Part II of the great Catamaran versus Monohull debate. Part I is posted here, Cat vs. Mono – The Great Debate.
So we’ve covered a lot of ground so far. Cost, Maintenance, Engines, Heeling, Deck Space, etc. Now we just need to take a look at a few more variables and then we can come to a decision. Or rather, I will come to a decision and tell you what it is and you will have to live with the truth of it for all time.
Indoors
Living accommodations. This is a tricky one. Indoors the monohull wins hands down. Our mono is 43′ with a 13′ beam. Our cat was 35′ with a 22′ beam. Yet it is the monohull that feels more roomy, more comfortable, and more homey. Yes, homey. The cat is a poor example of a home. It’s sterile. And despite having four bedrooms and two bathrooms, it has virtually no floor space. The cat looks and feels more like a room at the W Hotel than it does a home. Which for the weekend warrior might be considered a positive.
Kitchen. The catamaran galley looked similar to what you’d expect in a 400 square foot railroad apartment in New York. A mini-kitchen built for dolls to play in . Meanwhile the monohull galley is expansive, with actual real-people sized sink, faucet, refrigerator, stove, and counter space. And while I’ve never actually cooked anything in either of them I can still appreciate how this may be beneficial to those that do.
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The cat had floors two-feet wide running the length of the hulls and just the tiniest slice of floor space in the saloon. The monohull however has an actual living room floor. A whopping thirty square feet for us as a family to lounge around on, spread toys all over, and generally act as if we live in a real life land home. Even the aft cabin has a bunch of floor space. I’m sure we must look ludicrous to McMansion families when the four of us are sprawled out on our prison cell sized living room floor, but to a 35′ catamaran owner it must seem luxurious.
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The mono also has tons and tons of storage. To this day we’re still discovering compartments. Big compartments. We’ve got enough space to store all of our belongings, including two kids’ clothes, toys, bikes, and car seat. An air conditioner, dehumidifier, and who knows what else resides under a bed. It’s just massive amounts really.
On the cat Ali and I had a lot of storage as well, but it was in plastic containers that had to sit on the beds in the cabins we weren’t using. Aside from under the settee there was hardly any built in storage at all, and that bit was used almost exclusively for batteries. On the plus side I guess is the fact that we didn’t even have to secure those plastic bins on the beds. Being on a cat they never once fell off. Beer cases stayed put too. Even the crap beer we thought to pack back in 2003. I’m so embarrassed.
Wood interior. There really is no substitute for the beauty of a varnished teak interior. Our monohull actually feels like a home. The catamaran’s all white plastic looking interior felt as if it were designed with the idea of being able to wipe blood spatters off of any surface with nothing more than a wet paper towel. Just bleach away the crime scene.
Miscellaneous Nonsense
What about safety? Falling off a catamaran would be akin to falling off your living room floor and landing in your front yard. Not easy to do and not very likely. Falling off a monohull is like falling off a trampoline. Very easy to do unless you are cautious at all times. And while I have no hard and fast data to support any opinion I’ve ever had about anything, I do have to imagine that there are a lot more broken bones associated with accidents aboard a monohull than there are on a catamaran.
Sinking? Who really sinks? I’ve never met a cruiser who has sunk his boat. I know it happens because whenever it does the sailing/cruising press goes on high alert. Would you rather be at the bottom of the ocean right side up, or on top of the ocean upside down? Isn’t that the old cat owner joke? To use this as a reason for choosing one boat over another seems like it should be pretty far down the list. Anyway, play the odds and assume that you are never going to be holed by a whale. Discount this argument entirely.
Dockage? True, finding dock space for a catamaran can be a problem. It can also be more expensive. Our cat had a 22′ beam for god’s sake. But in the end I think we were only charged more (1.5x monohull rates) twice, despite taking up two slips.
What about that argument that lots of cat owners like to use about how they can anchor in places that a monohull couldn’t get?
I think this one is bull. Sure there were a couple of places in the Bahamas that we anchored our cat in four feet of water, but by and large, say 99% of anchorages worldwide, we could just as easily have anchored our 6.5′ draft monohull as we could our 3.5′ catamaran. Cats might get to tuck in slightly further, but four feet of water depth vs. seven feet does not usually make much difference in how far from shore you will be. It’s a stupid argument.
The Verdict
Honestly, don’t we already know the answer to this question? Does anybody honestly believe that a monohull can compete with a catamaran? Of course not. The catamaran rules the high seas, while the monohull comes in a respectable second place. Out of two.
I actually consider it almost quaint now to see that occasionally monohulls still have ocean crossing races. It’s sort of like racing vintage Porsches after driving a 911 Turbo to the track. I mean it has to be a little embarrassing for these Open 40s heeled over twenty degrees to get passed by Ma and Pa Kettle aboard their Lagoon 44 having a barbeque in the cockpit.
But that doesn’t mean monohulls don’t have a lot going for them. They’re great value, for one. And to most discerning eyes, and notwithstanding the all white plastic mass production crap, they are more beautiful than cats. The old ones are built like bulldozers. Then there is the nostalgia factor. These things take a lot of people back to that simpler time when they were just kids sitting on dad’s lap steering the boat across the bay. There is something to be said for that.
Let’s face facts though. The catamaran is more stable by a factor of ten thousand to one (note: must check source on this statistic). And that’s really about the only thing that has to be said. It has other factors in it’s favor of course, but when it comes to picking a cruising boat there really is nothing as important as comfort. Nothing in my mind contributes more to the enjoyment and success of long-range long-term cruising than a stable platform.
There is one big caveat though, and again it comes down to the finances. If going cruising now, as in today, means taking a monohull, while the other option is to work another three years while you save up for the catamaran, the monohull wins hands down every time. The cat versus mono debate fades away very quickly when you are at anchor on a Sunday night knowing there is no job to go to the next morning. That instead you will be having a cuppa on deck, going snorkeling, building sandcastles with your kids on the beach, and having fresh caught Dorado for lunch.
Waiting for the day you can afford the catamaran of your dreams is nothing more than an excuse not to go. Your kids are getting older, your parents are getting older, your joints are getting older. Time waits for no one, right? Too many dreams are dashed in those “two or three more years.”
And so, the age old question of “cat or mono” really comes down to “now or later.”
It’s funny, during our first cruise in the catamaran I commented a number of times on the cat versus mono debate. I basically said there was no debate. I even went so far as to wonder aloud why they even build monohulls any more. Of course at the time I’d never actually been sailing on a monohull. And now?
We love our monohull. We don’t love rolling around at sea or at anchor. In fact, we hate it. We don’t love our small cockpit. We don’t love using a ladder to get on and off the boat. But we do love being out here in Mexico cruising with our two kids. And that’s really all that matters in the great number of hulls debate.
12 Comments on “Cat vs. Mono — The Verdict”
Thank you for this! My husband and I were having a silly debate over Cats vs. Monos (silly because our budget only permits for one!) and it’s true: sailing tomorrow, or sailing in three years! Thanks!
Hey!
Sheryl and Paul Shard from Distant Shores TV suggested I contact you. I am a full-time trader with a love for sailing. They said you may have some ideas about internet connectivity while afloat.
Could I ask if you trade while sailing and if so, how you stay connected in order to execute the trades reliably?
I am slowly making steps towards the Caribbean. In Puerto Rico now. Boat comes next.
Many thanks and fair winds!
Charlie Comerford
Not really funny, but an acquaintance recently sold his Lagoon 47. The couple who purchased it were hit by a whale during their first cruise and she sank. All hands were rescued. I was struck by the irony of your statement – “Anyway, play the odds and assume that you are never going to be holed by a whale. “
Hi Dave, not completely uncommon, I was hit by a whale. No damage to my boat, prob because I had a much smaller boat, I now always keep the depth sounder on because it allows them to know where I am at all times. It also pays to have an idea to fix a hole, no matter how unlikely it may be to get one.
Your monohull is beautiful. We are looking to buy a boat to live on. What kind of boat is this?
Thanks. 1982 43′ Spindrift
Found you late in the game as Bumfuzzle gets mentioned by the newest breeds of Youtube sailors I peruse. I’m sure it has been said hundreds of times and it must get old?… but, you guys inspire me. Even if it’s a bit later in my life. I’ll be sailing sin wife as she does not share the sailing bug. Can you believe her garden and friends are more important than fixing boats in exotic locations around the world. I will be able to invite our grown kids who are in their 20’s now and introduce them to sailing. We backpacked around the world with them for a year when they were 9 & 11 years old. I hope to get them on the catamaran I end up purchasing in the next few months. Q: Did you see many Prouts while you were gallivanting about? What is your opinion of their 38’s or 39’s? You guys deserve more sailing fortune and fame than you get! You started too early, LOL.
Thank you very much! Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for in response to my query:
“There is a lot of advice out there for people who want to change from a monohull to a multihull. There are all kinds of heated debates and myriads of opinions. What seems to be harder to find is actual experience the other way round.
I have been sailing exclusively on multihulls since 1987 when I first sailed on an old trimaran in Tonga – and got pretty much instantly converted into a multihuller. I bought a Prout Snowgoose 35 the year after, sailed her across the Atlantic and lived on her for 4 ½ years. In 1995 I bought a Horstman TriStar 38 trimaran and sailed her across the Pacific with my wife. Finally, in 2005 I bought a 12 meter Privilege 390 catamaran and sailed her around the world with my wife and daughter. That took us almost eight years, down to New Zealand and around the Cape of Good Hope.
Now we are considering a monohull. All our multihull friends warn me that this would make us very unhappy indeed. The problem is the price tag of a modern cruising catamaran. Also we are thinking to venture to the south tip of South America as well as to the northern tip of North America. What we hope to find is people with actual personal experience of switching from long-term multihull sailing to blue water monohull cruising. We would very much like to hear what people like that have to say.”
Best,
KrautHolg
Holger Jacobsen, I also hope to see the opinions of someone who has switched as well.
I for one don’t have multihull experience but it seems fairly clear cut in my mind, there are pros and cons. What I seem to see lately is a myriad of opinions that didn’t exist during the time you started sailing. Many people point out the dangers of capsizing a mono, making it sound like you will sink in a blink and that it’s somehow more dangerous than a multi, growing up I heard the exact opposite. Under sail on a mono you would likely be at a slight angle and it is slower, I’m sure you already know that.
I have read about a couple that did switch after many years of multi, they appreciate the space you get with a mono so much that they wold never switch back. They do have children and needed more safe space and the more gentle ocean motion was a bonus.
Have you ever tried flopper stoppers at anchor?
I never tried, but heard they make you as stable as a catamaran. Except when the wind shits, then you will move for a litlle while.
No, we never did, but we would often use a back anchor to point our bow into the swell. That usually takes care of the worst of it.
I’ve had this same debate…with myself… and arrived at the same conclusion. That the safety factor including fatigue from “living on your ear”, as well as comfort at anchor, ability to take the ground, pilothouse type view from the saloon, all make the catamaran the ideal. The only real downside as far as I see is payload. Cats have a pathetic payload by comparison to a monohull. The overall weight of the two boats is hugely different as well, which has it’s disadvantages also. Your comparison between a small cat and a very large mono is not really fair. The argument about anchoring out is very valid, not because of draft, but as you mentioned rolling. Why would you want to tie up in a marine trailer court (marina), if you could be in a quiet spot a mile away, other than comfort? In order for cats to work well and perform well, they must be light weight, hence the very light construction you describe. One 30′ cat I was interested in had a difference between loaded and empty displacement of only 1500 lbs, and when you start to total things up, you hit this far more quickly than most people realize, as they fail to take many things into account. Most cats are overloaded most of the time I suspect, and that compromises bridge deck clearance… I assume you’ve experienced pounding….
Looking at cats has changed my perspective on what I need to carry, and what I can do without…. I need to think like a backpacker (which I am).