#2t Catamarans vs Monohull – Pros & Cons | Sailing Sisu

The next big question (funny how this is a big question if you still do not have the first “How?” question answered, lol) was mono hull or catamaran.

In 1999 Petro wanted to sail the oceans with her two young daughters, who were at that stage still in junior school. Her research at the time led her to favour monohulls over catamarans with respect to safety. Frik’s first experience on the other hand, was an Atlantic Ocean crossing on a 40ft Catamaran in 2006. So, the debate started, and a new research developed.

What we found is that this is a very hot topic on any sailing forum. If you want to start a flaming war, then talk about monohull vs catamaran, guns or no guns on board, and what type of anchor. We have compiled a list of 34 x YouTube videos about Monohull or Catamaran here. It came down to what you prefer. So, for shortness sake, we are only going to talk about our findings and how it brought us to our decision between a cruising monohull and a cruising catamaran. We are not looking for a racing boat.

Monohull Advantages over Catamaran

There is a bigger variety of monohulls available to choose from.

Ryan is an awesome dude and compiled a list of all boat listings since 1951 and talked about it in his video here.

The orange is monohulls and the blue is the cats. For any given year model, are there between 200 – 700 monohulls more available.

Monohull is cheaper

It could be for the fact that there are so many monohulls available, that it is also very much cheaper. Again, Ryan’s charts indicate that for the same length, the cats are at least $200k USD more expensive.

His charts also did indicate that for the same price range, monohulls are around 10 years older but the length is much longer than the cats. So, it would be more fair to look in terms of price, between 45ft catamaran and a 60ft monohull, but even then, monohull are cheaper.

An obvious reason is the fact that a catamaran has two hulls, two engines, two sets of bilge pumps, two sets of wires, pipes, and so on as explained by Ryan. So, maintenance cost and work, will be much higher. Another reason, which is an advantage in terms of space for the catamaran, but also push up the price, is the cross deck or bridge/saloon. Nicholas Naval Architect in his video SECRET of Why Catamarans Are Great! discuss the reason here. It cost more to keep those two hulls from not to pry open.

Monohull is said to auto recover when capsized, while a catamaran stays upside down

This is an old debate point. Monohulls will recover when capsized while a catamaran will flip over. While it is true that monohulls will self-right itself and older or racing cats will flip, is it not true of the latest cruising cats. From the videos and from recent discussions with cruising catamaran designers, the chances of a monohull hitting a container and sink and the chances of a cruising cat to flip, are the same and very slim. The latest cruising cats are designed not to flip. In fact, the latest cats will have the portlight in both hulls under the saloon, which on older cats served as an escape hatch, but it is now sealed off.

Monohull is more forgiving with a sudden squall with heeling, while a catamaran will blow a sail

Because a cat sits upright on its two hulls it cannot heel over with a sudden increase of wind. A monohull will just heel over and bleed off the sudden energy of a squall, while a cat may blow a sail. There is a very obvious physical sign, while a cat does not have this and a skipper can easily overpower his boat if he is not sailing according to the numbers meaning,

Monohull is said to have a smoother ride, while a catamaran is jerkier

Nicholas Naval Architect in his video SECRET of Why Catamarans Are Great! mentioned that the catamarans narrow hulls make them stable, but with a high roll acceleration, which makes the cat jerky (unless the cat is designed by a naval architect who knows how to work with vessel motion).

Monohull’s marina slips are cheaper and more readily available, as a catamaran uses the space of two hulls

Because a catamaran has two hulls and a saloon between them, are there fewer slips for catamarans and if there are, a cat slip tends to be double the price. At the same token, because a catamaran sits on-top of the water, they can be affected by cross winds much more.

Monohull has less engines and hulls to maintain

Monohull speed is not affected with added weight

Because of their water displacement and huge lead-filled keel, are according to Jessica and Ryan Adventures, monohulls’ performance not really affected by additional weight, so, one can really stock up on heavy provisions.

Stable at anchor in short high waves

Sometimes, monohulls are just bobbing up and down on a wave while the catamarans go wild in short high waves. Nicholas Naval Architect in his video SECRET of Why Catamarans Are Great! mentioned that the catamarans narrow hulls do not provide enough spare energy or buoyancy to keep both hulls in the water (unless the cat is designed by a naval architect who understand righting energy).

Catamaran Advantages over Monohull

Redundancy in the two engines

Yes, it is expensive to have two of everything, but it gives you redundancy should something happen to one engine, then you do have another one.

Catamaran does not sink

There is a saying that monohulls will sit upright on the bottom of the ocean while a catamaran will float upside down on top of the ocean.

Catamaran is more upright and comfortable

Denison Yachting points out that most catamarans living space, cockpit and saloon are on the same level with lots of light, ventilation, which makes a cat ideal for social. In the same video, he points out the upright nature of a catamaran.

Cats do not slam as hard into the waves when beating upwind. Every video or discussion of monohull vs catamaran, the wine glass example is mentioned. One can keep for most of the time even in high seas, most of small items on the tables on a cat. Here are some videos some pretty dramatic, other Multihull Sailing Comfort, comparing in heavy big wave conditions

Because of the no heeling, are there more rest/sleep space

Monohulls tend to be designed with heeling in mind and therefore, does not like open spaces. The saying is very true “one hand for yourself and one hand for the boat.” Also, bunkbeds are designed with a stopper wall to prevent one rolling out of bed while sleeping and tacking. This does not apply for cockpit seats so, one tends to lose one side of the boat.

Two hulls, more beds, more storage

Denison Yachting makes a statement in his video that a 45ft catamaran will have a beam between 20-25ft, which translates to a 60ft monohull.

Less rolling effect at anchor

A cat is much more stable on the sea or at anchor. Denison Yachting also shows the low rolling effect of a cat. Look at this episode from Sailing followtheboat WORST NIGHT EVER ON OUR SAILBOAT! Ep 86.

More manoeuvrable

It is true that a cat may be more difficult to tack because of the two hulls, but the same two hulls with the two engines, makes “driving” in small spaces an absolute dream! Cats drives like a tank, with one motor going forward and the other reverse, a cat can turn on a dime.

Faster than monohull

Nicholas Naval Architect in his video SECRET of Why Catamarans Are Great! Discuss the reason here. Boats are more stable with a wider beam, but wider beams have more water resistance. Catamarans solve this by having a wide beam, but on two thin hulls, which makes it faster. This is confirmed by Jessica and Ryan Adventures, and very technically explained by Sailing Puffin in a scientific reasoning in his video because catamarans has less water resistance with the two narrow hulls. .

Shallow draft and can therefor beach easily

Because catamarans do not have the lead-filled deep keel, but two shallow ones, catamarans can get much closer to the beach and in some cases, even beach. Therefore, cats can navigate shallower water at low tide while monohulls may need to wait for high tide.

Dingy/tender storage

Almost all catamarans have dingy davits to hang the dingy from, while with almost all monohulls, the dingy has to be stored on deck with passages.

Summary

In summary, it was the comfort of the upright sailing of a catamaran that won us over. It is off course dampened by the price tag of a cat. Catamarans are normally more expensive for the same length boat, but you must think that a cat has two hulls, two engines, and a saloon. It makes sense. Sort off. Your wallet does not think so, but it is what it is. I always preferred my 4x4s to be automatic transmissions over manual transmissions just for the comfort. We do love fast cars and fast bikes and fast airplanes, but we are also practical, we may love a classical ride to cross an ocean, but we also need to live on that boat for a very long time. We selected comfort.

So, Catamaran it is.

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#2t Catamarans vs Monohull – Pros & Cons | Sailing Sisu

Monohull Advantages over Catamaran