I have owned several of both. My opinion is still worth only 2cents
Mono's sail more romanticaly. They handle
head on and punch thru seas much nicer and point a tiny bit higher (dont get me started) than Cats. Monos sail nice and have a feel that you are "sailing" to them. Cats just haul Buttt, and and still dont feel fast even though they are,
Not counting the 5 years of
racing cats or several years prior of Monos, since owning larger
keel boats and cruising style cats, I can tell you our time spent at
anchor is roughly 65% vs 35% sailing or motoring or both to our destinations.
Catamarans kick the ever loving Crizzap out of monos at
anchor. Yes certain ones may make a tiny bit of
noise in rough
anchorages but that is better then rolling 20 degrees on every axis when a large
boat goes by.
Cats do not go to Rough
weather very well but running with or from it they excell hands down,Surfing down 10-12' seas is done with ease, . I spent 3 days heeled at 20 degrees one a trip last year in a mono, and you just cant compare to not heeling more then 4 degrees.
One is hard on the body your crew and your drink cups, the other is not.
We are looking for a larger cat either a 37-39 FP or
Lagoon or
Leopard in the next 12-16 months. We want to explore places and live comfortably. If we just wanted to live comfortably we could do with something cheaper as we own already. We love the privacy of multiple suites on opposite sides , and the huge
head and sep
shower, and the
storage, and the ability to entertain without tripping on eachother and the tankage, and she loves the huge
freezer and fridge, and huge
galley, and the stability of it all.
But... many cats are different, not all are equally comfy or roomy. Do your
research and spend some time on each, dont fall in love with the first one or two you step on. I wish I had, I wish I had spent a little bit to
charter multiple varieties, and will do so befo rechoosing our next. But I do love monos, they are awesome, Cats just do what we like to do better. Both handle rough stuff differently. Not sure your exp level, My
advice is go out and sail and
charter and try to use both in every condition imaginable and then decide where you are going, what you spend most of your time doing, and
work from there. I love big monos, but a 30 cat has layout the space of most 40' monos.