Birthing fees

[Alan Wheeler]

OK, so your comment Bob about tir's brings me to another point of interest. What are the major differences in relation to twin and tri hull. Do you have as much room, better sailing, what are they like in ruff conditions blah blah.

[Tropic Cat]

Wheels,

Just looking at a Tri's design, they can't have more interior room than a Catamaran with a bridgedeck in a reasonably sized boat. They are faster though.

It sounds like you are considering all options which is a terrific idea. I think you can expect each of our responses to advocate the type of boat we all selected. One of the reasons I own a Cat, is that my Lady hated the heeling in a mono. She is very pleased with the sailing characteristics of our Cat, and so am I. Also, in our little corner of the world, our boat is the social center of the marina, because of the large cockpit area.

I don't know how much spare time you have, but have you considered reoutfitting an older Cat? Cheaper, but very time consuming.

Rick in Florida


Rick in Florida

[GordMay]

How about a “Penta-Hull” - the M-hull, from M-Ship ?
http://www.mshipco.com/

[Tropic Cat]

Gord, where do I buy the missile launchers to mount on her?

[GordMay]

If ya thinks ya need um - Missile Launchers available at:
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/searc...uctCode=MISLAU
or
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/rc/81cf/

[Tropic Cat]

Yeah the cannon would work, but how do ya get the admiral to reload it?

[Alan Wheeler]

Yeah well, my wife hates the heeling part, but I think she will get used to it, but ya never know. I personaly like the idea of the speed especially in light airs. And the wife really likes the speed, the little speed freak she is. I think our longer term sailing goals have changed a little. We no longer have the desire to sail the "greater" world due to politicle conflicts around the world. Our weather down here is still the most demanding of anywhere in the world however, and so I need a boat that can take ont he worst. But I also like the idea of something fast that we can get to the shelter of a port quickly enough between weather windows, instead of being stuck in it.
So yeah, just exploring idea's etc.
However, because of our weather down here, I am also reluctant of multihulls. And especially older ones. There are a lot of those ply designs and similar down here, that I would far rather take my chances on a poorly built Ferro than some of those home made jobs thankyou very much. If it's a case of the USA having a history of poorly built FC's, then it would be us Kiwi's that had an era of poorly built multi's. Plus those things that looked like they got folded via Origami of plywood panels are UUUUGLYYYY!

[Tropic Cat]

not those wheels!!! More like this

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...563&slim=quick&

[Tropic Cat]

Careful on the mono heeling. Women tend to use that as an excuse if the wind is over 10 knots, not to show up at the boat. It's ruined more than one of my afternoons.

I looked Yachtworld for reasonably priced New Zealand Cats, but everyone in your country is apparently a millionaire.

Rick in Florida

Rick in Florida, USA

Greetings Alan.. and the rest of you all.

What happened to this thread anyway?? Whatever... For speed tri's are king. For pointing, Tri's are absolutely diabolical! How the hell can you be doing 20 knots with the windex pointing straight to the bow?!?!? How can you tack downwind?!?!? A high performance tri can actually make it's own apparent wind, the closest thing there is to a perpetual motion machine. I crewed on a 40foot tennant "wild thing" couple years ago. We were doing 24 knots punching into a 35 knot wind, the apparent right over the bow. The day before we were doing 12 knots in 6-8 of (true) breeze... With the beam you have to work with you can put a massive rig on them. 40 foot stick on a super light weight 26 footer.
In short, you get there mighty quick. The downside, you better get there quick or you starve as a can of beans is about the provisioning limit!
A cat gives you almost as much speed potential but (typicaly)won't point any higher than a mono but hugh accomadation room... downside high $$$. sigh.....

Cheers

[Talbot]

The Fontaine Pajot is very lightly built. Great if you are buying from new, and OK if all the previous owners were welded to their slip, but an ex-charter boat can be very tired!

Gemini 105, great coastal boat, but would not be my choice for the conditions you experience in NZ.

I know of a nice Prout Snowgoose Elite in Malaysia going for abt $210k NZ

[Alan Wheeler]

Yeah multi's seem expensive down here.
Bob, I've heard of wild thing.

Also Check out our major NZ site, www.tradeaboat.co.nz Do a search withy enterign the fields or relevant info and take a look at what is available down here.

Hey Alan

had a look, selection even thinner than here for what I was looking for. I need to give "birth" to a farrier if I can't adopt one soon!!

Cheers

[Kettlewell]

A big problem is finding a place that will haul your wide cat, and they often charge more for that too. For example, there isn't a place that can haul a 20-foot wide cat between Mexico and Colombia on this side of the Caribbean, though a couple of new ones will be doing so soon. Keep it on a floating mooring and they shouldn't charge you more.

[Seafarer24]

You shouldn't have to haul the cat out as often if it can be dried out at low tide. Just work fast!

For Tris, it's hard to beat the Searunners. Except, of course, they are pretty wide. A Searunner 37 is 22' wide. It's got fairly good accomodations, a rather ingenious layout, and they're know for handling rough weather well. They were designed as a cruising boat, but have still been reported to come close to 20 knots. They're center-cockpit, with the mast stepped IN the cockpit, so it's easy and safe to take in/shake out reefs. They have centerboards and retractable rudders so they can be beached or dried out by the tide. They can also get those really shallow berths at the marinas that the monohulls can't use. I think 2' of water is enough to float any of the Searunners...(?)