On Wed, 19 May 2004 14:07:53 -0400, "Jeff Morris"
wrote:

"rhys" wrote in message
.. .

I try not to sneer at trimarans and cats, either, because they provide
a *different*, but equally valid and perfectly enjoyable alternative
to my preferred monohull. Where I tend to get snotty is on the issue
of seaworthiness: if you accept that a cat with a big flat sliding
glass door on its bridge is going to have issues in a following sea,
then you understand my objections are not to catamarans, but to
catamarans that want to be patio sunrooms.

I'm not sure why you have a problem with "flat sliding doors" since I've never
heard of a failure of one.

I just find large openings and flat surfaces on small vessels of any
type inappropriate from a windage viewpoint and POTENTIALLY from a
structural viewpoint. I don't like large companionways and tons of
fixed ports in the coachhouse for the same reason. It's not
particularly scientific, but there's a reason submarines and
shuttlecraft don't have screen doors, either. G


Or are you defining "seaworthiness" as something
that "looks proper" as opposed to something that has been proven safe with a
perfect safety record?

Perfect? Stats, please. Plenty of catamarans have gone missing in the
ocean...we had one kill two sailors in Lake Erie three years ago near
here in a line squall when it flipped and flooded. If a catamaran went
down in the ocean, it would be hard to figure WHAT killed it, but a
large glass door in the cockpit can reasonably be assumed will let in
more following seas IF it fails. And engineering tells us everything
fails, eventually. Me, I would rather it was a couple of dropboards
YMMV. Some cats are more conservatively designed in this respect;
others go for the "sunroom effect".

Actually, I consider the door to be a major safety feature since you don't have
to climb down a ladder to "go below."

Different strokes, I guess. I have plenty of handholds so I
essentially "drop" the four feet or so into the cabin. Racing cats, of
course, look like '50s fighter jets, with "blister" windscreens and a
minimum of deck clutter.

Modern cruising cats don't have a problem
with seas breaking in the cockpit because the sterns are quite bouyant and lift
easily. In many cats the door is almost amidships, so its rather unlikely to be
tested even in the worst conditions. And the cockpit drains are usually 3 inch
scuppers that drain directly below.

I know that traditionally, large comfortable cockpits are not considered the
safest for long passages, but they really aren't that bad on a cat.

Well, as I've said, while my experience with them is limited, I've
seen a few that seemed a bit more alert, so to speak, to the possibly
of tons of green water landing in an inconvenient spot.


South Africa builds some
apparently incredibly tough blue-water cats (they'd have to, given the
conditions there), and while I'd personally have to learn to sail 'em,
I'd let the brother buy one.


You'd figure it out real quick.

So I understand. Perhaps I should start with a tri...there are a few
F28s locally that are supposed to do 20 kts.

R.