Which multihull would YOU choose for mostly solo long distance cruising?

[magentawave]

Which used multihull would you choose for long distance cruising?

Here are my parameters...

-I'm on a budget and since tri's are cheaper than cats then it will probably have to be a trimaran.
-Solo cruising mostly in the tropics with an occasional guest.
-Epoxy resin if wood.
-The boat must go well to windward and since I'll be poking around thin water a lot (for surfing) then I'll probably want a centerboard over a daggerboard.

I'm open to other designs but all of that seems to point towards a Searunner.

What do you think?

Thanks!

[BigBeakie]

Pick a good design that meets YOUR specific requirements and have it custom built in a lower cost labour market by a reputable and experienced builder. Pick somewhere that is as close as you can for transport cost because you should visit the build several times during it's construction.

You are already "outside the tent" anyway, so forget about trying to recover every last dollar in resale value by looking only at production tri's.

[Redreuben]

Where are you ?

[805gregg]

Look for a Jim Brown 31' Searunner.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by magentawave

Which used multihull would you choose for long distance cruising?

Here are my parameters...

-I'm on a budget and since tri's are cheaper than cats then it will probably have to be a trimaran.

Not sure why you think a trimaran is cheaper than a cat, but for long distance cruising I think a trimaran is an excellent choice. If money was no object, I would look at the Dragonfly, otherwise consider the Corsair 37. If that's still too much for your budget, consider the Gemini 105mc catamaran. I've never sailed on one, but more of them were built than any other cat, so they have to be good boats, and plenty of them are still around.

[UNCIVILIZED]

In a tri, since budget's not mentioned, a 40'+/- Shuttleworth. Though ideally with a cruising tri I'd like the boards to be in the amas to free up the living space.
In a cat, a Kurt Hughes 36'er Kurt Hughes Multihull Design - Catamarans and Trimarans for Cruising and Charter Small enough to handle pretty effectively with few crew, big enough to do anything but high latitudes.

Real world. Probably a Searunner for what you're thinking. Or a svelte 35' +/- production cat with daggerboards, & outboards for power. That, or one of Richard Woods's designs with a bridgedeck cabin & DB's. As several have been factory produced boats.

Keep in mind too, that there are some excellent kickup systems for daggerboards. Plus a good board will also have a crash block setup inside of the trunk. Where it's easy to replace the crash block, even from the deck. And good boards are strong enough not to take any significant damage when you bump into things at reasonable speeds. Like under 10kts or so.

For example, Richard Woods "discovered" a reef in his 32' cat. They were doing 8-10kts one night, & when they struck it, the boat stopped cold. The only damage was a couple of nicks in the board's trailing edge, where it knocked into the trunk hard. Which was super easy to fix.
This on a boat without a DB kickup system, or crash blocks. Nor super tough boards, relatively.

[Stumble]

Richard Woods has some amazing 30ish foot cats. I would seriously be looking for one of them. We almost bought a bridge deck Scyla but it was snatched out from under us (full asking price offer before we went to see it).

[magentawave]

Originally Posted by BigBeakie

Pick a good design that meets YOUR specific requirements and have it custom built in a lower cost labour market by a reputable and experienced builder. Pick somewhere that is as close as you can for transport cost because you should visit the build several times during it's construction.

You are already "outside the tent" anyway, so forget about trying to recover every last dollar in resale value by looking only at production tri's.

I have the skills and equipment to build my own boat and it was my original intention, but then life, raising kids, f-ed up marriage and years of alimony got in the way. I don't want to take the time to build myself now. I also don't have the $ to pay someone to build for me. So the goal is to find something used for a fraction of it's replacement cost.

[jdazey]

Every boat is a compromise. I wanted daggerboards and didn't get them, but I got a lot of other things I did want.

Multihuler's Harris 38 might suit you. There was Simpson Liahona that looked interesting to me. There might be a Crowther lurking around. There are also some good deals to be had on Marples, Crosses and Pivers although finding an epoxy Piver will be a challenge. I'm personally not fond of Browns or Wharrams, but a lot of people are. With a low budget, I'd be looking for something around 38 to 45 feet. Corsairs are great boats but probably not for your intended use. Unfortunately Dragonflys will be too expensive.

If you're really thinking of a low budget multi, your boat building skills will be called upon

Knowing your location and actual budget will get more appropriate responses.

Cheers,

[magentawave]

Originally Posted by Redreuben

Where are you ?

San Diego area but when the time is right, i.e. when funds are available, then I would be willing to travel to find something.

Originally Posted by 805gregg

Look for a Jim Brown 31' Searunner.

I do like the Searunner 31 and there are usually a few good deals out there for them. My first concern with the 31 is if it can handle the normal cruising payload required for long distance cruising (food, water, prone and stand up surfboards, etc.) without it's performance being seriously affected. The other concern is if any 31's have crossed oceans? Like California to Hawaii and points beyond? I know the bigger Searunners have cruised all over the world but i'm not sure about the 31.

Originally Posted by Rohan

Not sure why you think a trimaran is cheaper than a cat, but for long distance cruising I think a trimaran is an excellent choice. If money was no object, I would look at the Dragonfly, otherwise consider the Corsair 37. If that's still too much for your budget, consider the Gemini 105mc catamaran. I've never sailed on one, but more of them were built than any other cat, so they have to be good boats, and plenty of them are still around.

I've been looking for a while and it seems like the oldy but goody tri's aren't in demand like cats are, hence they tend to be priced lower. I know that's not a hard and fast rule but part of it is the demand for the roomier cat and the other is that more tri's are available because more tri's were built back in the days before cats became the multihull of choice.

One example of a tri that sold for gawd knows how many thousands less than it's replacement value was this beautiful 44' Marples tri sold recently in Panama with an asking price of only $75,000! Trimaran 2000 Marples Fast Cruise Trimaran 44 Trimaran For Sale That's more boat then I would need, but what a deal that was!

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

In a tri, since budget's not mentioned, a 40'+/- Shuttleworth. Though ideally with a cruising tri I'd like the boards to be in the amas to free up the living space.
In a cat, a Kurt Hughes 36'er Kurt Hughes Multihull Design - Catamarans and Trimarans for Cruising and Charter Small enough to handle pretty effectively with few crew, big enough to do anything but high latitudes.

Real world. Probably a Searunner for what you're thinking. Or a svelte 35' +/- production cat with daggerboards, & outboards for power. That, or one of Richard Woods's designs with a bridgedeck cabin & DB's. As several have been factory produced boats.

Keep in mind too, that there are some excellent kickup systems for daggerboards. Plus a good board will also have a crash block setup inside of the trunk. Where it's easy to replace the crash block, even from the deck. And good boards are strong enough not to take any significant damage when you bump into things at reasonable speeds. Like under 10kts or so.

For example, Richard Woods "discovered" a reef in his 32' cat. They were doing 8-10kts one night, & when they struck it, the boat stopped cold. The only damage was a couple of nicks in the board's trailing edge, where it knocked into the trunk hard. Which was super easy to fix.
This on a boat without a DB kickup system, or crash blocks. Nor super tough boards, relatively.

I like Kurt's designs but they are rare on the used market. A Shuttleworth cat ticks all the boxes for me - except for cost usually. I love his 31'er and there was a 35' Shuttleworth cat that sold for an incredibly low price on Kauai last year.

For performance and lighter weight I would prefer daggerboards over centerboards but I'm stlll a little paranoid about having them. I know crash boxes in daggerboard trunks have been around a long time and your comments have inspired me to look into daggerboards more to see what the facts of years of cruising with them in shallow water has been. You know, any disasters due to daggerboards hitting reefs or submarined containers...

Originally Posted by Stumble

Richard Woods has some amazing 30ish foot cats. I would seriously be looking for one of them. We almost bought a bridge deck Scyla but it was snatched out from under us (full asking price offer before we went to see it).

I really like Richard Woods designs too and especially his cool little Elf, Eagle, Wizard, Sango and Wizzer designs. His boats are rarely seen on the used market and seem to command higher prices than I could probably afford though.



Someone asked about my budget... That will depend on my business in the next couple months... but even then, I'm a cheap b#stard that doesn't like to spend more than I absolutely have to.

The majority of my cruising will be solo without a woman - so simple will be fine for me.

Performance matters - a lot. I've owned five small multis ranging from 15' to 25' and they were all great performers. I can't afford "world domination" performance, but there's nothing like that feeling of a good multi close hauled and sailing as if it's on rails. I want my cruising multi to be FUN TO SAIL which means it must have boards and be able to sail well with a normal cruising payload.

There are lots of used boats out there but to get everything I need I keep going back to the Searunner 31', 34', 37' or a Marples 35.

[magentawave]

Originally Posted by jdazey

Every boat is a compromise. I wanted daggerboards and didn't get them, but I got a lot of other things I did want.

Multihuler's Harris 38 might suit you. There was Simpson Liahona that looked interesting to me. There might be a Crowther lurking around. There are also some good deals to be had on Marples, Crosses and Pivers although finding an epoxy Piver will be a challenge. I'm personally not fond of Browns or Wharrams, but a lot of people are. With a low budget, I'd be looking for something around 38 to 45 feet. Corsairs are great boats but probably not for your intended use. Unfortunately Dragonflys will be too expensive.

If you're really thinking of a low budget multi, your boat building skills will be called upon

Knowing your location and actual budget will get more appropriate responses.

Cheers,

Yes, an epoxy Piver would be a challenge to find. And except for the production 25' Piver Globemaster (with deep centerboard) I owned when I was a teenager, all the other Pivers I sailed were dogs.

What is it about Searunner tri's that you don't like? Performance? The center cockpit?

[jdazey]

Originally Posted by magentawave

Yes, an epoxy Piver would be a challenge to find. And except for the production 25' Piver Globemaster (with deep centerboard) I owned when I was a teenager, all the other Pivers I sailed were dogs.

What is it about Searunner tri's that you don't like? Performance? The center cockpit?

Please remember that the OP asked what "YOU" would choose. The following are my personal opinions.

Having spent some considerable time racing on a nice Brown 40, I don't like the center cockpit. Being at the helm was like standing in front of a fire hose. I don't like the split accommodations. I don't like the centerboard. Too many Browns have major rot problems in this area. I'm not wildly enthusiastic about cutter rigs.

Jim did a great job of marketing his designs, and the Searunner Construction Manual did a lot to guide us through building boats. The seasteading lifestyle he promoted was as influential as Wharram's books with the lovely ladies. If you followed the manual and the plans, you'd get a decent, seaworthy boat. Jim's approach is very well reasoned, but it's not the only approach to multihull design. Horstman's are very well engineered. Cross designed some very nice boats. And then there are the Aussies and Kiwis. And then Newick blew everybody away.

Performance? I remember Eric Morris, early world voyager on a Brown, being asked at a multihull club meeting about Brown's claims regarding windward performance. He didn't think it was exceptional. While the Brown 40 pointed higher than my Piver AA31, better sails alone would account for that. My AA31 with Norman Cross keel and rudder sailed very well. Something that impressed John Marples in an informal race in Eliot Bay.

So while a Brown wouldn't be at the top of my list, my wife and I did consider a couple of aft-cockpit Marples. Almost everything is a compromise. Sailing a multihull was the only place we drew a firm line

Cheers,

[magentawave]

Originally Posted by jdazey

Please remember that the OP asked what "YOU" would choose. The following are my personal opinions.

I was the OP so thank you for your input.

Sometimes there are good deals out there with Cross trimarans but I always wondered how well they could go to windward. I've never sailed on a Cross.

Does anyone else have opinions of the windward ability of a Cross with fixed keel verses a Searunner? I realize there are a million variable that can skew the results...

[SaltyMonkey]

1990 Condor 30 Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

[Stumble]

Without a working budget who knows. For >1m either Paradox or a Rapido 60 both come in at around 1.25m, I would lean towards Paradox but would want to step on board before considering a bid, she maybe to race oriented. For 200k Chris White's Juniper 2 is on the market and would be high on my list.

If the budget is lower still then a Hammerhead 34, Corsair 31, Corsair 27/8...

Anything smaller than the 27 I wouldn't consider cruising on and switch to a monohull.