Monohull or Multihull Sailboat?

[Alan Wheeler]

44, sorry I am taking so long to reply. I am out on my boat and am not ignoring you.
The QB Storm story was much bigger than the reports of stories found on the net. The rescue co-ordination centre had some 15 EPIRB's on the board if I remember rightly. It was several days later that the final alarm signal was silenced. There was an entire fleet of boats spread out all over. I remember the flyboy's telling me they came across wreckage of one boat. This later was confirmed to be the wreckage of Heart Light. I remember watching the debriefing interview with the crew of Heart Light. But I don't remember them ever saying they wanted the boat rammed and sunk. OK, maybe I am wrong and have forgotten that part. They were certainly a strange couple.
From the rescue perspective, this was a serious storm. The wavbes were such a size that the RNZAF Orion crew suffered seasickness of all things. They were flying at an altitude of 150-300ft when at the lowest. The aircraft was being raised and lowered the 80ft by these enormous waves passing under them. The video they shot simply did not do the justice to the size of these monsters, till you got a shot of a boat riding up over one and what seemed to do the real damage was the smaller cresting breakers on top of the monsters, slamming into the boats. Heart Light was breaking apart. The Crew did not believe the vessel had much time left before she was gone. In the interview I do not remember anything being said about negotiating a deal to get off the boat. It certainly was not the Monowai that rescued that crew. I can't remember the ship. But the Cpt of the Monowai really did not want to rescue anyone unless it was a Mayday. It was putting the lives of the Monowai's crew and the smaller boats that day at extreme risk. I am not saying this did not happen, I just do not remember it being said, that the rescue ship then rammed Heart Light. I find it hard to believe any ships commander would put his vessel in further risk by trying toram something in Seas of that state. But I ain't no ships Capt.

Anyways, many of the original interviews, video footage from the Aircraft etc were put into a documentory. I will ask TVNZ if that Doco still exists in their Archive and maybe we can get some of these questions and answers confirmed.

The boat we nearly bought was called Waitane. she was a 50ft FC Tarhitian. But we would hae struggled to afford her. Much of her gear was from the 60's and she needed a lot of updating. Beautiful lines and a clipper bow. I fell in love with her. This was the first FC we looked at and so was very nervous about both the material and the boat in general. I was very new to big boats then and I had so had no idea what a Hartley Tarhitian was like(sailing wise that is). Remember that Richard Hartely designed these boats back in early 60's or maybe even earlier. So being able to sit with the owners and talk of their experiance was great in so many ways. The comment was, " we were scared as hell, but tried not to show that to the kids. The kids spent the entire time sitting on the Saloon floor playing games".
Many "sailors" tried telling me to stay away from FC and that the Tahitian was a slow brick. But I have learnt over time that is not the case. but then, I also like FC material, so maybe I am nuts anyway. However, going through own own personal storm, Ihave come to trust my little boat and that she will get me through any thing.

Changing the tack of this slightly, The are good points and bad points to every design of monohull out there. But someone still loves that boat. There are just as many good points and bad points between Multi's. But each owner loves their own. So it is only natural that each chooses between Multi and Mono for specific personal reasons. It depends on what they want to do and what they want in return from their boat and sailing experiance. While it is great to discuss the views, please do so remembering that no boat design, shape size or material is perfect. If it were, we would all have the same boat and there would be a lot of boats for sale not selling out there.

[rexposeidon]

so ultimately at the end of the day, after reading all 27 pages of debate and talking with many who have an opinion on all of this; the opinion seems to me to be "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." And since NOONE is holding the magic rock that defines the ultimate in sailing vessel. Personally, I'll wrap myself in my little warm fuzzy blanket, and hold onto the mono-hull, from tradition and that which gives me a warm fuzzy; I raise my salute to all who continue to arrive at their destination, under the power of wind, and bid you all Fair Winds. Drinks will be served on the Quarter Deck at 5; please remember it's always 5 somewhere.

[beau]

I have seen many monohull sailors convert to multihulls here in Australia, I have never seen a multihull sailor convert to a monohull.

Speed, more deck space, shallow draft, women like multihulls better (because they sail flat) are just some of the reasons.

Personally I prefer cruising Trimarans.

please keep this thread open, I love to hear monohulls sailors try and justify their position.

[Alan Wheeler]

I learned to sail in a small multi-hull. Fast and fun. I have been on a large Tri. About 70ft. didn't care for it much. It was a huge boat with very little room for it's 70ft. A friend of Kai Nui and me sailed on it from Tahiti to Hawaii. It averaged 17kts all the way and was held back from faster by a scared skipper. They are certainly fast, but I wouldn't have one. I wouldn't mind a Cat, but they are out of my price range. To me they are stupid expensive for what you get. But then there are Mono hulls I don't much care for either. And the same debate between Multi/Mono can be made between some Mono's. And for that matter, not all Multi's would be good to go to extreme water sailing">blue water sailing either.

[BigCat]

"I note that the US Coastguard don't like sea anchors but is this because of shallow water storms being steeper and more likely to break over the bows or just that coastal skippers don't take enough precautions with learning the system and preventing chafeing?" The USCG's view is more nuanced than that. See SailNet Community - View Single Post - Battening down for heavy weather

[GMac]

Originally Posted by beau

please keep this thread open, I love to hear monohulls sailors try and justify their position.

OK Aussie I'll bite and what's more I'll save you some writing, Yes, another bloody kiwi

Back in the day I sailed monos. That ran it's course and we went multi (as a primer for the never got off the ground Formula 40 world series) and being honest most of the 1st season was ugly, very ugly but we battled on and came out shiny. That was a GBE (28fter) and my 1st real experience on any multi bigger than a Paper Tiger (single man off the beach cat). We raced ours and I loved it.

Back then (mid 80's) here anyone sailing a multi was a 'long haired freaky person' mainly because most multi sailors lived on the gulf islands and grew lots of plants the police didn't much like. Most of the multis were Warrams, Pivers and other assorted home builds of dubious construction. Most were crewed by said freaky people who were stoned and just did dumb stuff. We rescued one (35ft odd) that had gone upside down in the entrance to Auckland harbour in 40knts odd of wind. When we got the guys aboard the rescue boat we asked 'what happened', the reply was 'It just fell over'. When asked why they had full sail up they replied 'we don't have wind gear on the boat so didn't know how windy it was'. Yes complete idiots but sadly a reasonable refection of why multis had such a bad reputation.

So when deciding to build myself a bigger boat as much as I like multis there just wasn't any of any decent size or type that did anything for me and the thought of becoming long haired and stoned just didn't help either, so another mono was born instead.

Over the years the mono has changed shaped and size a few times. I have also had the chance to sail 'newer' multis without loonies aboard. Don't get me wrong some of my best mates are loonies and I can get a bit of loony action of my own going at times but I'm not a fan of loonies at sea.

Today things have changed a lot here. It was only 10 years maybe a smidgen longer ago multis here were still regarded as freaky boats and just had zero traction really. Since then we have seen a massive growth in both multis for racing and cruising along with better designs and almost the death of the long haired freaky people, not totally but close.

So I'd suggest when talking here that many mono sailors could easily be multi sailors now if the multis reputation wasn't as tarnished as it once was. Also some who did go multi found no boats they liked or things like that so went back to monos.

Simply put multis had, until quite recently, zero interest due to -
dodgy design, poor looks, poor sea handling characteristics, no massive speed advantage and the freaky loonies that inhabited them. Generally they just had a very poor reputation, actual or perceived, for most things the punter here wanted.

It takes time to change solid mind-sets.

One thing that I think was a bit of a turning point for Multis here was when Peter Blake did the Around Aussie race and the couple of trans-tasman battles with Bullfrog, that fast Aussie multi and one very sexy beast for it's time. Peter did often say that the multi scared the crap out of him most of the time but when things were sweet they were real sweet. So a world renown mono man has probably done more for multis here than any multi sailor had done previously.

And just to chuck this one in, not as a 'in your face' just as a FYI. When us 3 'mono and never sailed a multi before' sailors jumped into our multi we came up against long term seasoned multi sailors. Not the freaky type the serious racing type, a small but hard sailing hard drinking bunch. In less than one season we managed to work multis out and beat the pants off the rest on almost every occasion.

Could it just be people enjoy the bigger challenge of making a mono go fast?

How's that Beau?

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by rexposeidon

so ultimately at the end of the day, after reading all 27 pages of debate and talking with many who have an opinion on all of this; the opinion seems to me to be "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." And since NOONE is holding the magic rock that defines the ultimate in sailing vessel. Personally, I'll wrap myself in my little warm fuzzy blanket,..
...Drinks will be served on the Quarter Deck at 5; please remember it's always 5 somewhere.

Rex’s research seems to be incomplete.
I hold the “magic rock”; but only share it’s enlightenment very selectively, and in the presence of quarter-deck drinks, whilst wrapped in warm fuzzy blankets, and my own self-righteous pride.

Nonetheless, I like your attitude.

[dcstrng]

<I love to hear monohulls sailors try and justify their position…>

Hee, hee… As far as I can recall, the only vessel I felt I had to justify was a raft (a multi -- railroad ties) my kid brother and I cobbled together to skinny-dip in a stagnant backwater of small rural creek… Needless to say, dad didn’t buy our justification and my boating days were done for a considerable period of time…

As fer multi v. mono; I already weighed in on that… nothing against multis, but at this stage I have no strong inclination to switch, although I once was entranced with the idea of a tri (back in my freaky “long-hair” days, or was it daze…), but I hadn’t thought about the “ladies like `em better” factor… Hmmmm… ran into that with motorcycles, where the manufactures aiming to run their products upscale clearly went after the pillion with the design of couch like rear seating, handy storage areas for those scented chemicals I have no idea how to use, sound-systems, intercoms and other plush accouterments the rider has only modest use for, or can’t use – it’s a forgone conclusion, in an era where toys are financed with gargantuan debt, second-mortgages and the like, it would be the kiss of death if the admiral wasn’t measurably enthusiastic at some level… On a bike, it is simple to eliminate the distractions of chin-music with louder pipes, but on a sailboat that doesn’t seem to be a viable option… so I guess we do what we must, whatever…

[imagine2frolic]

HEY SULLI,

Don't go drifting with that cat.......LOLOLOLOLOL like you do a rear wheel drive car!!!

[bg9208]

I have read all of the answers on this thread but really haven't found the answers to the three basic questions about Cats.
All my previous cruising has been in monohulls but next year we are proposing buying a boat to liveaboard, sail down to the Med for a few years and then, possibly bimble across the Indian Ocean to India and Sri lanka. As we would like to take as many important bits of our present life as is practical, we are likely to farily well loaded at the very start and for the bluewater bit loaded with provisions and fuel, all kept as low as possible. Now I like the Snowgoose but 'her indoors' thinks Cats are ugly however I think I can probably address that challenge but my own concern, due to lack of firsthand knowledge is the frequent reference to degradation of performance of Cats when overloaded. What I must ask is 1) just how much is weight is needed to 'overload' a Snowgoose 2) Just how much effect on performance and stability would 'overloading' cause 3)Is the Snowgoose right for the task 4) What effect to windward ability and handling/manoverability, or should I stick with monohull.
Bear in mind that I'm not interested in racing just to go fast enough to get out of trouble.
TIA

Brian Owen
Home page

[irayone]

Hi
Can anyone tell me where I can find a review of the wild cat catamaran line of boats.
Thanks

[GordMay]

You might check out “unfortunate turn...” at:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...turn-1542.html

and:

Wildcat blistering and delamination (builders Charter Cats SA)
bumfuzzle/charter cats email correspondence

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by bg9208

I have read all of the answers on this thread but really haven't found the answers to the three basic questions about Cats.
All my previous cruising has been in monohulls but next year we are proposing buying a boat to liveaboard, sail down to the Med for a few years and then, possibly bimble across the Indian Ocean to India and Sri lanka. As we would like to take as many important bits of our present life as is practical, we are likely to farily well loaded at the very start and for the bluewater bit loaded with provisions and fuel, all kept as low as possible. Now I like the Snowgoose but 'her indoors' thinks Cats are ugly however I think I can probably address that challenge but my own concern, due to lack of firsthand knowledge is the frequent reference to degradation of performance of Cats when overloaded. What I must ask is 1) just how much is weight is needed to 'overload' a Snowgoose 2) Just how much effect on performance and stability would 'overloading' cause 3)Is the Snowgoose right for the task 4) What effect to windward ability and handling/manoverability, or should I stick with monohull.
Bear in mind that I'm not interested in racing just to go fast enough to get out of trouble.
TIA

Brian Owen
Home page

Having owned both a 45' mono and now a little Catalac 10M, I'd say go for the mono in this case. Why? You are already admitting you are going to load her down. While I can't comment as to the exact figure to overload a Snowgoose (mine's a Catalac), the easy answer is, "less than you think!"

I notice a marked difference in performance with this Catalac since I moved all my tools onboard and filled up fuel and water. She needs a good wind to get moving when loaded for liveaboard cruising.

If you are looking at carrying a lot of gear, get the mono.

If you are looking at having a lot of space and can go light, get the cat.

[BigCat]

"If you are looking at carrying a lot of gear, get the mono." Or get a bigger cat. With a mono, you look at how big interior is, and pick one to suit. With a cat, you look at the payload capacity, and pick one that may well have a bigger interior than you need.

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by BigCat

"If you are looking at carrying a lot of gear, get the mono." Or get a bigger cat. With a mono, you look at how big interior is, and pick one to suit. With a cat, you look at the payload capacity, and pick one that may well have a bigger interior than you need.

Um... he asked a specific question about a Prout Snowgoose vs. a 45' mono and emphasized payload carrying.

Not every problem in life can be solved by a cat... well... except a rodent problem, maybe.