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Before buying your monohull, did you consider ...

6K views 48 replies 23 participants last post by  grmitche 
#1 ·
Did you consider others multi-hull boats? I have no experience in multi-hull except a week of sailing a Hobie cat 16.
 
#5 ·
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder... and there are ugly monohulls as well as beautiful multihulls... All the heavy metals in your keel must have affected your IQ... :D
 
#3 ·
When I was looking to buy my boat, I did look at both monohulls and multihulls... I've sailed on both a lot and decided to go with a multihull for several reasons.
 
#6 ·
For a cruising catamaran to start making sense to me you need to be looking at 42 foot + , When you load up the smaller ones their performance starts to suffer.

At 45 feet they really start to work. However other than a couple of Prouts the price starts a 1/4M.$

Just too much for me.
 
#7 · (Edited)
For the size and price range I was looking at, there weren't really any multihull options. I wanted a small (22 feet or less), affordable (under $3,000) boat with a cabin. A multihull with any appreciable size cabin in that size range would probably be a) pretty rare, and b) accordingly expensive. Otherwise, I'd be in a Hobie, which was not what I had in mind, so it was a monohull for me.

From a strictly aesthetic point of view, multihulls are certainly very unconventional-looking craft. Which is neither here nor there. But if you want classic lines and a very traditional hull form and sail plan, a multihull isn't going to appeal to you very much. I don't care for the ultra-sleek ultra-modern multihulls, like L'Hydroptere and the newest America's Cup boats. But a Piver trimaran or even SD's Telstar can have a certain appeal ... if you squint your eyes and **** your head to the side. :)

But yes, there are all kinds of ugly monohulls.
 
#8 ·
My next boat will likely be a multihull. It'll probably be a 34-35 foot Gemini and simply treat from a load perspective as my C-27 (load for the passage at hand). I will look at 42+ foot cats provided they may sit in my price range in a few years.

The advantages of even a small multihull like the Gemini for a cruising couple as compared to something like a Beneteau 35 are very compelling. My wife will likely prefer the lack of heeling, speed and comfort of the smaller cat as compared to an equivalent or larger monohull. We're going to compare mid-to-high 30s Beneteaus to cruising cats at the Annapolis sailboat show in October.

I happen to like the lines of the Gemini and the 42 foot cruising cats. But my wife also love the lines of the Beneteaus so it may be a wash.

Matt
 
#40 ·
My wife will likely prefer the lack of heeling, speed and comfort of the smaller cat as compared to an equivalent or larger monohull.
I'm sure what you meant to say was "My wife preferred the speed, comfort and lack of heeling of a smaller cat . . . ." :)
 
#9 ·
Considering how many people come to this site with a budget of about $50k for acquiring a cruising boat, there are hardly any multihulls available in that price range and the ones that are available are very old, very tired, and not particularly spacious.
 
#10 ·
I seriously considered a used Condor 40 trimarran before buying my boat. I had owned and designed multihulls in the past. The pluses were shallow draft, and a lot more speed. I decided that the negatives that I found compelling were, a cramped interior, no place to tie up something that wide, a huge increased cost to haul and paint the bottom, issues with docking single hand.

I have sailed on Cruising cats. Any that I can afford I find dull and not as fast as the monohull I ultimately purchased. The more exciting Cats are way out of my price range, and frankly do not appeal to me as cruising designs.

Jeff
 
#12 ·
Mono-hulls can be knocked down and rolled over and they come right back up.
Multi-hulls are knocked down and they stay up-side down until you can get a crane to right them.

Guess which one I will choose...:p
 
#18 · (Edited)
Monohulls can lose their keels and capsize... they can also downflood and sink. They have a position of ultimate stability, sitting up right on the bottom of the sea... If I have a choice between a boat upright, sitting on the bottom of the ocean and an inverted multihull, I know which I'd choose, since I don't have gills.

Both have their pros and cons, and both have pretty and ugly boats in their camp...

As for the arguments about costs and such... yes, multihulls are generally more expensive than monohulls at a given LOA. However, it depends on what you want to do with the boat... to some, making a passage in 20% less time is worth a lot... or being able to sail at 10-12 knots on a regular basis. Others like having the boat heeled, the rail in the water and watching the spray flying.... I'd point out that multihulls are far less expensive in terms of their performance than monohulls are. My little 28' trimaran runs down 40' monohulls pretty regularly. :D

Some catamarans and trimarans can fit in a standard slip. The Gemini 105Mc is such a catamaran, and the Dragonflies, Corsairs and Telstar 28 trimarans are such as well. If you're only interested in staying in marinas...then a monohull may make sense, but I think that's a specious argument....most long distance cruisers I've spoken with don't marina hop... they anchor out, pickup moorings, and avoid getting a slip to avoid the hit on their cruising kitty. Marina slips tend to be very expensive compared to anchoring out or using a mooring.

Trimarans tend to be less spacious than a monohull of equal LOA, unless it is an older, full-wingdeck design. Catamarans tend to have more space than monohulls of equal LOA. Monohulls tend to have the greatest cargo carrying capacity, but if cargo capacity is so important to you, get a barge... :D

There are monohulls and multihulls that sail well, and ones that sail like pigs with club feet, so that's a wash.

Having an extremely shallow draft can have serious advantages, as you often have more places you can anchor and a greater selection of hurricane holes to hide in. You can also often find anchorages and slips that deeper draft craft can't take advantage of. Combine this with a daggerboard or centerboard with a kickup rudder setup, you can have the advantages of good windward performance as well as shallow draft.

I'd point out that the Polynesians settled an area larger than North America to windward consisting of a large number of tiny islands in MULTIHULLS... Their navigation and seamanship skills were far better than those of the Europeans of the time.

The idea that monohulls are the only proper type of sailboat is a euro-centric viewpoint. If we had all grown up with multihulls and someone came along and said that getting rid of the multiple hulls and adding a huge metal weight to keep the boat upright was a good idea, he'd have been thought of as crazy....
Mono-hulls can be knocked down and rolled over and they come right back up.
Multi-hulls are knocked down and they stay up-side down until you can get a crane to right them.

Guess which one I will choose...:p
 
#13 ·
For a few $k you might find an old Piver or Brown Tri or Wharram Cat in need of attn.

I believe most were home builds in ply and as such were hard to resell.

I have no idea how hard they are to repair but I know there are cheap ones out there.
 
#14 ·
A 40 ft+ catamaran would make sense if I was planning to cruise in the Caribbean for an extended period (several years) and would be anchoring pretty much all the time AND if the price on a decent boat was reasonable. Ones I could afford <$200k did not impress me either in terms of performance, accommodation, or condition. A large cat is very limiting, at least in mind, for really extended cruising - and yes, I know lots do circumnavigation - we may be buddy-boating with one from Galapagos to Easter Island, Pitcairn and into French Polynesia. It will be an interesting comparison of a heavy leadmine (45') and a fairly heavily loaded 39' cat with two adults and 3 children. My guess is that they will be faster in lighter airs and we will faster in moderate to heavier stuff. For the route we are taking, perhaps a sawoff?
 
#15 ·
Nope, we only wanted a mono. Now that we've added a new baby in the mix( 10 yr age gap between kids) and some destinations where our 6 ft draft will be an issue I have to admit I can hear the soft call of a multi waaay out in the background.

I like everything about multihulls except A: the additional costs (not just purchase price, dockage, haul outs, etc) and B: the sight of them from the dock.
 
#16 · (Edited)
I am now looking at buying an F-24 - after owning a number of monohulls anywhere from 23 to 35 feet (and sailing bigger ones).

It really depends on what it is you are planning to do with the boat. I am now at a point where shallow draft is very important, and ability to stay relatively level when at anchor (and somewhat level when sailing) would be greatly appreciated. Plus, I think they look absolutely beautiful when sailing :)

If I didn't need a shallow draft - I would probably settle for a small monohull, primarily because there are more choices out there, but honestly after 15 years of sailing those things I am ready for some change.

I also noticed that many sailors talk about boat's offshore capabilities, stability etc - you'd think most of them plan to cross oceans. Then 90% sail a few weekends a year near shore and don't venture out too far. I understand that what people buy is a "romantic dream" : "well, one day, when I am free, rich or whatever, I can take this boat and just go cross Atlantic or bum around the Pacific". But it ain't happening and you end up with a wrong boat for what you really do now. Buying dreams benefits no one but your boat/drug dealer :) :)
 
#25 ·
I do not know how the multi-hulls are design. What I was thinking of is, if the boat is 180 then flooding one hull could brink to 90. Slowly flooding second while pumping out the first,could bring the boat upright. Pump out both hulls and clean up the inside mess. Would that work?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Cant afford one...couldn't find a place to park one around here is I could...and If I could find that place probably couldn't afford that either.

No Marina in The PNW is set up for them That Im aware of and we don't have many mooring fields in these parts...whats there is mostly privet.
 
#29 ·
I am sorry that your head hurt. Would you like Tylenol? There is a lot of difference between reading a books and having "hands on" experience. Just asking experienced sailors if would be possible to recover from unexpected disaster. Yes, all boats sink, just one goes down faster that another.
 
#32 · (Edited)
The point being, you don't have hands on experience. We can only write about ours, and you can only read. You still don't have any experience of your own even if we write essays for you. . Books often have much more structure and are better for skimming for general information. Web searches....For example, you said you didn't know what a cockpit was. A 15 second google search brings you this:

google... parts of a sailboat, and look at images:

parts of a sailboat - Google Search

I'm guessing you're not a native english speaker. That's fine... you can do the same googling your own language google site. For example:

google.co.jp.... ヨットの部品名称 .... etc.... (no, I don't think you're Japanese, but you get the point.)

After completing your 10-15 second web search and doing some reading, now that you know the parts of a boat, you can read any number of threads here or other sailing websites and be able to follow the basic conversation. Understanding the conversation will happen as you experience things on your own.

"There is a lot of difference between reading a books and having "hands on" experience. "

Indeed, and what's most important is for you to develop your experience, not only read about ours. It will be much more useful to you asking questions about what you're actually experiencing than about hypotheticals.

Take some lessons. Sail monohull dingies and small catamarans first, then you'll understand the basic forces that make each capsize, and the relative difficulty righting them.

"Just asking experienced sailors if would be possible to recover from unexpected disaster."

Most "unexpected disasters" have to do with a piece of broken hardware and /or particular weather conditions. What's safe for a monohull might be very dangerous for a multi. Most boats sink at the dock or at their mooring through neglected maintenance and less frequently, just bad luck.

"Yes, all boats sink, just one goes down faster that another."

... and being monohull vs. multi doesn't matter. The point being there are many ways to sink a boat. If you hit a whale, it doesn't care if you're a mono or multihull, and a collision can be catastrophic to both types of boat. But more problematic is that you don't have any idea of what conditions are dangerous for either type of boat, nor the physics involved in righting moment, etc...

(Keel boats... in heavy weather, you close the hatches, including the companionway hatch. If you're knocked down, or roll, the boat won't likely fill up with enough water to sink, and the boat will right itself. You might not have a rig left standing, but the boat won't sink. If you flip a 30' catamaran or trimaran, you won't be able to right the boat. It won't sink, but you're pretty much screwed.)
 
#30 ·
Dupek, the best course of action for you is to take lessons and learn how not to screw up. If your boat is sinking, you probably screwed up. Go take a basic sailing course, then you will get an idea of how boats work.

If you are deciding between a mono hull and a multi hull due to which one is more likely to sink, you probably should stay off the water before Darwin's law kicks in.
 
#33 ·
When shopping/looking for a boat, no, I didn't consider a multi though if a tri presented itself as being really affordable, I probably would have considered it. That said, I am one of those who prefer the "monohull" look.
 
#36 ·
No, main reason being there is no multi I could afford that I would be willing to take coastal cruising never mind blue water even though coastal is all I require. There are lots of monos that are affordable and suitable for coastal. The second reason is a mono will heel under a sudden gust spilling air and likely recovering on its own. A multi can't do that so a mono is better for solo sailing in my opinion. What are you going to do reduce sail everytime you go below for something. If you have the money and large enough crew then a multi would be fine.
 
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