Multihullers, Tell Us What You Like About Monohulls

[Samana]

Having recently bought a monohull I can tell you price was the biggest consideration. It is the difference between sailing of not sailing I would buy Mono. The one thing I really like about the monohull is steering on the lee side watching the hull carve through the waves. You also don't get the slamming of waves under the bridge deck. Would I have a multihull if I could afford it ? absolutley because of low draft, but for crossing oceans I like the self righting and windward ability of the mono hull.

[44'cruisingcat]

I like the people who sail them. Love waving to them as we sail past. Especially to windward. Standing in the cockpit or on the foredeck with a coffee in my hand. A few of them even wave back.

Must admit though, sometimes it can be tricky dodging round the masts sticking up out of the water...

Just sayin'...

[Lagoon4us]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I like the people who sail them. Love waving to them as we sail past. Especially to windward. Standing in the cockpit or on the foredeck with a coffee in my hand. A few of them even wave back.

Must admit though, sometimes it can be tricky dodging round the masts sticking up out of the water...

Just sayin'...

Love it......

[LuckyLucky]

I own one of each. For staying in the marina with my really not too interested in sailing wife, its a monohull for me. The rest of the time feeling every twitch of wind in the tiller and the thrill of tuning etc. is incomparable. What kind of puzzles me is why people go for large monohulls. They are soggy to sail and not as comfortable as the most primitive Cat.

[outbound_308]

Very jealous of all the solar you can have on a multi and the large cockpit space that would make it easy to put on dive gear and dive from the boat.

[nextis12]

Mostly the people sailing them

[Training Wheels]

I love monohull sailors. They don’t take up the end ties so there’s room for me!

[Dave_S]

I like cats but i think mono's look like sail boats, they have nicer lines.

[Morph]

As one of the people who responded on the previous Mono/cat debate, this is far better and I appreciate the OP for starting it.

To me it's "6 of one, half a dozen of the other" stuff. Yes you do have to be careful not to be caught with too much sail up on a cat, however, my boat never broached when off the wind--we sit on 12-15 knots with the autopilot steering offshore drinking wine with out the slightest hint of rounding up--I've had some horror experiences of this on my previous monos. Take the upsides you want and put up with the downsides--there is no all round perfect boat.

I confess, I am a dyed in the wool cat guy-- however most cats I would not go near and many of the criticisms of them are completely valid. I'm thinking of the large volume (both in number and size) cats--the Lagoons, FP, Leopards etc. They are terrible sailing boats, but god there is a lot of room in them!


in 2007 I built a 39' cat--a gorgeous sailing machine that had all the accommodation I wanted, the speed, feel and pointing ability--however she is the exception--most cats are not like this--we sailed rings around all the production cats and she was gorgeous to look at.



So my reasons for liking Monos compared to the Lagoons, FPs and alike:

Monos do sail better to windward--way, way better and this is a huge safety advantage especially on a leeshore

The look so gorgeous--think Hinkleys in Maine--most cats are boxs on the water, like top heavy overstuffed floating apartments. Although there are some downright ugly monos--they are the minority...

Feel. Monos give great feel--most cats--due to hydraulic steering make you feel like you are steering a sponge.
No bridgedeck slap-- all cats have this to some degree, however in some designs, low bridgedeck is downright dangerous
Motion, I throw up on both in big seas, cats are different--more jerky



However, I believe you can get all the above in a cat--as long as you're prepared to look for the right design (well apart from the jerky movement). In Australia we are blessed to have some of the best designers around, go look at a great Schionning cat--utterly beautiful and sail like the wind, Oram, Grainger, Crowther, Pescott, Chamberlin. None are really in production so you have to work extra hard to find them or pays your money to build and of course--there goes the other advantage of a mono--they are soooo much cheaper.
Horses for courses, enjoy your boat--it's all a personal choice. I love a boat that sails well--hence I would get a good mono rather than a cat that does not sail well--especially to windward



Phil