Shannon Hull 43/47 vs. Outremer 55 light

[gouralnik]

Hello Dear Friends,

before I start my own thread, I thought it would make more sense if I let you all know beforehand: I spent around 7 months reading on this forum and believe me: I read a lot, I absobed a lot of information, and I understood a lot.

Now, all I want to read is what your thoughts are on the mentioned boats in the title - where one has clear advantage over the other.
Boats are: Shannon 47/52 (maybe Shannon Raised Deck Pilot - same 47/52) and Outremer 55 Light / Standard.
I want YOU to be open-minded and type AWAY your thoughts about those boats. You might ask me: "What I want to do with this boat?". My answer is simple: sailing and living aboard everywhere...coastal, offshore, crossing pacific, crossing atlantic, sailing in winter in high latitudes, living aboard, crusing the north coast of australia, crusing the GBR, etc. Crew: 2 people - sometimes 6. Maybe 2 kids after around 5 years. No plans to resell the boat - at least not for the next 15 years. Please, I beg you, don't ask me for the reason why I asked the question, the logic behind it, my budget and whether I prefer mono-/multi - I love both and besides: who cares?. All I want is that YOU type your thoughts on those 2 (3) boats and what YOU would choose - with an OPEN MIND. Thank you very much for your help.

[Joli]

Good luck with that.

[James S]

If the choice was mine and the cruising area was to be unlimited I'd go with the Shannon
because I believe that a well constructed mono is a better "all around" cruiser.

If I was going to be doing mostly coastal zooming around and lots of time on the hook in paradise...I might actually consider a multi......and that’s saying alot for me since I've always been a mono guy.

[Bella Sera]

"Open minds"? Here?

My experience (Dolphin 46) is that the big advantages of a cat are open space, light, speed, shallower draft, and stability (especially at anchor). Living aboard you'll accumulate lots of "stuff" (= weight) which will impact the cat's performance more than the Shannon's. With only two aboard most of the time, extra living space wouldn't be all that important either. But shallower draft would open up cruising areas, and you would get there sooner. A downside to a big cat would be finding places to haul out.

I suspect the Shannon would be better in colder climates (higher lattitudes) because of the construction (I lived aboard a Shannon 28 for two Maryland winters very comfortably with just a small ceramic heater), and I much prefer the offshore motion of my Shannon to the cats I've sailed.

Good luck.....