The Reason People Are Moving Away From Monohulls

[buzzstar]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Rich, I'm entranced! I've not made it into the fabled 1%, but I have achieved 5% status!
You see, when we were actively boat searching a few years ago, after seriously considering a Catana 47, I chose to buy my current monohull. They were approximately the same price, so I guess I musta had the money, and I ain't cruising on a cat.

I'm not a multihull hater, not at all. But for Ann and I, an exceptional mono was a better fit than a fairly nice catamaran. Had this boat not come along, we might have slipped out of the 5% category... who knows?

Jim

The interesting point of this intense and long running thread is how little factual information if presented to support the theme that people are moving from monos to cats in any meaningful numbers, if at all. Certainly many, particularly cat owners, are expressing their opinions as reasons for having cats, but it seems that many have not had a mono to move away from. There is no identified lemming-like stampede, and most of us appear to have our (strong) opinions for liking one OR the other, with relatively little overlap. Fair winds to all, and to each his own.

[tp12]

Look up the sales numbers yourself, Catamarans is a fast growing segment and the mono manufacturers have seen that happening and are buying out the cat manufacturers; serious capital investment.

If you're really interested the annual reports and websites of those firms will detail their actions, reasoning and numbers.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by tp12

If you're really interested the annual reports and websites of those firms will detail their actions, reasoning and numbers.

Don't need fancy reports....I track what boats our water makers go on and I can see the Cat Boom first hand in what boats I'm selling 30 and 40 and even 60 gallon per hour water makers to. I shipped a pallet of six 40 GPH water makers to South Africa last week with another 4 scheduled for shipping on the 15th and those wern't going on Monos my friends....the Cat Boom is for real.

[tp12]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Don't need fancy reports....I track what boats our water makers go on and I can see the Cat Boom first hand in what boats I'm selling 30 and 40 and even 60 gallon per hour water makers to. I shipped a pallet of six 40 GPH water makers to South Africa last week with another 4 scheduled for shipping on the 15th and those were going on Monos my friends....

That's great for you and your business but doesn't detract from my point. I'm sure if you rang the finance people funding these large purchases and told them your view they wouldn't change their capital allocations

[SV THIRD DAY]

I guess you didn't see that I was agreeing with your point....

[tp12]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

I guess you didn't see that I was agreeing with your point....

Apologies if I misunderstood. You said the water makers were going to monos which implies they're the ones getting sold, no?

Or did you mean to say they 'weren't' going on monos? Ah ok, I can see you edited it now.

You're clearly a very intelligent and respectable man [emoji51]

[SV THIRD DAY]

NA....check the Were to Wern't damn autocorrect edit....

[tp12]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

NA....check the Were to Wern't damn autocorrect edit....

Fair enough, happens to me all the time!

[jtsailjt]

A few days ago I was reading this thread and was going to post that I had not yet seen a single cat (several cat rigs though) here in eastern Maine despite most Maine harbors, including my home harbor being populated by approximately 75% sailboats, and 25% either fishing or pleasure motorboats. But yes, apparently it's happening here too! Yesterday I went to our boat to attend to some chores and there at the marina dock was a beautiful 50'(ish) cat. But it was from New Zealand so I'm not sure if that counts? My point being that the prevalence of cats varies from one place to another. They are very well suited to some types of sailing (Caribbean charter fleets in particular) and less well suited to my home sailing grounds where peoples tastes in sailboats are more traditional. On a day out sailing anywhere within at least 100 miles from my home harbor, I'm much more apt to see a cat rigged wooden sailboat than I am to see a fiberglass catamaran. To each their own...

[Chris 249]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Don't need fancy reports....I track what boats our water makers go on and I can see the Cat Boom first hand in what boats I'm selling 30 and 40 and even 60 gallon per hour water makers to. I shipped a pallet of six 40 GPH water makers to South Africa last week with another 4 scheduled for shipping on the 15th and those wern't going on Monos my friends....the Cat Boom is for real.

Out of interest, how do you know that the number of watermakers being sold is an accurate indication of the number of boats being sold? One obvious point could be that cat sailors are more interested in keeping their boats light so they buy watermakers rather than filling their tanks. Another could be that cats tend to be more expensive and therefore attract people who have the spare cash for a watermaker (or it could be what TW says!)

[Training Wheels]

Or catamaran buyers need the watermakers to supply their clothes washers, dishwashers, bathtubs, and jacuzzis.

[Chris 249]

Originally Posted by PaulinOz

Sorry Chris 249 my analogy between mono/multi and cart/car has obviously hit a nerve with you. "It's rather annoying to see monos being put into the same category as horses and carts" it was not my intention to imply that there is a connection between a mono and a horse and cart. I was trying to use the development of road transport as an analogy to sailing vessel development. Obviously a clumsy attempt on my part, judging by your reaction.

The following part of your reply has me intrigued. Quote "Monos do plenty of things better than multis do. For example, some of us don't like having to climb in and out of hulls when we go below."

Is there another way to get below on a mono, if you do not climb in and out of the hull?

"I don't like the high price of multis" I am totally with you on that but I guess it will not change any time soon.


"we LIKE leaning. It's a trait that is so common in humans that sports philosophers have coined the term "ilinx" to describe the joy people get when they are leaning over as their bike carves through a turn." Never herd that term "ilinx" before, but can totally understand what they mean being a bike rider from way back, I can not disagree with you on "the joy people get when they are leaning over as their bike carves through a turn, or they slice a bottom turn on a surfboard - or as their mono heels underneath them." I do not know about the surfing, I tried surfing a couple of times but was totally crapso never got to experience the slice of a bottom turn. While we are on the bike analogy,there also is an awful lot of fun to be had taking a bike out on a salt flat and running wound flat out for 5 or 6 miles.So one does not have to be leaning at 45 degrees to have fun.

"There are plenty of people who know multis well but feel no need to denigrate monos directly or by implication. It's not like a case of olde-world horse and carriage versus modern SUV" Remember we are on a Multihull discussion page, discussing the premise "The Reason People Are Moving Away From Monohulls" The SUV analogy was not my idea, it was used in a derogatory way to support the negative argument, I merely ran with it to attempt to argue the opposite view. I personally feel no need to denigrate monos as such, I may have the odd joke at friends who own monos expense with them but, I am not on a crusade to denigrate them, last year I enjoyed two race weeks as part of the crew aboard a racing mono. "I may note that my family has had multis since about 1984 (including two 11m cats) and I own a multi, so I am not against multis in any way" We both obviously can swing both ways.

"it's a matter of taste and priorities just as much as (say) the choice between buying a cool inner-city terrace house versus buying a block in the suburbs" That is a good analogy as long as it includes price. If price was no object who would want to be in the suburbs if they could get a cool inner-city 3 bedroom/3 bathroom with multiple out door entertaining area for the same price as a block in the burbs.


The original discussion was "The Reason People Are Moving Away From Monohulls"

No one has said or is saying monos are to be replaced totally by multihulls, just that more people are buying multihulls now than previously did. Someone stating "I will always sail a full keel cutter rigged mono hull because I consider it the safest most seaworthy vessel " has nothing to do with the discussion on the shift to multihulls. (How can you take someone seriously, who admits to wearing lycra anyway)

"implication that there is a major swing towards multis overall may well be misplaced." The yacht manufacturers around the world may not agree with you, if they did they would not have been buying up multihull companies and bringing them under their own brands umbrella.

If you do not believe this to be the case, have a chat to Beneteau about their sales numbers compared to their sister company Lagoon, who currently have one third of the multihull market and are about to launch another multuhull brand. Ask Bavaria why they are branding a multihull with the Bavarian Yachts brand name. I will guarantee its not because they see a shift away from multihulls world wide any time soon.

But he'll what would I know, I like fast cars and motorcycles and may ride a bicycle (If the engine was not broken) but I DO NOT wear Lycra.

Sorry for misunderstanding the horse analogy, Paul - it's just that there are some multi guys around who use the same sort of analogy to put monos down.

I was unclear when I referred to disliking climbing around hulls; personally I'd rather drop down "inside" and then have everything on one level, compared to having a companionway at cockpit level and a two-level interior. Others may have different preferences and good on them. I also find that if you have standing headroom in the bridgedeck then forward vision is impaired and windage is too high. If other people are happy with that then that's great.

You and I may prefer the inner-city house but not everyone does; I know quite a few guys who could afford a very nice inner-city house but prefer to live in the 'burbs or the peace of the country, and vice versa. I know plenty of people who could afford a cat instead of a mono but prefer the mono. To me this always seems to get down to personal preferences and individual situations and as we both agree, the sort of disdain often shown by people on each side is ridiculous.

Like you, I don't agree with the people who claim that multis are unsafe offshore in bad conditions; in fact I have never yet found objective evidence that a good example of any popular type of boat is worse than other types in bad conditions.

I was in the boating industry for a while and I know of two earlier eras when multi sales were booming, so while it is interesting to see big companies moving into multis I'm not sure whether it's a permanent trend (there's always been types of boats that move in and out of vogue) or perhaps merely a reflection of large manufacturers taking over an area that used to be full of niche manufacturers. If you'd looked at what people were buying 35 years ago you may have predicted that by 2017 everyone was going to be sailing double-enders with full keels!

I agree that sailing flat is fun too; I just don't agree with the other people who imply that sailing flat is more fun for everyone. It's just another example of a personal preference that some people make into a universal rule.

But what do I know, I wear lycra because it's comfortable.

[PaulinOz]

Originally Posted by Training Wheels

Or catamaran buyers need the watermakers to supply their clothes washers, dishwashers, bathtubs, and jacuzzis.

There you go more reasons why some people may be moving to Multi's.

Quote "It's just another example of a personal preference that some people make into a universal rule."

We can not all start talking rationally and sensibly, this is the Internet after all.

[Jeannius]

Originally Posted by jtsailjt

A few days ago I was reading this thread and was going to post that I had not yet seen a single cat (several cat rigs though) here in eastern Maine despite most Maine harbors, including my home harbor being populated by approximately 75% sailboats, and 25% either fishing or pleasure motorboats. But yes, apparently it's happening here too! Yesterday I went to our boat to attend to some chores and there at the marina dock was a beautiful 50'(ish) cat. But it was from New Zealand so I'm not sure if that counts?

There's a very good reason you don't see many cats in Maine harbours. Those bloody lobster pots laid by the million right in the marked channels. They are so thickly laid in the water that with a cat, if you miss a pot with one hull, you are pretty much guaranteed to catch one on the other hull.

I took my boat to Maine five years ago and it was an absolute nightmare. Lost count of the times I had to get the mask and snorkel out and go over the side.

[tp12]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

There's a very good reason you don't see many cats in Maine harbours. Those bloody lobster pots laid by the million right in the marked channels. They are so thickly laid in the water that with a cat, if you miss a pot with one hull, you are pretty much guaranteed to catch one on the other hull.

I took my boat to Maine five years ago and it was an absolute nightmare. Lost count of the times I had to get the mask and snorkel out and go over the side.

I would like to have retractable outboards, daggerboards and kickup rudders for this reason.