Design and Construction
The Phantom is a true catamaran of fiberglass construction with raked stems and vertical transoms giving her a clean, purposeful profile. Her hulls are solid fiberglass and sit on a frame spanned by a central trampoline, a layout that keeps weight low and the middle open. What makes the platform practical is that the hulls can be detached from the trampoline frame for transport or storage, so a 14-foot, 6.67-foot-beam cat can be broken down rather than trailered whole. Displacement is a featherweight 350 pounds, and the boat draws 2.18 feet with the daggerboards down but only six inches with them retracted, a range that lets her float off a beach or slide up a shallow ramp.
Rig and Handling
She carries a Bermuda rig as a fractional rigged sloop with a rotating mast, a combination that suits a light planing dinghy. Total sail area is 140 square feet, enough to drive 350 pounds of boat with little effort. Steering runs through dual transom-hung, kick-up rudders controlled by a tiller, paired with retractable dual daggerboards. The kick-up rudder detail matters: in the shallows or on a sudden grounding the blades pivot up instead of binding, and the daggerboards retract to turn a 2.18-foot draft into a six-inch one. Twin rudders and twin boards give her predictable tracking and easy beachability without a centerboard trunk intruding on the trampoline.
Accommodations
There is no cabin, nor any enclosed space to speak of. The boat's only "accommodation" is the central trampoline stretched over the frame that mounts the hulls, the place where crew sit or lie across the span and trim weight. Each hull is a buoyant float rather than a livable volume, and the design's intent is day sailing where you carry gear in bags.
The Verdict
The Phantom is a compact, cleverly engineered catamaran dinghy whose detachable hulls and retracting boards solve the usual trailer-cat headaches. She is light enough to manhandle, simple enough to maintain, and her rotating fractional rig keeps her lively in a breeze a heavier boat would struggle to fill. The trade-off is zero shelter and a trampoline-only cockpit, which limits her to fair-weather days and sailors who do not expect a cabin.
Pros
- Hulls detach from the trampoline frame for easy transport and storage
- Retractable daggerboards cut draft from 2.18 ft to 6 in
- Kick-up rudders protect the blades in shallow water
- Very low 350 lb displacement with a 140 sq ft rotating-mast rig
Cons
- No cabin or enclosed accommodation of any kind
- Trampoline-only crew space limits comfort and gear stowage
