[orthomartin]

First some background. I just sold my Lagoon 440 cat in Australia two weeks ago. Owned it for 2.5 years and sailed from BVI up and down Caribbean, then South and Central Am., then on across the Pacific. Before that I had a Moody 46 mono and sailed that some 28,000nm with two Atlantic crossings.
First any cost difference has too many variables to make a blanket statement. An Oyster 46 mono same year costs more than say a Leopard 46 cat. A Lagoon 440 cost more than same year Beneteau 44 mono.etc etc.

Now, mono vs cat.
Answer is....it depends. First where are you going to sail? If for example your primary cruising ground is Bahama, then cat flat out. Shallow draft, fantastic at anchor (no roll), and more living room. Pacific, well cats are gaining popularity but I would prefer a mono. I hate the motion of the cat at sea and the passages in the Pacific are long. Also the Med., marina's are crowded and very expensive and cats are often charged 2x w can (often) mean about $250-300/day usd.

Performance. A performance cat like a Catana or Gunboat will significantly outperform most cruising mono's including high performance cruising mono's, including to windward (VMG will be better on the fast cat). BUT, a cruising cat like Lagoon, Leopard, F-P will often be outperformed by a performance cruising mono (like a Beneteau First series mono as example), especially going to weather and/or in light wind.

Bottom line I could go on and on about pros and cons but there is no right answer just as there is no answer to "what is the perfect cruising boat?".

 

[orthomartin]

I did not see a big difference in maintenance/cost between my Moody and the Lagoon. What I really liked about the cat was...

Two motors and more important two rudders! (I had two autopilots, one on each)
Fantastic for socializing
Stable at anchor. This is huge!!
On the Lagoon, in foul wx I could (and did) stay in the saloon day and night with great vis and always warm and dry.
Having guests. Can't beat it for this.
Ease of movement fore and aft. No clutter
Flying Parasailor downwind much easier than on the mono

 

[orthomartin]

Anchoring is no factor really. The reason some cats suffer is they use undersized rode and anchor to save wt. That is a mistake on a cruising cat as the cat generally has more windage so you can't skimp on gear.
On my Lagoon I had a 66lb Spade (great anchor) and 12mm chain (220ft with another 50ft rode).
Been so long since I have had regular internet it's fun discussing these things!!

 

[orthomartin]

I have to respectfully disagree with capta.
On our Lagoon 440 we had 4 aircon, two scuba tanks and all the gear, 240gal water and watermaker, 170gal fuel, 20hp 4stroke outboard etc etc.
Only time sailing was tough was with winds less than 10kts, and once over 12 we would routinely outperform our Moody 46. At 16-18kt and AWA 110-65 we would do 10-12kts all day and with our Parasailor in winds 20-30 we comfortably sailed downwind 13-14kts day and night.
Galapagos to Marquesas without pushing in 17days!

Our friends on their Catana 47 also fully loaded with goodies would sail even 30% faster than us and could sail well in light air