Wife wants a Catamaran

Hi all. First post. the wife and i have been researching new boats capable of long passages ie vancouver to hawaii. I have been looking at plans from dix, roberts and a few others 45 to 60 foot range. I'm very much a monohull guy. My wife on the other hand has decided we need to look at a catamaran as well. i know very little about cats. i'll rent one before i ever have one built. i'm just wondering if anyone has an informed opinion about weather or not these make safe and reliable passage makers. I know a few designers kurt hughes, and shuttleworth. just wondering if anyone has some real world experience making passages. thanks for the info

 

Try this site: http://powercatamaran.typepad.com/

All the best,

 

She must be a wise and well read lady, do as she says. - - My feeling is that Au or NZ designs are more suited to the Pacific swells. Wider stance and greater bridgedeck clearance. My favourite at the moment would be a Bob Oram 44C, The Fusion 40 seems OK (from Airlie beach area), Browse this net and have a look around in the member Gallery...

Good Luck.

 

jmutt,

If you want to see some (horrible) footage of just what a cat can take, search the net for a film I have seen about a race from NZ to Fiji that went belly up. The conditions are about as bad as they get, boats and people getting knocked about, but in the end, the cats are all OK, the crews have abandoned in some cases, but the boats are fine.

I think it was shot from the MV Tui Manu, a freighter, but someone else can now advise you, I bet there are lots of Kiwis and Aussies that will know the name of the film.

I am amonohull person too, but you have to look at how good they were just the same.

One thing about the cats, they have a funny motion, sort of stop /go as you sail along in chop, whereas the monos just roll on smoothly, there is no perfect boat.

 

film link

No luck in finding the video. If anyone else finds it, please post a link.

thanks

 

i found the perfect boat once,,,90' sail,,,,no sails or mast,,,and sitting in a cradle,,,now if i could only get it to the top of a mountain
and im thinking she smarter then we know,,,,,my ole lady jus hollered from the kitchen,,,,,"she wants one so she can have her side,,,and him have his" hehehe,,,, wonder if thats why she has me building an outhouse

 

Sorry, couldn't find the footage. I have the DVD but I guess it is copywright.
Interesting ,though, Mcdavitts maps of the progression of that "innocuous" looking low.And the survival of the M/H's.

http://www.bluesuit.co.nz/1994.htm
http://www.setsail.com/products/pdfs/qbs.pdf
http://lists.samurai.com/pipermail/passagemaking-under-power/2005-April/001034.html

 

Hi jmutt! Congratulations on having such a wife (said by a multihull sailor)!
Check out the multihull section of this forum and also the multihull section at http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f48/ for a wealth of info on this topic.
Multihull regards from sunny Cape Town
Roger

 

GO FOR A CAT RIDE!!

The motion of a cat is very different from a monohull, some folks can stand it others Hate it.

To be safe at sea a cat will usually be far lighter than a mono, so a beam sea will lift one hull and drop it as it lifts the other hull.

Some folks have a hard time standing thru the various accelerations, others think its better than a slow roll.

GO FOR A RIDE!! in heavy weather .

FF