Catamaran Cosmos 1430

Hulls are built separately upside down on temporary building frames. After being planked, the hulls are sealed with epoxy resin and glass, then turned by hand for sealing inside.

Building the Cosmos range
Plans for the Cosmos range of performance cruising catamarans are available for home builders and professional boat yards. The boats are strip planked in either Durakore (manufactured compound planks with a balsa wood core) or Western Red Cedar. With this method of construction the compound curves of the hulls and decks can be relatively easily accurately formed and building requires only a moderate level of skill and no complex or expensive tools. The result is a sleek looking, strong and light boat. Western Red Cedar is cheaper and a little easier to use but Durakore planking is about 30% lighter because of the significant weight saving in the core. The construction with Durakore gives a very high strength to weight ratio and will produces a lighter boat allowing either a little more performance perhaps for club racing, or a better payload for cruising.

The accommodation is spacious, but, in the interest of weight saving, deliberately not over-elaborate. The saloon is open and airy with all-round visibility. There is a separate navigation station and dinette and ample open space to move around. In the hulls there are three spacious double cabins and a huge galley to starboard. There are several options for the number of heads and shower compartments. With that little bit more space, the head and shower are separated into two cabins for more convenient use and of course one can always have one of the forward cabins en-suite if required.

A lot of design effort has gone into providing a good view from the helm, especially for docking. By raising a poptop hatch and standing on a strategically positioned seat the helmsperson is head and shoulders above the cockpit roof. A double fold-down seat (optional) enables two people to sit in this elevated position while sailing and protected from above by the poptop.The main seating wraps around the perimeter of the cockpit and there is also a seat that converts to a daybed. The saloon windows and doors open wide onto the cockpit to ventilate both areas when this is needed. There are wet weather gear storage lockers in the cockpit so that the saloon can be kept dry.

To keep the sleek uncluttered appearance, solar panels are set flush into the hard bimini top. An aft swim platform can be winched into the water for access. This device is also used for recovering and storing the dinghy.

Sail handling is simple and efficient. All headsail sheets are tracked from the cabin top down to the cockpit winches. The headsail is roller-furling and the main, which is a modern high aspect ratio radial cut sail, drops into lazyjacks.

The 1430 is light on her feet and a pleasure to sail. Windward performance is excellent, with her long hulls and compact cabin, she can be driven hard safely. Yet, because of her low weight and modest rig size she has the easy handling of a somewhat smaller cat. She has a windward sail area of 110 sqm which gives her a Bruce Number of 1.42 when lightly loaded. Stripped out for racing, she would have a higher power-to-weight ratio, making her an effective competitor.

The Cosmos 1430 is a light displacement, slim-hulled cruising catamaran with exceptionally good all round performance. Intended for liveaboard or long voyages she is designed to cope with arduous ocean conditions. She has good bridgedeck clearance of 80 cm (2 ft 7 in) which, together with the damping effect from the smooth curve between hull and deck (chamfer panel damping), prevents most bridgedeck pounding when sailing to windward in steep seas. The buoyancy in the hulls is distributed to minimise uncomfortable and speed sapping pitching, and generally to encourage the best performance. Semicircular hull sections forward develop into a flat run aft.

The Cosmos 1430 is a light displacement, slim-hulled cruising catamaran with exceptionally good all round performance.