Not to jump on Jeff's toes, but there are many production cats
out there... many many. There are a lot of custom ones also.

Good point about the cost.. that's a definite negative. Also,
the inexpensive ones to be found have to be looked at very
carefully, as they may be fatally flawed during construction or
aging.

"NH_/)_" wrote in message
m...
Jeff? most cats are special made right? I mean they are all diff.
made to order. or are they made by production standards?

yours was special made?

NH_/)_

"Jeff Morris" jeffmo@NoSpam-sv-lokiDOTcom wrote in message
...
The big problem in defending the Catamaran side of the multi vs. mono
discussions is that
there are simply very few choices of cats in the low end. While there
are
numerous
possibilities in monos for under $50K, the entry for multihulls is much
higher. For
instance, if you're looking for a cat less than 10 years old and over 32
feet, you might
get a Gemini for as low as $70, but a more seaworthy Prout would
probably
be over $100k.

If you go back much further, you find cats that are not as well
designed,
and have spent
too much time in the tropics under charter. On the other hand, there
are
numerous
examples of well designed monohulls that are 20-30 years old and can be
had at very
reasonable prices.

However, if you're in the market for a newer boat, the modern cats are
more competitively
priced. For instance, 42 foot good mono, roughly 5 years old, will cost
between $150 and
$220, depending on the brand etc. You'll find roughly the same price
range in 36 foot
catamarans, which have the same space & speed, or more.

-jeff

"DSK" wrote in message
...

Except for a few Chris White designs, I have yet to see a cruising
cat that was designed for cruising (ie a small number of people
aboard long term) rather than chartering or weekend partying (not
that there's anything wrong with that).

Jeff Morris wrote:
Have you been on a newer PDQ36? They are certainly not built for
chartering, and a
large
number of owners have done extensive cruising.

I stand corrected.... Actually I have been on a couple of PDQs. Should
have said "most"
not
"all." The PDQ trawler cats are really nice too.



3 sails in shallow water

So will a properly designed mono.


Are you saying that any monohull with a draft over 3 feet is not
properlly designed?

From my point of view, and for most U.S. East Coast waters, yes. At
least it's all mud &
sand......


3 can't use a windvane


Why not?

Apparent wind varies tremendously (as it will on a fast monohull). A
windvane will often
make
such a boat bear away and speed up until it's 60 degrees off course,
then wander back
and
forth in that same range.



4 poor performance in chop (also very noisy)

So have a lot of monohulls. Yes, the noise can be dramatic, but a
varies a lot, cat
to
cat.

True. But I was thinking of speed & steering, not noise. What's a
little
banging under
the
bridge deck? Although I have seen some cats with scuppers that would
fountain very
dramatically when a wave slapped underneath....


Can you name a few? I'll admit that you can get one or two of these
traits, and if
you're
willing to get an older boat you can do better with a monohull. But
if you're
comparing
newer boats I don't know what would fill your description.

How much newer? I was looking at boats in the 10 ~ 25 year old range.
The French seem to
build
a lot of centerboarders with good accomodations & good performance.
Some
of the ones we
looked
at were aluminum, which isn't everybody's cup of tea.

I freely admit to being biased towards monohulls, and try to give
honest
assessments of
boats
I have experience with. Jeff, I did give you credit in an earlier post
for the same
approach,
only biased the other way! There are a few really nice multis out
there,
but the
compromises
seem (to me) to be a bit more extreme than with monohulls, and the
costs
higher.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King