Most of your comments have been addressed by others, but I'll add a few:


sherwindu wrote:

These comments about monohulls sinking is overstated.
Sure they do, but not necesarily because of their basic design.

The big lead keel has a lot to do with it. A serious breech will sink
a monohull in a few minutes. Although it possible to build a monohull
with positive flotation, only one builder does.

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

Actually, you're wrong on this. Many cats (most? all?) are made with
a lot of structural foam (corecell, klegecell, etc.) such that the
bare hull of a cat is often lighter that water. In addition, most
have sealed compartments scattered around the hull, mine has six, four
in the bows, and two by the engines. Further, the basic shape of a
cat implies that leaking will be isolated to one hull.

The net result is that a cat will survive leaks that will sink a
monohull in a matter of minutes. There are a number of cases cats
returning to port with serious leaks and only have the floorboards
awash. When a monohull does survive serious breeches, it is often
riding so low that the crew retreats to a liferaft.

....

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. If for some reason the boat is rolled over, it will
right itself. Can't say the
same thing for a multihull. Granted this is an extreme case, but if I were
planning an ocean crossing,

Yes, it is a small possibility in extreme weather. Unfortunately, the
possibilities for a monohull sinking are larger, and can happen anywhere.


From previous post:

Monohulls have windows, don't they?

You have to be kidding with this one. Unless you have a pilothouse,
you have almost no visibility from "down below" in most monohulls.
Benches are below the waterline, side hatches are small and above your
line of sight, and many cruisers have visibility impaired by gear on
deck. Cats, on the other hand, have the saloon two feet above the
waterline, and usually have full panoramic vision from the normal
seating area.


On the contrary, you get woken up when your keel
starts bumping on the
bottom, and you don't go over, you just sit where
you are, aground.

You don't cruise where there are tides, do you? Where I cruise if you
don't get off within 10 minutes, you'll likely there for a while,
probably on your side. (unless, of course, you have twin keels)


You are in an anchorage where
despite strong winds, you should not get
big waves.

You may not have big waves in the anchorage, but breakers on a beach
can effectively trap a boat.


There is a limit to how fast your catamaran will go.
I have seen pictures
of catamarans with one hull lifted out of the water.

This probably wasn't a cruising cat; it certainly wasn't a
conservative rig such as a Prout.