[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by mackconsult

I am a long time monohull sailor. Very experienced on the water. Thinking about cruising soon, been thinking about trimaran's and catamaran's.

I know that tri's and cat's can flip so don't even bother dropping that one on me. Just looking for others feedback on cruising in a tri or cat over a monohull.

I'd highly recommend you read the post I wrote a while back on multihulls as a starting point. It is located here.

Trimarans are typically less roomy than a monohull of equal LOA, while catamarans are typically more roomy. Trimarans tend to have better sailing performance and characteristics, provided they're not the old full wingdeck versions like the Pivers.

Here is my thinking. Port to Port might be quicker in a tri or cat .... although I now that means sacrificing some comfort.

What size boat are you talking about??? A properly designed trimaran or catamaran will often be faster port to port, but doesn't require sacrificing comfort. Many will argue that a multihull would be more comfortable, rather than less, since there is no constant heeling at 15˚+...

I'd point out that many of the charter industry catamarans are extremely under-canvassed, have very high windage, and really poor sailing characteristics. These boats were designed to do what most charterers have come to want—move them from beach bar to beach bar with enough space that they and their friends can hang out, lounge and party without interfering with each other too much. These boats are sailboats in name only.

Would also need to be a little more picky when it comes to weather windows.

A cruising sized multihull is fully capable of dealing with adverse weather at least as well as a monohull. However, the tactics are going to be very different. Raising the boards on centerboard/daggerboard multihulls and lying ahull is an option that isn't really feasible on most monohulls. The best serious piece of heavy weather survival gear on any small sailing craft IMHO is the Jordan Series Drogue.

Of course moorage becomes more of a problem.

While slips are more difficult for a multihull to get into, moorage is often not a problem. The shallow draft of most multihulls allows them to use moorings or anchorages that other boats simply can not. I've been to many anchorages, where a monohull wouldn't find space to anchor due to the number of boats already there... and easily found a spot to anchor in... with a draft of 16", I can anchor in 4' of water pretty safely.

One couple I met this past season talked about how their average passage speeds were in the 12-17 knot range. Granted, they were in a pretty big catamaran...but a monohull with the accommodations of their 55' catamaran would be much, much larger....and slower than their boat.