Mono VS Multi - Your Personal Choice - Poll

[belizesailor]

My front dock....a bit of everything...you can't see the large "cayuco" and the two skiffs.

[IslandHopper]

While i voted "E" my next sailing boat will be a Mono...

I don't have a brood to house and 99% of the time i will be singlehanding, so i don't need all that extra space to fill up with junk....

[nautical62]

My answer is: It depends.

Comparing my 32-foot Beneteau monohull to the Telstar Trimaran, for the same money, I'd take the Beneteau without a doubt. Comparing my 32-monohull to a 38-foot Athena cat, and I'd take the Athena.

Of course, they don't cost the same. I bought a 30-foot hunter monohull for about 25K that I took to Bahamas for two winters. A Cat with standing headroom that doesn't have ridiculous under deck slamming would probably cost four times that or more.

If I were to suddenly get $300K, I'd get a catamaran and have some money left over to insure it. Until then, I'll be sticking with a monohull.

[Bash]

I want to vote for option "F". Have always loved monos, and have never been tempted to stray.

[bobconnie]

Have sailed both monos and Mulits, owned monos and Tris, deliverd cats and Tris love Tris but there are none Ive found worth buying!! Looking for 36 to 48 ft Monos now for 100000 or even a little more, but must be single handable by a women!! sounds funny but at my age Im thinking about Connie !! So my search go's on Bob and Connie

[SailFastTri]

Voted C but I have mono dinghies and probably will have a mono again at some point when I down-size. And if an injury or health/agility issue ever prevents me from sailing I might just opt for a Nonesuch or trawler or some other "old man's monohull".

Why when I down-size? Because sailing a cruising trimaran (Dragonfly 1200) has spoiled me with superb sailing "feel" and performance, and although cruising cats are great they don't scale down well. A tri heels just enough to let you know how hard you're pressing, yet level enough for comfort.

Want to know the down-side of a tri? Compounding and waxing 3x 39-foot hulls. I use about 240 feet of 3M blue masking tape for the waterline every time I paint the bottom or compound/wax. 3M's stockmarket price rises every April/May. Have to admit though, I've gotten pretty efficient at it.

The image below is my wake at 14 knots in level water. Note the tilt of the stern rail in relation to the horizon.... only about 5-10 degrees of heel. Note the standing wave where the wakes from the starboard ama (float) and center hull meet, and that there is no wave on the right side of the picture because the port ama is clear of the water.

[cat man do]

C as well but if you gave me a mono with similar performance and comfort so probably worth 2 or 3x the price of the multi, I could be swayed.
If I had to buy that comfort and performance in a mono I would obviously get a multi.

[Pelagic]

With today’s materials and weather intelligence, it is hard to not be attracted to the many ergonomic benefits of going Multi, but experience and history pretty much got me to choosing “A”

From the time of Pharaohs, 32 centuries before Christ to the heyday of sailing ships 5,000 years later, both mono and multi designs were tried, but the majority thru history went mono because they often survived the sailors judgment,

Purely subjective and just one person’s opinion, but I prefer steel with a solid keel for both passages and exploring remote anchorages

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Have sailed both monos and Mulits, owned monos and Tris, deliverd cats and Tris love Tris but there are none Ive found worth buying!! Looking for 36 to 48 ft Monos now for 100000 or even a little more, but must be single handable by a women!! sounds funny but at my age Im thinking about Connie !! So my search go's on Bob and Connie

Have you folks given any thought to a Cal 40 at less than 1/2 your stated budget or a Santa Cruz 50 at 40% over budget?

I know they are both ex race boats, but for what it is worth, Steve Dashew thought they both made excellent cruisers about 30 years ago. My first (and only to date) blue water capable cruiser was an old Cal 40. When it comes to lucking out for a 1st boat purchase, I sure fell into that. Great boat, very fast, until I met up with a family on a Santa Cruz 50 in the Sea of Cortez. Before that, being a freshly minted cruiser, I was having a ball on day sails down there with others, me being the new guy and the fast one, till the SC 50 appeared. There was no point of sail I could hang with them, but still had a lot of fun.

[downunder]

Not to knock timber vessels and trim in any way but for me I am comfortable with fiberglass and minimial timber.

Like easily cleaned, minimal maintaince surfaces. Happy to visit others with the nice traditional timber interiors.

Personal choice.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by smj

I would say wood is probably the hardest material to keep up. The plastic fantastic cats are great from a up keep stand point. I don't see why a 35 year old cat would be any different than a 35 year old mono if they are built out of glass. There are plenty of 35-40 year old British cats still going strong,

35 years ago the fiberglass boats were built a lot different than the modern production variety. I just don't see geminis and moorings cats being worth that much in twenty years. I could be wrong; just an opinion.

Sort of like the 1980's sloop designs where everyone wanted to pretend to be a racer. Some things have legs, some things don't. Hard to tell which is which.

Again, nothing wrong at all with catamarans. I work on them all the time and enjoy every minute of it. Just not my cup of tea, personally.

[deckofficer]

Cal 40 got legs, and for her age, the best legs in the harbor.

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

I'm just a boat slut, I own and sail both monos and multis. A great day on the water can be had on any number of hulls.

+1 on the boat slut thing. A cat is my weapon of choice but I spend a lot of time drooling over mono's. I find non-production boats more appealing, no matter how many hulls.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

My front dock....a bit of everything...you can't see the large "cayuco" and the two skiffs.

Is that picture in Placencia? If so I saw you or someone sailing the wharram a few months ago.

[pillum]

Originally Posted by Bash

I want to vote for option "F". Have always loved monos, and have never been tempted to stray.

My sentiments exactly, problem with most polls is that they are bias for the people who write them, which makes them totally irrelevant.