Single handing-Cat or Tri?

[ty.gregory]

The Price range will be around 100K usd. I will be sailing El Caribe (and surrounding areas). I will be living aboard full time. I doubt I will have full coverage insurence. Whichever boat--it will be larger than 30 feet. Also, I would love the ability to cross oceans blue water.

Comments will be most appreciated. I can adjust to most anything.

[Redreuben]

I would have thought this is a no brainer-Trimaran.
Because EVERYTHING is close to hand in the main hull, not divided between two.
Happy to be wrong though !

[tomfl]

First off $US100k for a bigger than 30ft multihull really limits your options, it may be more a case of living with what you are able to find not choosing between a cat or a tri.

Your question is a little to generic to be answered easily. I have been looking at Fboats, the C31 in particular. At first I thought the aft cockpit would best fit my needs, but after sailing in a center cockpit I changed my mind.

The center cockpit put the helmsman much closer to the cabin top where the winches and cam cleats are and the traveler was not located in the cockpit making it seem much larger. Bottom line is any boat can be set up to make solo sailing easier or harder.

I also looked at a Seawind 1000xl and did some reading about it as well. The helm is much more protected on the Seawind and if you have a remote for the auto helm you can stay inside, but still very close to the main sheet cam cleat. The Seawind also has twin engines which means docking is much easier for a single person.

There is no doubt a cat above ~35 feet has a lot more room for live aboard. Depending on design the tri probably draws less water.

From a realistic standpoint you may be able to find an older Gemini at your price point. The other options are much older tris and cats, often home build, most likely past their prime with unknown layout for single handing. Any of these boats would require a good survey and most likely some additional money to get them into sailing shape. water sailing">Blue water sailing would almost for sure require up grades.

[Dulcesuenos]

We wanted the same thing. Looked at lots of cats. Gems, prouts. ( i know a nive event 34 in the 60's range if interested.) endeavourcats (owned a 30) seawind 1000. And a PDQ 32 lrc. There we're things we liked and disliked about them all. We ended up getting a AMI renaissance 320 and love it. Twin diesels. Oodles of storage. Twin queen births and a nice double plus the salon and galley up. Lots of bridgedeck clearance no slap in 2' seas. All lines lead to cockpit for ease of singlehanding. And a huge cockpit. Right now were boogying past Sarasota at 7.4 in 11 knots of wind.

[thinwater]

Honest, it's just about learning to sail. Make sure you have an auto helm and they're all straight forward.

The main distinction--and there are certainly exceptions--is that most smaller tris are performance oriented and most smaller cats are cruising oriented. For a single sailor, either could work, but you need to decide which compromises you can accept.

[snort]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

We wanted the same thing. Looked at lots of cats. Gems, prouts. ( i know a nive event 34 in the 60's range if interested.) endeavourcats (owned a 30) seawind 1000. And a PDQ 32 lrc. There we're things we liked and disliked about them all. We ended up getting a AMI renaissance 320 and love it. Twin diesels. Oodles of storage. Twin queen births and a nice double plus the salon and galley up. Lots of bridgedeck clearance no slap in 2' seas. All lines lead to cockpit for ease of singlehanding. And a huge cockpit. Right now were boogying past Sarasota at 7.4 in 11 knots of wind.

Dulce,
Just curious what you didn't like about the Seawind and the PDQ32, and why the AMI320 won the debate.
Thanks in advance!

[Dulcesuenos]

I liked the performance factor of the seawind. But we want to live aboard and the open cockpit and having to walk up across and back down again. And smaller berths wasn't appealing to the wife. The PDQ was sweet but galley was tiny and storage sucked. Head was even smaller and the cockpit was too. The ami had great build quality. No cracking or moisture. Strong rigging. Small comfy trampoline and still great storage forward and aft and everywhere else. Galley up as well as over 6' headroom in the salon. Two queen births that can convert to king beds and a third double aft. And a massive cockpit. She's fast and has great bridgedeck clearance.

[Tropic Cat]

Originally Posted by snort

Dulce,
.....why the AMI320 won the debate.
Thanks in advance!

I'm surprised by this as well. Richard Woods (catamaran designer) designed the hulls and that's not a bad thing as anything coming from Richard's shop will be fast and well thought out. But in this case the company threw out the rest of his work and did the boat design themselves. The result was a 13 boat production run of a mixed design that literally disappeared from the pages of mutilhull magazines. It seems the marketplace didn't have anything at all to say about the boat.

I'm also curious why you selected a boat without a pedigree, when you obviously had experience with many proven available designs? What do you know that we don't?

[Dulcesuenos]

In the above reply I left I stated many things that we really like about this boat also we like the fact all lines are led to the cockpit make it very easy to single hand. The company made 16 in total. They were priced in 1994 at 150,000 to compete with the pd q's and some others. While gemini's and endeavour cats cost half that. It was easy to see how tough it could be to be profitable. The boats construction is klege cell above the water line. And solid glass below. The reviews I saw an older magazines were very favorable. Also recently met a couple that cruise along side our boat for many years. They said they'd never seen a tougher faster little catamaran then than the AMI and almost bought one instead of their lagoon 37. Aside from some cosmetic needs and diesel maintenance and a fridge issue. We couldn't be happier with our choice.

[Dulcesuenos]

Our new baby!

[ty.gregory]

Great looking Cat! Any more pics?

[ImaginaryNumber]

Here's a Searunner 37 trimaran for sale. Price $56K, down ~$10K from last year. I have no knowledge of the boat, other than what the ad says.

Searunner For Sale | Honeywind

[smj]

Originally Posted by ImaginaryNumber

Here's a Searunner 37 trimaran for sale. Price $56K, down ~$10K from last year. I have no knowledge of the boat, other than what the ad says.

Searunner For Sale | Honeywind

Seems like a really high price for an old polyester Searunner. Maybe if it was epoxy but still seems kind of high.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by ty.gregory

Great looking Cat! Any more pics?

Here is an ad.

Used 1998 American Multihulls Renaissance 320, Pensacola FL - 100765554 - BoatTrader.com

[multihuler]

38' Fiberglass/epoxy Harris trimaran on ebay is the best deal in the country. High quality built. Around $60k with brand new diesel w warranty.