The Cons of Owning a Catamaran

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Is that a Lagoon in the background? - awesome bridgedeck clearance .

Yeah, but pretty tall bridge clearance.

[markpierce]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

Is that a Lagoon in the background? - awesome bridgedeck clearance .

No, this is along the eastern shore of Edgerley Island on the Napa River. The lift bridge was for the Southern Pacific Railroad, but the line is inactive for now, and the bridge is perpetually raised with 97 feet of vertical clearance.

[eyschulman]

This type of thread brings out a lot of black and white opinion.There is no end to the multi mono arguments. The grey(those useing their grey matter) realize that each type has it's ups and downs. The wise choice would depend on the individual boat -how it is matched to the intended use and the particular biases of the skipper and crew. The best way to decide is by haveing lots of experience with each type -unfortunatly probably rare among new cat owners. Based on some of the questions I see posted I am suspicious many have little sailing and no raceing background. I find nothing inherently wrong with the modern House-moran cruising consept, however the considerable advertiseing hyp and exuberant enthusiasm on the part of the cat configuation should not discourage a fair comparison with a suitable mono configuation.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Notpopeye

For the past several months, I have been reading everything I could find on how to select the ideal boat for me. I want a liveaboard that is also bluewater seaworthy.
Up until a few days ago, my efforts were focused exclusively on monohulls but after reading a book or two on multihulls, the light came on.
At first I just did not see a multihull as an option - it is not Kool, a real sailer would not be caught dead on a multihull, it really is not sailing, is it? Close minded thinking caught me.
When the light came on, so did a clear list of all the benefits. Less heel, faster boat speed, much, much more storage and comfort, much more resistant to knock-downs and capsizing, and stability when at anchor or mooring.
So, what are the downfalls? What am I missing that now make a Catamaran the obvious choice for me?
Alright, I know that a knock-down or capsize is really bad news, The boat obviously will not right itself as a monohull would but knock-downs or capsizing a Catamaran has to be a rare thing, right?
And secondly, I can see greater costs for haul-outs and bottom jobs.
What else? Do spars cost way more? Do things break more often?
The benefits I plainly see now makes me wonder why everyone does not sail a multihull.
And oh, one more question, I know very little about catamarans but the brand I am looking to buy is a Gemini and the model is a 105Mc. Anyone have any experience or opinions on this boat?
Thanks for the courtesy of your input.

My advice, when reading these replies, would be to look at what boat the redpondent has, and if not a multihull, either ignore the reply or take it with much more than a grain of salt.

There's an incredible amount of absolute nonsense about multihulls on the internet, written by people who have never so much as set foot on one.

Having owned, lived aboard and cruised both a 40ft mono and now a 44 foot cat, the downsides I've encountered are:

Marina costs are higher per foot of length.

Haulout costs are higher per foot of length.

There are (usually) 2 engines to maintain.

Generally cats cost more to buy, but supply vs demand dictates used boat prices, so if prices are higher it suggest more demand, so better resale value too.

Countering this - we enjoy far more anchoring opportunities, and greater comfort at anchor - we very rarely visit marinas. Maybe 1 week in the last 12 months.

We can easily scrub our hulls in shallow water, reducing the frequency of haulouts.

We motor far less than we used to with our mono, and when we do, it's often with only one engine, so maintenance costs are little if any higher.

[eyschulman]

44 CC you post is fine just one point that glares as error. Not presently owning a multi does not at all imply no past experience with such. Also many capable boaters pick up knowlege by observing others even hot shot racers use that technique. I must say that over the 50+ years of my boating(10 in a multi) I may have picked up a good share of my knowlege by sailing alongside other boats or just boarding them or observing on the hard. I also believe there are many who can just examine a boat and make a very good estimate of its capabilities. Some of these people are profesional in the feild others interested parties who follow boat design and what it relates to out on the water.

[speciald@ocens.]

Saw an interesting Cat drawback last week. A 50 ft + day-charter cat leave Oyster Pond. The seas were about 10-11 feet, there were charterers forward on the trampoline when the boat went up a breaking wave into 25kts + wind and nearly pitch-poled bacwards as the wind caught the trampoline; the people on the trampoliine lwere ejected from the boat suddenly. Later that week, no charterers were allowed on the trampoline when the boat went out

[downunder]

Originally Posted by speciald@ocens.

Saw an interesting Cat drawback last week. A 50 ft + day-charter cat leave Oyster Pond. The seas were about 10-11 feet, there were charterers forward on the trampoline when the boat went up a breaking wave into 25kts + wind and nearly pitch-poled bacwards as the wind caught the trampoline; the people on the trampoliine lwere ejected from the boat suddenly. Later that week, no charterers were allowed on the trampoline when the boat went out

Sounds simply like a poor charter operator having clients on the tramps in those sea conditions independant of vessel type.

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by speciald@ocens.

Saw an interesting Cat drawback last week. A 50 ft + day-charter cat leave Oyster Pond. The seas were about 10-11 feet, there were charterers forward on the trampoline when the boat went up a breaking wave into 25kts + wind and nearly pitch-poled bacwards as the wind caught the trampoline; the people on the trampoliine lwere ejected from the boat suddenly. Later that week, no charterers were allowed on the trampoline when the boat went out

It really makes you wonder how a charterer could put his passengers into a dumb situation like that!!!

Your comment is very real regarding trampoline material as in catching the wind hence open netting is the choice for seagoing multi's.

Someone on another post commented that boats themselves are not the real issue that it's more the people on board making dumb decisions.

Cheers +1

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by eyschulman

44 CC you post is fine just one point that glares as error. Not presently owning a multi does not at all imply no past experience with such. Also many capable boaters pick up knowlege by observing others even hot shot racers use that technique. I must say that over the 50+ years of my boating(10 in a multi) I may have picked up a good share of my knowlege by sailing alongside other boats or just boarding them or observing on the hard. I also believe there are many who can just examine a boat and make a very good estimate of its capabilities. Some of these people are profesional in the feild others interested parties who follow boat design and what it relates to out on the water.

I've heard quite a few of these "experts" discussing my boat, and it's capabilities. (Many people don't realise how well sound travels over water)

Turns out, they haven't got a clue.

[eyschulman]

CC44 I have to tell you its a long time since I have been a die hard racer. But I must say that I still respect raceing dispite all its faults. It forces skippers and boats to sail the same course in much the same weather. The room and living accomodations will not be tested,but the relative truth of performance over many races and many conditions will out. The abilities of none foil multis are now fairly well understood and I do not think your boat has any magical components. It will sail well in a blow down wind and on a reach faster than many fast monos but much slower than a true preformance multi. It is an appropriate down wind cruising home but would suffer trying to stay with performance multi or monos going up wind. That is my opinion and experience. Many others state out right that the type needs motor power to go to wind. In my present sailing pond my observation would lean that way. My present sail boat(the slowest I have owned in several years) a 32 ft J/100 has easily outsailed the local house-morans to weather by large margins and when they are not daysailing and heading north dead upwind I have yet to see one sail and I can be out there 4-5X aweek all year. In light wind I find my 32 with working sails even faster or matching larger cats off the wind.

[belizesailor]

Come on guys, lets not degrade into this pointless cat vs mono debate....

[eyschulman]

The best boat I ever owned(10 years) was a custom high speed(20+ k) tri. That does not mean that I can not see the pros and cons I eaven liked my gaffer mono and it did some things very well(not beating).

[Factor]

Originally Posted by eyschulman

CC44 I have to tell you its a long time since I have been a die hard racer. But I must say that I still respect raceing dispite all its faults. It forces skippers and boats to sail the same course in much the same weather. The room and living accomodations will not be tested,but the relative truth of performance over many races and many conditions will out. The abilities of none foil multis are now fairly well understood and I do not think your boat has any magical components. It will sail well in a blow down wind and on a reach faster than many fast monos but much slower than a true preformance multi. It is an appropriate down wind cruising home but would suffer trying to stay with performance multi or monos going up wind. That is my opinion and experience. Many others state out right that the type needs motor power to go to wind..

If you are talking about 44CC boat then I can say hand on heart that a 44 Oram will go upwind better than any production cruising mono higher and faster.

Thats the truth not the mythology.

[Hud3]

The OP's question was pretty clear. He's asking about catamarans, not monohulls.

[clockwork orange]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Whoops, I think I might disagree on the 130~160nm a day runs for a 40 footer. Are you forgetting Stan Honey won the Transpac back in the mid 90's on a 20 year old Cal 40? I sailed my Cal 40 from Long Beach to Mulege non-stop 151 1/2 hours, and that, Mike w, is laying down 230 nm days average.

To average 230 miles a day for over 6 days is certainly impressive for a 40ft sailboat regardless of number of hulls, in fact you averaged 70 mpd faster than Stan Honeys Illusion (or any of the other 9 Cal 40s in the race for that matter) did to win the 2003 transpac. Not many cruising boats that size of any configuration could match that.
Steve.