Are all multi hulls so noisy and unpredictable?

[jmh2002]

Originally Posted by mark_morwood

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.

Good video, you can certainly see the boat moving around, but it's pretty reasonable at 8kn with 20-25kn and the accompanying seaway

[jmh2002]

In general let's also not forget that it's not as if monohulls can't/don't slam either. And faster more performance versions can be terrible for this, or simply just some designs that have a flat forefoot / bow section.

These days most cruisers are not sailing heavy double ended monos with round canoe bodies and their generally soft motion at sea. And this style of boat is also pretty slow and doesn't point very well either so that contributes to a more gentle motion as well.

And of course furniture can creak just the same too if poorly fitted, or if the hull is less than stiff. Old Beneteaus built for the charter market used to do this.

So my point is that these issues are really a function of a particular boat and it's design, as well as possibly the boatspeed too, and not necessarily a general catamaran issue only.

[Manateeman]

The Green Frog kills it again. Loony Goon. Or maybe La Goonee.
The manatee crew found a piece of roofing tin, a baseball bat and an oil drum.
They’d beat the oil drum then wack the tin sheet screaming “ Lagoon hit a wave.”
Then they would all run into one another and flop into a pile of bodies yelling
“catamaran capsize”. “No escape hatch”.
This hilarity continued.
If they drank so much beer they couldn’t paddle in a straight line, they were suffering from “:catamaran motion balance loss.” Or CMBL Pronounced cymbal.
Then ended the night singing “You’re going to need an ocean..dum ta dum..of anti nausea lotion”
Pass the earplugs and please keep your seat belt on for the entire voyage.
Happy trails to you
Captain Mark on his quiet monohull.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Manateeman

The Green Frog kills it again. Loony Goon. Or maybe La Goonee.

The manatee crew found a piece of roofing tin, a baseball bat and an oil drum.

They’d beat the oil drum then wack the tin sheet screaming “ Lagoon hit a wave.”

Then they would all run into one another and flop into a pile of bodies yelling

“catamaran capsize”. “No escape hatch”.

This hilarity continued.

If they drank so much beer they couldn’t paddle in a straight line, they were suffering from “:catamaran motion balance loss.” Or CMBL Pronounced cymbal.

Then ended the night singing “You’re going to need an ocean..dum ta dum..of anti nausea lotion”

Pass the earplugs and please keep your seat belt on for the entire voyage.

Happy trails to you

Captain Mark on his quiet monohull.

All boats are quiet......when they don’t move. ;-)

[Brauhma]

Originally Posted by BobFord

My experience with cats- Wharram ,Crowther now Euro custom. All of my (3) had faults -Wharram was slow ,Crowther was stressed but Euro ( too expensive ) is built for the job of off shore sailing. 'Horses for courses '. All have RTW experience but the modern production cats are becoming too much like a floating caravan .They are designed for comfort at a price. I admire serious monos that perform so well but my priority is to keep the Lady happy and a cat goes a long way in that challenge!

Hello Bob, What can or will you tell me about the Wharram, I plan to build one then learn to sail it competently, and see where the wind takes me after that. Thank you for your patience
Braun.

[Manateeman]

Hi. We looked at your photos. Is this a passenger vessel? Is there stability testing required? Kinda looks like a lot of weight high up.
Looks like any catamaran will be a huge difference.
What are you looking for in the ideal vessel...maybe we can suggest something.
Happy trails to you.
The manatee crew.

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by ThereAndBack

It should be noted that sailing 2 days a year is an improvement over the old monohull designs which were NEVER used due to their small cockpits which wouldn't allow cocktail parties in any condition at all.

pontoon boats are all the rage for cocktail parties in my neck of the woods

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Brauhma

Hello Bob, What can or will you tell me about the Wharram, I plan to build one then learn to sail it competently, and see where the wind takes me after that. Thank you for your patience
Braun.

I hope you have visited Andy Smith's yard in Bohol. He turns out some truly spectacular Wharrams.

[teneicm]

Yep, all cats are typically noisier than monos.


All cats will slam, given the right conditions. Anyone telling you that their cat doesn't slam is trying to sell it to you. When cats slam, it can sound like a someone fired a 500 pound sandbag out of a cannon directly at your boat. Luckily, it doesn't happen all that often and you can adjust your point of sail to eliminate it.


The motion in cats is also more "unpredictable" compared to a mono. A cat responds to every wave and difference in the water surface, rather than slower roll and motion on a mono. But that "quick' motion on a cat is what allows you to put a cup of coffee down on a table in even rough conditions and it won't spill or slosh.

[Laurie watson]

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

User error

[capn_billl]

Cats are an entirely different beast than a mono.

It takes major adjustments in sailing practices if you are used to monos.

Some can adjust, and others can't, and just hate what they can't understand.

In some conditions a cat can smoke a mono, in others the mono is blithely cruising, while the cat is struggling to get the sails right.

In my cat, I can get a floating condo from Florida to the Virgin islands in a week without spilling the champagne.

And that makes my wife happy.

I spent 25 years trying to convince her into making a passage on a mono, not going to happen.

Even moderate storms (30 knots), don't bother her because the motion above the hulls are more up, and down than rocking, and swaying.

She invariably gets seasick in monos, and so far on our cat, no.

[Sea Wolf]

We’ve owned and cruised on 2 cats… a 32ft Gemini and a 50ft Prout Quasar. What you experienced is what first timers experience. If you take the waves head on, you’re going to get slamming… and that can be very noisy and very uncomfortable as the boat will vibrate with each slam. If the waves are big enough they’ll give you a jerky forward motion. If you take the waves on the side, just like a monohull, you’re going to rock and roll. Each cat handles differently. While we’ve not sailed on one of the new, light catamarans, we’ve been told many times that they can be squirrely. Our Gemini was sensitive so we didn’t take her out when we knew it was going to be rough. We just waited for a weather window. Our Prout… would go through just about anything… and pretty much level. Once, when we were about 150 miles off the Florida/Georgia coast, we hit a freak storm. It wasn’t big, but it was very, very nasty and moved with us so it was an all day affair. The wind/waves were so high that we actually came out of the water, made a quarter turn and went back into the water… all level and very smoothly. That experience aside, generally speaking, we tried to take the waves on our forward or aft quarter and had smooth rides most of the time.

[GBR134]

Originally Posted by Cliffhanger

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.

Here,here - how often are we to have this pointless debate. Cats & Monos are different beasts with different characteristics, strengths and weaknesses. Critical comparison between the two is literally pointless.

For the 73rd time I vow not to read through any more comments trying to dis one form or the other - but monos are best Obvs😘

[Happ]

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

By and large much of the bashing is as you said waves hitting the bridge deck. The creaking if from the lack of structure in the boat. Lagoon along with many other manufacturers design their boat for the Charter business. They will never see open oceans. It’s about cost.

The boats hat are made to go offshore have EVERYTHING like cabinets glassed in. That adds to the rigidity of the hull and stops the creaking. It all comes down to what you are using the boat for.

[lo2jones]

Sure others have said this by now: cat are noisy and boring to sail. Even if you’re doing 12 knots, it doesn’t feel like it and it’s noisy as hell…the fast the cat the noisier it is underway.