Are all multi hulls so noisy and unpredictable?

[team karst]

Originally Posted by SVPP

Catamarans are heaps better than monos for one reason: my wife likes a cat better.

But neither of us wants go anywhere on a lagoon, FPS or leopard built post 2005.

So there you have it, cats are better.

Thank God. I made the cut by two years.

[rickpyne]

Dear Joel
When you know that the cracking sound you hear, is the movement in the bulkheads where the glue is broken, you start to worry....

[smj]

No, not all cats sound like they’re falling apart while sailing.
All cats have the possibility of the bridgedeck slamming, some way more than others depending upon bridgedeck height and hull design.
Cats have a different motion than monohulls, some more pronounced than others.
Plenty of cat owners think monohulls should have their masts removed and only motor in calm water because of the dangerous heeling motion, not to mention the pronounced rolling in a anchorage with a swell on the beam or the famous roll wallow and broach of downwind sailing on a mono hull. But I guess that would be as silly as cats only motoring in calm weather?

[Factor]

Originally Posted by dr.j.levy

Hello all,

Recently delivered a Lagoon 50 over 4 days in the Med. I stand in shame, but all my experience in life is on single hulls.

Anyway, sea was rolling up to 2.5m - 3m waves....interior on this 2 year old cat supper noisy and squeaky for 1m boat, BUT bashes on inner hull from waves almost brought a halt to the movement every odd minute and certainly did not let you sleep. One small thing that bothered me is that you could not predict the movement of the boat to brace yourself. Its like a toast on the water rolling whichever the third or fourth wave chooses.

Is this normal also cats which are not Lagoons? I am told this is normal Lagoon behaviour. If it is normal, cats should only be sailed on flat seas under motor...sorry if this offends anyone.

Cheers
Joel

Nope its not normal any more than an IOR mono behaving badly is normal for monos, or any more than a downwind designed mono flyer is normal for all monos.

There are plenty of multis out there that are designed for the conditions you experienced and will be a joy to sail in them. The lagoon range is highly successful in its market, Charter Boats for lots of people for a week. Dont by a truck and hope it behaves like a sports car. Dont buy a sports car and hope it can do the job of a truck

[Factor]

Originally Posted by LoudMusic

....HOWEVER! Catamarans are primarily designed for anchoring around islands and playing in the sun.

Some - the so called big three are.

There are brands of catamaran that are more suited for crossing oceans, but you're still going to get hull and bridge slap from the waves.

Yes and No, Plenty of designs will minimise that .[/QUOTE]

[Cliffhanger]

Congratulations Einstein. You have discovered one of the things that catamarans don't do better than Monohulls and that is smashing into big seas going upwind. (Still less likely to spill your coffee though.)

I mean, it is not fun in any boat and unless you are racing, (or on a delivery run) most cruisers I have met (both Mono and Cats) try to avoid those conditions. Now, with a big following sea it is a different story. Most Cats are stable and comfortable, where Monohulls tend to wallow around (often spilling a lot more than just coffee).

This whole Cat vs Mono debate is a bit tedious really. Like arguing whether apples are better than oranges. No boat is perfect, it comes down to what boat suits where and how you sail. Sailing Cape Horn, I'd prefer a monohull. Sailing the Great Barrier Reef, I prefer a catamaran. The thing is, I sail in Queensland waters, not Patagonia, so for me, a catamaran is best.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Give it a rest would you? For someone who has clearly decided they hate catamarans, you sure do spend a lot of time touring them at boat shows and a lot of your mindshare on bashing them.

I don't personally like to ride motorcycles, although I understand there are plenty of people who do. That means I don't go tour them or spend any time thinking about their weaknesses let alone posting about it, I just don't think about them at all really and let the people who enjoy them enjoy them. That's how normal people deal with things that they've decided aren't their cup of tea..... highly recommend you consider it.

To the OP, since you said you were doing a delivery I assume you probably drew a line from your pickup to your dropoff point and sailed (or more likely motored) that regardless of sea state or winds? If so, a catamaran isn't great for that. To be honest, no boat is great for that if the wind and sea don't agree with your course, short of large freighters. Luckily most cruisers don't cruise like that. A change in course of just a few degrees would probably have significantly alleviate the wave slapping if not eliminating it entirely.

As far as the movement, I've spent my whole life on boats from a kid growing up in Alaska to a career as a Coast Guard officer. I own a cat now and have sailed on quite a few, I never felt their movement was at all unpredictable. In fact the only boat I've experienced that on was the Coast Guard's 110' patrol boats when they have the active stabilization system on, it seemed to cut rolls off at unpredictable times. I'm not sure why you would have experienced that on a cat unless were doing the exact wrong course and had enough of the waves slapping the tunnel that it actually was stopping the boat. Again, a slight heading change makes a world of difference there.

I've spent a whopping two days touring catamarans at boat shows. I don't consider that a lot of time.

I own a catamaran that I sail offshore. Yes I spend a lot of my mindshare on them.

I didn't start this thread, I responded to it.

Thank you for your service.

[LoudMusic]

Originally Posted by bcboomer

Maybe you should look at what LoudMusic is sailing.

[Chotu]

I know what happened here. I went through the same thing when I first started sailing Catamarans. He didn’t know how to pick the course correctly.


Yes, Catamaran‘s are loud inside. That is something I don’t like about them myself. However, if you pick the right course, there is no bridge deck slam and even if you have a very low bridge deck clearance.

If you ever get the chance to sail one again, experiment a little bit. You have to read the waves as well as the wind to set the course..

[Siberian Sea]

I’m a full time delivery skipper for a large international charter company. 90% of the vessels I relocate for them are production catamarans. I will admit I’m a mono hull guy however I have come to appreciate cats for what they are. Matter fact I have considered selling my monohull and getting one. Unfortunately the production cats are mostly junk. The cabinets look exactly like something from the IKEA store, fiberglass layup is very light and electrical switches might have come off the shelf in Home Depot. They are just not up to long term ocean standards and after just a few years use you see the results. Now granted the charter industry puts their boats through hell, but from my job I get to see how they hold up. If I had the money I would have a custom Cat build from heavy aluminum but for me this is beyond what I could ever hope to pay. So for that guy why sailed in a two year old Lagoon 50 and the bulkheads and cabinets were all creaking I can tell you that’s normal after the boat is 2-3 years old, the next step is the cabinets will not close right or open each time the wind blows more then 20kts.

[NevilleCat]

Try a search on YouTube:
Lagoon, Wind force 10
(sorry, can't figure out how to attach link on my phone)
Pretty impressive in those conditions I think.

[geoleo]

I have had 10 sailboats and one trawler in past 50 years. Had a Gemini couple years ago. It was noisy as hell even at dock in inch waves! DItched the flimsy thing for a beneteau 41S after a year.................

[valhalla360]

Again, what were the conditions and point of sail...most production monohulls bashing to windward under full sail aren't happy either.

As many have mentioned, dropping a little off course will often settle things down.

Also, were you trying to make time due to a schedule? Slowing down a little can often settle down the ride.

[Martkimwat]

Originally Posted by redneckrob

Give it a rest would you? For someone who has clearly decided they hate catamarans, you sure do spend a lot of time touring them at boat shows and a lot of your mindshare on bashing them.

I don't personally like to ride motorcycles, although I understand there are plenty of people who do. That means I don't go tour them or spend any time thinking about their weaknesses let alone posting about it, I just don't think about them at all really and let the people who enjoy them enjoy them. That's how normal people deal with things that they've decided aren't their cup of tea..... highly recommend you consider it.

To the OP, since you said you were doing a delivery I assume you probably drew a line from your pickup to your dropoff point and sailed (or more likely motored) that regardless of sea state or winds? If so, a catamaran isn't great for that. To be honest, no boat is great for that if the wind and sea don't agree with your course, short of large freighters. Luckily most cruisers don't cruise like that. A change in course of just a few degrees would probably have significantly alleviate the wave slapping if not eliminating it entirely.

As far as the movement, I've spent my whole life on boats from a kid growing up in Alaska to a career as a Coast Guard officer. I own a cat now and have sailed on quite a few, I never felt their movement was at all unpredictable. In fact the only boat I've experienced that on was the Coast Guard's 110' patrol boats when they have the active stabilization system on, it seemed to cut rolls off at unpredictable times. I'm not sure why you would have experienced that on a cat unless were doing the exact wrong course and had enough of the waves slapping the tunnel that it actually was stopping the boat. Again, a slight heading change makes a world of difference there.

LOUDMUSIC sails a Fontaine Pajot cat so I think he has every right to comment. You on the other hand seem to be exceedingly touchy about catamaran criticism, perhaps his points hit a raw nerve?

[mark_morwood]

There are two factors here - the boat and how the boat is sailed. Our Catana 48 certainly had some squeaks but they were mostly caused by pieces of furniture that had been added and not bonded to the hull correctly which I fixed with time. A catamaran of that size is usually designed to have some twist and movement so you need to account for that when adding things. I don't know much about the particular boat you reference so it may well have furniture or even bulkheads that generate noise at the bonds.

In addition, I suspect all catamarans will slap/slam, and quite loudly, in some circumstances but you can mitigate that by how you sail it. Despite having relatively good clearance, ours certainly would generate some in the right/wrong conditions, and the noise can be quite alarming initially. As has already been suggested, changing course just a little bit can make a huge difference depending on the direction and size of the waves.

I've posted this "home" video before, so apologies to those who've already seen it, but this gives an idea of what it is like inside then outside a Catana 48 while sailing upwind in 20 to 25 knots of wind at around 8 knots of boat speed. We were sailing from Bermuda to the Azores which is often a nice passage, but on this occasion was an upwind slog. We had cracked off to a close reach to keep it fast and relatively comfortable. We were cruising not racing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWEUyKMk0z4

Mark.