Hello Mike
Making the right choice is never easy, but when You sail the Gulf of Mexico. You want some adequate accommodation, so your wife will be happy to sail with you.
Many ECO¡¯s are used for longer journeys, for instance, on the Pacific North-West, sailing up till Juno. Not the easiest waters to sail. You do not build every day a new boat.
Also, with respect o stability.
I advise you to build the ECO 5.5.
The DUO 480 is, in any case, too small. It is a day-sailor with a cuddy. A Croatian client had enlarged the boat to 5,2m. He was/is very happy with it. The boat was also used for extended holidays. You can see photos from the family sailing the Mediterranean Sea here in the photo folder. On a typical summer day, we have here mostly less wind in the morning. On the coast, you get almost every day wind till force 6. The waves then accordingly between 4 to 6 ft high. Typical Med seas are (notable on the coast) very short compared to the long waves found on the Pacific or Atlantic. The boat handled these waves very well.
I have drawings for a sloop rig for the DUO 480. Here again, the ECO 5.5 is better suitable for what you need. You can, for example, use a Hobie 14 rig. However, many catamaran sailors step over to more modern boats, and the rigs are reasonably cheap to find. Another good and cost-effective rig David has built for his ECO 6. A gaff rig is more or less a Fathead rig but not so expensive.
Material costs. You need about 35% more material for the ECO 5.5 compared to the DUO 480. The overall difference is not this big.
Construction time. You will need about 50 % more time.
Time is the most difficult to compare. Everybody has a different work speed. How fast you can build also depends, to a significant part which tools you have. The time I show is the time I would need. But I am a very concentrated and organized builder. Here is a saying from a German wood recumbent trike builder.
DON¡¯T MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS USING SOMEONE'S OTHER RULES
Beam restrictions for road transport in your country. Every county has different rules.
But I know from customers that you can get permanent permission till 11 feet for about $ 25,-
David also gives good advice, but he is used to big ships and boats ;-))
Cheers
Bernd
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Bernd Kohler