Like I said, not many Cats on the Great Lakes. 200 might sound like a lot but is in fact a very small pecentage concidering the Hundreds of Thousands of boats out there.
That's only one specific make and model of catamaran among the thousands of models of boats made and out on the great lakes...
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Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
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The bridge deck is considered low. Charles Kanter's review in his book 'Cruising Catamaran Communique' gives the Gemini (all models, tho the 105mc has been improved) a 3 out of 5 under 'slamming' and seaworthyness - that's average. You can't get more out of a 34 ft cat without excessively raising windage. The bay here gets choppy as well (not 6-8). I've bounced around a bit, slammed a few - never enough to spill a drink - normally changing course a couple degrees is all it takes to make the ride smoothen out.
Membership in the yahoo group is open: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gemini_Cats/
if and when you (or anyone) is seriously considering one simply join the group and cruise the archives - or ask. As a whole, we the owners are pretty honest and open about the good and bad of Gemini's.
Dave...for an enjoyable centerline berth you need a center cockpit boat or perhaps a Deck Salon model. There are very few smaller boats being currently produced with CC's. I don't think there are ANY production boats being made under 42' (Tayana 42' is the smallest I think), with CC's and aft cabins...but there are plenty of older CC boats in the sub 40' range including O'Day, Irwin, S2, Beneteau, Morgan.
That's only one specific make and model of catamaran among the thousands of models of boats made and out on the great lakes...
Dog,
I'm just telling you the way I see it.
There are not many Cats in my area!
I can't remember seeing one all season.
I know of maybe 6 Moored in Monroe Harbor Chicago (On the other side of the lake) out of 1200 boats there.
Believe me, the percentage of Catamarans in this area is probaly less than 1/2 percent.
Tommyt, please help me out. You probaly have more on the Bay by you.
JohnPollard,
I am with you on the family layout. Thats why the 32-37 footers I am looking at often have the aft cabin and head configuration. Although I have not cruised with the family yet (March we go to the BVI for 10 days!), I am certain that we would operate much like you, and use the cockpit for our lounge after hours.
Did I hear someone say 'catamaran'?
lemme see - Great Lakes - according to the list at my Gemini owners website there are over 200 currently in the g'lakes area.
Of course you have to give up on the centerline aft idea, we have a queen sized bed (not coffin) forward, and another in the salon - with two doubles aft.
Chuckles, did you see the article on the Tomcat 9.7 in the October Practical Sailor? It compared that compact cat to the Gemini 105 as a similar boat. Interesting head-to-head.
On the flip side, I wouldn't mind at all having a boat with a proper centerline aft berth. It's a lot easier to do on a centercockpit boat, but it can also be done well on a larger aft cockpit boat (my preference). I know it wouldn't be a great bunk while at sea, so there'd have to be alternative sea berths. But at anchor -- where we spend most of our time --it could be a comfortable cabin away from the rest of the crew (i.e., the kids).
We like to stay up in the cockpit well past the kids' bed-time, enjoying the stars and lights of the night. It's the time of day when parents finally get to chat with relatively privacey. If the parents' cabin is forward in the v-berth, that means the kids' bunks are under the cockpit -- not good for parental privacey, especially on a ot night with portlights and hatches open. So, in our dream boat we want our kids' cabins forward, and ours aft -- right on the centerline with adequate headroom.
Funny how our "ideals" can lead us to opposite ends of the boat.
Of course size of crew may well dictate preferred layout. Being childless I never think about cruising with a family, it's only ever me the Ms Wombat plus the very occasional one or two guests.
Hence my preference in a sub 40'er for a decent sleeping cabin up forward which reverts to storage of all the extraneous crap that you don't want flollopping about the main saloon when at sea.
If we did have sprogs I'd probably go centre cockpit and be done with it.
If it was an aft cockpit with one of those under cockpit centreline berths I guess it would sufffice for sleeping. I don't suppose you'd be having a wild orgy back there when the kids are only ten feet away. If I was to have an aft under cockpit berth then I would go athwartships as per Valiente's idea and at least your head and torso would not be completely under the cockpit sole.
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Greatness is not where we stand, but in what direction we are moving....we must sail, sometimes with the wind, sometimes against it, but sail we must, and not drift nor lie at anchor.- Oliver Wendell Holmes
If I was to have an aft under cockpit berth then I would go athwartships as per Valiente's idea and at least your head and torso would not be completely under the cockpit sole.
The payoff here from a practical point of view is that the bed itself can be pretty wide...about five feet and a bit...which rivals a queen-sized bed shoreside. The other thing to consider is that the forward edge of the "cockpit well" can make a handy place to mount a relatively short (20 inches or so) lee cloth that drops 24 inches to the leading edge of the bed base. Lee cloths here of course, are not as necessary as they are in a port/starboard side sea berth, because if the boat is pitching that much, you aren't liable to be attempting to sleep in the end. But a cloth in that position could have bags, hooks, or grommets with shock cord, providing a handy vertical surface for shoes, hats, socks, etc. that can, if needed, fold out of the way.
We are trying to think along these lines: when on passage, what better use can a five by six foot flat surface in the end of the boat be put than just to lie empty? Obviously, we don't want a load of weight back there, but at the same time, it's a big piece of boat real estate to go unused.
On passage, the likelihood of that aft cabin being used for sleep is low: off watch sleepers are going to head for a low-side bunk.
Anyway, at some point, I'm going to have to hire a cabinetmaker, because woodworking is not a skill I possess.
We are trying to think along these lines: when on passage, what better use can a five by six foot flat surface in the end of the boat be put than just to lie empty? Obviously, we don't want a load of weight back there, but at the same time, it's a big piece of boat real estate to go unused.
On passage, the likelihood of that aft cabin being used for sleep is low: off watch sleepers are going to head for a low-side bunk.
Many folks on extended cruises have two dinghies, often a hard sailing dinghy and an inflatable. If it's not the RIB variety, the aft berth makes a good place to stow the deflated inflatable, as well as the spars, foils and sails for the sailing dinghy. All bulky stuff...
If I was to have an aft under cockpit berth then I would go athwartships as per Valiente's idea and at least your head and torso would not be completely under the cockpit sole.
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