Comparing cruising catamarans and cruising monohulls is a popular subject
these days. Over the past six or seven years, catamaran sales have skyrocketed
in North America, but these boats have been very popular in countries like
France and South Africa for much longer.
Most catamaran owners will give you several reasons for their choice of boat.
The fact that they don't heel much is usually at the top of the list. The
overall speed of a well-designed cruising catamaran is greater than
similar-sized monohulls, so passages are quicker (around 20 percent faster on
average). The space on a 42-foot catamaran would be similar to a 52-foot
monohull, being generally brighter and airier, with the main salon being
positioned higher in the boat than on traditional monohulls. The shallower draft
is also popular because it allows exploration of more cruising grounds.
Catamarans don't sail to weather as close to the wind as monohulls do, but
they generally sail faster on the track they must take, and end up arriving
about the same time, if not ahead anyway. Catamarans don't tack as easily as
monohulls, since they don’t have as much displacement to carry the boat through
the wind.
The very large beam of a cat can make it more expensive and harder to find
space in a marina, and haulouts are not always possible at every yard. You can't
load a cat down with as much gear as a monohull, or the performance will suffer.
The seaworthiness of a catamaran versus a monohull is one of those questions
that are relative to the design. Catamarans designed for offshore sailing today
are out on the high seas as successfully as their monohull counterparts. With
every design, whether it's a monohull or catamaran, there are certain
trade-offs. You need to consider the factors that make them so different and
decide what you are comfortable with. A good monohull, with displacement and
ballast, is designed to right itself, should it capsize. A catamaran relies on
its beam for form stability and will not right itself should it capsize. In
general, the wider a cat, the more stable it is in seas providing the bridge
deck is built of adequate height. Catamaran proponents proclaim that their boats
are unsinkable. If holed at sea, they say the other hull will keep them
floating, plus there are dead air spaces built into the bow compartments of each
hull. The main reason there are fewer "hard core" cruisers choosing catamarans
over monohulls is probably cost, along with a predisposition to traditional
looks and thoughts of what a boat is supposed to be like. Catamarans tend to be
more expensive when comparing similar boats. You'll probably see more out
cruising soon with so many of the charter companies including cats in their
line-ups, and the resulting "ex-charter" boats that will come on the market at
lower prices.
