Fast Cruising Catamarans - How Fast ?

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

If we only look at cruising cats made by companies who are continuously in production and not all the customs and one offs then they are:

1. Gunboat. Fastest and you're going to pay for it.
2. Atlantic. At about half the price of a GB a surprisingly good value.
3. Outremer. Best bang for the buck.
After that it gets a little muddy because the performance paramaters even out. BOB

It was my understanding that all the Alantic's built are custom and there have been several builders in SA, USA and Chile.

awoplast have been building a run of Alantics in Chile although all custom to my knowledge and other vessels as well.

[Sand crab]

Originally Posted by downunder

It was my understanding that all the Alantic's built are custom and there have been several builders in SA, USA and Chile.

awoplast have been building a run of Alantics in Chile although all custom to my knowledge and other vessels as well.

I knew about Atlantics built in US and Chile, did not know about SA. Most of the larger cats are built to order anyway so in we could call them all custom. I included the Atlantics because they have been built to the same general spec for quite some time and they are fast. I like them. BOB

[downunder]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

I knew about Atlantics built in US and Chile, did not know about SA. Most of the larger cats are built to order anyway so in we could call them all custom. I included the Atlantics because they have been built to the same general spec for quite some time and they are fast. I like them. BOB

On that basis we could some add some australian builders who have been putting out a couple of australian designed fast sailing catamarans a year such as Schonnings, graingers, etc.

I also suspect gunboats are also built to order rather than on spec.

Personally, I don't have an issue with a custom built vessel by a well known designer built by an experienced yard as in Australia that can mean better quality installation of machinery with less warranty issues than by some of the big production builders.

From what I have seen the warranty complaints from these custom builders and the larger cat builders in Aust such as Seawind and Lightwave is very little as the installations are quality.

cheers

[webejammin]

Now that we got the top few crusing cats picked to death , think about owning one and keeping it in good condition:
I wonder which of the fastest crusing cats cost the most to maintance and up keep for a year ? I wonder which maintance and up keep cost would be the lowest in the long run ? I wonder if costs would be lots higher with exotic materials ?

[D&D]

Originally Posted by daddle

Sailing fast: It is not really cruising is it? Like mentioned above, at any speed in the low teens and up the boat is passing some of the waves. The helmsperson will not be cruising but rather more focused. Steering errors are answered with uncomfortable situations and possibly gear breakage.

More important for cruising is making good progress in the slow conditions that prevail in the popular cruising areas. Most overburdened cruising boats perform poorly (read 'no fun') in light conditions.

Going fast in any boat is mostly about leaving the crap behind. Freezers and garlic presses come to mind....

Hear! Hear!

We should also, however, admit that we love our freezer --It's so exquisite to enjoy ice cream and ice in abundance at sea! -- and we also share 44'cruisingcat's sentiments and "hope to never have to live on a boat where only equipment considered vital is carried."

Light air ability was our only performance criteria. We looked a plenty of 'production' cats (including the Schionnings and Graingers) with probably better performance than our L440, at least in terms of pointing and tacking and perhaps a knot or so more in all but beam reach and dead downwind conditions where the L440 shines, but we are happy with generally better than half wind speed in the flat light stuff, i.e. 6kn SOG in 10kn TWS and reducing if there's >1m swell, and even happier to be doing that in real comfort, loaded up with water and other creature comforts.

It should also be noted that being comfortable at speed can make a big difference too...or at least it sure does for us. When we're going along at 10kn+, the relative (by comparison to the lighter, performance-oriented cats in our experience) absence of slamming and generally easier movement of the fat-hulled L440 is a real plus.

Cruising in comfort may well be (not exclusively, but preferentially?) the other side of the coin to the unbridled pursuit of speed...

[Gordon]

You are spot on the money with your post Don, hope you both are enjoying your Lagoon 440.

Happy New Year
Gordon.

[webejammin]

I'll second sailing in the teens while eating ice cream, especially on a hot day.

[lateral]

Outremer 55L doesn't look to quick in this race:
Auckland to Musket Cove 2011 - Powered by Yellowbrick Tracking
The cat is pink- in the rear of the fleet. The two cruisng boats had STRONG winds & started 4 days earlier. green & blue.

It only just pulled back the Farr 1220 around half way. They really mustn't
like the light stuff to windward. A 55' cat against a 40' mono. Or they had gear failure.

[pbr]

Its a balancing act for cruising catamarans, performance vs. accomodation vs. cost. I think for cruisers performance is best measured as" VMG relative to energy expended by the crew". When measuring this way catamarans excel compared to the monohull counterpart since they require smaller sails for a given performance level. Lighter is always faster but it is expensive, so a production builder trying to hit a price range and profit margin has to take that into consideration. For catamarans, the hull finess ratio is the major performance factor, 11-12:1 is a good compromise ratio for performance and accomodation balance. Since catamarans dont self right, the builder has to consider the market he is selling to and how much to push the horsepower or sail area relative to the overall beam and still retain a clear conscience.

[scape]

i don't know if sig 45 was posted in this thread, but that cat is speedy; i read somewhere that it can be sailed in the teens with single-handed ease, and sails near apparent wind or at times faster

[lateral]

A sig 45 is somewhat removed from the definition of a cruising cat.

[scape]

perhaps, it has quite the stock of amenities though; 3 double-bunks, 2 heads, galley.. storage is probably a concern. i also don't think i meant apparent wind but true wind, I'd have to think about that.

[lateral]

Yeah, we know what you mean.True wind with apparent greater. It is a machine, but not too livaboardable,imo.

[ghostrider]

Dean 365 - 15kts
Leopard 39 - 16kts
GR Custom 50 - 15kts
GR Custom 42 - 18kts

[BojanglesIV]

Originally Posted by lateral

Outremer 55L doesn't look to quick in this race:
Auckland to Musket Cove 2011 - Powered by Yellowbrick Tracking
The cat is pink- in the rear of the fleet. The two cruisng boats had STRONG winds & started 4 days earlier. green & blue.

It only just pulled back the Farr 1220 around half way. They really mustn't
like the light stuff to windward. A 55' cat against a 40' mono. Or they had gear failure.

We buddy boated for quite a while with an Outremer 55L sailed by a friend with a strong racing pedigree. Trust me, those boats are fast. His biggest issue is trying to keep the speed under 14 knots because his wife gets uncomfortable in the big speed.

There may be faster boats out there, but the 55L is certainly quick.