"Jere Lull" wrote
....

As it happens, we often get "there" before the multi-hulls. When it's
rough, we usually do. If they're cruising like us, we almost always beat
them because we are designed for the "extra" weight; they aren't.


This comment seems odd to me. One of the oft-cited virtues of multihulls is that they
"get there" long before monohulls. This is certainly true in our case. We generally
sail 20% faster than comparable monohulls, we power at about 7.5 knots, and can
motorsail at 9 knots. On top of that, the ride is usually so easy that it isn't too
much of a burden to go 8 to 10 hours, or longer.

It is certainly true that overloading a multihull will slow it down proportionally
more the monohull. While this is noticeable in a midsize cat (such as our PDQ36) it
isn't "fatal" as long as some care is taken. We traveled for a year "fully loaded"
and generally considered ourselves the fastest cruising boat around. (Of course, we
weren't challenging any racing boats to a round-the-buoys race in light air.)

However, when you go below 30 feet, the options in cats get rather limited. For cats,
the bridge deck clearance get very small, so overloading can cause problems in a chop.
For trimarans, they are normally designed for speed, and are so light that overloading
would dramatically affect trim. For example, a F27 only weighs 2600 pounds - that's
probably equal to what we carried (including fluids).

So Jere, I'd be very curious as to which multihulls you think you're faster than, and
under what conditions.


--
-jeff www.sv-loki.com
"The sea was angry that day, my friend. Like an old man trying to send back soup at
the deli."