With apologies to Killing Heidi. (Wrong you stoopid rodent it was Amiel, whoever the buck an Amiel is)
Me and the Ms did wander through the Sydney Boat Show a week or so back and other than some minor stuff, gear wise, the wild and weirdly wonderful new Moody and the oh so splendid , how I wish I had a million dollars Hallberg Rassey forty something it was pretty boring.
So we had look at a couple of cats.
Now your Wombat is not as closed minded on these things as some others I could name. Couldn't give a damn if my boat has one two or three hulls so I guess my critiscism could apply to some of the stripped out mono hulls as well but the thing that really stood out with the multis was the lack of solidity. Touch the panels and they rattle, push against the cabinetry and it flexes. Nope, I didn't like that at all. Half a million dollars worth of forty foot cat and it felt like a cheap (ooh erk I nearly said American) Korean car. Quite honestly they made a Bavaria look like a bit of quality kit.
Oh yes, I know its all in the name of saving weight and saving weight is the Holy Grail of the multi hull set but nah, not if means living in a piece of low rent tupperware.
OK, so I'm asking for it here but please I would have thought that a Fontaine Pajot (sp?) was at east mid range. I've since had a peak at the GunBoat online and am not convinced with that either.
Tell me, what is the best quality multi ? I'd like to check it out.
But, if a FP, at half a mill is a load of rubbish how much do you have to pay for something decent ?
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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
I take offense at your statement, since some Korean cars are far better than some of the trash coming out of Detroit nowadays. The Kias and Hyundais aren't bad cars at all, especially if you remember what the original Hyundai Excel was like. The Daewoos are junk IMHO still though.
As for multihulls. If you're spending that amount of money, it probably makes far more sense to get a custom beastie, rather than a production one. At that size and price range, the price difference between a custom built boat and a production one are fairly minimal. Have you had a chance to see some of Chris White's designs. They're quite nice. They're also a lot more rigid and solid than their fiberglass counterparts, being made of cold-molded epoxy-wood composites generally.
I've never been a big fan of FP btw. Also, one thing to realize, the scantlings on a multihull are generally a bit lighter than those of a similarly sized monohull, mainly due to the fact that they're not carting seven or eight tons of metal around with them, and don't need to have the strength to support that mass.
If you want to know more about multihulls, I'd highly recommend Chris White's book, The Cruising Multihull. While it is getting a bit long in tooth and in need of an update, it is still an excellent resource.
In terms of full disclosure, Chris White's a local to my sailing area and his boats are fairly common here as a result. I've also seen/been on a Gunboat 48 at a local marina. They're nice boats...but too big and pricey for me.
Most of the best multihulls I've been on were custom-built, using wood-epoxy or foam-cored fiberglass composite construction.
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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)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
TDW,
Keep in mind that catamarans have twice the material, twice the labor; for the really good cat's the price per foot really goes up there.
As an example a 38 ft mono, of mid range quality, can be had for around 180k, my Gemini goes for 154k pretty well equipped and 168k with just about every option they have and a few extra's besides. A really top of the line 38ft mono can set you back 500k or more. IMHO we have more interior space and a lot more comfort than a the 38's they are compared to.
Also IMHO a good quality cat for the money is a Voyage 44 for around 550k. They are far better than the french production catacondo's in the charter world. Voyage 50's aren't exactly chopped mat either. I have experience sailing on both.
To answer your question for the serious quality catamarans, try Matrix, Sunreef, Alumarine
Thanks Chuckles and I'll keep a lookout for CW's book.
I'll also check out those websites.
Had thought that maybe FP were mid range but still a lot of hooch for a down market cat.
Agree re the overall price of multis. In fact that is another one of my problems with them , to wit, a forty foot multi had way to much space below decks for my needs or wants. I neither need nor want three sleping cabins but the thirty footers that I have seen are lacking in saloon space.
In fact the forty six foot GunBoat seems to have less space to lounge/cook/eat in than a less than 40' mono.
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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
Seawinds are about the same as my Gem, and made close to home for you.
Cost a bit more, sail a bit faster.
I can see something in that thing. Galley down below makes sense, leaves a quite comfortable saloon with good viewing all round. Turning the port hull into an owners suite also makes sense. So the guests end up sleeping in the galley. Big deal. Don't want to make them too comfortable, they might want to stay.
Having looked at a few now, I guess the GunBoats are as good as it gets. Lagoon look interesting but I read somewhere that they don't sail particularly well. Which may or may not be true.
What the hell. I just like talking about boats. Big boats, little boats, boats that I will never own. Boats are boats and in almost every case that is good even though some of them sink, which is not so good.
Memo to self - try and bum a sail on a big multi, experience it at least.
All of which reminds me that a mate of mine got to go for a sail on one of the BMW Oracle cats. He approved and if he approves then it must be good cos that's what he approves of, good i.e.
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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
Muster all troops...Possible Dark side slider here..
Need wranglers..Rough necks and out-backers for immediate deployment.
May need tranquilizer guns
Plane on tarmac e.t.a. to LZ. 2100..
Still...
Reporting for Duty! I notice you didn't list "Mandolin Players"... But don't worry.. I'm here... must have been an oversight.
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-C2
Ignore Power = Extra super double secret platinum.
EDICoSP (w/GaC)
1987 Sabre 34 "Saoirse" - 1 Year old in "Sailnet Years!"
To get more out of Sailnet see the link in uspirate's signature....NEXT!
make a run for it. Chuckles and I will provide cover fire...
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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)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
No one here has yet mentioned a Privelege Cat.
We felt the ones we've been on seemed much more like conventional sailboat interiors and construction than the other cats we've seen. We had friends that had one take a flyer and flip in Ivan and get totaled out. They turned right back around and bought exactly the same boat again. Now THAT is owner loyalty!
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Moderation in temper is always a virtue; but moderation in principle is always a vice....Thomas Paine
The Kias and Hyundais aren't bad cars at all, especially if you remember what the original Hyundai Excel was like. 
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