Do Multihullers Ever go Back?

[Aslan]

I would guess the cat owners who's boat flipped over at anchor when a squall rolled through might go back to a mono. Or a cat owner who finally graduated to real ocean sailing and needs something safe and worthy. Or someone like myself who would rather have a boat AND two condos, and not just a boat. LOL!

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

What is that thing? I wanna see the interior

It's tied up along the Napa River (California), immediately south of the former Southern Pacific Railroad bridge between Napa Junction and Sonoma/Petaluma/Eureka. Maybe, some how, you might contact the owner.

[SaltyMonkey]

Its not the Flying Hawaiian

LOOK! Salty Monkeys new CAT:

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

The dirty little secret most of us mono owners never want to admit in public is that the vast majority of cruisers (like 90%) would be cruising on Cats if they were the same price as monos!
The price keeps monos being build, bought and cruised! We have a 50ft floating condo of a mono (A Hudson Force 50) but it still doesn't have the space or living aboard comforts of a Lagoon 380. Bring down the price of a Cat to the same price of monos and besides the die hards (which will no doubt flip out at my comment here) it’s game over for monohulls.

There....someone had to say it......

I agree. I'm certainly in that situation. The other factor is that I think that multihulls hit a maturing point in their designs and the number produced much more recently then monohulls. So I can get a decent 1981 mono, but it's harder to find a decent 1981 multi. Again, this pushes the price of the multi up.

Also, it seems to me that to get decent bridge deck clearance, you need at least a 35' cat. A 35' cat is comparable in size to something like a 45' mono. So if I could afford a 45' mono built in 1997, say, I might look at a 35' cat built in the same year and decide to go with a cat. But since I'm in the 1981 35' mono price category, there's nothing to compare to and the choice is made.

Not that I could find or afford moorage here for cat larger than a Gemini

[cwyckham]

Originally Posted by SaltyMonkey

Its not the Flying Hawaiian

LOOK! Salty Monkeys new CAT:

I can't believe they built that beautiful boat and then didn't shell out for a decent anchor...

Oops, wrong thread!

[Polux]

Originally Posted by weavis

I lost my fresh water pump one time, and had salt showers for 3 days and threw a bucket of fresh water over when finished.. florida. (no watermaker).

Lets just say one bucket of fresh water does not even begin to wash off the salt.

It took several hours of scrubbing the seats and everything I touched when back in dock to clean off the stickiness of the salt.

Im not a die hard either or guy. I love monos for Coastal and really huge monos for long distance. I just dont want to own one for living on again.

The problem with the salt and shower has probably to do with the skin type. I love salt water, on the boat I always bath with salt water and never pass fresh water, except when I go to a port (about each two to three weeks). The only exception is my hair that I pass by fresh water each 3 or 4 days. A very small quantity of water is enough, maybe 1 L or so.
The same with my wife except that she passes fresh water over the body after taking bath in salt water maybe once in a week and wastes a bit more when washing the air.

Anyway our 400L of water without any concern regarding consumption last for about 3 weeks. Most of it go out with washing the dishes, after having passed them with sea water. My wife wastes too much water with that

[Polux]

Originally Posted by tomfl

....

There is no perfect boat, just boats that are better for some things than others. For me a cat is the best boat to do the things I want to do.

Well said. That is true for must of us even if also for most of us money is a determinat factor in what regards the best boat we can have.

Multihulls are considerably more expensive and I agree with someone that said that if it was not for a question of money most would have a cat. I would say money and prejudice.

Those would correspond to the vast majority that on a sailboat wants a "house" that can be moved easily around on the water. The large interior volume cats sail better than old heavy boats, about the same as modern cruisers (depending on circumstances and points of sail) and offer a lot more space. The space is also a more agreeable than on monohulls so they offer a better choice for the needs of most cruisers. Even in what regards the less seaworthiness of relatively small cats in extreme conditions (size by size) that should not be a problem for most because 90% are coastal sailors ...unless on their headsince all seem to want a bluewater boat.

[steve.garlick]

Thought I'd offer a different point of view. After a history of being dedicated multihullers (my wife and I raced a Nacra 5.8, sailed several Farrier tri's ), we bought a 44' Chamberlain cat as our first cruising boat. It was a disaster on many levels. It was too big for my wife and I to easily handle, it cost a fortune to haul and dock fees were high. It required way too much maintenance, and while being fast, it was unenjoyable to sail. It felt like sailing a truck, with no feel of 'being in the groove'. We sold it after 6 months, realising we'd bought the wrong boat for us.

We also realised that the smallest boat you can live aboard is the best for many reasons (we are retiree's on a limited budget). We have now been living in the Med for 2 years on a 40' mono. We love the boat, it is a cruising classic (A Bowman 40). It has impeccable sea-worthiness and is a delight to sail. We can get it into and out of the small harbours, ports and anchorages here. We've sailed in horrible conditions (50 knot meltemi winds with short 4m chop) and the boat has handled it impeccably.

We've also done a delivery in a Lagoon 40'. I would NEVER want to go back to a cat like that. The motion in a reasonable MEd chop was horrible, it wallowed and pounded like a pig. The interior fit out was cheap and nasty.

I know there are some great cat's being built now, but I have adapted completely to mono's. The boat has a small footprint, I feel totally safe with the seaworthiness of the boat, and feel comfortable in high winds at anchor and port.

Each to his own, but the OP was asking about people who 'went back'. We did, and we're happy we did.

Steve
S/V Pavlov

[SaltyMonkey]

wow...the truth!

Thanks Steve G.

I sport the theory that many multi-hullers do go back to monos, but they are embarrassed and would not want anyone to know, so they don't speak up.

[brownoarsman]

I go back and forth every year! But then I don't own anything and am just using club boats and charters so I don't have to choose. I love monos - especially older, tender ones - for daysails and 4-5 day trips. On those, heeled over, I really feel like I'm sailing and love the responsiveness in the boat to minor changes - feeling the 'soul' of the boat or whatever. I also like sailing Hobie cats but it's not the same (too twitchy).

After a few days, with bruises and cuts all over my legs and with some crew member or another having thrown up cooking breakfast, I start to wish I was on a multihull. So when I do a week plus charter, it's on a cat! Hard to find small cats to charter, though, unfortunately. I'd love to sail one of those stilettos some day.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by Aslan

I would guess the cat owners who's boat flipped over at anchor when a squall rolled through might go back to a mono. Or a cat owner who finally graduated to real ocean sailing and needs something safe and worthy. Or someone like myself who would rather have a boat AND two condos, and not just a boat. LOL!

What an extraordinary and quite frankly insulting thing to say. You are suggesting that multis are not safe at sea. Seriously? I've done plenty of oceans, and all on Multis. Stop telling lies - you don't like multis - fine, your call, but don't tell lies to justify your position. There is NO empirical evidence to support that statement. None. For every multi capsizing story you find, I promise I will find two monos sinking with loss of life story. So lets all just agree to not insult each others choices.

Personally I think centre cockpit ketches are incredibly unattractive, but thats just me. You find them romantic, thats fine.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by markpierce

It's tied up along the Napa River (California), immediately south of the former Southern Pacific Railroad bridge between Napa Junction and Sonoma/Petaluma/Eureka. Maybe, some how, you might contact the owner.

What was the purpose in posing that photo, serious question, trying to understand the message.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Factor

What an extraordinary and quite frankly insulting thing to say. You are suggesting that multis are not safe at sea. Seriously? I've done plenty of oceans, and all on Multis. Stop telling lies - you don't like multis - fine, your call, but don't tell lies to justify your position. There is NO empirical evidence to support that statement. None. For every multi capsizing story you find, I promise I will find two monos sinking with loss of life story. So lets all just agree to not insult each others choices.

Personally I think centre cockpit ketches are incredibly unattractive, but thats just me. You find them romantic, thats fine.

I dont find Angelina Jolie attractive. Is life over for me?
sigh.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by steve.garlick

Thought I'd offer a different point of view. After a history of being dedicated multihullers (my wife and I raced a Nacra 5.8, sailed several Farrier tri's ), we bought a 44' Chamberlain cat as our first cruising boat. It was a disaster on many levels. It was too big for my wife and I to easily handle, it cost a fortune to haul and dock fees were high. It required way too much maintenance, and while being fast, it was unenjoyable to sail. It felt like sailing a truck, with no feel of 'being in the groove'. We sold it after 6 months, realising we'd bought the wrong boat for us.

We also realised that the smallest boat you can live aboard is the best for many reasons (we are retiree's on a limited budget). We have now been living in the Med for 2 years on a 40' mono. We love the boat, it is a cruising classic (A Bowman 40). It has impeccable sea-worthiness and is a delight to sail. We can get it into and out of the small harbours, ports and anchorages here. We've sailed in horrible conditions (50 knot meltemi winds with short 4m chop) and the boat has handled it impeccably.

We've also done a delivery in a Lagoon 40'. I would NEVER want to go back to a cat like that. The motion in a reasonable MEd chop was horrible, it wallowed and pounded like a pig. The interior fit out was cheap and nasty.

I know there are some great cat's being built now, but I have adapted completely to mono's. The boat has a small footprint, I feel totally safe with the seaworthiness of the boat, and feel comfortable in high winds at anchor and port.

Each to his own, but the OP was asking about people who 'went back'. We did, and we're happy we did.

Steve
S/V Pavlov

The thread needed an opinion like that to balance things.

I am not saying that cats have not lots of advantages and they obviously suit the needs of most but being sailing on the med on the last years I thought that going upwind on a force 6 on a cat should be very uncomfortable on the typical conditions. It is not comfortable on a monohull, it should be much worse on a multihull. Didn't make public my suspicion because even if I had heard stories about how uncomfortable a cat can be in bad weather, had no experience of it.

Thanks for sharing.

Off course, the truth is also that many med sailors only sail out with lighter winds and that's why it is so good to cruise the Cyclades were stronger winds keep the crowd away.

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Factor

... For every multi capsizing story you find, I promise I will find two monos sinking with loss of life story.
...

Who is being prejudiced here

You seem to imply that after all monohulls are less seaworthy than multihulls since you are comparing directly, 2 times more safe to be precise

Off course you seem to forget that the proportion between monohulls and multihulls is about 30 to one, or 50 to one? That change that comparison of yours, I mean the implied results in what regards seaworthiness and safety.