Why Do Catamarans Motor Nearly 100%

[weavis]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Aren't catamarans mostly a Caribbean/Mediterranean "thing"? Popular with charterers whose wives don't want to be "too close to the water"? ... My eight-year-old sister went into a tantrum swearing like a sailor when our father's monohull sailboat leaned.

Given my own experience, I hesitate to blame women for choosing a Cat. I would be the first to get one. Room, space width, no heel-whats not to love? Dont get me wrong, Im happy on a well found mon, but for 'living' my preference is a Cat.

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by weavis

Given my own experience, I hesitate to blame women for choosing a Cat. I would be the first to get one. Room, space width, no heel-whats not to love? Dont get me wrong, Im happy on a well found mon, but for 'living' my preference is a Cat.

.....and the simple matter of being able to move from cockpit to saloon (and often the galley) all on one level, the multiple cabins in the case of a family, the space for solar panels and for my wife the comfort of food preparation when sailing. We also feel the reduced heeling is a massive safety bonus. Oh yes, mustn't forget to mention the usually better heads arrangement or the shallow draft, nor the inbuilt dual redundancy of many systems. Im sure the list goes on.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by weavis

Given my own experience, I hesitate to blame women for choosing a Cat. I would be the first to get one. Room, space width, no heel-whats not to love? Dont get me wrong, Im happy on a well found mon, but for 'living' my preference is a Cat.

Well then... Here's the perfect boat for you Gary. A monohull with all the room and no heel characteristics of a catamaran. Many design elements appear have been incorporated from the most recent Shannon Design team, which should surely satisfy your personal taste requirements.

And I bet "she" or rather it, can be purchased for a very reasonable price... especially with the strong Sterling... and is possibly available in a "double wide." What's not to love?

[weavis]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Well then... Here's the perfect boat for you Gary. A monohull with all the room and no heel characteristics of a catamaran. Many design elements appear have been incorporated from the more recent Shannon Design team, which should surely satisfy your personal taste requirements.

And I bet "she" or rather it, can be purchased for a very reasonable price... especially with the strong Sterling and is possibly available in a "double wide." What's not to love?

I find myself trembling with desire for it.

[Bulawayo]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Well then... Here's the perfect boat for you Gary. A monohull with all the room and no heel characteristics of a catamaran. Many design elements appear have been incorporated from the more recent Shannon Design team, which should surely satisfy your personal taste requirements.

And I bet "she" or rather it, can be purchased for a very reasonable price... especially with the strong Sterling and is possibly available in a "double wide." What's not to love?

metal sails......very nice.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Aren't catamarans mostly a Caribbean/Mediterranean "thing"?

No.

You will find plenty of well designed well SAILED multis in Australia. Australian multis have tended to be lighter and quicker than the condomarans though so maybe thats why.

[monte]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Not much wind here over the past three weeks, we've been motor sailing most of the time. Most Monohulls we've seen usually with just the main sail up, which doesn't make much sense to us, since our particular boat seems to motor sail best with the jib up, or jib and main. Multihulls.... still motoring, but this is the peak of the charter season, so I'm understandably cutting them some slack. In this heat, 89-95 degrees every day with almost no wind, I'd want to get someplace as quick as possible myself.

We're on the move again Sunday and Monday, and as luck will have it, 15 knots of wind forecast from dead ahead for 8 hours.

Ken that comment doesn't make much sense to me. If there's enough wind to use the jib there should be enough wind to sail. If we tried motoring with the jib out in under 8kn wind the apparent wind would come forward. The only time we might motor sail its jib and main would be with 4-6kn tws on the beam. Also a forecast like 15kn on the nose would be a good sailing forecast aboard Sephina. Here's similar conditions we had in your area last time we were on that coast.

[donradcliffe]

Originally Posted by Factor

No.

You will find plenty of well designed well SAILED multis in Australia. Australian multis have tended to be lighter and quicker than the condomarans though so maybe thats why.

Maybe you could point out where these multi's might be found. I just spent 2 months traveling around the coast of OZ, from Fraser Island to Adelaide, and never saw a cat sailing--I did see about a dozen motoring about, some in a favorable breeze.

It isn't just cats, a lot of crab-crusher monos motor everywhere too.

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by monte

Ken that comment doesn't make much sense to me. If there's enough wind to use the jib there should be enough wind to sail. If we tried motoring with the jib out in under 8kn wind the apparent wind would come forward. The only time we might motor sail its jib and main would be with 4-6kn tws on the beam. Also a forecast like 15kn on the nose would be a good sailing forecast aboard Sephina. Here's similar conditions we had in your area last time we were on that coast.
Attachment 105984

Monte,

We will sail tomorrow as much as possible provided we can make better than 6 knots because we have a deadline to keep. Monday is the issue, although the forecast from yesterday when I wrote the post called for 12-15 knots on the nose, on Monday.... Three days out from the forecast.... Things can change significantly. Like this morning, I'm so glad we didn't leave as originally planned. We had eight hours of severe thunderstorms beginning at 7am, thankfully there wasn't as much wind as you'd normally expect, but somehow a 90ft ketch dragged anchor and came within 20ft of us.

On this outing, my wife has a plane to catch, so we'll sail as much as possible, but we won't hesitate to use the motor to motor sail. You must have looked at today's grib files, which are different from the one I was studying when I wrote the post on Friday.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by donradcliffe

Maybe you could point out where these multi's might be found. I just spent 2 months traveling around the coast of OZ, from Fraser Island to Adelaide, and never saw a cat sailing--I did see about a dozen motoring about, some in a favorable breeze.

It isn't just cats, a lot of crab-crusher monos motor everywhere too.

From your description of being able to "read" the Wide Bay bar from Inskip point, which is 3 1/2 miles inshore from the actual bar, I get the impression that what you see is what you want to see.

[mark_morwood]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Aren't catamarans mostly a Caribbean/Mediterranean "thing"? Popular with charterers whose wives don't want to be "too close to the water"? ... My eight-year-old sister went into a tantrum swearing like a sailor when our father's monohull sailboat leaned.

Nope. Though they are not very common where you are on the US west coast for some reason.

We're currently anchored at Maupiti (25 miles west of Bora Bora in French Polynesia) in the middle of the Pacific and there are 6 mono-hulls, 3 catamarans and 1 trimaran here. None of them are charter boats. That's about the average I have seen out real world cruising in the Med, Atlantic and Pacific. (though 1 in 10 is a bit high for trimarans). Interestingly as the catamarans are all family boats, probably over half the people here are on multi-hulls.

Mark.

[SV THIRD DAY]

Originally Posted by mark_morwood

Nope. Though they are not very common where you are on the US west coast for some reason..

Psst...because the Western Coast of the US, south of Seattle anyway, has scant places to really go "cruising". I know I know...let the flaming begin, but if you want to compare the California Channel Islands to other prime cruising locations around the world...your living in denial.

There is more "Sailing" on the West Coast of the US than "Cruising"....so I think that explains the lack of Cats anyway.

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

Psst...because the Western Coast of the US, outh of Seattle anyway, has scant places to really go "cruising". I know I know...let the flaming begin, but if you want to compare the California Channel Islands to other prime cruising locations around the world...your living in denial.

There is more "Sailing" on the West Coast of the US than "Cruising"....so I think that explains the lack of Cats anyway.

Your point is well taken but north of Seattle you have some of the best easy going cruising areas in the world with the San Juan and Gulf Islands as well as the areas between Vancouver and Alaska and guess what...ta da!! Hardly any Cats in the area, rare as hens teeth!

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by mark_morwood

Nope. Though they are not very common where you are on the US west coast for some reason.

We're currently anchored at Maupiti (25 miles west of Bora Bora in French Polynesia) in the middle of the Pacific and there are 6 mono-hulls, 3 catamarans and 1 trimaran here. None of them are charter boats. That's about the average I have seen out real world cruising in the Med, Atlantic and Pacific. (though 1 in 10 is a bit high for trimarans). Interestingly as the catamarans are all family boats, probably over half the people here are on multi-hulls.

Mark.

Friends of ours were complaining recently that out of 11 boats anchored in Lady Musgrave Lagoon, they were the only monohull...

[alansmith]

Dockhead, check out Steve Dashew FPB on setsail.com. Nipples will be instantly very hard. You might have to figure out a way to make crime pay for it all...just saying..