Why Do Catamarans Motor Nearly 100%

[weavis]

Just spent an hour looking at power cats. Big engines, 20 knot cruise 25 knots top end.

3 miles per gallon at 6 knots, 16-26 gallons an hour at 20 knots. (per engine)

I guess that is why people motor sail or just motor a Sailing cat.

Plus, a good motor cat starts at 2 mill........ Cheaper one are from $350K

I was born to the wrong parents........

[belizesailor]

In Belize, I used to watch bareboaters (bare-ly-boaters) motor even in perfect conditions (mono or cat). On one particularly perfect day I counted 6 other boats in sight motoring. Only two boats under sail: me & a friend aboard his Tiki.

I used to make it a point of sailing in and out of the anchorage because it was rare to see any of the charter fleet with sails up.

In that case I think it was a combination of limited experience and the complex waters of Belize...less stress producing to motor around than see the reef closing fast under sail.

[Kenomac]

My broker is poking around looking for a Sunreef 62.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My broker is poking around looking for a Sunreef 62.

All around 1M EUROS give or take.

[Kenomac]

It doesn't cost anything to poke around and dream.

That's what I was doing four years ago on the Hunter. I'm very patient and don't really need a boat, which is a very good position to be in when poking around.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

My broker is poking around looking for a Sunreef 62.

Hey Ken..you get that big Sundeer you have to take it somewhere.

[sail2travel]

Ok so we are currently sailing in the Med near Sardinia on our new to us Catana 472. We've chartered several different catamarans in the Caribbean as well. When you charter, you have limited time to get from A to B and beyond so if the wind is on the nose, it is faster to motor. Mono or multi, it's faster. Most charter cats don't have daggerboards and that adds to the decision to not sail upwind. Our Catana has boards, and we love to sail her upwind and downwind. However, if we only have to go a couple miles to a cool spot like we did today, we just motor because hoisting sails for a 2 mile sail isn't worth the trouble of opening the sail bag, hoisting, dousing, getting anchor ready etc. but a 20 mile sail? Heck yeah! So it really depends on the cat and how far we are going, and of course the wind speed to answer the question " to sail, or not to sail?". And the bonus of having the cat? We have a back porch and a living room and deck chairs and leather couches and it is AMAZING how comfortable we and our friends who visit are. We also have a smaller racing monohull and have raced and cruised our whole lives on monos and cats.
The cat is better than we could have dreamed. Lying on the trampoline looking down at Dolphins? Can't do that on a mono. Monos are really nice for sailing, but I wouldn't trade this cat for any monohull while cruising. Ever.

[Bobcat]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Why is it that nearly every time I see a catamaran here in the Med, it's motoring from place to place? Even when the winds are favorable... they're under power. When we were looking for our present Oyster, I went on a test sail of a 45ft Leopard at the boat show">Annapolis boat show because I want to like them with the enormous living quarters, but the thing sailed horribly.

I see many, many Lagoons around here, but nearly 100% of the time.... motoring with sails furled. Why is that? Do they sail that badly? Wouldn't motor sailing be preferable? Why not just buy a powercat if all they do is motor?

I really like the Sunreef powercat. Maybe someday.

Ken

Only ones I saw motoring for any length of time in the Med were tourist charter boats heading for somewhere for the clients to BBQ or swim ... and even they motored when weather was favourable to sail in the advertised time set aside for the cruise. Sometimes the crew were just too busy serving drinks etc on a short cruise to the favoured anchorage.

Many sailors (mono and multihull) motor in and out of confined harbour approaches and anchorages etc when the wind is not favourable. Nothing unusual there ... ofter the most seamanlike approach - especially when entering unfamiliar ports.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Let's try to drift back somewhat close to the original topic.

Why buy the sailing rig in the first place? If most prefer to motor around, why not buy a power boat in the first place. That goes for monohulls as well.

I've often said and recommended to others while we were cruising the windless summer coast of Spain, that if I had to do it over again, I would have purchased a Powercat or a trawler. Now that we're in a much windier Sardinia, I'm more pleased with my sailboat choice because we get to use the sails daily instead of just motoring about. Yet I see the multihulls motoring in perfectly awesome sailing conditions. The monohulls... not so much.

How do you know the mono's aren't motoring? From what I've seen, the fact that they have sails up doesn't mean much. They still don't seem to ever shut their engines down.

Over the years I've been forming the impression that the sails on monohulls are mainly used in an attempt to reduce the rolling, or are decorative.

[SV THIRD DAY]

If ain't just cats...the Sea of Cortez is full of motor boats with vertical stabilizers.

Of course no one wants to admit it....but just look around and smell the diesel fumes.

[YARGESOL]

I will say in confrary- cats are not made for motoring..espesially winward.. How you will go against 20 knots??? 1,5??? And,the fuel is just for 4 days? What about if you have to sail 2000 miles?? The sail is the answer. Maybe,sometimes one motor+sails,if the wind is week.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Over the years I've been forming the impression that the sails on monohulls are mainly used in an attempt to reduce the rolling, or are decorative.

That's funny. Down in Belize I had a tacking duel, hard on the wind with a 38' charter cat one day. The channel was about 5 miles wide and the wind was blowing about 12 knots. I passed him in about 4 tacks over 6 miles in a boat with a 28' waterline.

[Jon Eisberg]

Originally Posted by carstenb

We've never met in person - here is one guy (and his wife) who love sailing overnight - night sailing is utterly fantastic and should be enjoyed to the max.

Count me in, as well... Without a doubt, the majority of my Top Ten List of most memorable sails would involve night sailing under a full moon. meteor showers, incredible phosphorescent trails, and the like...

I'd venture one of the primary reasons why there seems to be a lesser appreciation for night sailing among contemporary cruisers, is the virtual disappearance of open cockpits on today's cruising boats... Most boats I run nowadays feature cockpits completely topped by biminis and enclosures, often serving as support structures for solar arrays, and thus making them impossible to fold away when not needed...

Try to picture sailing under a full moon, or a million stars, while wearing one of these full cockpit condoms... Hell, would you even notice the moon up there?

;-)

Of course, I've gotta believe some of these contraptions contribute to reducing the amount of time spent under sail, as well... One of the keys to sailing, after all, is the ability to actually be able to see the damn sails ;-)





As cruisers continue to further insulate themselves from the elements and their surroundings in the quest for 'comfort', it's no surprise that so many might lack an appreciation for the rare and beautiful experience sailing at night can afford.. However, confining your cruising to a series of daysails sounds pretty limiting, to me... It's depressing to imagine some of the places I never would have seen, had I not bothered to sail through some nights to get there...

;-)

[Jim Cate]

Quote:
Originally Posted by cwjohm

However, I have yet to meet anyone, and I have talked to hundreds, who tell me that they particularly enjoy passages, especially extended passages with overnighters, from place to place.

I guess that Ann and I must not be amongst the "hundreds", for we enjoy passages and night sailing. Don't particularly like one-night "overnighter" coastal passages, though, but offshore and longer trips we do indeed enjoy.

And as to the cats/monos always motoring issue: seems like monohull folks see lots of motoring cats, and cat sailors see lots of monos motoring. Could be some selective observation going on there, maybe?? Lots of persistent prejudice showing up here, I think.

Jim

[D&D]

When we first saw this thread, we thought it was just stirring along the old cat vs mono thing...and now, after reading through the many contributions, we remain of the same view, mostly. As a stir, it makes for amusing reading.

There clearly are, however, still a few here who cling to the underlying assumption, viz. that sailing cats "motor nearly 100%"...

FWIW our experience is quite the opposite. We and the very great majority -- We can think of no exceptions -- of other sailing cat owners we know SAIL nearly 100%. We only motor (typically motor-sailing with one engine) when we can't maintain 4kn or when we're going into marinas, etc...and we generally avoid marinas.

The 'proof of the pudding' for us would be our fuel consumption. We sailed from Sardinia to Sydney via the Panama Canal (just under 14000nm) and used ~1400L of fuel for that voyage. We now cruise the OZ east coast, from the Whitsundays to Tassie, spending roughly 6 months/year living on board and we fill the tanks (325L/side=650L max) once a year.

...and we will now withdraw, leaving the thread back to (for us) its amusing purpose...