The 4.9 T-Cat was a natural outgrowth of the Mini-Cat designed a few years back for Popular Science. The Mini-Cat was an easy to build 14’ car-toppable catamaran with performance comparable to a Hobie 14 at a fraction of the cost. Its one big drawback was a limited payload due to the size.

We decided to go ahead with the longer version to see what the actual performance of a larger 16' catamaran would be like. The result was the T-Cat: A very fast homebuilt catamaran which is still easy to build and to transport.

The T-Cat is reaching what we think is the upper edge of what a performance machine built from easy-to-find, homecenter-type materials can achieve. This is a bit of an advanced performance machine; if you're just starting out in sailing catamarans, the Mini-Cat is likely a better choice.