Do Multihullers Ever go Back?

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Exactly...to each his/her own. ....and I am paraphrasing.
The OP asked a question if anyone has gone cat to mono.

SNIP

True, not if anyone knew someone who had gone from cat to mono.

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by colemj

BTW, Herreshoff did not agree with dark wood interiors and didn't build boats with them. Nice, bright easily cleaned and maintained interiors for him.

Mark

Absolutely! Dark interiors suck. They suck light, they suck your time in maintenance, they suck your energy, and they just…well, suck!

[weavis]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Absolutely! Dark interiors suck. They suck light, they suck your time in maintenance, they suck your energy, and they just…well, suck!

Its not until they suck and blow bubbles do they really suck.

[SaltyMonkey]

Originally Posted by weavis

Its not until they suck and blow bubbles do they really suck.

I dare say Weavis, I believe this is your cat interior

[weavis]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

I dare say Weavis, I believe this is your cat interior

Sorry no, that is the RIB..............

[Canibul]

Yeah, our RIB had a couple suites like that too. But we had to get rid of it, the wife was embarassed by the gray rubber exterior. Traditional dinghy exteriors are oak plank on solid knees with caulking and a riveted copper sheath on the bottom, and our davits just couldn't handle one of those. So I tried to sneak a rubber boat by her by getting one with a lavish interior and an owner's suite.

but after all was said and done, it was through no fault of it's own, a monohull.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Canibul

Yeah, our RIB had a couple suites like that too. But we had to get rid of it, the wife was embarassed by the gray rubber exterior. Traditional dinghy exteriors are oak plank on solid knees with caulking and a riveted copper sheath on the bottom, and our davits just couldn't handle one of those. So I tried to sneak a rubber boat by her by getting one with a lavish interior and an owner's suite.

but after all was said and done, it was through no fault of it's own, a monohull.

[Southern Star]

Yes, cats have steps down into the hulls - typically three to five. If you have a galley up, of course, you can step directly into the saloon and galley on a non-heeling boat in order to reach your nav station, galley etc. On a monohull, you often have to manage an angled companionway ladder of many steps and then climb the same while holding refreshments/etc.. Frankly, for me one of the great joys of cat ownership is being able to 'go below' for most things without having to actually go below, let alone balance while holding onto to a companioway ladder!

Brad

[Canibul]

kinda funny someone who climbs up and down into the cellar complaining about three steps in a split level. And with a galley up design, you don't have to go down steps very often.

Do monohulls even have a choice of galley up or down?

And another thing.....on a catamaran you can usually open the windows on both sides for ventilation without turning it into a submarine.

[Capt RonB]

Originally Posted by caradow

Although there have been many discussions about the pros and cons of multihulls vs. monohull I have personally not found a thread that specifically addresses previous "owners" of multihulls that have gone back to monos.
So if you are out there would love to hear your reasons.
This would obviously apply to those who continue to cruise.
I do not think comments from those who charter would be of any benefit as those made by paid delivery skippers. Not because either group are not experienced but they have not lived the life of an actual owner.

We've been both ways a few times. For us it was about what could we do for the money. Our cruising is Florida, Bahamas mainly but we've done few trips between Florida snd the Chesapeake.

After many years of racing dinghys, the first cruising sailboat we owned was a Catalina 25 and after that a Kelly 24+2 that we raced more than cruised. From there we owned a Tartan 34 that we cruised from Clearwater to the Keys and Dry Tortugas.

After that we bought a Stiletto 27 that we raced and weekended around Clearwater but it was camping out not really a cruiser. It was great fun though. At the time we lived on a shallow creek off the Gulf ICW so the draft was a main factor. During our racing days we had an opportunity to cruise an F28R from Clearwater to Boca Grande for a week. There's nothing like cruising at 18k with the tiller pilot steering. It was a fabulous fun boat but definitely a camping adventure, not cruising.

Then we bought an Edel 35 down in St. Martin and brought it back to our house on the creek. It rested in the mud at low tide behind the house but it was a real cruiser with a touch of speed. We had the Edel up to 12k once and often saw 8s and 9s. Once we crossed from Spanish Wells to Little Harbor and easily outpaced the Hunter 45 we were sailing with.

But... every decision we made in terms of cruising equipment or supplies involved weighing it first. You know the tooth brush handles were cut off and drilled to lower their weight, that kind of nonsense. On the Edel Cat we had an 80 lb AB RIB and a 3hp motor, 20 gal. water tank, 12 gal of fuel, and 6 gal of propane. The boat lost 6 inches of draft ehen loaded for a month's cruise. Two trips to the Bahamas convinced us to sell her and get a monohull.

If we had the cash, sure we would have preferred a 40+ catamaran, maybe a FP Cassamance or one of the early Lagoon 42s. But our budget for a boat was $50k not $200k. We bought a very nice 83 Ericson 38.

The Ericson could be loaded for spending the winter in the Bahamas and only move the waterline down an inch plus the boat still sailed beautifully. We carried 100gal of water, 60 of diesel, we had a 12ft RIB with a 15hp motor, 20 gal of propane. True, we couldn't keep it in the creek behind the house with 5ft of draft but then we didn't own that house anymore and the only time I can remember seeing ovrr 10knots on the GPS was going out Galliot Cut with a spring ebb. But she always finished in the rum when we raced at Staniel or Georgetown and her motion in a seaway wasn't nearly as choppy as the Edel.

Still you could say the migration back to a mono was a money issue but the Ericson was a better cruiser for our purposes.

As a footnote, I've also spent considerable time on Geminis and MaineCat 30s. Neither is my idea of an extended time cruiser. On the other hand we did a trip from Clearwater to Key West with 5 adults and 4 kids on the Edel. She sailed like a slug but I would not crowd that many onto the Ericson. 4 staterooms and two heads made that trip tolerable. Horses for courses .

[44'cruisingcat]

I think the OP's question has been answered. Mostly people haven't gone back, but a few have, for various reasons. About what you'd expect, really.

[SaltyMonkey]

No we haven't talked about ferro-cement yet.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Celestialsailor

Exactly...to each his/her own. ....and I am paraphrasing.
The OP asked a question if anyone has gone cat to mono. That's what he wanted to know. No reason to defend your cat or mono. Sail what you like.

My apologies. Sorry I tried to shoot the messenger.


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[Canibul]

Originally Posted by smj

I tried to shoot the messenger.


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Do catamaran sailors carry double barreled side by side shotguns?

[SaltyMonkey]

Lets talk about catamaran anchors.