A Sail of Two Idiots (4 page)

BOAT SPEED AND ABILITY TO POINT.
Monohulls slice through the water more cleanly and can point closer to the wind than a cat, an advantage if the wind is blowing from the direction you want to go (although weight matters, see next point). Some people prefer the monohull's heeled-over, cutting-through-the-waves movement, which to them defines the word
sailing
. The motion is completely different on a catamaran. Catamarans have a more seesaw-like movement. That's good enough for me. If I'm on the water and moving, I'm sailing. I don't need to be a purist about it.

ADDING WEIGHT.
Monohulls can take on a bit more stuff than a catamaran before the weight starts to affect their speed, waterline, or sea slicing. That said, some newer monohulls are wider and so loaded with amenities (generator, air conditioner, electric toilet) that they cannot sail much closer to the wind than catamarans. (You need to know some sailing basics to understand why that matters, but I get to that later.) It is no longer uncommon to see monohull owners standing
alongside their catamaran brethren in the boatyard raising their boat's waterline to accommodate all their heavy stuff, so maybe this is becoming a moot point.

OFFSHORE HANDLING/KEEL.
Because of their deep, heavy keel, monohulls are better for offshore, deepwater sailing. That said, many catamarans have sailed—and will continue to sail—across oceans. In 2010, more than 250 boats participated in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia; 15 of them were catamarans. Had we decided to take the leap, we would have gone via catamaran (the previous owners of our boat had sailed it from South Africa; the boat could do it again). If you get a catamaran with centerboards or daggerboards, you will gain the deeper keel advantage of a monohull—but those boards add more work and more things to break, so they were not on our want list.

COST.
Monohulls, size for size, are typically
much
cheaper than catamarans.
Much
.

WINDOWS.
When you're sitting or cooking in a monohull, you can barely see out, so you might as well be sitting in your basement in Detroit. Unless you can see out, a rocking movement can bring on nausea. Sure, you'll likely be lounging in your cockpit most of the time, but I found those spaces rather cramped. I've noticed that the cellar effect seems to be changing since more women are sailing now. I guess rum-addled solo male sailors didn't mind the dungeon-like accommodations, but women tend to like daylight, so some manufacturers are installing more and larger windows. Smaller and/or fewer windows also lock in odors, and we did find quite a few monohulls a bit smelly. Sorry guys. Of course, more windows means more leaks (see cons in the Catamarans section).

BOARDING LADDERS AND STEEPNESS.
It can be a vertical challenge to get on and off a monohull. If that's not enough, you get to tackle another steep ladder or narrow steps to go to and from the interior.

Some newer monohull designs have a flat swim platform and a sugar-scoop reverse transom. These additions make boarding easier and give more outside seating options as well. Apparently designs are also changing to lessen the vertical challenge of ladders and steps leading down to the interior, so all this may soon be a nonissue.

LAYOUT.
The navigation centers, including VHFs (boat radios), are belowdeck in some cases. Leaving the wheel to go below to read a chart or communicate via radio seems dangerous and badly thought out to me. You'll likely find that many well-equipped monohulls now have instrument displays and a VHF repeater (or a
handheld VHF) in the cockpit or on the steering pedestal, so this is a nonissue on many boats, but if you buy an older boat, beware.

DRAFT.
Larger monohulls—over 40 feet—can have a fairly deep draft, so you should know where you want to sail before investing in one. A typical monohull draft is 5 feet or more, but 4 feet or less on a catamaran is better in shallower sailing or anchoring grounds.

For example, the Bahamas is not the easiest place to cruise in a monohull. Tides and shallow waters (5 feet or less is not uncommon) may keep you waiting hours to get in and out of anchorages. If you're not careful, you can ground out—even in places you've been before—due to shifting sands.

SPACE.
Sorry, nothing beats a catamaran for space or easy-to-access storage. Nothing.

BOAT MOTION/ROLLING/HEELING.
Catamarans don't typically have safety pot latches on their stoves because they aren't necessary. Catamarans don't roll or heel like monohulls do. Sometimes we'd arrive at an anchorage with our monohull pals only to watch them pick up anchor a couple of hours later. While we were wondering what we'd done to offend them, they'd radio to tell us they needed to find someplace more protected, assuming they could find such a thing. We also got seasick on their boats, so it was good to have lots of space on our stable two-hull so we could socialize. Monohulls can also swing like a pendulum. I've seen someone clinging to the side of his swaying boat before scrambling over the railing while his partner in the dinghy tried to avoid getting squashed by their tilting abode. That's no fun!

Monohull owners spend much prep time just making sure that everything belowdecks is secure because forgetting to latch something down can lead to a mess. We only placed one vase in the sink before we took off for a sail. We were also able to set down a full cup of liquid and walk away from it while under sail! I definitely have a problem with the thought of having to strap myself into bed. So I don't fall out (I know what you were thinking).

DINGHY STORAGE.
Many monohulls don't have a davit system to raise the dinghy out of the water, so some sailors will tow the dinghy behind or take off their dinghy motor before hoisting the dinghy onto the deck for stowage (it's often lashed forward of the mast). What a pain! Creating drag while towing the dinghy is a bummer, and sometimes you need that dinghy with motor to deal with a bad anchoring or mooring situation. If you purchase a monohull, make sure you have a decent davit system or some way to get the little boat out of the water. Get a lighter dinghy and motor or stronger davits, if necessary.

SPACE!
You'll spend more time on your boat than you can ever imagine. Really. So you want space. You want seating options. You want to have friends over and you need a table big enough to play Mexican Train Dominoes! We had a 37-foot boat that was larger than the apartment I had in New York City. We could have guests in one hull and never see them. Between the space on the trampolines, the rear of the boat, and the salon, we could entertain an entire anchorage. We had so much storage that half the spaces were empty. Our monohull pals had storage envy.

LAYOUT.
The convenience of the navigation center being a step away from our cockpit made me happy. The big, multiple windows let us actually see where we decided to visit. A big kitchen (galley), up or down, is another plus. Seating is plentiful from the deck's cockpit, candy chairs (optional deck-rail seats, located stern and/or bow), and trampolines, to the interior's salon and cabins. How to decide where to sit?!

EASE OF BOARDING.
Getting on and off a catamaran is a cinch. Some stairs or sugar scoops are steeper than others, which should be a factor during your search, but at least no one has to cling to a rickety ladder with a bag of groceries in order to board.

SAILING MOTION.
We liked the seesaw movement of the catamaran under sail. To us, it felt better than sitting at an angle for umpteen hours or trying to cook or sit in the head at a tilt. We could walk around or play games and not be worried about a gust of wind sending us into a full-blown tip. I should clarify that we liked the seesaw movement on a calmish day. Pounding directly into large waves nose first was not a good time on our catamaran, but I can't say they would be a blast in a monohull either. We tried not to sail in conditions like that. I always felt insecure under sail on a leaning monohull. Sitting straight up on a double hull felt reassuring to me.

BOAT MOTION AT ANCHOR.
At anchor, we could put up with fairly rolly conditions without turning green or drunkenly stumbling around our boat, at least most of the time. (The anchorages can get rolly once you're south of St. Martin. Location matters.)

DRAFT.
Our catamaran got into many places that monohulls couldn't, and many times with better holding (it can get sandier toward shore). We also waited for tide
changes a lot less, if at all. If the outgoing tide did ground us, at least we could just sit there until it came back in. Monohulls would tilt or fall over if that happened.

REDUNDANCY.
It was comforting to know that we had a backup to the engine, toilet, and bilge pump. (Two-hulled boats have two or more of everything.) Also see Cons.

SAIL AREA.
Both a pro and a con. Our large sails usually kept us moving faster than our monohull friends, sending us ahead sometimes by hours (depending on their size). Our large sails were heavy. Sometimes it took two of us to hoist the mainsail. The large front sail, a genoa in our case, could also be unwieldy and was hard to remove for maintenance or storage because of its heft.

MANEUVERABILITY.
It's fun (and a relief) to be able to spin a catamaran in a tight, perfect circle in a crowded anchorage or a scary reefy area thanks to two perfectly located engines. Two engines almost act as thrusters when docking, as well.

MAINTENANCE.
Catamarans have at least two of everything. Two of everything to break and two of everything to clean. Not only do you have two hulls housing all those duplicates, you get to scrub the bottom of those two hulls plus the middle (bridge) when your antifouling paint fails. Two heads and four cabins kept us pretty busy. Good thing we didn't have anything else to do all day!

SAILING MOTION AND SLAMMING.
If you're going into waves and you're on a catamaran, you
will have
water slamming between the hulls. Some catamarans have a higher center than others, but that just makes them top-heavy, and I'll bet they still slam. What I have found, though, is that the sea and wind conditions that cause slamming are also likely to cause boaters not to go sailing that day, so slamming doesn't happen as often as you might think or might have been told.

The slapping that occurs against the hulls while the boat is at anchor is annoying though. If there is any current, the water swirls around and slaps the hulls. There is no way to sleep through this battering. There is no soundproofing on a catamaran (heck, on our boat we were able to see the sun shining through the outer fiberglass walls in the closets), so sleep can sometimes be a problem.

SUITABILITY FOR OFFSHORE SAILING.
See Pros/Monohulls/Offshore Handling/Keel (above on page 7).

COST.
Catamarans usually have to pay double at marinas, and that's assuming there's a slip to accommodate the width of a double hull. Compared to that of
monohulls, catamaran haulouts cost more. Repairs cost more. Painting the boat bottom costs more. Boat insurance costs more. Bottom line: Catamarans are more expensive to buy and maintain, but I think you get what you pay for.

WEIGHT.
Catamarans are heavy even when they're empty. Here you have all this space to populate, but when you take advantage of that, you get penalized for it! Extra weight slows a boat, especially a catamaran. Well, so what? We preferred to bring all our stuff and we still went 7 to 8 knots most of the time. Of course, because of our weight, we needed about 15 knots of wind to even make it worth raising the sails, but a 40-foot-plus monohull would likely share the same predicament.

DISMASTING.
Catamaran masts, due to their location, take a lot of pressure. Stress fractures can develop, which could lead to a dismasting (the mast breaks, and the post and sails are dragged into the water). Manufacturers are starting to make improvements, but if you're buying a used catamaran, this is a factor to consider. Of course, monohulls can be dismasted too, but this situation is rare whichever type of boat you choose. If you want to prevent a dismasting, avoid bad weather/seas and shorten the sail (reef) in high winds. Be good to yourselves and your boat. Have your mast and rigging inspected regularly to prevent any nasty surprises or to at least fix those that do pop up before the worst happens.

CAPSIZING.
All boats can capsize. The difference is that a monohull will likely return to upright (the heavy weight in the keel usually forces the single hull to right itself). A catamaran will not, unless it's a Hobie Cat. While a scary thought, catamarans rarely flip over. We had too much sail up many a time while we were learning and found the boat to be very forgiving. Should the worst happen though, ensure that your boat has an emergency hatch or two for an easier escape. At least the boat will float (see next point).

SINKING.
Unless a monohull has been built with buoyant foam, has bulkheads between compartments that are always kept closed, or has air tanks, it will sink when punctured (say, by elkhorn coral). A fiberglass monohull full of water, whether caused by a hole or swamping, will not float. A catamaran will, thanks to watertight crash compartments that can keep a breech, and the water associated with it, from entering the rest of the boat. Most fiberglass catamarans consist of foam-core construction, which will keep the boat afloat, much like Styrofoam can keep beverage containers afloat when they're adrift. Of course, a two-hulled runin with a reef might send the boat to the bottom, but even a steel-hulled monohull might not fare well under such conditions.