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posted to rec.boats.cruising
Jeff
 
Posts: n/a
Default Why do people buy cruising catamarans ?

sherwindu wrote:




Why would you be unable to get yourself out of trouble if you're fairly
secure in a hull?



Picture a multihull in the middle of the ocean, capsized, and the crew
huddled inside the hull. At best they have turned on an EPIRB, and at
worst, they would be difficult to spot being inverted and hopefully found
before they succumb.


Its hard to picture because its happened so infrequently. There have
been several such inversions, but I don't recall ever hearing of one
where the occupants succumbed while waiting. There have been a few
cases of people living for extended periods waiting to be rescued.

There was one case of a man who died of diabetic shock, but the rest
of his crew was rescued, and several monohulls were lost without a
trace in the same storm.



Then picture a monohull which has rolled over. At worst, they are dismasted
and have to try an rig some kind of temporary sail, or call for help. At
best,
they can recover enough to continue sailing.

I think I would go with the second option.


I think you have a typo. At _best_ they are only dismasted and
suffered no other damage. At worst, they have structural damage
caused by the dismasting, or the loose mast whacking they hull. If
the hatch was not watertight, they probably took in a lot a water, so
the buoyancy is reduced, and its hard to find any leaks, and the pumps
may not be working. Even a small leak would doom the monohull; a 2
inch hole floods about 100 gals a minute! The crew will be demanding
to get into the liferaft, which is probably the most dangerous thing
of all.

And this is assuming that the boat doesn't stay inverted for a while,
not out of the question with some boats.




When a mono sinks however- dragged
down by that ballast that makes it self-righting- the only hope is a
liferaft.



The natural stability configuration is for the monohull to self-right, which
it should do fairly quickly. I would take my chances on this boat righting
itself.


The natural stability configuration is upright, on the bottom. Does
the phrase "lost without a trace" have a familiar ring to it?