Why designers, who sell the plans design so uncomfortable cats?

Discussion in 'Multihulls' started by Simonas, Sep 5, 2017.

  1. Simonas
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    Simonas Junior Member

    That's interesting point of view. Do You mean, that production cat designers selling living accommodation luxury, and builders are all like Wharram?
     
  2. UpOnStands
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    UpOnStands Senior Member

    People who have millions to blow on a boat can get exactly what they want, speed or comfort.
    People are still building and sailing Wharrams. You don't like them? Others swear that Wharrams have the most comfortable sailing qualities, slow but sweet.
    Exactly how much more comfort do you want and exactly what does comfort mean to you?
    These are the types of questions the designers will ask (among many others :D)
     
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  3. UpOnStands
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    UpOnStands Senior Member

    Probably would tend to be quite heavy even with its 1.5 inch Poly-foam (??) bulkheads with 3 mm plywood facings.
     
  4. dsigned
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    dsigned O.R.C. Hunter

    I'm going to riff on previous answers. Comfortable while moored is a completely different story than comfortable while underway. Also, where you are in the world is going to heavily influence whether you will want to be "inside" or not. Chances are, if you're sailing around the tropics, then being "inside" kind of defeats the purpose, especially while underway.

    Kind of, but no. Tons of people buy yachts, sailing or otherwise, who have more money than sense. People who build them often have neither :p. In any case, a lot of people who build their own do so precisely because the high dollar cruising cats don't offer what people who build are looking for.

    In my case, it seems to me that catamaran design, and cruising boat design in general, is mired in convention. Consider the proportion of boats that are bermuda rigged for no other reason than it's what everyone else has. Is it REALLY the best rig for a charter yacht that spends maybe 1/4 of its time actually sailing, and none of it caring about how fast it's sailing?

    And I think that's the real answer to your question about production designers. They cannot stray too far from convention. However, a builder can stray as far as they themselves are comfortable. And as a designer, it costs me relatively little (a hypothetical designer, I'm not a naval architect either!) to put a set of plans online and see if anyone bites. I have a lot more room to experiment.

    As far as I know, no one else is designing polynesian cats, even though they're clearly popular, and they can be built as seaworthy as anything else. I don't think Wharram has patents on polynesian multihulls (as there's clearly prior art).

    As for your initial question: on what are you basing your assertion that multihull designs are uncomfortable? Have you sailed on the different designs in the climate you expect to be sailing in? Given how relatively new multihull cruising is to the Western world (50 years or so, versus hundreds of years for monohulls), I expect there is a lot that will be discovered that will seem obvious then and will make many of the decisions of designers today look backward and narrow minded.
     
  5. Simonas
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    Simonas Junior Member

    My initial question was based on looking at lots of plans, which lack of bridgedeck headroom. That's how I understand comfort. :) Sounds silly. I imagine, that sailing with 3 kids and 2 dogs is not so funny, when You can't gather together in one space comfortably, especially looking at fact, that in warm climates it gets dark early.
     
  6. dsigned
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    dsigned O.R.C. Hunter

    Having 3 kids and only 1 dog, I can't imagine the complexity of your life! ;)

    I actually sympathize with your plight, but for me, I think the biggest issue is that with many cats, the cockpit is aft of the main living area. While this makes great sense if you're moored, not being able to see where you're going while underway doesn't seem like terribly good design to me. So, as they say, different strokes for different folks.

    That said, I am probably more in your camp than not, as I think the main living quarters ought to be between the hulls (above them), as opposed to in them.
     
  7. catsketcher
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    catsketcher Senior Member

    It is not hard - you engage a designer to design you a custom design. They then draw you one that suits you. Ring up Chris White, Grainger, Schionning, Morelli Melvin etc. Talk to them and send some sketches.

    Then you get what you want.
     

  8. Corley
    Joined: Oct 2009
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    Corley epoxy coated

    I'd add Kurt Hughes to the list, I've always found him very helpful and reasonably priced when it comes to tweaking up his plans to fit your requirements.
     
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