Which Boat would you take if Both were Free to You?

[svseachange]

This might be a timely answer to the OPs question. Just yesterday I was talking to a Gemini owner here in Vero Beach from the Chesapeake.

He told me he used to have a well appointed 30 something mono with 5 draft. Might have even been an IP. When he got married he switched to Gemini. He said his wife has knee issues and found it hard getting in and out of the cabin.

He said they are quite happy on the Gemini. His wife likes the extra room. I asked him whether it was a good Bahamas boat. He said "yes".

There were three here last night - two on balls and one in a slip. I thought it was cool the cat could fit into a regular size slip. Given the number of them making there way to the Bahamas, they must be a good Bahamas boat.

[capttman]

I've sailed and delivered both.. I'm a mono guy so IP for me. However the Gemini is more comfy in the wind has a bit of cat slap into chop and the aft cabins are a slight bit short.
The IP although quite beamy lacks in speed and does roll a bit at anchor, she is a stable platform and sleeping is a bit cramped..
I would sail both most anywhere.. The Gemini with a bit more caution

[Canibul]

Suggest you and your spouse try stretching out in the bunks of both boats. Gemini is not as heavily built as the IP but if you want a coastal cruiser, you'll be able to get to a LOT more places in the Bahamas and Keys with the shallower draft of the Gemini. Does it matter to you or your wife if the boat sails level or is leaned over all the time? From what I've seen, spouses who are not gung ho sailors greatly prefer the level ride of a multihull over a mono. And if your spouse hates the boat, you got the wrong one.

They've sold over a thousand of those Geminis so they must have gotten something right.

Run em both hard aground on a falling tide, and then make your decision three hours later.

And yeah, we're catamaran people. Largely because we live and sail at the southern end of the Bahamas. If we were sailing in the Pacific, we might prefer monohulls.

[Jammer Six]

If both were free, I'd take them both, and sell them.

[scotty c-m]

The Gemini has a beam of 14 feet, which is common on a 40+ foot monohull. So yes, berthing should be more expensive (unless you are on a side tie or moarage), and a bit harder to find. Does this agree with real experience?

[Canibul]

when we were shopping around, one Gemini 105MC owner told me that he commonly was able to dock at inside slips, between the first finger and the shore. That's usually just one slip, wider than usual, but shallow. The Gemini with the boards and rudders and drive leg up draws something like 18". This is not first hand experience. I was told this by someone who was selling his Gemini.

[shekoos]

I'd take Gemini. It has more room and likely shallower draft.

[rgscpat]

For shallow water cruising, I'd certainly consider the cat, even as a mono person. But this hypothetical misses some of the point of matching the boat, not only to the cruising grounds, but also to the crew.

[valhalla360]

Biased of course but we choose the Gemini.

In 6yrs of cruising including the Great Loop, we've only been asked to pay extra once. When we pointed out the size of the monohull in the slip next to us, they backed off (I understand Europe can be different). Never have we paid extra. A few times, we did take advantage of inside shallow slips at marinas that said they were full (took a little explaining when they didn't want to put us in the empty slip)

For anchoring and shallow water cruising, hands down the Gemini wins. In crowded anchorages, we often were able to take advantage of shallow areas on the edge.

For a while, they did have a CE ocean rated version meant for sale in Europe. My understanding is the difference was mostly to meet the letter of the law. It's lightly built (not weak) because catamaran performance is greatly impacted by weight. Lightly loaded weekend sailing, the Gemini will smoke the IP.

The drivetrain is outside the cabin and completely retractable (The new 2 engine model is not considered a Gemini by many as it is a much different design). This keeps heat and petroleum products outside the cabin. If you pick up a crab pot, I can lay down on the back deck and untangle it (not that we ever have had to).

Visibility is not really a problem. It's as good or better than any pilot house boat. One nice think is we are able to skip the dedicated chart plotter as we mount a laptop just inside in front of the helm and drop the rear windows. In all but the worst weather it stays nice and dry. If the rain does come from just the right angle (rare), we pull the window up half way and that has always taken care of the issue.

Living space is much better/bigger in the Gemini. Probably have to compare to a 40' mono to get comparable.

Downsides to a Gemini:
- If you want to bash to weather, it get's noisy was waves hid the bridge deck. It doesn't appear to do any damage but it's unpleasant for cruising (bear off a little and the problem goes away)
- It's not a gold plater and they do tend to develop spider cracks due to the light build specs (cosmetic not structural)
- Built in storage is limited. We got around this by removing the mattress and adding shelves to convert one of the aft cabins to a pantry storage room.

We've been on a few IP's but it's not a lifestyle for us. They do appear to be nice well built boats but traveling at a 20 degree angle and then going down into a cave to live...no thanks.