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Some important links

Skip to the FAQ section...
Here are some great
Flash pages you should check out.
Please look at the animations...
FP Maneuverability
Sail
Power
FP Underwater protection
Sail
Power
Unsinkability
Sail
Underdeck slamming
How they're built--Both
Fountaine Pajot as a company--robust growth
Quality control
What a noted surveyor has to say
about a typical South African Catamaran. The question is
does proper bridge deck clearance matter...
Strangely, the boat has almost vertical panels on the
underdeck. On one boat I surveyed, the slamming was
obviously so severe it tore the gelcoat off, exposing bare
fiberglass. There were also cracks beginning at the junction
of the underdeck and the main hull. Underdeck slamming and
nose diving are complaints I hear from owners. The extremely
fine bows leave insufficient buoyancy forward to prevent
nose diving.
A bridge deck--what's wrong with that?

Check out this
link for the important points to check!
"Maybe we
should just get rid of that pesky mast and rig, and just let her be what
she seems to want to be--a power boat with a flybridge!"
Return to Index Request
more information
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Good Cat, Bad Cat! What do I mean by
that?
I don't mean a boat is bad quality, or doesn't sail well.
What I'm talking about here is what makes a catamaran well suited for long
distance cruising with a good sized load aboard. What makes a boat
suitable for extended stays aboard. Let's take a look...
Please read all of this web
page-there's some really great stuff at the end-don't short change
yourself!
Why it matters...
The sun doesn't always shine. The seas aren't always calm.
Find out why it's important to have nets forward that let the waves through.
That are lighter and reduce pitching. And much more...
The information provided here shows the
difference between a comfortable boat and a disappointing vacation. Sure,
in protected waters most anything will do. But if you're planning on
chartering in the Caribbean--this is information that will make a
difference in how well you enjoy your vacation!
Used boat buyers...
Many of the older boats literally got away with
murder! There was no competition. Much has been learned. New technology has perfectly
matched the needs of catamarans to be light, but strong. Use these criteria to choose the
best compromises if you simply can't go for the latest and best.
New boat buyers...
Surprise, Surprise. This is the age of spin
doctors and marketers. What looks good at boat shows, isn't necessarily what
will make a serious, offshore cruiser. Many, so called, new boats are actually re-hashes
of very old designs--sometimes 10 years old or more. Often with a couple of feet slapped
on to the transom! Buyer beware! You will find information here that will narrow the
search.
A note about cost...
Start with it's not such an easy
comparison. But let's take a shot. The graphs support the idea that
catamarans cost more per foot, but about the same as monohulls when you
look at "cost/cu. ft." This seems to be born out in our experience--I can
tell you that you definitely get more volume in a given size catamaran.


Some people say you can buy a smaller
catamaran to get the same space as a monohull you are looking at and in
that case the costs get comparable. In addition, don't forget, in a Cat
the loads are higher, due to the enormous stability (creating a need for
next size larger hardware) and much of the equipment, such as engines, are
replicated so you simply have more expense. Look at the graphs to get some
idea of what I'm talking about.
What are you doing for the rest of your life?
It all depends on what you're planning to do!
Staying at the dock, venturing out for weekends in protected waters? More
ambitious? Coastal cruising? Or are you combining coastal cruising and
watching the weather, with serious offshore cruising? Your plans affect what
you need and you need to plan for the most adventurous cruise you plan.
How do we know what's
required? Because we arrange delivery of many boats every
year--trans-Atlantic, and East Coast to the Caribbean. We talk to the
captains who have sailed all kinds of boats. We've talked to the designers.
Visited the plants. What I'm sharing with you here is the distillation of
100's of hours of talks based on hands on experience with some of the most
knowledgeable sailors out there in all conditions.
This discussion is directed
towards offshore sailing. But even if you only want the capability, here is
where you'll find out about what to look for. Remember, even if you don't
plan to venture into long distance cruising, the person you eventually sell
to may want to so your selection now, may affect your boat's resale later.
Why cut off any market potential? A "Good Cat" can sail inshore AND
offshore.
- Eric Smith,
President
Innovation on
display! At first glance you might say,
"Oh, another flybridge boat!" But Fountaine Pajot
has used it's experience to come up with the best idea in years on it's
new 44 and 48'. Combine the best of the flybridge concept, with
a control cockpit.
In these new designs, FP maintained easy access to the
cockpit--just down 2 steps (just like before on the 43 and 46')
but with a sliding hatch to keep the cockpit protected. Now,
from here, you have access to all controls, easy access to the
deck, and complete communication and access to the cockpit!
Would someone please pass up my beer! (You don't need to walk
around the deck.) Check them out in Annapolis or on our
FP web site here. |
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Looking at what's
important
Good Cat, Bad
Cat?
Is
it built for inshore or offshore sailing? With the advent of new technology the high tech
necessary for ocean cruising catamarans is now affordable. The appeal of comfortable
sailing without healing, of privacy only attainable with good separation of living and
sleeping spaces, and a panoramic view with extraordinary deck space--not to mention shoal
draft... Catamarans have come of age. (If one has any doubts, he simply hasn't visited a
boat show lately!)
As with any new phenomenon, there are plenty of promoters anxious to jump on the latest
trend--whether they know anything about what's required or not. This paper is designed to
highlight the 4 important distinctions that will help you understand the builders intent.
Is he offering an inshore or offshore Cat? The 4 important criteria to consider (aside
from overall quality and integrity) are:
- Stability. Beam to length ratio and Static stability.
- Pitching. The comfort factor
- Bridge deck clearance.
- Load carrying capacity.
There are other factors we'll be discussing as well and I urge you to pay
particular attention to #4--all of the others hinge on this being right
first.
Stability...
A
catamaran generally has no ballast. It primarily depends on beam and individual hull
buoyancy for stability. The wider it is, the more stability--however, at some point
excessive beam becomes unmanageable. In addition a narrower hull is more easily depressed
and prone to tripping in heavy seas. The same wider body hull that gives you better load
carrying ability, also gives you more total stability. Of course at some point, you lose
performance... Finding the balance is the key.
Virtually all of the
experienced builders, especially the European builders who must sail their boats
transatlantic to their bases in the Caribbean, have settled on a minimum length to beam
ratio (L/B) of approximately 50%. That's a 20' beam on a 40' boat. As the boat gets
larger, over 50' or so, you can back off from this ratio a bit and still have adequate
stability. These same experienced builders put enough beam into the individual hulls to
give more than adequate load carrying ability. One sign of an older design (often
resurrected these days and promoted as new) is narrow individual hulls, sometimes
supplanted by (needed) extra beam because the hulls no longer have the required buoyancy.
(By the way, you can often recognize these designs from inside because the berths will be
high and spanning the bridge deck--the hulls don't have enough volume to carry 4 full size
double berths! Watch out!)
Static stability is a
measure of a boats stability. The factor was developed by sign builders (what strength
wind will blow our sign over?!) A bad cat (for offshore) might have a static stability in
the 25 knot range. A good Cat in the 50-60 knot range. This is a static measure. In
reality, the boat would slide sideways and round up if you were foolish enough to leave
all sail up and this would approximately double the figure.
Pitching...
Imagine two children on a sea-saw. If they're both near the center of rotation (A):
-
It's very difficult to get the board going at all.
And if they did and you came by, you could grab the end with two fingers
and stop them. Imagine the same two children moving out to the end of the
board.
- Now it's easy to get the board moving (pitching). And once the children got started, you
wouldn't want to try grabbing the end to stop them--you would probably get your hand
broken!
Pitching is caused by
too much weight in the ends of the boat. Accommodations and storage areas that extend much
forward of the mast. Solid fiberglass decking forward (Fiberglass is heavy compared to
netting--that's one reason you see netting on all serious cats!) Engines and storage too
far aft. Not enough stern or bow hull area extending aft and forward of the nacelle. See
the drawings--(B)
Pitching can make your
life miserable. Tire you out so you take unnecessary chances. Dampen your appetite.
However, solid decking forward does more than just contribute to pitching. In offshore
conditions when you might be semi-surfing down waves; your bow can overtake the wave
system ahead of you and plunge into the wave. Nets simply let the water through and allow
the bows to recover. Solid decking can trip the boat and cause a catastrophic pitch
pole--mid-ocean. Netting forward rather than solid decking is crucial for an offshore
cat--for comfort and for safety!
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| Good Cat |
Bad Cat |
Good Cat, left...
Long
overhangs fore and aft. Accommodations concentrated in center of boat (weight kept out of
the ends). Beam/Length ratio 58%, Static stability about 55 knots.
Bad Cat, right...
Short
overhangs. Solid decking forward. (Heavy, and doesn't let the water through--can trip in
large ocean wave, surfing situations.) Accommodations spread into the ends. Beam length
ratio of 46% or less, Static stability about 23 knots.
Bridge deck
clearance...
This
is generally referred to as the height from the water to the underside of the nacelle. If
it is too low, waves will slap and bang under the living accommodations. Sometimes
literally knocking the plates off the table in a poor design. The noise prevents sleeping.
But I amplify this view. When I talk about bridge deck clearance I want to be sure there
is adequate volume for smooth passage of seas between the hulls and also that the
separation between the hulls isn't exaggerated.
Imagine pushing two pipes through the water as in example (Cross sect. A&B). The pipe
with the small hole must create much more resistance; literally forcing a wall of water
before it. Pipe A easily allows the water through.
You need the combination of:
- the highest possible bridge deck clearance
- Adequate beam between the hulls--but not too much distance
- and smooth transitions between the nacelle and hulls...
to allow the smooth transition of waves with minimum resistance, impact and effect on
forcing the bows up into the start of pitching motions.
A good cat,
left, has a higher bridge deck clearance, with no protuberances interrupting the water
flow. The wider beam between the hulls also contributes to uninhibited water flow between
the hulls.
Note the difference
for the bad cat on the right. We have heard this as one of the biggest negatives
from owner's who owned boats like those on the right. This is also one of the biggest
reasons for them selling. (This style is typical of many of the older generation of boats,
and also some new ones where marketing types take over from the designers).
Why not too much beam? Have you ever observed the wake coming off the bows of a boat?
(Actually if you watch a power boat, the effect of a heavier boat at higher speed
exaggerates the effect I'm talking about.) The wave curves up and away at an angle about
150 degrees back from the bow. If you measured diagonally outwards from the bow, you would
see that the wave increases in height as it curves away from the bow. Keep this in mind.
Now, imagine an older design catamaran with narrower hulls (The waterline
beam of each hull being narrow.) The hulls don't have the
buoyancy to give the stability that comes from buoyancy (see above) so the designer is
forced to gain stability the only way he can--he increases the overall beam. The trade
off? Several and all bad:
- The two bow waves come together under the nacelle as they angle back from the bow and
the distance is longer (with the wider hulls) so the wave is bigger--the result is
excessive pounding under the bridge deck! In other words, the self generated waves combine
with even a modest chop causing pounding in relatively moderate conditions.
- The narrow hulls don't give you the load carrying ability a serious cruiser needs.
- The narrow hulls don't allow the berths to nestle comfortably (and low) in the hulls,
forcing berths to be uncomfortably high and overlap the bridge deck in some way in order
to make them full size (or allow the charter company to advertise king sized beds!.
- Being so far apart, the hulls sometimes sail in two different wave systems imparting a
very uncomfortable motion.
Why would anyone design a boat this way? The answer is that today they probably
wouldn't. However some charter companies or marketing companies trying to take advantage
of today's catamaran popularity, and wanting to keep costs down choose older designs whose
tooling cost is already amortized (or choose inexperienced designers) primarily to reduce
the cost of the boat. The problem is that a bad design will always be a bad design and the
cost will long be forgotten while the discomfort will linger...
Remember, charter companies ask designers for parameters suitable for people staying
on-board for short times and equipment (load carrying capacity) needs are minimal for
these short times. These boats, typically only need to sail in a 50 mile circle.
Whether you're looking to use our investment program to pay your boat off early, or
getting it for some serious cruising we take the long view. We represent up to date
designs that feature boats with the load carrying ability you need for care free, serious
cruising (This is my only advertising plug in this piece, but I feel I've given you enough
information to earn the right.)
Load Carrying
capacity...
This may be the most important point of all. It's not just that the boat
goes slower, when you immerse the extra hull depth, the boat gets sluggish.
It won't come about without turning the engine on. It is difficult to
maneuver in tight situations or when docking. This hull submersion also
decreases the bridge deck clearance which promotes hull slamming as well!
What a shame--because a well designed catamaran should be a joy to sail in
all conditions and much easier to maneuver than a monohull with it's widely
spaced twin engines.
When
you sail offshore you will carry 1,000's of pounds of extra water, fuel, stores, safety
equipment and amenities. (Whether you plan to or not, consider resale value--the next
owner may want the option!) Here's what manufacturers do for marketing, that reduces load
carrying capacity:
- Install in-boards in too small a boat, or in a boat originally designed for outboards.
- Start with a performance hull and try to make it all purpose (too narrow a waterline
beam). (Or, as mentioned above, simply start with an older design, narrow hull with deep
"U" sections.)
- Put in too many accommodations (charter boat!)
Build the boat too heavy--Use low tech construction. Needless weight in the building takes away from load
carrying.
Some dead give aways.At a boat show, look
at the lower transome step--especially when there are a number of people
in the cockpit-- is the step awash (actually underwater?) Not enough load
carrying. Is the waterline at the water (or below it) at either end or
entirely? Not enough load carrying. Sure, you can move it up, but believe
me, that doesn't solve the problem!
Summary...
Whether you actually go offshore or not, you may meet bad weather conditions. Your
comfort, enjoyment and safety, (and ultimately resale value) are dependent on proper
design.
Most of the criteria I
have shown here, you can easily evaluate yourself. If what others tell you doesn't make
sense, or if what I tell you doesn't make sense, then make your own evaluation. There's no
magic here. Good design really does make sense and you can see the telltale signs.
A test... Putting together
what you now know.
- Look at the boat from the transom. Are the individual hulls narrow (is the
transom narrow)? Is the bridge deck clearance low? Are the hulls too far apart? Or too close
together? Are the transoms already in the water with no overhang showing (overloaded
aft)?
- Look at the boat from the side. Is the boat, while lightly loaded, already on her
waterline? Below it!? (There should be several inches of hull showing below the waterline!
- Inside. Are the berths spanning the bridge deck? Why?
- Service. Can you get to the engines? Easily? At sea?
- Are accommodations pushed into the ends?
- Is there a net forward? Substantial overhangs with no weight in the ends?
- Finally, here's one I noticed on some charter company designed boats: When you step down
from the seats to the cockpit floor, or up, are the seats just about 2" too high so
the distance is awkward? Is it awkward getting from the cockpit to the aft steps/swim
platform? Have amateur designers been at work? (This may not seem like
much of a problem at the boat show--but just wait until this baby is
yours!)
- Maybe you should look again?
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Frequently Asked Questions...
Catamarans, Questions & Answers-a short course
The questions...
If you don't want to scroll through all of the questions, just click on the specific
question you're interested in.
- How fast are they?
- Why do they have such high freeboard?
- Will a cat go to windward?
- Why won't anyone recommend a furling main?
- Why do some boats have center pods?
- Isn't the load carrying ability of a cat less?
- What about safety?
- What about capsizing?
- How much experience (compared to mono hull sailing) do I need?
- Isn't it hard to find dockage?
- How big a cat do I need to do a transatlantic crossing?
- Can you summarize the difference between cats and mono hulls?
Things
that go bump in the night…
(At the end of Q&A)
How fast are they?
They do 10, 12, 15, 20 knots! Is this what you’ve heard from salesmen at
the boat show? The truth is, a well designed catamaran behaves much like a
light displacement mono hull. With many delivery trips under our belt, I
can confidently say that, on average, on a passage with winds from a
variety of points you will average passage speeds about 20% greater than a
similar sized,
cruising mono hull. Having said this, here are some best cases: We
have averaged over 14 on a Fountaine Pajot 35 for a 6 hour period going to
Newport-off-shore. The Fountaine Pajot 42, recently delivered
transatlantic, rode the front edge of the most recent hurricane with 30
knot winds and averaged almost 16 for 24 hours! (Because storms normally
move at 10-12 knots, a fast catamaran has the capability to run away from
them-an important safety feature!)
Why do the so called Ocean
going cats have such high freeboard?
In the Ocean, you need bridge deck clearance. That is,
the height of the center part of the boat between the hulls must be as
high as possible to avoid wave pounding. Wave pounding on a lesser boat,
at the least, prohibits sleeping on overnight passages (Ever try sleeping
inside a drum being pounded on?), at the worst, we’ve seen lesser boats
where the bulkheads have literally been knocked loose. Also, the blending
shape of the underbody is important. Rounded connections and smooth
transitions soften wave action much like a shock absorber.
Will a Cat go to
windward?
Today’s modern, well designed Cat, with fin keels, will point about as
high as a comparable, good cruising, mono hull. They readily tack through
90 degrees without any need to back wind the jib. Having said this, if you
point as high as a mono hull, your speed will also be about like a mono
hull. The great increases, and better VMG’s are achieved by footing off a
bit. Get a good set of polars. Experiment. You will gain a 20% advantage
overall, and as much as 50% or more on a reach!
Why won’t anyone recommend a furling
mainsail?
A cat is very dependent on a large roach. A fully battened, full-shaped
mainsail works best. The jib serves more as a foil to direct the air flow
( consequently you don’t need a large jib.) This makes the boat easy to
sail and tack, and very powerful. This type of sail would need to be
excessively flattened and compromised to make it possible to furl it in
the mast boom.
Why do some boats have center pods?
(An extra hull that literally dips in the
water.) This is a capitulation. If overall construction is too heavy, the
beam is too narrow, and/or the bows are too heavy a center pod is
necessary to give adequate buoyancy and interior volume. No serious Ocean
going Cat is designed with this feature. Look at the world’s best!
Isn’t the load carrying capability of a
Cat less than a mono hull?
Yes. If you overload a Cat performance will
be reduced to that of a comparable sized monohull ( however, you still
have a bright open saloon, privacy in the sleeping areas, shoal draft and
all of the other advantages of a Cat.) With today’s modern equipment,
however, you can keep the weight down when planning long periods aboard.
Water-makers reduce the need to carry large water tanks. Light weight
generators, air conditioning with air-handlers, and other types of modern
equipment allow you to bring comfort along, without excess weight.
What about safety?
I sail/sell both mono hulls and catamarans.
Both have pros and cons, but all things considered I think the scales tip
in favor of catamarans. The main reason I say this is that the most likely
problem at sea for either type is not capsizing, but rather running into
debris or a whale that punches a hole in a hull. A 6" gash in a monohull
has been known to sink it, literally within seconds! The same gash in a
Cat would limit water intrusion to one of several watertight compartments.
Not only wouldn't you sink, you could continue sailing to a repair yard!
More serious damage might stop you, but your unsinkable cat would be an
easy find for rescuers after you set off your EPIRB.
What about turning over?
An ocean going cat, well designed, with a
50% (or greater) beam to length ratio, is unlikely to turn over. These
boats are designed with a static stability in excess of 60 knots.
What’s static stability? A simple
measure developed by highway sign builders of what wind speed it would
take (based on surface area) to blow a roadside sign over. On a Cat, this
is a simple measure but gives some idea of the enormous stability. A Cat
with a 60 knot static stability factor would actually have a much higher
factor in a dynamic situation. A 60 knot puff would actually cause the
boat to slide sideways. Some of the force would be translated into forward
motion. This would probably increase the dynamic factor to over 100 knots.
If you were unobservant enough to have full sail up in such conditions,
the rig would probably break (like having a fuse in an electrical system)
before the boat would capsize!
So why do you see
pictures of upside down multi hulls? Simple. If a mono hull flips and
fills with water the evidence sinks and the occupants are either never
heard from again, or are located in a tiny life raft. A turtle, still
floating racing Cat makes a great photo opportunity!
In the ocean with storm
conditions you must slow the boat down. If you don’t, the boat will surf
faster than the wave system and literally plunge into a wave front,
tripping the boat and causing it to flip over-not capsize. In storm waves,
a prudent skipper, on cruising cat where safety rather than speed is the
priority, will reduce sail and, if necessary, employ a drogue. Racer’s, on
the other hand, are pushing the limits and sometimes flip. Then, because
of the unsinkable characteristic there is a great photo-opportunity when
the rescuers arrive seeing a lone sailor standing in the inverted multi
hull waving at them. Of course the cat racer is much better off with
access (through the reentry hatches) to his food, water, stores, and
safety equipment, and with a huge platform for the rescuers to find! NOTE:
I like to compare this situation to your car leaving the 65mph expressway
and entering a 25 mph exit ramp. Sure, you can push to maybe even 40
(depending on the ramp and your car!) but at some point, exiting at too
high a speed will cause your car to lose control and possibly roll over.
The same thing with cats if you're not prudent enough--just as you are in
your car--to slow down!
If I have mono hull experience, will I be
able to handle a Cat?
The best way for me to
answer, is to explain how we handle 100's of clients who have mono hull
experience and want to charter a Cat. In this case, we find that if they
have had experience on a similar sized mono hull, they can get the hang of
it with about an hour special instruction. If their experience is on the
light side, we suggest a captain for the first day.
What's the primary
difference that you have to learn? Under power, handling twin engines.
It's actually easier, but you have to learn to maneuver with just the
throttle/shift levers and not the rudder! You can actually make the boat
turn in place, and go sideways once you get the hang of it. No more panic
backing or maneuvering into tight slips!
The second issue is a
little better understanding of the sailing principal of VMG. That is, in a
Cat, your Velocity Made Good to windward is better when you don't point up
as high. You sail a little further, but a lot faster and get there faster
than a comparable mono hull.
Finally on the issue of
safety. With a cat, you virtually can't capsize with wind alone (See Good
cat/Bad Cat for more on static stability), and because there is virtually
no heel as the wind increases (you simply go faster and faster...) you
eventually overpower the boat with the risk of some weak link in the
rigging letting go--an expensive lesson! For our charterers, we ask that
you sail by the numbers. That is, We tell you the times to put in the
first reef (about 18-20K of apparent wind) the second (about 28-30K.) etc.
We provide wind speed instruments which provide wind speed capability, and
make sure that you know how to use them!
When you purchase a new
or used Cat from us, your BYA broker or one of our captains will be happy
to spend a day or more with you to make you comfortable in this new world
of catamaran sailing!
Isn't it hard to find dockage?
This was, perhaps, one of our biggest surprises when we started getting
involved with Cats. What we found was that when you're a transient (going
up and down the coast or cruising long distance) you generally are offered
a berth on the outside of "T" docks--no problem with cats here. (By the
way, we have also found that the prices for transient cats is the same per
foot cost as for mono hulls!)
In many cases, the
easiest thing to do is to take a mooring or anchor out. Your Cat is such a
stable platform that it doesn't rock and roll with wakes or surge. The
ventilation is excellent in a more open area (away from a closed in
marina) as most serious cats are specifically targeted for sailing in
tropic areas so their ventilation is extremely well thought out. Finally,
dinghy davits with the dinghy nestled securely between the hulls, allows
for a large, hard bottomed dinghy (water taxi) making it easy to move back
and forth to shore.
If you do need to be in a
marina we've found a couple of common themes. New marinas often have large
slips or alongside tie ups for large power boats that also work for cats.
Many marinas have space up near the bulkhead that is gradually being
filled in by erosion. Often you see small power boats docked here. We have
had excellent success placing catamarans, with their shoal draft, in these
spaces--often for lower rates than normal slips!
Finally, (maybe this is
unique to the Chesapeake) we find that many older marinas have slips
designed 20 years ago when 40' mono hulls had 9' beams. Today's 12, 13,
and 14' beams just won't fit. We've been able to have yards pull center
pilings and create larger slips that can accommodate cats or larger mono
hulls.
All and all, this just
hasn't been the problem we thought it would be, and, to date, no owner
that we sold a cat to has had a problem.
How big a boat do I need to do a
transatlantic? (Or other offshore cruise.)
Generally, if the boat meets all of the best
of the criteria described here, 35' is about the minimum size for a
transatlantic. Why do I say this? Because every year we deliver several
boats transatlantic, as well as many more from the East Coast to the
Caribbean. The captains who do this all the time, tell us a well designed
35 (like the Fountaine Pajot Tobago) is the smallest boat they will even
consider.
As the boat gets larger,
two elements come into play. Longer waterlines make for a more comfortable
motion more nearly matching the wave period of ocean waves and, the load
carrying ability increases.
We've all heard of small
(some under 10'!) boats, unprepared boats and even outright dangerous
boats making successful crossings--but here I'm talking about comfort and
safety for real world sailors who are not just performing a stunt.
So can you sum up the differences with
Catamarans compared to mono hulls?
Sure, here they are in a nutshell...
- Speed. Catamarans average about 20%
greater passage making speeds.
- Load Carrying. Figure approximately
10-15% less load carrying ability--size for size. Our custom computer
program can help determine your new boats capability and considers
each piece of equipment you add. Our engineers will design the systems
to match your requirements. For instance, we might specify a
water-maker for passage making, rather than increasing the size of
water tanks. (A side benefit is that the water doesn't get stagnant
when you're only week ending.)
- Volume. Cats have about the volume
of a 10' larger mono hull. I.E. a 38' Cat has the room and
accommodations of a 48' Mono hull. (A handy fact when planning a Cat
charter!)
- Price. Price per pound is higher,
price per Cubic Foot is lower. (The construction is higher tech, and
the vessel's surface area is greater contributing to higher cost per
foot.
- Appearance. I'll leave that to you.
They grow on you.
- Comfort. The Cat wins hands down.
Lighter, airier, more upright sailing. The motion is different and
takes some getting used to, but we've found people that get queasy
below on a mono hull under way, are perfectly fine on a Cat after a
few hours of adjustment.
- Maneuverability. A cat is much
better under power. Under sail, they handle similarly to a light
displacement mono hull. That is, you need to carve your way through a
turn, rather than throw the helm over. Once you get the hang of it,
you'll be able to tack as easily with a cat as a mono hull right on
down to the lightest of air. (You do have another decision to make
though. To take crab/lobster pots to port, starboard or between the
hulls!)
- Safety. Similar but different. Most
owners really like the invincibility aspect. Both types are safe when
they are good representatives of the designers/builders art, and when
handled by prudent, experienced skippers. Catamarans turn over about
as often as mono hulls sink. However, in almost every case the cats
that turned over (and whose crew(s) were picked up) were racing and
pushing the envelope where the mono hull cruisers might have just as
well been cruising.
Monohull or Catamaran?
For or a more complete discussion of this subject, go to this link.
The Bottom line...
I hope that these ideas have
helped you to have a better understanding. Nothing beats getting out and
experiencing the sailing first hand, and that's why we offer such a large
selection in our charter fleet. If you're just out for a vacation, try one.
If you're thinking of owning, our Try-Before-You-Buy program provides you an
opportunity to sail for up to 3 days for free if you later decide to
purchase. In either case, our club program provides equity towards the
purchase when you use it to charter from our participating fleets.
A well sailed cat can make an excellent choice for a live-aboard or serious
cruiser if you choose wisely and keep the ideas presented here in mind.
Catamarans—things that go bump in
the night…
Feature: Dagger boards
Positive: At reasonable speeds with water
flowing over the foil, you may achieve higher pointing ability in a
relative
narrow steering groove.
What’s wrong with that?
· Recently,
a world cruising client said that, " ...(he) had talked to owners with
dagger boards in several ports, and they all said that they tended to keep
the board all the way down almost all of the time. When they tried to get
them up, they were stuck because of the barnacles that had formed around the
boards and inside the trunk where it's difficult to bottom paint, one, and
difficult to clean, two. The result is that they got most of the
disadvantages and none of the advantages.
·
Vulnerability: The
dagger board is easily broken by grounding, or floating debris. On
grounding, with the board up, it’s subject to small stones or shells
jamming the board requiring hauling or major diving correction.
Anything done to make the center bottom of the hull increase in
lateral resistance (making it deeper to protect the rudder and prop) takes
away from maneuverability (The boat becomes more like a long keep monohull.)
In addition, assuming the rudder and drive are theoretically protected by
making the hull deeper is done by adding rocker to the hull. Just
as the name implies, if you try to set the boat on it’s bottom it will
rock back and can still damage these aft appendages, not to mention jam
debris up the dagger board trunk.
·
The lateral plane with a
dagger board is generally about ½-2/3
less less. At low speeds, with cross winds, with the boards up or down
there is little lateral plane and the boat will tend to blow sideways
making it very difficult to control.
·
FINALLY: While the dagger
board theoretically increase upwind performance slightly, the reality is
that a thin foil stalls out very easily compared to the thicker foil of a
typical shoal keel. Once stalled, the performance is worse. An inattentive
helmsman, or an autopilot will probably, on average, under typical
cruising (somewhat laid back) cruising conditions, actually experience
worse, not better performance from dagger boards. If you’re racing and the
race committee enjoys setting up a large proportion of windward courses,
and you have 3-4 helmsmen who enjoy steering as you change helmsmen every
hour—you may realize an advantage. If not, enjoy your much easier to
handle shoal draft boat.
This is not to say that boats like the
Fountaine Pajot aren’t good performing boats. When you consider a cruising
boat, fully loaded and short handed, (not a racing crew) they do well. In
a recent Arians Cup sponsored by the European Space industry, there were
over 100 cruising cats entered. The race was won by a Bahia 46. Second
place was an Athena
38. In fact 8 of the top 15 places were taken by FP.
In countless cruising races where a variety of boats fun
race in a fully loaded condition, boats with normal catamaran keels, and
full hulls with great load carrying ability--win!
Feature: Aft, steering
stations.
Positive: You may have slightly better visibility on one side
or the other while going to windward.
What’s wrong with that?
·
If you’re running a crewed
boat and you have a captain who you don’t mind being out of the social
activities and out in the weather outside the Bimini—fine. Otherwise the
more protected steering station with visibility to all 4 corners of the
boat makes more sense.
·
Today’s instruments are
interactive. With aft wheels, you either have to duplicate everything, or
put them central somewhere where they’re harder to see, and even harder to
reach. Having everything centrally located at one steering station makes
sense.
·
With a catamaran, we find that
the boat is on autopilot a majority of the time. With a remote on the
autopilot, you can sit virtually anywhere you want and steer the boat.
(The latest remotes have a screen which duplicates any read-out you want
to see from depth, to position.) That being the case, you might as well
enjoy a protected steering station and have the ability to sit where ever
you want otherwise.
· Recently,
a world cruising client said that, "...(he) had met the plant manager of a
popular model that comes only with twin aft wheels. The manager was having a
one of their models customized for himself. The primary change? He got rid
of the aft wheel, and put a single wheel against the forward, cockpit
bulkhead!" Enough said.
Feature:
Cabin top with molded in, sloped windows
Positive: Some people like the look.
What’s wrong with that?
Everyone hates the heat build up
in the main saloon. A boat with more vertical shielded windows enjoys a 10
degree temperature advantage when the sun is high. It also protects the
interior from fading and sun exposure.
With the Greenhouse style windows
you let the heat and light in and typically end up coving the windows most
of the time, defeating one of the main advantages of cats—an open, airy
main saloon with 360 degree visibility!
Feature: Aero rig
Positive: Easy to single hand and handle
What’s wrong with that?
A catamaran places huge
loads on the hull. Much larger than is placed on a monohull because of the
tremendous inherent stability. With a monohull, for instance, when a puff
hits, the hull leans over relieving some of the loads. With a catamaran,
all of the loads are not only transferred to the hull, they come as a
shock load with an enormous initial impact.
What’s great about the normal cat rig, is that you have a wide angle for
the shrouds which translate much of the forces to the strongest part of
the hull directly. Now you are sharing the loads on the cross beam and the
hull.
With the aero-rig, everything is transferred to the area of the cross
beam, and in a catamaran, you don’t have the height between the bottom of
the hull and deck as you do in a monohull to distribute the cantilever
loads.
Bottom line? A catamaran is a poor candidate for the Aero rig and
as the size gets larger, the loads go up exponentially so this applies in
spades.
Secondly, I’ve personally been witness to side by side comparisons and the
Aero rig simply does not have the same performance or versatility as a
conventional rig. Yes you can get most manufacturers to install it if you
insist—check to see if they’ll still offer the same structural warranty
though?
Feature: Electric Power
Positive:
Green?
What’s wrong with that?
Electric power.
Is it here yet? Well, as you know, it's not even here in automobiles yet,
so how can we expect it here in this much harsher and more challenging
environment?
What we've seen in practice, is that there has been an
evolution where the props have gotten bigger and bigger in order to
generate sufficient power to meaningfully recharge the batteries when
sailing. This results in a serious loss of performance when
sailing--much more than the advocates say--often something on the order
of a loss of 2-3 knots!
Because of this reality, the generators have gotten
bigger and bigger until they now rival the size of the main engine.
What you end up with is that you:
1. Lose the safety/redundancy of having two complete
power systems
2. The battery bank and generator end up occupying a
huge space and are very heavy--makes it difficult to place everything
ideally.
3. The complicated and sophisticated electronic
management package and software are vulnerable in the harsh marine
environment and where on earth are you going to get this stuff serviced
when you're cruising off the beaten path--let alone at your favorite
marina?
4. Finally, at the recent Miami boat show I was
talking with my friend Franck Bauguil, sales manager at Moorings, and he
said, "We're going very slowly with lots of testing. We're relying more
on the generator and smaller, more normal props. But, what no one's
talking about is, "what are we going to do with all those
batteries once we have to replace them all? We already have a huge
problem just disposing of the normal batteries in an environmentally
responsible way--I just don't see any easy solutions on the
horizon--even if we solved all of the other issues."
More:
http://www.bayacht.com/aaa/nl-artic/GreenCats.htm
Feature: Narrow
and or asymmetrical hulls.
Positive: Slightly better performance when kept light.
What’s wrong with that?
Today’s modern voyager
is not going sailing light. Once you add the water, fuel, amenities and
the kitchen sink—that narrower hull will be sunk below it’s waterline and
will probably have less performance and, as important less maneuverability
(the extra lateral plane created resists turning at slow speeds making for
difficult maneuvering.
Look at load carrying
first and examine what you’re planning to put aboard. If that includes
Generator, A/C, and other amenities, you better make sure you have
sufficient load carrying ability. Better check with the designer.
Want a short cut
test? On a boat about 38’ or over, the double berths ought to fit
inside the hulls and not need to be up high (where they’re hot, also) over
the bridge deck because the hulls are too narrow. Check it out!!!
A second test? When loaded, we recently sailed a FP 46 with full
tanks, Gen and A/C and all the amenities with 15 guests. At 10 knots,
neither stern was underwater! Look at pictures or go out on the boat and
see if this holds true for the boat you’re considering.
Look at our new boat web page
www.bayacht.com/new.htm and click on each of our boats to find out the
load carrying
In countless cruising races where a variety of boats fun race in a
fully loaded condition, boats with normal catamaran keels, and full hulls
with great load carrying ability--win! The Fountaine Pajot range is a good
example and has done extraordinarily well in these kinds of contests.
Another thing you should
know when you hear about performance variations--especially when people have
seen the performance of charter boats: Catamarans are extremely sensitive to
bottom fouling. Even a slight bit of slime can appreciably degrade
performance, and I've seen boats with quite a lot of slime and a little moss
lose 30-40% of their performance, and totally lose the ability to tack
without using their engine! Perhaps this is why you hear such wild claims
and divergent results. Be sure everyone's comparing apples with apples. When
you hear these statements, perhaps a good question is: "Do you know for a
fact, that the bottoms of both boats in question had absolutely clean
bottoms?" Without the answer to this question, relative comparisons are
meaningless--yet gleefully offered by those protecting their own prejudices.
More information: Eric Smith 410-263-2311
esmith@bayacht.com
Bonus...
What about the new, high seating seen on
some models?
|
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Professional
Testimonial...
A delivery captain's opinion:
From delivery captain, D.L., MSc who on Sept. 13th, 2006 completed the
trans-Atlantic delivery of a Fountaine Pajot 43, Belize: "Compared to
other catamarans that I have delivered, and especially compared to the
Lagoon line, the Fountaine-Pajot Belize 43 is more responsive, points
better and is much quicker to accelerate. The forward steering station
is much preferred (over catamarans with aft steering) and the Fountaine
Pajot station is much easier to work from than that on the Lagoon. I
encountered very, very heavy (25') seas during this trip and nothing has
broken and no stress cracks were seen--that has not been the case on
other catamaran deliveries. Also, on the Lagoon, they seem to glue all
the pieces together, like some of the mass produced monohulls, and so
when we did need to get access to components it was very difficult. On
the Fountaine Pajot, we checked this and even though we didn't have to
get to anything, it would have been very much easier. I used to be
prejudiced against catamarans and preferred monohull deliveries but,
after the Fountaine Pajot delivery-I have definitely been converted!
" D.L.

A better solution. Fountaine Pajot creates a (slightly) raised control
cockpit with easy access to the cockpit down just 2 steps.
See them here. |
|
Positive: An upper station offers good visibility under power. It gives
you the potential to have an out of the way, control cockpit.
What’s wrong with that?
In some designs, there is
no good communication with the cockpit and the helmsman is almost
totally isolated from his guests.
There may
be no real sun or rain protection. Some rigs put the boom so high you
need a ladder to climb the mast, and then must shinny out onto the boom
to unsnarl a line, or even tuck in the sail to the cover. How do you get up on that boom if a
reef line or something gets snarled on the boom--get a ladder? If you go
"downstairs" to share a cocktail with friends in the cockpit (with sun
protection) not only can't you see anything, if you need to quickly avert
something, you have to run upstairs to regain control.
A better thought out
design, like the new FP44 or 48' still offers a hard top, but gives
access to the control station from the cockpit as well as from on deck.
There's a flip up bimini for sun/rain protection. All the controls are
led here for single handing. The skipper can see down to and communicate
with those in the cockpit. The boom is low and it's easy to reach
everything
Who needs to plan
their trip down the side decks to get back to the cockpit? Two levels means you have to watch where
you step, instead of just meandering down the deck. (Maybe we should just
get rid of that pesky mast and rig, and just let her be what she seems to
want to be--a power boat with a flybridge!)
A problem and a solution.
Any forward steering station, especially a raised one, is going to have
visibility problems on one tack upwind and the opposite tack downwind.
Communication to those who can see forward from the cockpit helps.
But for the self reliant a combination of windows in the headsail (a
common solution in racing boats--already well worked out) and/or a
forward looking camera that is interfaced with your chart plotter offer
a sensible solution.
I think we're
going to see an awful lot of these on the resale market once people
actually spend time on them--hope you're not the one trying to sell in a
decaying market. Fads just
don't work. There's a reason no one else is doing this and that
this hasn't been done before--looks great at a boat show, but wouldn't
want to live there!
NOTE:
Want proof? What happened to the Aero rig (see above). Hint-company that
promoted this is out of business. What happened to Asymmetrical hulls with
dagger boards? Company that promoted this went bankrupt and has changed
ownership several times. What happened to boats with electric engines? The
generators got bigger and bigger, the battery banks heavier and heavier,
the props bigger and bigger until they slowed to a crawl under sail and
still had a relatively short range under power. What happened to the original company that
promoted them? Gone. See what you can find now. The ultimate anti-green?
What will you do to dispose of all those batteries? Where do you get
service for the complicated, sensitive electonic controls? Where do you
get service in out of the way ports and marinas (Or even in normal
marinas? Anyone can service a diesel engine!) It's easy to jump on this
band wagon, but the idea is not yet ready for prime time.
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