"sherwindu" wrote in message
...
I'm basing my
views on many years
of ocean sailing experience and my education as an applied
physicist/engineer.
My concern is one
of safety. I feel that a catamaran is not immune to tipping over,

Of course not.


These comments about monohulls sinking is overstated.

Your evidence for this is what?

Sure they do, but not
necesarily because of their basic design.

Ever heard of Archimedes' law. I'd say the lead ballast tends to overcome
the bouyant effect of even wooden or foam glass monos. Isn't ballast part of
a mono's "basic design"?


Catamarans are made of fiberglass,
etc., which last I heard
is something that is heavier than water and will sink under certain
circumstances.

Most are foam glass, some are wood, nearly all have multiple sealed chambers
for buoyancy. I calculated the surface area of my last cruising cat, which
was foam glass, and found that the foam itself was sufficient floatation for
the whole boat. It also had four large floatation tanks built in, which were
also more buoyant than displacement.


Reducing sail can
decrease the probability of a roll in both monohulls and multihulls.

True

Freak wave
action can roll a boat
over even with these precautions. I personally would feel safer and more
comfortable in a boat that
I know is going to come back up on it's own, with or without it's rigging,
than
hoping I can get into a
watertight compartment with my boat floating upside down. The problem
with
taking a multihull on an
extended voyage, say an ocean crossing, is that the chances of running
into real
bad weather increase.
In the very extreme, one can take down all sails in a monohull, batten
down the
hatches, put out a sea
anchor and ride things out.

Same for multis- parachute anchors have been proven time and again.

If for some reason the boat is rolled over, it will
right itself. Can't say the
same thing for a multihull.

If for some reason a mono's watertight state is breached it sinks- can't say
the same for a multi.

Granted this is an extreme case, but if I were
planning an ocean crossing,
it would certain cross my mind as a possibility.

As would sinking in a mono- you do carry a liferaft don't you ? Proof that
sinking can occur.

Peter HK