So I am thinking about a cat?

[CatNewBee]

Originally Posted by hzcruiser

Every time I read that what should not be mentioned I go oompf.... dang... ouch... OUCH! Worse than Ah/h.

knots/h is a good one, its assumingly the acceleration of the vessel in nm/h^2.

[MIRELOS]

thirty years on monohulls with family, I too had my doubts; no more, love my cat, any ocean crossing any weather, the comfort is unparalleled,.....galley up for sure, the down side is a lot more area to maintain.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

...
you can get good 240v units cheaply its the 12v pumps that are the expensive part. you can get 120l per hour ones for well under 2k US brand new.

...

Do you mind sharing where i can get a new 120 l/h watermaker for well under 2k usd? I know those kits with Kärcher pumps, do you mean one of those?

how much power does it use?

Our 120 l/h unit by Idromar required a serious genset, not a tiny Honda. Maybe power requirements have gone down but i doubt so (except for expensive units with energy recovery)

[dstraton]

Cats are for couples. Monos are for single blokes, often divorced. Cats are much better for solar protection. Monos are for melanoma. Cats have two of most things, with redundancy when one breaks (engine, toilet, fuel, etc). Cats have easy davits for launching and retrieving dinghies. Cats have shallower drafts for shallow anchorages. Cats are more expensive, to buy, and also to berth in marinas. Cats must reef earlier. Cats are faster, except upwind. Cats are more comfortable in a rolly anchorage. It is common for mono sailors to turn into cat sailors; rare for cat sailors to go back to mono sailors. The galley up/down question depends a lot on particular designs; Seawind’s galley down is great. The fly-bridge question depends on visibility; you can’t see through a genoa. Better to have twin helms.

I’ve had both. If you have a keen sailing wife and kids, I’ld go with a cat; no contest.

[drcat]

For an idea of what it is like on the flybridge on a flybridge Lagoon in heavy seas, look at the youtube videos for Catamaran IMPI.

[wb.andrews]

Sounds like you need a "home-like" boat. We looked at and chartered commercial cats and found them to have stairs into the hulls for bath, bed and storage. Started looking at custom boats with fewer stairs and found a 55 that has an enclosed upper deck, apartment style kitchen and three state rooms on the main deck. Only stairs are to the upper deck and heads in guest rooms. As there are limited choices for cats, I suggest a broad search. This one is powered by twin 155 Cummins (West System boats are light) and can cruise at 14kts. We usually travel at 8kts burning less than 3 gal / hour. Family loves it. Can seat 10 or more on the upper deck.

[WantTo]

I have read many of the replies so far, but will add to the fray to further confuse you. When my wife and I got married 10 years ago, it was with the understanding that we would go cruising when I retired in another 4 years. I had always sailed monohulls (44 to 80-foot boats) but my wife had a 30-foot trimaran. We did a Moorings charter in a cat and decided that is what we wanted. We started looking at all the cats out there but had some requirements. Due to my issues with skin cancer, we wanted a protected helm. That immediately eliminated Catana and some others. Even Lagoon only had a small bimini without much protection from either sun or wind/rain. When we saw a Manta, we knew that was the boat. It was the best cruising catamaran at that time as far as we were concerned. We spent two and a half years cruising Bahamas, Virgin Islands, back to U.S., up the east coast to Chesapeake Bay, Salty Dawg Rally back to BVI, hopped the islands to Trinidad for hurricane season, then back up the islands and returned to west Florida. We have been aboard many other catamarans and some of the things we liked best about the Manta other than great weather protection at the helm were spacious owner's cabin, large refrigerator and freezer, quite a bit of storage space, easy engine access, and it is the only boat we saw where passengers in the cockpit had a place to sit (the famous sling seat) where they could see out the front of the boat. Mantas are not produced anymore, but 120+ were made and several may be available that are a good buy.

[Nelsons]

We have sold our 50 ft Mono Hanse 2014 Modell after a full Atlantic round and signed for a new Leopard 45. However we had to deal with the same questions. But to me it’s funny to see that I did not see any performance aspect in the flybridge discussion. That was a major point to choose helm down. Seems to be a big performance difference

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by wb.andrews

Sounds like you need a "home-like" boat. We looked at and chartered commercial cats and found them to have stairs into the hulls for bath, bed and storage. Started looking at custom boats with fewer stairs and found a 55 that has an enclosed upper deck, apartment style kitchen and three state rooms on the main deck. Only stairs are to the upper deck and heads in guest rooms. As there are limited choices for cats, I suggest a broad search. This one is powered by twin 155 Cummins (West System boats are light) and can cruise at 14kts. We usually travel at 8kts burning less than 3 gal / hour. Family loves it. Can seat 10 or more on the upper deck.

Nice boat!

[stevensuf]

Originally Posted by rabbi

Do you mind sharing where i can get a new 120 l/h watermaker for well under 2k usd? I know those kits with Kärcher pumps, do you mean one of those?

how much power does it use?

Our 120 l/h unit by Idromar required a serious genset, not a tiny Honda. Maybe power requirements have gone down but i doubt so (except for expensive units with energy recovery)

https://seawaterpro.com/


runs of a honda 20i no problem

[rabbi]

Thanks for sharing, I just saved the link!


I have one of these low end Kärcher units at home. They are loud as hell and barely make it through the warranty period, but still more cost effective than the more beefy units.


I read about these Kärcher based watermaker kits years ago in a German forum. Back then the author was really happy with the results, except that the kärcher failed every few months. He considered it a consumable (over here these units cost about 50 Euro).
The 350 USD pump upgrade might be a better choice. Actually damn cheap, just new valves for the SS pump in the Idromar cost more than that.


The other pieces of the kit look like standard industrial parts to me, very close to what our idromar was like. Not fancy but serviceable.


Very cool & cheap solution. Very inefficient but OK. I like it except for the noise of the Kärcher and the Honda 20i. If you run it daily in a nice anchorage someone will sooner or later cut your anchor rope just to get rid of you


And of course nobody will ever give a dime for such a watermaker when time comes to sell the boat.
But if it fits your needs and resale is not on your priority list why not.

[CatNewBee]

Our system has 2 motors, 12V and 220V, delivers 100l/h and draws 70A at 13.4V, Its called Dessalator Duo 100 (I guess a french company), has manual pressure regulation valve, but automatic quality check valve, that redirects the output either to the sea or the tank. I would have preferred either a full-automatic system or a full manual system, where you can taste the watter before it goes to the tank. So 70Ah for 100l fresh water. We can run it on solar at noon.

https://www.dessalator.fr/en/products/serie-ac-dc-duo/

[stevensuf]

Originally Posted by rabbi

Thanks for sharing, I just saved the link!


I have one of these low end Kärcher units at home. They are loud as hell and barely make it through the warranty period, but still more cost effective than the more beefy units.


I read about these Kärcher based watermaker kits years ago in a German forum. Back then the author was really happy with the results, except that the kärcher failed every few months. He considered it a consumable (over here these units cost about 50 Euro).
The 350 USD pump upgrade might be a better choice. Actually damn cheap, just new valves for the SS pump in the Idromar cost more than that.


The other pieces of the kit look like standard industrial parts to me, very close to what our idromar was like. Not fancy but serviceable.


Very cool & cheap solution. Very inefficient but OK. I like it except for the noise of the Kärcher and the Honda 20i. If you run it daily in a nice anchorage someone will sooner or later cut your anchor rope just to get rid of you


And of course nobody will ever give a dime for such a watermaker when time comes to sell the boat.
But if it fits your needs and resale is not on your priority list why not.

2k with pump and lift pump, i wouldnt do it with the karcher, yeah a honda out the back might be annoying in an anchorage going all day long, but an hour or 2 here and there wouldnt be so bad.

[stevensuf]

Actually on a big cat with plenty of solar, you might get away with running it from an inverter, or use the inverter when motoring. There are nice inverter chargers for 500 euro with 80 amp charger and an actual transformer, so it can start real loads, not 5 micro seconds of surge, 2 to 3 seconds.

[rabbi]

A generator for an hour _is_ annoying for your neighbors in tight anchorages no matter how quiet it is.

So it depends. Fire it up in Union Island and don't be surprised if nobody wants you around.
Do it in Barbuda and nobody will ever notice.

Suspecting the Honda 20i is as quiet as its little brother I would not be so worried about the generator. Annoying it is yes, but the Kärcher is much worse. It has a distinct mechanical noise that will be next to impossible to absorp, even if you mount it under a bunk or so.

I know, I'm on my second K2 at home and both have been loud from the start.