|     In the real world / non racing, I'm not sure that flat bottom versus round bottom, versus deep V is very important.   The V bottom has a significant advantage in build time, but how much of the time spent building a multihull is spent on the hull itself... probably far less than 10%?

I don't know of any way to do a no epoxy touch, no sanding, easy, light, cheap, V hull, that can do a half a hull in one go. Do you?

It's way faster and easier and cheaper to infuse robs flat bottom hulls than build a v hull.

Also note the builddesign thread suggested the hulls are typically 25% of the cost of a boat, 90% if they are round.

| Ironically the biggest most dramatic parts of any construction project are the ones that consume by far the least time.

Assumes facts not in evidence.

| The V bottom clearly works well with infused full hull panels, leaving only the single seam down the keel, and the seams at the deck / cabin / bridge deck.  The V bottom offers an inherently stiffer contact point when beaching.

Ya, but panels are a huge pain compared to robs cheap molds and II.

| Richard Woods cedar strip chined hulls or their equivalent in foam sandwich are considerably more labor intensive.... and to what end??  

Agreed.

| Bernd Kohler's flat bottom hulls offer several advantages including the possibility of using the boat bottom as the sole.... though he does use a bilge and sole a few inches above the bottom.  
| There would be some attraction of simply gluing down several layers of ordinary construction XPS foam, and glassing it over and calling it good enough, both from the standpoint of simplicity, and of flotation, and puncture resistance, not to mention stiffening for beaching.

You must love the feel of wet epoxy. I don't see how layers of foam on the bottoms help. Either the hull can handle the beaching or puncture event, or it cant. If it can you are adding it for nothing. If it can't, you are gonna want to see the damage, and, to my mind, all that extra will just be in the way.

Probably better to add storage below a removable false floor than epoxy down extra foam.

Hey sailors, anyone have 'hole in a multi hull' experience they would like to use to make this a teachable moment?

| The flat bottom means 2 more panels to infuse, and two more full length seams. 

Unless, you know, you can infuse the whole half hull in one go! Well that's not quite fair, cause you have that clip together middle seam. But its not taped. No sticky fingers.

|     Looking at the HP drawings, I long ago came to the conclusion that the layout simply did  not serve my purposes well.   I would want stand up space in the opposite hull. 

Horse crap! How does it matter which hull you are standing in, or if it is a hull at all? But, hey, if it is critically important to be able to stand exactly thus and so, go have fun. I might look for a certain amount of contiguous sq ft., but hey, that's me.

Its not like you absolutely cannot have a HP with whatever space you need, configured however you would like, if you can shift your SOR point of 'places you need to stand'.

|  My intent with a catamaran is to have the galley starboard center, and  my workshop / workbench port center.  
| Master berth aft of the shop, and head aft of the galley, and only one forward berth.   My "home" will be on the bridge deck.   I'll sleep in a recliner there... as I have for many years..

I am not surprised you have the layout well planned.

|  The HP designs concentrate everything closely together in the windward hull... of necessity, and make little use of the leeward hull......

I don't think that's true at all. All the HP designs make good use of the lw hull.

| I would want a cabin in the leeward hull for my workspace.   Unlike most folks, I have to work with my hands, I have to build things, invent things, and fix things.

I forgot you need to stand in specific spots to do specific things.

| My conclusion has been that it would take a 50' HP to give me what I want.  

So, you don't think a 40 would do if you raised the top a bit and ran the walls straight up at the beams, eliminating the two Queen's and making all that your monolithic work space?

I would think it would meet most all your criteria above, and be, perhaps, a slightly more comfortable workspace, as the workspaces are at the center of rotation.

| Distribution of spaces is as important as total volume in many ways.   The large amount of open deck is attractive.... some of the time. 

I thought of the open deck, in your case, as a bigger project space. For the out door jobs.

| On a cat I would have a bimini over the cockpit, as my skin does not tolerate sun very well. 

I full expect to add some sort of cover too, or in cabin seating. I am not experienced enough to be sure of it's specifics, but I, also, cannot be sun exposed like rob seems to prefer.

|     I've obviously frustrated some people by not stating the why's for my size criteria.... let them be frustrated.  

Its me. It's only me. No one else cares one bit. And I only care so far as to point out that almost all your assertions boil back down to this one point. Without that one point you would probably be building the third Mike HP. I kid. You would be designing your own HP.

| In reality the upward spiral of larger and heavier is a not insignificant consideration.  

I think it is. Well for a HP it is, in my assessment, insignificant. But feel free to tell me what is spiraling up.

| Cost is an ongoing issue, not just an initial build consideration.  

Is it? What is bigger and heavier from a 40' HP to a 48' hp?

| Bigger boats mean bigger heavier taller more expensive everything. 

I cannot disagree more. When I looked at R. Woods BOM, the HP compares very very favourably at a significantly longer boat.

Shh, don't tell anyone, but if you saw how cheap one can build a HP for, no one would build anything else.

| For some people bigger is better... for me the reverse is true.   The foundations of my 30' LOA criteria are mostly eroded since I have gravitated into the multihull camp, with only one remaining compelling (to me), but even if that didn't exist, avoidance of that insidious upward spiral is reason in itself.  

I call horse crap! You don't actually have said criteria. You just say you do to make drama on this list. Which is fine. But I got you figured out now, and I am not falling for that again.

| I need a boat I can afford to own and maintain, preferably mostly with my own hands.   Some version of the junk rig will be on it,

Ya, I probably would have done a junk too, but Rob keeps talking about and flashing a new cheap rig. So I will decide that at the last min, probably.

But there is nothing about a HP 40 or 50 that wont also meet that criteria. I mean, Mike and Rob, et.al. are pretty adamant that One can single hand both of those, safely and easily. Certainly the HP is cheaper.

|     I would love to sail (on) an HP, but there are none I know of in my area........  I would travel to the Puget Sound or SF Bay area next summer to sail on one if that opportunity presented itself.  

I think I am the only HP on the Great lakes. But who knows. I'll get it done and bam, there will be 3 of them.

| sailed a proa, and as I've said before, it seems that tacking makes sense in a narrow waterway if it can be done efficiently..

The one that worries me is the gybes. I am very comfortable in the concept of the shunt vs not shunt, thank you very much. Reverse is real nice in tight spots. But I am guessing.

|     My conclusions remain largely unchanged, and I'd like to think it has nothing to do with convention, or closed mindedness, though others might claim otherwise. 

I think ones conclusion is, almost always, irrelevant. It's, IMHO, the argument and the data/principals one assembles to make said argument that matter. And getting people who can ignore the conclusion and engage the argument to critique it.

Those people are rare. I tip my hat to this group.

|  I may be forced to fudge my LOA criteria and give up on my last reason for adhering to it, but if so it will not be due to outside pressure, or ridicule, but because I simply cannot make it work......

Ha ha. Not fooling me. I know you don't have a reason. Not falling for it.

| I've been building models from construction board at my drafting table, and I end up building deep V hulls and trimming the V off to create a Kohler type hull. (below).  I inevitably begin looking at rounding the bottom a bit using foam and glass, which could be infused or vacuum bagged.

That's silly. A million man hours has been put into going down the road you are just starting. Now if you are having fun, by all means, full steam ahead.
But a lot of work has gone into this domain. And current state of the art makes the hull your talking about seem real foolish in comparison.

You have seem the pictures of Steinar hull infusions. That has got to be WAY more attractive to you than assembling slabs on a strong back and taping the seams in and out.