36-41 Foot cats for single person - owning and running effort?

[CruiserAD]

Hi Everybody

Looking at many stock production cats from Lagoon, FP, Leopard, Seawind etc In the range from 36-41 feet think singehanding them isn't a big issue, but owning and maintaining one alone might be another story?

I'm looking at buying something either new or hopefully lightly used up to 8 years old and would try to make all upgrades before leaving to have a fairly well set up boat. In terms of "creature comforts" I do not need (or want) a Genset, A/C, washing machine or dive compressors etc but will want a water maker, 1kW of solar panels, maybe wind genny, a portable petrol generator and a huge battery bank to be as autonomous as possible. Possible boats would be: FP Mahe 36 or Lipari 41, Lagoon 380 or 400, Seawind 1000 XL or 1160 Lite and the Leopards from 38-40 feet (or anything similar without the engines under the bunks )

So my question is, are there any CF's around living on and running a cat of that size/type alone? How much work is honestly behind it, when used as a ocean-sailing liveaboard (in opposite to using them as floating homes in a marina).

Cheers
Jan

[Cotemar]

CruiserAD,

We had a 2009 FP Mahe 36.

Its a light and fast catamaran.

Its a very simple boat. We only used a Honda 2000 gen to heat water.

Ours had 500 watt of SunPower Solar Panels and that is all we ever needed, but we did not have a water-maker.

Easy boat to single hand and maintain.

All things FP Mahe 36 can be found here.

Fountaine Pajot - Cruisers & Sailing Forums
.
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[yeloya]

I've sailed Lipari quite a bit , Mahé less. there isn't much that I can to what Cotemar has said. Lipari is 3-4 feet longer and that makes her slightly faster, more spacybut also better sea motion. (less jerking/hobby horsing on choppy seas)
They are both proven boats in terms of seaworthyness.
We have both a Mahé and Lipari for sale, PM me if you are interested.


Cheers


Yeloya

[onavegador]

I had 15 years ago a Venecia 42 from Fountaine Pajot but I found out that then I left European waters that often I had to sail singlehanded. So I decided to sell her, even my wife was later not lucky about, but as she came only for weeks for coastal cruising and not for passage making, I sold the Venecia. I have to say that the Venecia was a very comfortable catamaran and a good weight transporter but needed a fresh breeze for sailing to my taste and the maintenance for a big catamaran is demanding in money and also physics.

Searching for a cat for a possible circumnavigation I found with Baltec in Lubeck/Germany a small builder of production catamarans who has his demonstrator, a Visiona 40 for sale. Inspecting the boat I found out that she was with not much investment to prepare for single handing. So, during June 2004 I left for my way south west to France, Spain, Portugal and the Canaries and later to the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Red Sea and finally the Med where we arrived in Fall 2007. Where I met the late Jurgen Kantner who died these days by the hands of Abu Sayef in the Philippines. We spoke about my experiences in the Red Sea and the Golf of Aden and naturally about his plans to sail to Asia.

As my catamaran was for me such a pleasure to sail and I found it easy to maintain I decided in 2008 for a 2nd circumnavigation. This time first to West Africa, then Brazil, Argentina, Falkland Islands then to clear into Chile in Puerto Williams and to sail for Cape Horn. From time to time I had crew aboard but the Pacific passage to the Gambiers and to Fiji I have done singlehanded again. It may take here to much place to speak about the rest of the circumnavigation, just to say I finished it lucky and in good health in August 2013 in Southern France. May I note that 300 NMs west of the Azores I took a 42ft Gib Sea on the hook and towed her to the Azores. That was possible even my catamaran was only equipped with two 18 HP Volvo Penta MD 2020.

What I have installed on the boat for singehanding: the mainsheet on four part tackle and jammers so I was able for a coarse adjustment by hand,
two rigged boom preventers with jammers in reach from the cockpit. Two blocks with sheets for the Genoa for downwindsailing.

As I had 600 L (159 Gallon) water aboard I installed no watermaker, I had 440W Solarpaneels, I was thinking during the 2nd voyage when sometimes not much sun about a water driven generator. I had in mind one from Germany at a good price not as efficient as the watt&sea but nearly as, but at a much lower price. I was not thinking about a wind generator as I know only the Aerogen from a Delivery from Europe to Puerto Rico as noisy and not very efficient (1989).


Here some links:
Home
sailnsea MyEsell.Com - Schleppgenerator :: SailingGen

[akprb]

I can't imagine any huge difference between a 40 and 50 as far as maintaining as a single person which I took to be your question.

We had a 50' for a decade and the biggest difference would be the distance between things, all else the same.

I'm a big proponent of "buy as much waterline as you can afford" so perhaps a bit biased :-)

[bushytales]

Hi, I have built and owned several catamarans since 1998. From 35' Easy , a 38' Easy and. 43' Evolution....more recently a 32' Seawind. Each boat has had its positives and negatives. As a solo sailor I would strongly lean towards either an Easy 35' or a 38'. The bigger vessel was quite a handful in winds 20k or more. The Seawind being only 32' tended to hobbyhorse a fair bit owing to the shorter waterline length. Hence my suggestion of 35-38' .
Each catamaran had a good turn of speed close to 45-50% of wind speed. The bigger the boat, the bigger the rig which of course means the more manpower needed to sail her. (Unless you choose electric winches). Also your anchoring gear needs to be bigger and longer.
So in the end it will depend on your accomodation needs. As a solo sailor I would recommend an Easy 35' or known as 10.5m.
Comments from several years of catamaran ownership - also cost must be considered..if you have lots of money, go for a Seawind - if not then the Easy is a well proven, reliable and relatively inexpensive option.
Cheers from Bushy

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by akprb

I can't imagine any huge difference between a 40 and 50 as far as maintaining as a single person which I took to be your question.

We had a 50' for a decade and the biggest difference would be the distance between things, all else the same.

I'm a big proponent of "buy as much waterline as you can afford" so perhaps a bit biased :-)

Fully agree..

For easy singlehanded boats self tacking gib or all winches to helm station (like all of the new models of FP) , as much as electrical winches and the possibility to reef/unreef from the cockpit is essential.
For larger cats the only problem could be while docking/undocking in fould weathers in particular.

Cheers

Yeloya

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by CruiserAD

and a huge battery bank to be as autonomous as possible.

Eek, that is going to cost you performance carrying around lots of lead on a cat. Why do you need to store lots of electricity? use the honda genny if you need lots of power for a short period.

Pete

[Barra]

Originally Posted by yeloya

Fully agree..

For easy singlehanded boats self tacking gib or all winches to helm station (like all of the new models of FP) , as much as electrical winches and the possibility to reef/unreef from the cockpit is essential.
For larger cats the only problem could be while docking/undocking in fould weathers in particular.

Cheers

Yeloya

This is a good point and why I dont personally think a big cat is a good choice for solo sailor. Once you get the helm any distance from the sterns in particular docking solo can be a real nightmare. There was an earlier thread on this about med mooring solo and is worth a read on this front.

[jfenwood]

We have just put our 2010 Leopard 40 up for sale in Charleston, SC. We found that with 3 solar panels, 3 new 4d house batteries, and a D 400 wind generator, we never needed to use our portable generator. For single handing, I would lead the main halyard back to the cockpit and convert one winch to electric.
Don't think that maintenance would be an issue other than you have to do all the chores by yourself!
More info on our boat can be found at:
http://catamaransite.com/leopard-40-...or-sale-8.html

[James McM]

Would you consider a Mahe capable of doing a circumnavigation?

[Cotemar]

Originally Posted by James McM

Would you consider a Mahe capable of doing a circumnavigation?

For a single hander it would be perfect.

For a couple you would need more room for STUFF.

Most couples go for the circumnavigation comfort of a 45 footer.

[yeloya]

Originally Posted by James McM

Would you consider a Mahe capable of doing a circumnavigation?

Mahé is certainly capable of circumnavigation. (obviously via traditional route) It will be slower and less comfortable than a larger cat, but she can do it. The volumes and payload is perfectly fine for a couple. But if you think about the family, kids, friends, it becomes complicated, if not impossible..

Cheers

eloya

[Andrew Grace]

This is slightly off Topic but I always wonder how many cats actually circumnavigate, there seems to be a lot of boats for sale in Thailand and Langkawi at the moment so looks like the dropping off point.

[jdazey]

That's true for all boats. I don't think it specific to cats. Hawaii is another place where people decide to call it quits with sailing, with each other, whatever.