Beetle 14

Talk about tough acts to follow! What’s a boatbuilder to do when contemplating the sequel to a model that has long since become a legend in its own time? That’s the question Bill Womack and his crew at Beetle Inc. found themselves asking one day in 2006. Although the Beetle Cat is a big 12' 4" boat, it is still a little vessel in which skipper and crew are seated on the cedar floorboards. “What we were after,” said Womack, “was a traditional catboat with seats that would appeal to people who had grown up sailing a Beetle Cat but are now interested in a larger catboat.”Womack turned the matter over to resident designer-builder for special projects, Bill Sauerbrey. Fresh from his creation of the 28' C.C. Hanley catboat KATHLEEN (see WB No. 193), Bill soon concluded that a 14' 4" hull would be the smallest practical size to gracefully accommodate seats while also being large enough to distinguish itself from the venerable Beetle Cat.

Photo by Stan Grayson

The Beetle 14 (14'4") is the big sister of the 12' 4" classic. Lest you think 2' is not much of a difference, consider the designer’s observation that “You could fill two [original] Beetles with water and empty them into this boat.”

If adding 24" to the length of a Beetle Cat doesn’t sound like much, think again. “It’s only 2' longer than a Beetle,” Sauerbrey pointed out, “but it’s also wider and deeper and has more displacement. You could fill two Beetles with water and empty them into this boat.” Put another way, Sauerbrey reckons the 14 is about 80 percent more boat than a Beetle Cat.