Woods

Woods catamarans span a wide range of sizes, hull types and solutions to the design challenge of accommodating the crew in comfort. There are several consistent themes in all models, however. Woods designs range from light, powerfully rigged racers, through to cruisers with voluminous living room, and all aspire to be very fast. All boats are relatively low in displacement, whether the boats are built in plywood, strip-planked in cedar or constructed from GRP foam sandwich. They are also broad in beam, and consequently have a high static stability, enabling greater performance.

About 200 Woods catamarans have been built in production yards, usually in GRP foam sandwich. A much greater number, more than 1200, have been home built from plans. Plans for Woods boats usually have options for different hull sections and materials, providing the home builder to chose easier to build V or hard chine forms from flat panels, or lower drag around bilge hulls in planking. So there are many variations of Woods craft on the market.

Woods designs are praised for their gratifying performance, excellent handling and seakeeping as well as their practical, and sometimes innovative, interior layout. For example, in all models there is evidence of a keen appreciation of the performance penalty from excessive windage. Yet the crew is not expected to sacrifice too much to minimise windage. Rather the designers have gone to great lengths to preserve comfort and headroom for the crew without compromising the enjoyment and safety that comes from sailing and cruising fast.