Monohull or Multihull Sailboat?

[cat man do]

G'day Beau

Not sure how many people can afford to get a trimaran like "Avatar" which is what you need to get the space of a 40 to 50 foot cat.

I'd reckon this cost John well over a mill and the deck gear and rig was ****en huge, I damn near had a stroke cranking the main in on this beast.



She's set up now with doubles in the Ama's for the backpacker market, but as a liveaboard cruiser this was sail dump/storage.

Sure, she's an extreme example, but maybe this is more realistic

Emultihulls Yacht Brokerage - Eric Lerouge Pulsar 50

This is the size you need to get comparable space, and even this one probably does'nt have the room of a 45-50ft cat.

As you said, you wanted reasonable accom compared to a 50 ft cat, which really means a 70 ft tri.

So Avatar it is then.

Dave

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by beau

When everyone on this site talks multihull they mean Catamaran.
But to get any sort of reasonable accomodation in a cat it needs to be 40-50ft long and they can be very expensive to build.
What about Trimarans?
I am not talking about Piver's etc.or Racing trimarans,but something suitable for cruising, which sails upright, motors effeciently and shallow draft.
I like to think of a centre hull for accomodation etc and the outriggers as lightweight floats for stability.

Any comments?

There are lots of 35' cats with excellent accomodation for 4 - 6 people. i.e Simpson 10.5, Tasman 35 (Roger Hill) , the Snell Easy's etc. etc. I would say that below 30 - 35 feet a tri would offer better accomodation, but above 35 feet it's a cat. (If you are comparing boats of equal length.)

[Alan Wheeler]

In genral, Cats have far more room than tri's.

Very true, but tri's (Including the older Pivers and Browns) have enough room. Different strokes. For us, the trimaran, even though it has less space than our mono hull of similar length, is set up in a way that gives it a roomy feel without the extra room to get thrown around. So far, the only trimarans I have sailed on are a Piver 47 and Brown Searunner. Both performed fine for cruising. The larger Chris White designs, and the like are nice, but more than we need. The performance of the Piver, and the Brown we sailed on was fine. Fast downwind, and the Searunner pointed OK.
Our Piver is being built to our needs, based on our experience as to what we need and don't need aboard. If we were to go with a cat, it would be in the 35' range.

[Jackstee]

Hey Kai
You should take a look at the huge double after cabin on a HT 26 , and we have two.

Best regards

[Steve Rust]

What is reasonable accomodation? To beau it seems that a 40 -50 foot cat would provide, to me that would be palatial. Differant people differant needs. No doubt above 30 feet the cat has more room but a tri in the 35- 45 foot range has pleny of room. Who really needs four double bunks and two, three, or four heads? Who the hell wants to go cruising with 4-6 people other than a family? Hard enough putting up with the wife as 1st mate, any additional crew would get tossed over the side after a few weeks. If I was to trade in the 40 foot tri for a cat I would probably downsize to 35-38 foot. I always liked the Tony Grainger design Mystery Cove 38 from several years ago. Anyone ever seen one of these?

[cat man do]

Be still my heart, I lusted after one of these Mystery Cove 38's for many year's.

She was called "Second Innings" and to me seemed at the time to be about the best thing around.

Very pretty indeed.





Dave

[beau]

I agree with a lot of the comments by Steve.
Big cats 40-50ft are great but do you need ALL that room, and much of the room is in the hulls which are passageways.

I and my partner dont need that amount of space and the COST of providing it. Plus a lot of the apace in a cat is wasted. Do you really want to sleep in that coffin up in the bows?

I am building my own design based on all the things I want in a boat.
A long waterline length is important for comfort and safety.
Mainly motoring at a 10 knot cruise speed
Range will be 1000 nm.
Shallow draft (10 inches) so I can get inside reefs and up creeks etc.
The design is a 39ft long Motor Trimaran, Main hull 7ft 6ins wide.
Removable outriggers so the whole boat will fit inside a 40 ft high cube container. I can ship it anywhere at minimal cost.
Mainly motor powered but a small sail assist for economy.
And I can do it for a lot less than the cost of a 40 ft catamaran.

[northerncat]

i think you should start a website beau with your progress and thoughts on design, this would be of interest
sean

[beau]

Thanks for your comments.
I am having my plans drawn up at the moment by a Naval architect based on my ideas and concepts.
Maybe I should set up a web site. Thank you for the idea.
After the Sh-t I got thrown at me in regard to "chilled water air conditioning" which I am incorporating in my boat, I didn't think anyone was interested in my ramblings.

[rtbates]

My wife thought she'd like the stable platform that a cat provides till we sailed across the Maui channel in a 50 foot cat with 6 foot swells running 45 degrees aft. The motion was a very unpleasant corkscrew as the swell would pick up one corner and lay it back down as it proceeded to pick up the bow as the opposite stern would settle. We hated it. The thought of having that motion magnified by say a 20 foot swell just about made me puke. It was the only time I've ever been on the ocean and didn't like motion. Give me heel and a simple side roll anyday.

[ess105]

For me, seasickness is an inevitable aspect of any transition from land based to vessel based life. I get sick, I get better, then I'm fine. It's not a question of different types of motion. So if one type boat makes me sick sooner or under different conditions, it's almost irelavent.

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by ess105

For me, seasickness is an inevitable aspect of any transition from land based to vessel based life. I get sick, I get better, then I'm fine. It's not a question of different types of motion. So if one type boat makes me sick sooner or under different conditions, it's almost irelavent.

My hat's off to you. I've never been motion sick, knock on wood. The closest I ever came was flying in a biplane pulling god knows how many gs. Negative as well as positive. It sure gave me an appreciation for those who get sick and keep at it. If I was prone to motion sickness I'm not sure I would ever sail again.

[beau]

In reply to rtbates, one trip in a multihull in difficult seas is not a fair test.

I have had both monohulls and multis, both Cats and Trimarans.
Rolling around all night on a difficult anchorage outside the reef (because of the deep keeel) is one of aspects I clearly remember about my mono days both in sail and power.
The multi is far more stable at anchorage and can get into better protected anchorages. I sometimes run my mutihull up on the beach and let the tide go out. Some multihulls have a tendency to hobbie horse but with modern designs that can also be eliminated.

My view is that the future is in moderate speed (10 knots cruising), long range, powered multihulls. They will not be using sailing type hulls but hulls designed specifically for motoring which are stable and highly efficient.
Beau

[ess105]

Originally Posted by rtbates

My hat's off to you.

Thanks for the compliment. It's more a realisation it's only going to happen once. I have heard many people experience something similar. Once they have their sealegs, everythings ok until the next time. It is unfortunate that many peoples response to motion sickness is to conclude that this is the norm and that sailing is not for them. It may make day sailing difficult but should not present a barrier to long term cruising.