Are There Any Dean Aeros Out There ?

[niel12]

Are there any Dean Aero's out there? I would like to forum chat with them!

[kingnuggie]

I own a dean aero 40 catamaran and have sailed thousands and thousands of ocean miles in her, including 5500 miles in the Southern Ocean. Perhaps I can answer some questions for you!
In short they are fast compared to a mono, slow compared to a light weight cat, have massive bridge deck clearance and sail to windward better than a cruising mono. Yes they are heavy as well......

[multihullsailor6]

Originally Posted by kingnuggie

I own a dean aero 40 catamaran and have sailed thousands and thousands of ocean miles in her, including 5500 miles in the Southern Ocean. Perhaps I can answer some questions for you!
In short they are fast compared to a mono, slow compared to a light weight cat, have massive bridge deck clearance and sail to windward better than a cruising mono. Yes they are heavy as well......

Hi kingnuggie,

I am very interested in hearing more about your cat's upwind performance as Deans are not known to be the best performers upwind. Whar kind of speed / wind angle / VMG do you get?

I went aboard a Dean 40 at the La Rochelle boat show some years ago and was blown away by the space and finish but have never had the chance to sail on one.

[double exposure]

I used to own the 1st Dean Aero. It was formally Peter Dean's. Sailed her all over the Caribbean for 5 years. I sold her several years ago, she is in Canada now, the new owner is on this site. You can find a pic of her, s/v Quicksilver under my profile pics.

[kingnuggie]

search on youtube for "dean catamaran lunatic" as there are some videos of one of these heavy slow strong catamarans sailing.

[double exposure]

I was based in the Virgin Islands for 5 years and used to toast the larger charter Leopards & Lagoons daily. I always ran under a reefed main in the tradewinds, just to be easier on the rig. I've read these posts and would not call them slow. They are heavy bulletproof hulls, so they need some wind to push them. My average speed under single reefed main in 15- 20 kts of wind was 7.5, often faster. Our fastest ever was 14.8kts surfing down a wave 80 miles north of Haiti.
Mine was Dean Aero hull #1, and was originally Peter Dean's personal boat.

[kingnuggie]

Double Exposure
Good to hear from you, I have heard plenty of stories over the years about how heavy, slow and indestructible the older Dean cats are. in fact that what I bought mine for... I was not interested in a flighty light weight that required a constant hand on the helm. As you would know after sailing Quicksilver the Deans track like a train.
Yes for sure there are days when the wind was 15 knots and I would have preferred to be on a Schionoing speed machine with 2 foot wide hulls but all the other times I will stick with my roomy steady Dean. Do you have any video of Quicksilver? I have posted some on youtube, search for "dean catamaran lunatic".
Good sailing to you

[double exposure]

Kingnuggie,
Good sailing to you too. I loved my Dean Cat. Mine had done 5 trans Atlantics before I bought her (4 of them were 2 round trips from Cape Town to Rio.) I would take the Dean Cat over almost any other cat I've ever been on (& I've been on a lot of them.) I've seen a few people around this site trash them, but it never was a someone who actually owned one. Kinda like asking a dedicated Chevy owner what he thinks about Fords. Way to many armchair sailors w/ a computer out there.
I was depressed right after I sold my Dean. I bought another cat ( I wasn't even boat shopping) less than 2 months after I sold. I have a great pic of Quicksilver sailing in the lower Caribbean under my profile pics. Sorry I don't have a video of her.
But speaking of both video and speed, check out this clip of my current cat, Double Exposure, this was on Biscayne Bay (Miami) about a week ago.

Sailing Catamaran Double Exposure, 0 to 20 knots in less than 25 seconds on a 40' cruising cat - YouTube

[kingnuggie]

now thats hauling butt.
Yes it sometimes makes me crazy when some armchair sailor tries to tell you whats what over cyberspace. I guess that there can be fun thinking about sailing and thats OK, some people collect stamps yet never post letters!
You could drag race that new cat of yours! A bit more punch than the Yanmars on my cat!!
My last trip was 5500miles non stop in my Dean and we did it in 40 days, thats quick enough for me..
In this video the wind was a steady 40 on the beam,
I cant wait for someone to tell me it was 15 knots as they have done tests in their bathtub at home.

40knots on the beam in my dean 40 catamaran .MOD - YouTube

[Rush'n Blue]

Originally Posted by niel12

Are there any Dean Aero's out there? I would like to forum chat with them!

Hello There,
We have had our Dean 440 Aero for 3 years now. Did lot's of work to her making her a better and easier sailing boat that her original arrangement. They are heavy cats but they are very comfortable. They do track extremely well. The workmanship is not top notch but relating to the price of these boats it is satisfactory. Our boat is a 1999. If you have any questions pls drop a line.

[double exposure]

Originally Posted by kingnuggie

now thats hauling butt.
Yes it sometimes makes me crazy when some armchair sailor tries to tell you whats what over cyberspace. I guess that there can be fun thinking about sailing and thats OK, some people collect stamps yet never post letters!
You could drag race that new cat of yours! A bit more punch than the Yanmars on my cat!!
My last trip was 5500miles non stop in my Dean and we did it in 40 days, thats quick enough for me..
In this video the wind was a steady 40 on the beam,
I cant wait for someone to tell me it was 15 knots as they have done tests in their bathtub at home.

Nice!!! Man, the Deans can take the rough seas. That video brings back memories of mine. Under only a Geniker, I once hit 15.1 knots on my old Dean, Quicksilver. We were surfing down waves in the tradewinds between the Virgin Islands & the Turks.
Spending a lot of time on this fast cat in the FL Keys these days, just ended a weeklong Miami to Key West & back charter today.