Here's The Ten Commandments
By PHILLIP BERMAN www.multihullcompany.com
Until very recently, hoards of misguided monohull sailors have ceaslessly lambasted catamarans and trimarans. "The can't tack. They can't go upwind. They take up too much dock space. They aren't pretty....."
For over thirty years I have heard these cries a thousand times at Yacht Clubs all over the United States. Fortunately, with the success of catamarans in the charter trade, many monohull sailors are begining to appreciate catamarans and trimarans as never before. Some are attracted to the speed. Others to the spaciousness. Still others to the fact that they can cook without a gimbeled stove.
If you are seriously thinking about making the switch to a catamaran or trimaran there are several things to consider. Here's the Ten Commandments:
COMMANDMENT #1: IF YOU PLAN ON SERIOUS CRUISING, OR WILL OFTEN SAIL WHERE BEATING UPWIND IS NECESSARY, CONSIDER A TRIMARAN OR A CATAMARAN WITH DAGGERBOARDS.
After sailing and racing multihulls since 1968 I can say with absolute confidence that - all things being equal - trimarans are faster upwind than catamarans. They generally carry the same amount of speed as a catamaran but sail a good 5 degrees higher.
I can also say with equal confidence that a daggerboarded catamaran sails considerably faster upwind than a catamaran with keels.
For many sailors upwind performance is not a significant consideration. This is certainly so
for those who place a catamaran in charter. In fact, catamarans with keels make better charter cats because you never have to worry about broken daggerboards or damaged trunks. Keels also offer a good deal of protection for the rudders - another huge plus when you’re boat is regularly being sailed by novices.
If you happen to cruise off the California coast, however, where Mexican waters are frequented, upwind performance is crucial. Sailing up the Baja shoreline is a long and arduous upwind slug. Similarly, if you are sailing on an extended cruise, excellent upwind sailing performance is vital for safety as well as personal comfort.
COMMANDMENT#2 THOU SHALT BUY A MULTIHULL SUITED ONLY FOR THY’S PRESENT NEEDS - NOT FUTURE DREAMS.
Because sailing is a romantic enterprise, it attracts a wide range of dreamers, myself included. The downside is that there is often an enormous gap between our dreams and the reality in which we find ourselves.
Many people I speak with tell me they are planning to take a long-distance cruise. "When?" I ask.
"Oh, as soon as I retire....I’d say in four or five years we’ll be headed for Tahiti."
Alas, the four or five years often stretch to ten. So there they find themselves sailing a large offshore yacht on the Chesapeake for ten years. Sure, they may make it to Maine or the Bahamas from time to time, but the big offshore multihull is essentially underutilized on most weekend sailing excursions. A smaller and less seaworthy multihull would probably do the job just as well for a lot less expense.
COMMANDMENT #3: FOR WEEKEND CRUISING SMALL TRIMARANS ARE EXCELLENT
If you plan to do a bit of weekend or coastal cruising with three or four onboard it is hard to get away with a multihull much less than 25 feet because most of us like to: (A) sleep in a decent bed; (B) do our business in private; (C) shower every day; and (D) need a stove and sink to cook and clean. This is why most catamarans under 30’ are not great coastal cruisers. Their hulls are simply too small to offer enough interior space for comfortable eating, cooking, or sleeping. Catamarans that try to solve this problem with fatter hulls or a center cabin generally suffer greatly in performance or look bulky and distorted. They generally also have very low bridge deck clearance, which impedes upwind performance.
Down below, the 30 foot and under trimaran is generally much more spacious than the 30 foot and under catamaran. And most trimarans under 30 feet are easily trailered, which greatly expands cruising options and offers significant annual savings on hauling and storage. The ability to fold the amas close to the main-hull also makes dockage easier and less costly.
COMMANDMENT #4: OVER 30 FEET, CATAMARANS ARE HARD TO BEAT
If you are ready for serious offshore cruising, catamarans become preferable to trimarans for a host of reasons. For one thing, a catamaran over 30 feet can comfortably carry a spacious center cabin spanning the hulls. This offers considerably more interior room than a comparably sized trimaran. The larger catamaran is also a lot less costly to construct because it is cheaper to build two hulls than three. Finally, when you hit the 40’ plus mark, trimarans become much more beamy than catamarans, which makes docking, storage, and hauling considerably more difficult and costly. If cost is no object, however, and docking and storage are not issues, large trimarans still make excellent cruisers.
COMMANDMENT #5: THOU SHALT CAREFULLY CONSIDER LOAD CAPACITY WHEN BUYING A MULTIHULL
Remember that multihulls are faster than monohulls primarily because they are much lighter. Load a multihull with a lot of extra gear and she becomes a slug pretty quickly. If you feel the need for TV’s, microwaves, computers and scuba gear, be sure to get a multihull designed to handle this extra weight. If you don’t, and the boat sails well below her intended waterline, she’ll not only be slow but dangerous because the loads on her rig will be enormous. Finally, if you can’t break the 12 knot barrier, why sail a multihull at all?
COMMANDMENT #6: THOU SHALT AVOID BUYING A MULTIHULL UNTIL THOU CONDUCTS A SEA TRIAL IN HEAVY AIR
Most people buy sailboats - multihulls or otherwise- without sailing the boat in a stiff breeze.
Yet until you sail a boat in a breeze you cannot adequately measure the quality of its reefing systems, rig and sails, or the way she handles under sail or power, etc. In large catamarans it is especially important to sail upwind for an hour or so in a stiff headwind to see how well she points - and how hard she pounds. Low bridge deck clearance or too much weight or too little beam can make sailing a catamaran upwind unpleasant. In some instances, if you are buying a well known brand of multihull, you can learn the truth about her sailing characteristics from knowledgeable sailors or brokers. But I still highly recommend a heavy air sea trial. Heavy air never lies.
COMMANDMENT #7: IF YOU ONLY HAVE FOUR TO FIVE WEEKS A YEAR TO SAIL, CONSIDER PUTTING A CATAMARAN INTO CHARTER
There are many excellent catamaran owner charter programs on the market. Yet none of them make financial sense unless you have the time to use your boat at least four to five weeks a year. If you really can break away this often some charter programs are highly attractive. However, this is hardly the route to riches. While the first few years of chartering will generally cover all costs, your catamaran is depreciating rapidly. She is also regularly abused by a wide range of novice skippers. In most cases when she comes out of charter after four or five years she’ll need a very costly refit. Even when she is refitted she’ll fetch a lot less on the used market than a similar catamaran that was never chartered.
From a financial risk standpoint it is often better to buy a two to three year old catamaran for charter, which greatly minimizes upfront costs and financial risks.
COMMANDMENT #8: IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD A NEW BOAT, BEWARE OF THE FIXER UPPER
The majority of those I counsel woefully underestimate how much it costs to sustain, slip, and repair a 35’ plus multihull. And nearly everyone - I mean everyone! - labors under the assumption they can "do a lot of the work myself." If you are very handy, and have plenty of time on your hands, there is
indeed some work you can do yourself - but a whole lot more you can’t.
One courtly retired client I worked with told me he was interested in buying a wonderful old Prout catamaran he saw listed in Florida. He wanted to add daggerboards to each hull, chop off the keels, upgrade the electronics, add new sails and paint her. The cost of the boat was $130,000. He reckoned he could get this done for about $20,000. "No way," I protested. "It will cost $20,000 just to repaint her." He thought he could add the daggerboards and trunks for about $5,000. I told him the boards alone would cost at least $5,000 - and the trunks even more. I told him he was looking at a minimum of $50,000 to refit this boat properly. Even if he did most of the work himself (hundreds of hours) it would still cost $25,000. The fact is, when you have a beamy multihull that can only be hauled at a few select yards, your negotiating posture for services is pretty weak. If you need to ask "How Much" you are already in deep trouble.
In short, be very careful when estimating refitting costs and the value of the fixed up multihull on the used market. Often, a careful analysis of the facts shows that many people pay far too much for fixer-upper‘s. Hard won experience has taught me that the Bristol yacht is nearly always the best way to go when buying a used multihull.
COMMANDMENT #9 THOU SHALT BUY A MULTIHULL THAT IS EASY TO SAIL
Raising and lowering a 600-square-foot mainsail, or reefing it in a blow, takes some energy - even with great reefing systems. Which means it may take a few crew members to use your boat - especially if you are headed offshore. Do you really want to spend time sailing with inexperienced friends for crew (what if it gets nasty?), or experienced crew you hardly know? Believe me, it is best to find a multihull rigged for single or double-handing. If you can’t sail it with your spouse or lover, your ability to enjoy sailing is severely crimped. In most instances, this means buying the smallest multihull you can find that suits your needs and pocket book.
COMMANDMENT #10 THE FASTER YOU CAN SAIL, THE SAFER YOU ARE
Speed is seldom given serious consideration as a safety factor, but it ought to be. One of the
great safety advantages of a multihull over a monohull (in addition to unsinkability) is that it can attain much higher speeds. And the faster you can sail, the less exposure you have to dangerous storms. You can also run before approaching storms more easily.
Unfortunately, many catamarans on the market today are severely underpowered because the bulk of them were rigged for the charter trade. These underpowered rigs are a major drawback for serious warm water cruisers because 70% of your sailing will be done in winds of 12 knots or less. To overcome this problem I highly recommend adding a bowsprit to carry a permanently mounted roller-furling gennaker. This easily handled sail will boost your multihull’s offwind performance dramatically and therefore greatly add to your safety. On longer passages the increased speed will also enable you to carry less provisioning.
These ten commandments are obviously general. There are exceptions to each of them. I simply hope they will generate a bit of deeper reflection that will spare at least a few prospective multihull sailors from a bad experience or a costly mistake.
Phillip Berman is a former Hobie Cat World Champion. He is the author of six sailing books, among them CATAMARAN SAILING FROM START TO FINISH (W.W. Norton & Company, NY.) and CATAMARAN RACING FROM START TO
FINISH (W.W. Norton & Company, NY).
old lead:
If you’re in the habit of attending boat shows, as I am, it becomes obvious that every multihull manufacturer believes they’ve created the perfect yacht. The general drift of their sales pitches is nearly always the same: "PLENTY OF ROOM AND SAFETY FOR MOM AND THE KIDS,
LOADS OF PERFORMANCE FOR DAD."
Unfortunately, such hyperbole isn’t at all helpful when we’re trying to decide which sort of multihull is best for us. While choosing the right catamaran or trimaran is a highly personal matter, most of us can avoid a serious buying blunder if we pay careful attention to the following ten commandments of
multihull buying:
Phillip Berman is the President of THE MULTIHULL COMPANY and a former Hobie Cat World Champion. He is the author of six sailing books, among them Catamaran Sailing from Start to Finish and Catamaran Racing from Start to Finish. Contact him with your comments at: multibroker@home.com or www.multihullcompany.com |
