Downsides to a Cat??

[Tnflakbait]

Originally Posted by jzk

If you are going cruising, get a cat. If you like to day sail or weekend, then go mono.

Cats simply take some of the "sailing" out of sailing. If you are going out for an afternoon sail, the mono is the place to be. But, but taking some of that motion out of sailing, Cats make living aboard much more comfortable.

Sometimes true sometimes not. There are some great weekender cats that are far more fun to sail than a mono. They will have small accomodation though.

My cat is 33' and is FAR more fun to sail than my 27' Catalina was. If It's blowing 20-25 kts and I want to push it, I can scare the $&!% out of my self with the boat. Now thats fun sailing!

[Pelagic]

Minor, but many of the cats I have been on, the bunks have had little headrooom

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Ram

In Ibza, they wanted to charge me the same rate as a 75 foot mono hull at the marina! So these costs are very high, I Sailed from La Rochelle,France (N. Atlantic) to Ibza and only stayed in marinas 2-3 times in 6 months, mostly because of the costs involved

Well, that's probably because the price included the DJ sets, endless raves and beach parties all hours of the night...

Good advice on the Med. Our eventual plans will include that at some point, but it looks like we will have to blast our way over to Croatia or something, mostly anchoring as we pass France and Italy. That's many years off though.

Your charters look great, BTW.


In all reality, we were too cheap to pay for our 45' mono to be in a marina (other than winter rates), so we will probably remain just as cheap with the cat. No marinas for us... and I think there is one advantage not touched on:

Beaching it to fix things.

[ssullivan]

Thanks to all that have responded so far. I haven't seen any disadvantages that rule out a cat. In fact, compared to the disadvantage list of a mono, I do believe I'm a convert!

Man.... another convert. When will it end???

[multihullsailor6]

Originally Posted by Tnflakbait

Here are some of the downsides:

-Greater initial cost
-Difficulty in finding slips/ cost more
-Greater windage than a mono
-More expensive upkeep, Larger decks/ replacing tramps etc.
-With one engine more difficult to manouver in small spaces.
-With a fast cat you must learn to react more quickly to wind change etc.
-With a slower cat you can't point as well.
-A 35' cat with as much space as a 45' mono will probably not be a great performer.
-A good performing cat 35' will have very little accomadation.
-Weight is a major issue, and affects performance drastically
-They can capsize

I won't mention the benefits.

I do not agree with the caption "A good performing cat 35' will have very little accomadation" - have a look at the Eric Lerouge designed "Ksenia 99" cat (Erik Lerouge International), at just under 33' she has a lot of interior and exterior space and sails very well, with 8 persons on board we were happily sailing at 14 kts in a dying force 4-5.

[cbac]

Originally Posted by Tnflakbait

Here are some of the downsides:

-Greater initial cost
-Difficulty in finding slips/ cost more
-Greater windage than a mono
-More expensive upkeep, Larger decks/ replacing tramps etc.
-With one engine more difficult to manouver in small spaces.
-With a fast cat you must learn to react more quickly to wind change etc.
-With a slower cat you can't point as well.
-A 35' cat with as much space as a 45' mono will probably not be a great performer.
-A good performing cat 35' will have very little accomadation.
-Weight is a major issue, and affects performance drastically
-They can capsize

I won't mention the benefits.

How often and what would it take to capsize one?

I only ask because my wife and I are looking for a boat and are debating Single or Multihull.


That and we sail a little ol' Hobie 14 and "capsize" frequently. It's the 14's way of cooling our jets.

[Tnflakbait]

Originally Posted by multihullsailor6

I do not agree with the caption "A good performing cat 35' will have very little accomadation" - have a look at the Eric Lerouge designed "Ksenia 99" cat (Erik Lerouge International), at just under 33' she has a lot of interior and exterior space and sails very well, with 8 persons on board we were happily sailing at 14 kts in a dying force 4-5.

Maybe I went too far saying very little accomadation. What I really meant was the interior of a good performing cat (usually) would not impress someone used to charter cats. My 33' cat has good accomadation, but no more than 6' headroom. It has two heads, two single bunks and A queen size master. Compare it to a Seawind 33' and it is much smaller inside. But the boat WILL do over 20 kts.
The Kzenia 99 looks like a cool cat also!

[Tnflakbait]

Originally Posted by cbac

How often and what would it take to capsize one?

I only ask because my wife and I are looking for a boat and are debating Single or Multihull.


That and we sail a little ol' Hobie 14 and "capsize" frequently. It's the 14's way of cooling our jets.

Not very often. A lot of wind and a sleeping sailor with full sail up on most cats I was just pointing out negatives.

[multihullsailor6]

Hi CBAC,

I used to sail a Hobie 14 here in Cape Town on a lake next to our house - still hold the record of capsizing in force 2 when sailing one hull up and looking at the girls! Yeah, sweat dreams ...

Even big / cruising cats can capsize (if and when due to storm conditions and/or bad multihullseamanship) ) but then the old saying comes into play:
When are yachts at therir safest?
- Monohulls at the bottom of the ocean
- Multihulls when capsized and floating on the top of the ocean!!!

Happy multihull cruising!

[ssullivan]

Drifting the thread a little, what are the conditions that can cause capsize? Is it burying the bow or something? I'm not experienced yet on the multis. Can I simply "get the feel" after like 20 years of sailing on monos?

[Tropic Cat]

Sean - Welcome to the darkside

[multihullsailor6]

Originally Posted by Tnflakbait

Maybe I went too far saying very little accomadation. What I really meant was the interior of a good performing cat (usually) would not impress someone used to charter cats. My 33' cat has good accomadation, but no more than 6' headroom. It has two heads, two single bunks and A queen size master. Compare it to a Seawind 33' and it is much smaller inside. But the boat WILL do over 20 kts.
The Kzenia 99 looks like a cool cat also!

Tnflakbait, don't know your CSK but the Kzenia 99 is sexy and fast!

[kesey]

I would strongly recommend staying away from the Iroquois. Do a search on a capsize which occurred about 2 years ago near Southampton Water in England. The good news is that all 4 on board survived an over-night on the upturned hulls. The bad news is that the boat capsized so quickly that the crew were unable to grab flares, epirb or VHF.

Other than the above, I'm all for cats. I sail a Leopard 42 and I think she is a fabulous boat - well able to behave in unkind weather and unkind seas. From a wife-approval-factor, the cats seem to win every time.

Welcome to a level outlook on life:-)

fair winds,

kesey

Originally Posted by cbac

How often and what would it take to capsize one?

I only ask because my wife and I are looking for a boat and are debating Single or Multihull.


That and we sail a little ol' Hobie 14 and "capsize" frequently. It's the 14's way of cooling our jets.

[BigCat]

At 40' and bigger, about the only way to capsize a cruising catamaran is in a hurricane, or by strapping in the mainsail in a calm and coming out from behind a high island or bluff into a strong wind unexpectedley. Any catamaran with a good sail area should probably be reefed before force 5, if you want to be careful. Daredevils in search of >15 knots of boat speed will ignore this reefing advice, of course.

[Therapy]

I have heard of only one person who had a (several, many??) mono, switched to a cat and then went back to a mono.
He was a circumnavigator.
When they decided to do it again and he bought a cat (don't know which one) he had to get rid of it.
The women (wife and 2 daughters) did not like "the motion".
I spoke to him. All the other stories I have only read about.
Is it a conspiracy?