New from South Oz

[kjames]

Hi all. I’m new here and the only boat I own is a 10’ Portabote. But I hope to be cruising the seas one of these days! At the moment I’m researching boats (interested in a Cat) and reading lots of old threads. Fantastic info and really interesting. Cheers Kjames

[Wand]

Welcome. If you're anywhere near port adelaide, join us at the small boat club on garden island. Our waters are ideal for portaboaties...

[Eco Voyager]

Hi and welcome to Cruising Forum. Re yoiur comment about being interested in getting a Cat. Thgere are many Cat owners in Australia and most of them will tell you they are wonderful for living on but.... before you go down that track consider some of the negatives of certain catamarans.

They are often not very quiet to sail as on a seaway the waves will slap incessantly on the underside of the bridgedeck. They do rock and roll, maybe not quite like a keel boat but cups still fall over and crew still get seasick on them. In fact the o nlky boat i have ever been sick on was a catamaran due to the strange sort of start stop motion as the buoyant hulls stop the rolling. Talking of which they are very weight sensitive as the hulls need buoyancy fore and aft so trimming is essential and weight carrying limnited. Many of them cavitate when the motors lift out of the water. I tried to motor s Seawind into a 50 knot storm and the props were out of the water every second wave. I have been on a Wharram cat that had to be towed off a lee shore due to the cavitation of the motors not getting enough grip to escape the situation. The sa me boat also ended up high and dry on a sandbank as the owner thought it being a shallow daraft boat he could cross a shallow sandbank. A task which you would never try to attempt in a keel boat. They are poor sailors to windward meaning that when you could do that in a keel boat in a cat you will be motoring. So check around and read others stories before being talked into a floating home!

Oh yeah talking about a floating home they are really best suited to the tropics as the hulls are very pokey so you end up living up on the bridgedeck or outside. In the tropics in sandy shallow areas they are ideal boats.

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Colin

[Wand]

Oh no, not another gun thread...

[kjames]

Thanks At Sea and Colin. Definitely intending to be 'bote' around Garden Island at some stage so I will check out SBC. Points taken about Cat's. Some way from a decision yet. Cheers

[boatman61]

Hi and welcome to CF... a boats a boat mate... your on the water and thats whats important

Some of the Wharrams are lousy to windward... however, the Tiki's will point as well as a good bilge keel mono and tacks well.. once you've learnt that they cant be sailed like a mono... and they are fast.
I will repeat my mantra... learn to sail your boat in all conditions.. your motor should only be used as a parachute.. when all else fails..
and that goes for mono or multi..
A former owner of Wharrams...

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
We have some old threads here multi vs. mono discussions and you can do some searches on the search link after my signature. Multihullers like multis and monohullers like monos. I like monos better but sail on multies too.
kind regards,