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On Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:06:50 GMT, wrote:

So why do people buy cruising catamarans if monohulls in
the same price range are just as spacious and can go just
as fast ?

I have a friend who has just completed a circumnavigation with his
family in a 45' cat.

His logic for choosing it was:

1. Stable platform for his wife to teach the kids their school lessons
and to live in.
2. Room to carry full set of electrical gear to make life homely -
i.e. generator, water maker, washing machine, massive cold store.
3. Speed so he could sail out of the way of bad weather. He reckons
that only once in 6 years did a mono match his performance and it was
a big fast one that could point better than him beating up the Red Sea
and although he was faster through the water he couldn't point as high
and so they ended up with similar trip times point to point.

He also commented that the ride was 'hard' and that some sailers who
were used to monos found it very uncomfortable.

One downside for them was that if they wanted to haul it out they
needed to find a yard with a massive lift which limited their haul out
options.

If you're staying in marinas lots of them will charge you more for a
cat than for the equivalnet length mono.

He reckons the shallow draft was never relevant.

I'm buying a mono though as they are boat-for-boat cheaper.

Mike