Kit-E3: The Catamaran vs Monohull Game 

You're welcome!

I thought about the trimaran option, but since we had ruled them out for our own purchase, we just went over what we were comparing for our boat choice. But your point is well taken. Maybe we should have added them for other folks to compare. I could always do an updated spreadsheet.

Hey John. Thanks! We were really not trying to skew this in either direction, we wanted an honest comparison system. Even comparing the same positives on each type of boat, each person values things differently, which is why we added that crucial, preferred and negligible choice. It makes your own opinion matter, not just someone telling you that they think this is better than that. After making the spreadsheet, I was honestly interested in how my choice would come out. Which way did your points fall?

To each their own, but I also prefer cats.

And on a loaded larger cat the jerky anchoring behaviour might not be so apparent. Realize you will spend most time anchored (in stable comfort).

@@karelvandervelden8819Hopefully that is true, though being a performance cat, kept somewhat light, we will see. As for how much time you spend anchored, that is true, though a little less for us than the average boat as we will be on the move more often on our double circumnavigation.

That would have been a good addition to our list of pros on a cat!

@@SailingSVLynx You seem well prepared, enjoy it ! Grounding with a monohull is probably safer for the solid (fin)keel against rocks. (I am thinking after dragging the anchor.) And easier to be pulled off with some applied heelage.

True, though you would ground a whole lot more often as they are much deeper draft. S/V Lynx will only draft 2' 2" with dagger boards up. As for protection against damage, if we do ground, we replaced the fiberglass layers on the bottom of the hulls with basalt for greater impact resistance and added strength.

Yes, which is one of the reasons we choose to go with a cat for our double circumnavigation voyage. Thanks for the kind wishes!

Yes, that's why we did not consider a tri, the speed is nice, but we can get some of that by going with a performance catamaran. However, as to the motion, my understanding is that you get used to the type of motion your boat has over time. People who are used to a cat get sick on a mono, and vise versa. For long passage making, we prefer the more relaxing catamarans, living on an angle is exhausting, at least, to us. I have crossed seas on large Monohulls, so I do know that it is like. However, I have not done so on a cat, so only time will tell!

A trip is a little more forgiving to sail. They give a bit more feedback as they get overpowered. They are less likely to capsize.

@@deerfootnz I agree, Nigel! Those are nice features of a tri. We are not too worried about capsizing our 1520, according to Schionning Designs, none of their catamarans has ever capsized and we don't plan to be the first! With proper sailing practices, that should not happen. Still, your points are still valid, especially on the feedback. With a cat, you have to sail by the numbers more than the feel (or heel) of the boat.

Yes, we did. Though we like the speed of a trimaran, we prefer the increasd living space of cats. We also like having redundant rudders and engines for safety and two props for maneuverability. Finally, at anchor, cats are more stable as tris tend to rock back and forth a bit since the center hull is deeper than the two outriggers.

You can’t fault cats for space if you have the money and there are lots of you. Central cockpit monohulls often have massive rear cabins. But even on a 48ft it’s only one big cabin.

Though it is true you would need a longer monohull to have comparible living space, you also have to consider that the hulls of a catamaran are much taller than a monohull. This is because a cat needs to have enough bridge deck clearence to cut down on slamming, plus enough head room in the cabin to stand. For example, our Solitaire 1520 is 13' 3" from hull bottom to cabin top. We only draft 1' 9". So, there is 11' 6" of boat above the water. That adds a lot of windage from the side.

@@SailingSVLynx agreed. I just don't know if the monohull has such a clear cut advantage given the length difference as implied by the list. I can definitely imagine some situations where the opposite is true.

We argree with you completely! That's why we showed our up galley location in our very first video, our Virtual Tour.

Before I start answering, I just want to note that we tried to be unbiased when comparing a cat vs mono by letting others value the lists of pros we went over. The reason we choose not to include Trimarans was that we could not come up with a similar list of pros that was long enough to use in this comparison. Basically, we found two, speed and maybe a bit safer. They are faster and slightly safer with less chance of tipping over. But, that's it. So, since, according to Schionning Designs, none of their cats has ever capsized, that factor wasn't a big consideration to us when comparing against our 1520. That only left speed, and since we are a performance boat, we're fast enough for our needs. And, we get that long list (see the video) of other advantages of a catamaran. So, again, just for us, the trimarans came in at a distant third place. Now, if you value speed over everything else, then a trimanran might be the right boat for you. For us, they have many of the disavantages of both a cat and a mono, with few advantages.

I have sailed monos since I was 11 years old, so I understand them quite well. I beg to differ on the space, there will never be as much space on a similarly priced mono as a catamaran simply due to the greater beam, even if you compare a longer monohull to our 50' cat. But that's just my opinion, you do not have to agree with it. As for comparing by price, first of all, prices are all over the map, depending on many factors, so that's a difficult comparison. Our 50' performance cat will cost around 500k and the claimed top speed is 22 knots. However, since we will be loading her for cruising, we doubt we will ever see those kinds of speeds. Still, at her likely cruising speed, we think S/V Lynx will accomplish 250 mile days quite often, and do 300+ miles on those good condition days you mentioned. As for how the boat is sailed, our comparison had to be about us, and what we will do, not other sailors. That's why we made our comparison fair by letting each person value things differently. It was not a biased comparison. If you think that speed on cats is overrated, you could value it on our calculator as Negligible. No doubt, based on your opinions, a monohull will come out on top, but that's why we made the calculator take your opinion into account. The right boat for you is the one you prefer. And, therefore, it is not biased towards cats, it just allows you to compare what you think is important. So, I disagree completely that our comparison was invalid, it is what you make of it by how you value each listed item. As for us, we will sail our performance cat somewhat conservataively, yet we beleive we will still attain good average speeds higher than we would reach on a comparible monohull, but this is just our opinion, only time will show if we are right (about our particular boat). Now, as to your waterline comment, that just isn't true if you are comparing performance catamarans to monohulls (and we are buying a performance cat). Monohulls (and fat cats) are limited by their hull speed, which is based on waterline length, but performance cats are not since thier sharp bows, narrow hulls, and shallow draft allow them to cut through the smaller bow wave they create. Our hulls are very narrow and we draft a whole 1' 9" (daggerboards up).

@@SailingSVLynx I didn't say or mean that you were biased. I said invalid which is quite different. And I am agnostic as to mono or multi. All boats are compromises, and all have advantages & disadvantages. My mono has a displacement length of 80 and a very fine bow angle of 22⁰. She is quite quick. A real performance multi should be faster, but only if not overloaded and well sailed. In practice only a few multihulls outpace us. A fellow owner got 580 miles in 48 hours out of a nearly identical boat. A big mono has definitely more room inside than a performance multi of similar cost - narrow hulls are narrow, and modern monos have roomy cockpits and often deck saloons. My point is that the comparison per dollar - which is the only meaningful way - is nowhere near as clear cut. A length for length comparison is worthless.

@@deerfootnz The compaison calculator is still not invalid, simply because you may value the various points as you will. If you think there is as much or more room in a comparitively priced monohull over a cat, you may value the comparison that way in the calculator. This is a list of what people commonly say about cats and monos, not our opinion. The user of the calculator makes the comparison valid by how they value the list.

@@SailingSVLynx A modern wide beam monohull has a lot of space. Maybe as much as a cat. And does allow (if it’s a centre cockpit) for a massive rear owners cabin. BUT cats have the big advantage of equality of space. Over a certain size most have four double birth cabins all ensuite. There is no way on earth you can get that on a mono. I have sailed both. I am aiming to buy a new to me boat soon as i can. I have no prejudice at all. I started thinking must be a cat… the idea was it would be me and my best mate (we are not a couple) paying 1/2 each so it was simple… with a galley up cat it was a hull each to do as we wanted with. But we both have suffered really badly moneywise under covid. What was a £250k budget is now a lot less. And when it comes to a budget there are no cheap cats… (not ones that are actually viable and safe IMHO). A good mono can be got for a 1/3 of the price of shabby Lagoon 380. If i had lottery winning money I would test sail some nice cats like Priveledge against a Kracken, Moody & Oyster mono. The less roll at anchor is not so true now… but that’s because the latest monos are taking a lot from cats. Sorry for ramble…

I generally take you points. But i bet your 60ft mono has a massive owners cabin and then maybe one smaller one and two with bunks… that would work fine for me. The advantage for many with a cat is the flexibility. You couldn’t sail a mono like yours with two, three or four couples and everyone get a equal size cabin with en suite. I am pretty neutral and my dream boat is a Kraken… the strength and design would let me sleep well… but i would check out some cats too.

Just a change of scenery, we're sorry you didn't like it