Reasons to stay "Monohull"

[Van Der Beek]

Reasons to stay monohull

Disclaimer: I have not read through all pages.

One is a sailboat the other is a glorified raft with sail on it. Having said that, a sailboat looks better, sails better, has more storage and is safer. You can also get classic lines – timeless – that never go out of fashion, quality is higher, the communication between you and the boat is superior when under way.

The glorified raft may be more girlfriend and wife friendly at first, for sure it's better for the dock.

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

You guys found a reason yet?

I don't really have much of an opinion with this question, but the quote by George Bernard Shaw is glaring in your signature. You do seem to be pretty sure of your opinion! I'm more accepting of strong opinions than expressed in your signature, but I don't understand your need to sway the opinion of others.

I can't find a reason for this.

[double u]

2 constraints for a bluewater boat:
price
payload
(we are not yet talking about "market-size", first buying then selling...)
with this in mind the answer will be obvious!

[D&D]

Originally Posted by Van Der Beek

Disclaimer: I have not read through all pages.

One is a sailboat the other is a glorified raft with sail on it. Having said that, a sailboat looks better, sails better, has more storage and is safer. You can also get classic lines – timeless – that never go out of fashion, quality is higher, the communication between you and the boat is superior when under way.

The glorified raft may be more girlfriend and wife friendly at first, for sure it's better for the dock.

We share your Disclaimer ...

That said we most definitely do NOT share your views, any of them.

"Looks better"... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"Sails better"... seriously? in what universe are monos quicker than cats...

"more storage"...you've obviously never been on a 'condomoran' (a term of affection here BTW)

"safer"...cats tend to stay afloat which is a rather major component of 'safety', whereas ... Racing yacht bound for Newport sinks, crew is rescued - MySailing.com.au
NB There are a lot of folks around CF who love to post stories of cats in trouble, but the cold fact is there are plenty (arguably a lot more) stories of mono's in trouble, including this one very recently which illustrates the point that, when that mono hull is majorly breached leaving you with all that lead in the keel, it's 'bye bye' vessel and time to test your life raft!

"classic lines" ...multi's were crossing oceans long before mono's. So which is 'classic' kinda depends on which historical timeframe you select

"quality" ...depends on the builder, not the design

"better for the dock"...depends on the owner, not the design. We are at sea/anchor for at least half of every year...and we all know plenty of vessels (both mono's and cats) that rarely leave dock.


The Captain here was a lifetime 'mono man' up to 5yrs ago, but now fully converted to the 'dark side'...and, after well over 20000nm on the dark side, we'll never go back....

Each to their own eh?...

[Emerald Sea]

D&D. Well put....we couldn't go back to half a boat!

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by D&D

We share your Disclaimer ...

That said we most definitely do NOT share your views, any of them.

"Looks better"... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"Sails better"... seriously? in what universe are monos quicker than cats...

"more storage"...you've obviously never been on a 'condomoran' (a term of affection here BTW)

"safer"...cats tend to stay afloat which is a rather major component of 'safety', whereas ... Racing yacht bound for Newport sinks, crew is rescued - MySailing.com.au
NB There are a lot of folks around CF who love to post stories of cats in trouble, but the cold fact is there are plenty (arguably a lot more) stories of mono's in trouble, including this one very recently which illustrates the point that, when that mono hull is majorly breached leaving you with all that lead in the keel, it's 'bye bye' vessel and time to test your life raft!

"classic lines" ...multi's were crossing oceans long before mono's. So which is 'classic' kinda depends on which historical timeframe you select

"quality" ...depends on the builder, not the design

"better for the dock"...depends on the owner, not the design. We are at sea/anchor for at least half of every year...and we all know plenty of vessels (both mono's and cats) that rarely leave dock.


The Captain here was a lifetime 'mono man' up to 5yrs ago, but now fully converted to the 'dark side'...and, after well over 20000nm on the dark side, we'll never go back....

Each to their own eh?...

First of all I like many of the cats out there and if I was a bit younger Id probably give one of them a go BUT a typical cruising cat that is well loaded in my experience is slower to windward than a decent mono which is also well loaded. With working sails only its usually around the same speed as a mono. Downwind is where the cat usually can out perform a mono but most of the cat drivers sail on the conservative side so even there if there is any difference its not that much. So I don't believe for a moment that Cat owners of the popular cruising boats are buying them for real world performance. There has to be something else, and there is..
Where they really shine is in large bright living spaces which is the reason many of the buying decisions are made by women. The cockpits are really superb for an outdoor living space and even a 40 footer can entertain a dozen people with little effort. Considering that 90% of your time is spent at anchor these are very important considerations for a cruising couple which is why a company like Lagoon is doing so well.

[D&D]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

First of all I like many of the cats out there and if I was a bit younger Id probably give one of them a go BUT a typical cruising cat that is well loaded in my experience is slower to windward than a decent mono which is also well loaded. With working sails only its usually around the same speed as a mono. Downwind is where the cat usually can out perform a mono but most of the cat drivers sail on the conservative side so even there if there is any difference its not that much. So I don't believe for a moment that Cat owners of the popular cruising boats are buying them for real world performance. There has to be something else, and there is..
Where they really shine is in large bright living spaces which is the reason many of the buying decisions are made by women. The cockpits are really superb for an outdoor living space and even a 40 footer can entertain a dozen people with little effort. Considering that 90% of your time is spent at anchor these are very important considerations for a cruising couple which is why a company like Lagoon is doing so well.

We agree with all that Robert

We certainly didn't select our vessel for performance as we don't race, ever. After >30yrs of racing on OPB (Other People's Boats!) our Captain saw enough crazy behavior that there was no way we would expose our beloved CatNirvana to those risks. Our only performance criteria was light-air performance as we didn't want to invest all that loot for a sailing vessel, only to end up listening to engine noise. So we can keep our fat lady moving even in the light stuff.

We acknowledge too that many monos (and the more performance-oriented multis) would be quicker than us in a long upwind voyage. With that acknowledgement out of the way, however, we mostly coastal cruise nowadays such that we can at least choose forecasts. So a large proportion of our sailing is with the wind on the beam or aft...and in those conditions we pass a lot of vessels (multis and monos, but especially monos) without any real effort at trimming etc.

In any event, if we accept that multis and monos are pretty much line-ball into the wind, but multis are quicker downwind, it makes it kinda hard to say a mono "sails better"...doesn't it?!?

The best part of all this though is...each to their own

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Hudson Force

I don't really have much of an opinion with this question, but the quote by George Bernard Shaw is glaring in your signature. You do seem to be pretty sure of your opinion! I'm more accepting of strong opinions than expressed in your signature, but I don't understand your need to sway the opinion of others.

I can't find a reason for this.

What a completely baffling post!

[TheThunderbird]

Originally Posted by D&D

We share your Disclaimer ...

That said we most definitely do NOT share your views, any of them.

"Looks better"... beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"Sails better"... seriously? in what universe are monos quicker than cats...

"more storage"...you've obviously never been on a 'condomoran' (a term of affection here BTW)

"safer"...cats tend to stay afloat which is a rather major component of 'safety', whereas ... Racing yacht bound for Newport sinks, crew is rescued - MySailing.com.au
NB There are a lot of folks around CF who love to post stories of cats in trouble, but the cold fact is there are plenty (arguably a lot more) stories of mono's in trouble, including this one very recently which illustrates the point that, when that mono hull is majorly breached leaving you with all that lead in the keel, it's 'bye bye' vessel and time to test your life raft!

"classic lines" ...multi's were crossing oceans long before mono's. So which is 'classic' kinda depends on which historical timeframe you select

"quality" ...depends on the builder, not the design

"better for the dock"...depends on the owner, not the design. We are at sea/anchor for at least half of every year...and we all know plenty of vessels (both mono's and cats) that rarely leave dock.


The Captain here was a lifetime 'mono man' up to 5yrs ago, but now fully converted to the 'dark side'...and, after well over 20000nm on the dark side, we'll never go back....

Each to their own eh?...

Well, the most nonsensical post ever seen here in 2 years.

No offences intended

But I won't waste time answering.

Also ham- leaves stay in the eyes of the beholder

[double u]

...very emotional, the subject, very...
& everybody claims his/her boat (of course) is best...
having been around a bit in my heydays I was then always waiting for a multihull with the same pricetag, age & payload as our keeler to beat our passagetimes...
of course this was in the 90ies...
seems reasonable to me that, both boattypes having evolved since then their "relative capability" is still the same:
a well chosen monohull (& here we have another mono-advantage: a huge market to choose from!) with the same payload as the lagoon 44, same age, same price will be minimum 1 day earlier in the Marquesas
to compare a cat with a mono of the same length is of course ridiculous!
to come back to "emotions": when charging through a squally night my mind was far more at ease on the keelboat than on the cat, where I was always "on action stations"...

[double u]

btw: I would not go down the "monos sink - cats stay afloat even if capsized" - avenue of argumentation:
1. just ONE cat on the bluewater-rtw-run capsizing is statistically a catastrophy for the multis, as there are so many more monohulls on the water that they would have to sink by the dozens to make up for this one cat, that capsized near Tonga (a big one too, if I remember)
2. sinking in open water (on a charted obstruction the risk is the same for monos & multis) is bad luck that is hard to avoid (collision with whale or container), so this makes me less nervous than the constant vigilance necessary to avoid a capsize of a multihull

[double u]

Originally Posted by Caribbeachbum

There exists only one reason to choose a boat: it's the one you like best.

Everything else is just rationalizing your choice to convince others.

brilliant!!!

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by Caribbeachbum

There exists only one reason to choose a boat: it's the one you like best.

Everything else is just rationalizing your choice to convince others.

I realize that the OP dismissed cost, but I can't help but add affordability to this
answer by Caribbeachbum which remains the best answer on the thread!

[Andrew Grace]

I don't think there are many cruising boaters that sail to windward that much , that said , my cat sails to windward and tacks better than my Moody 36ever did.

[double u]

Originally Posted by Andrew Grace

I don't think there are many cruising boaters that sail to windward that much , that said , my cat sails to windward and tacks better than my Moody 36ever did.

ever sailed north through the red sea???