: My neighbor has a Hobie cat, but it is put away for the winter, otherwise I'd
: prevail on him to let me measure the pontoons.

: From the few looks I got, the cross section is triangular, with rounded
: corners. The forms for this can be made from plywood triangles, with the
: flat side areas covered in 1/4 inch lauan, and the curved corners filled
: in with a few 1/4 inch strips. The lauan is probably going to be a bit
: thinner than the nominal 1/4 inch, so your strips will be a tad higher at
: the junction, but sanding will quickly remove the soft, excess wood.

Hi Paul,

I am just building my first stripper but I am an old sailer and had a cat for 25 years. I printed out your post to go over when I get into the out rigger building stage, since you sound like an engineer. I would just be guessing as to how big to build it. The cat haul shape is like an airplane wing turned sidways with the outside being flat and the inside shape being curved to create a side pressure towards the kayak and the windward side as the water flows over it. The more inside curve the greater side pressure lift but more drag. My off the top of the head thought would to make it out two slabs of foam shaped and glued to an aluminum flat bar running down the middle, that is attached to the outrigger pole and the foam would be fiberglassed. The size and the structuralness of it would just be a guess on my part. Then the rudder? A regular kayak rudder or something that extend down deeper into the water?

John