Hi Michael,?
it is easy to understand your frustration. All these designs have got a lot going for them. The trick is to decide what the majority of your use will be and how far you have to trail the boat when you go sailing.
Small boats like the tiny tri are always going to be wet to sail like a beach cat but are easy to tow and quick to rig. The bigger boats are very dry to sail and you have got the back of the cabin to tuck yourself in behind if the wind gets a bit cool.
In New Zealand here David Thatcher has built his beautiful 6, always with the intention of keeping it on a mooring. That gets round the issue of expensive trailers and the awkwardness of launching a bigger boat. Fabulous boat , and looks even better in real time than in photos .
The 5.5 is similar, just a bit smaller. Still quite a big boat to tow if you are travelling a long way to launch, and would need a good boat ramp, like the 6. The 520 looks an exciting design, covers all the bases really except for the unknown factor of building the rig. With the 5.5 or the 6 there is the option of adapting a second hand rig. I have been lucky to see and follow the progress of both a 5.5 and a 6 being built so I can testify how spacious they are inside for what are still relatively small boats.
The 480 is a fun boat. When I discovered that it is easy to beach launch a lot of my hassles disappeared. I used to launch from a crowded marina and then spend the whole time time worrying about threading my way back in and then finding a crowded ramp in the narrow rock lined channels that marina designers seem to delight in building. The rig for the 480 can be done in different ways according to budget. The 480 has a smaller cabin space than the others, theres no way around that. Of course you could build the long cabin version but that cuts down the wonderfull roomy cockpit that is a great feature of the 480. It is really a cuddy cabin but the back bulkhead on the small cabin version is 851 mm = 33.5 inches, not 24 as you stated. I also made my hatch a little bigger and it hinges forward which opens the cabin area up. An added advantage of the bi plane rig is that in medium conditions you can stand up in the cabin doorway and steer the boat with the tiller extension.
All these boats take time to build, and the more cabin you have , the longer time to build, depending on experience. But they dont build themselves so you have to be able to commit regular time to the project. Im sure builders of the models you have mentioned would happily answer any further questions you have, as would I regarding the 480. You can pm if there are detailed questions that are beyond what of is interest to members on the main forum. Bernd is great with support on every build too. There have been 4 of Bernds designs (that I know of) that have been built near me and all have been completed with a lot of enjoyment and satisfaction along the way
regards
Bryan Cox
bryanandmarycox