Monohull or Multihull Sailboat?

[Tropic Cat]

When I first bought my boat, I was the only Cat in my marina and a curiousity. A couple of overnight marina regattas has made some converts. You already mentioned the anchoring benefit, and the additional room. I would add that twin diesels are an added benefit. I would also mention that now is the time to keep an eye open for bank repos. They seem to be increasing.

Oh... These days there are 4 Cats in the marina. Times are changing.

[dcstrng]

Wow – what a great thread… for such a potentially contentious subject there is buckets of info here for those (few) of us whose actual sailing mileage is microscopic compared to the senior commentators.

I guess I’m of the lead-mine school (never having had anything but, and not even a ride on a small multi…) but have been curious of life on a smallish cruising tri – cats, for some reason just don’t appeal to my eye – no offense intended; just an uninformed opinion… But I’ve looked at tri’s off and on since the early seventies… Usually my idea of a cruising milieu runs more to cozy little cabins with Lunenburg wood stoves, not trampoline foredecks, I see in the dozen or so years that I’ve been away from sailing (indeed away from the water in general), that the cruising multi-hull has developed a much more robust following…

Interesting…

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by dcstrng

I see in the dozen or so years that I’ve been away from sailing (indeed away from the water in general), that the cruising multi-hull has developed a much more robust following…

Interesting…

And for pretty good reasons IMO.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Some very good points. IMHO The 10% v 90% figure is possibly conservative. Most cruising boats probably spend less than 5% of the time actually sailing, and probably never even see a real storm.

Multihull rigs do experience greater loads, but they are designed with that in mind. They do need to be maintained, but then so do all rigs.

My experience with going to weather was that it was much more comfortable (to me) than on our monohull, and while there was plenty of spray flying around, the cockpit was dry enough. Our mono doesn't have such a well protected cockpit. In 25 - 30 knots going to windward for days, we had a tupperware tub of sweets sitting on a table and they stayed there. Admittedly, cups of coffee wouldn't have though.

I hadn't been sailing prior to that trip for a few months, and didn't get seasick. I know for certain I would have been at least very queazy in the same conditions on our mono.

The Cat that I delivered was a 38' (some French design????). I delivered it from Fiji To Brisbane, Aust. There wasn't a lot of windward work (fortunately) but enough to know that I couldn't sleep in anything over 15kts of wind. The pounding almost drove me out of my mind. She was a bit heavy though. And I made the owner ship about 500# of gear home.

I remember wishing that I had just a little more water-line. I think that would have made a tremendous difference. If I shop for a Cat, it will definately be in the 42'+ range.

Does anyone have a wind-vane on a Cat??? I can't emagine how it would be rigged or how well it would work. The boat that I sailed had quite a nice hydraulic auto-pilot. I must say that I wasn't particularly impressed with the steering set-up on that boat.

BTW.....if you're not sailing 40 days out of the year, you're not cruising....you're residing.

[44'cruisingcat]

I think it would be totally irresponsible to take one's family to sea in a boat that could sink at any time, even in zero knots of wind.

[Joli]

Do you provision a ditch bag for your life raft?

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I think it would be totally irresponsible to take one's family to sea in a boat that could sink at any time, even in zero knots of wind.

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I think it would be totally irresponsible to take one's family to sea in a boat that could sink at any time, even in zero knots of wind.

What the hell are you talking about ..........The Titanic?

[David M]

Originally Posted by Kanani

BTW.....if you're not sailing 40 days out of the year, you're not cruising....you're residing.

How do you get that number? Fourty days and fourty nights?

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Kanani

What the hell are you talking about ..........The Titanic?

What a safe boat that was. Pretty well proved the concept wouldn't you say?

[Steve Rust]

dcstrng
For the dedicated lead miner a trimaran may feel a little more familar in the way it handles than a cat. It will even heel 10 or 15 degrees to make you feel right at home. If cruising is your goal just make sure you try out some real cruising designs. The popular F-27 while a great boat is not really a cruiser and with the high displacement amas and large sail area can offer a fast, wet, and bumpy ride in some conditions. Cruising tri's are not like that. The trend seems to be cats for cruising and trimarans for racing so cruising tri's are more rare these days. That said it is still my choice of multihull.

[44'cruisingcat]

I was trying to think of production cruising tri's. I was beginning to think there weren't any, but I remembered the Dragonfly boats. They don't look too bad either.

Trimaran - Quorning quality sailing

[jzk]

I much prefer sailing in a mono over a cat. However, I much prefer cruising in a cat over a Mono.

[Talisman]

Personally, I could go either way. But the WIFE swears by the cat for room and steadiness.

[roblanford]

Originally Posted by Kanani

Does anyone have a wind-vane on a Cat??? I can't emagine how it would be rigged or how well it would work.

I have been looking into the wind vane on multi issue for some time.
If the winds are consistant then just about any sailboat can use a windvane. In sporadic winds a heavier boat will not change apparent wind as dramatically as a light boat. The heavier boat will steer better downwind because the wind/boat speed differential is greater.

As the speed increases some vane makers suggest different size paddles and vanes to compensate.

So my belief is that on most cruising boats the wind vane should work.

Ultra light boats in varying wind speed would require constant corrections.

[dcstrng]

<It will even heel 10 or 15 degrees to make you feel right at home…>

Yep, probably… saw some videos of a tri carrying two hulls out of the water – wow- at about 45-deg; don’t think I’d even sail that way on mine unless I just wanted to see what things looked like with the deck in the water…

I got real enthused with tris in the 70s, but Mike McMullen’s loss along with the pacific calamity of a family friend on a tri that looked similar to the one in your picture sort of gave me pause and I ended up staying with keels… Only recently got curious again, but I agree – for me trimaran just looks more appealing, admittedly for no special reason. As a long time motorcyclist, maybe I just need things that at least have a pretext of heeling…