boat direct from the builder can actually work out cheaper than buying a production grp boat as you don't pay for the mould costs, nor for sales commissions.

But the big plus is you get the boat you want, not what the boatyard wants you to have. We were very lucky with our builder, Josh Turner. A bit of a gamble using an unknown boatbuilder, but we were very pleased with his quality and speed of work.

I don't like maintaining engines so I prefer outboards. They are lightweight, reliable, self contained and keep the engine noise and smell out of the accommodation. The new fuel injected ones are as efficient as diesels and you can take them to a mechanic for service or repair, not the other way round. You need fewer seacocks and hull fittings, so there is less chance of leaks. In fact on our boat we have no skin fittings at all, for not only do we have outboards but we also have a composting toilet made by C-head, and an excellent buy. We don't even have any bilges, so have no need for a bilgepump. Our insurers think we have a safe boat as they know the most common claims are for engine failure and hull leaks, or even sinking.

I won't tell you any more about the layout of the boat as you can go see it, and in fact you might already have seen it online in Wooden Boat magazine as it was last weeks “Boat of the Week”. But I will show you this video

or here if the embedded video does not play

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIvM01seyLA

It was taken shortly after launching. Since then we have adjusted the outboards so the boat trims more level. And we've fitted the cockpit seats and bimini and raised the helm seat on a pedestal. Although the top speed is around 16 knots with our twin 20 hp outboards, we usually cruise between 10 and 12

And you might find our fuel consumption figures interesting. A couple of weeks ago we took Skoota to the Vancouver wooden boat show. It was a 38 mile motor. We did it in 3 ¾ hours and used less than 5 gals of gas. That 7 mpg is typical of our cruising this year

We have yet to connect our main fuel tanks so are still using the 3 gal tanks than came with the engine. So I am not giving figures based on saying the tank was half full, now its ¼ full. Rather on how much is left after refilling the 3 gal tanks with a 5 gal one, so it's an accurate figure

Well that's it really. If any of you want a trial trip in our Skoota, well we will be living on board and cruising round here until mid October when we fly to Europe, so any time before then. The Skoota will be left in a local marina for the winter ready for our next trip north