The problem with multihulls and liveaboard is weight. As you know, weight is the killer of performance. Moved aboard full-time and a perfromance cat loaded with creature comforts has the performance of a slug. The OP is going bluewater. In my view he would be best served with an appropriate boat
He can do what he likes. I suggest if he’s already looking at a cat, there’s maybe the best, and in any case, Darren is quite a guy, and will, like you, impartially impart his knowledge. He’s done more than a few miles in multis. For me, I’ll forgo a lot of creature comforts in order to sail my choice of boat.
Yep, I used to do the same in a Prout Snowgoose 37. Tall rig, laminate sails, foam core panels everywhere instead of plywood. The centre nacelle was clear of the water unlike every other Prout Snowgoose afloat. We got tired of the concept of sailing with half a toothbrush, two knifes, forks and spoons. Not much fun as liveaboards. We now carry a house full of stuff?
Water is not much of a problem these days with watermakers. No need to carry too much. We don't carry much fuel either as we don't use much. We tend to fill up at the beginning of the season and that's about it. We do carry a lot of toys though. You can't have too many toys?
Yep, we have a nesting 3.8m hard dingy and 15hp engine. We can wakeboard behind it and carry our dive gear long distances. It's also a sailing dinghy. He who dies with the most toys wins?
Is that 20kts surfing on a wave or boat speed in flat water?
And if I were going to spend my life aboard, I’m sure I’d take much the same approach. But we’d have no need or want for independence from shore for more than it takes to cross the pond. Many world cruisers don’t carry months of stores, it’s not non stop around the world unless you want it to be. We all have our own approach to these things, the OP will have his own. He's certainly going to have some decisions to make if he decides to buy a cat for long term cruising.
A Dazcat will do that and more in flat water, no reason why a lightwave won’t. So will a Dragonfly, though I won’t say it’s comfortable. The wrong side of ‘exciting’, maybe. We did 19 surfing into Poole in a SE wind, I had a firm grip of the seat with my buttocks.
It depends where you cruise. Heading around the world takes you to some spots where months of supplies onboard would be very desirable. Even for us cruising mainly in the Caribbean Islands there are islands where stocking up is beneficial. You get to the next island and stuff is often super expensive or not obtainable. Crossing the pond needs provisioning for the trip expected passage time plus a contingency. If you have crew, it's surprising how much food and water you go through. Spending a couple of weeks in places like Barbuda are a problem for some people. Water cannot easily be had ashore. There is very little in the way of shopping. We have donated water to cruisers who have run out as they don't carry sufficient on board. Our 800 litre tank and 200l/ hr watermaker could keep a small island going?
We did 17.5kts surfing in our old Prout but it was F8 on the Costs del Morte. Very large waves??
We’ve done more than 19 on several occasions, but itks less terrifying in flat water than in short, steep waves.
and hanker after a humble lettuce.
The best we can achieve on a 40nm passage is 8kt average. This is in non tidal waters so no lift from current. This is a fully loaded boat in liveaboard mode. It is more normal to average 7.5kts.Achieving an average of 10 knots over 100nm means, in our case, you need to be hitting 14 knots regularly. Its very wet, with the spray off the bow waves and the noises of the rigging are all new, different tone and coming from sources that never sang to you previously. Sheets are as hard as steel.
You are very much on edge - in case something fails (which it never has).
We tend not not have big seas, so the seas are short. Its not ocean sailing where seas have built over 100s of miles but seas that are fairly recent, Bass Strait, Tasman Sea. The west coast of Tasmania is differently treated and with much more caution - there is nothing much between the coast and Patagonia.
I actually would not want to sail our cat where you surf down long waves - our steering lacks the sensitivity and response that we had when we raced our X-99. There is also the problem that on a monohull you know exactly where the hull is in relation to the waves - two hulls, 7 metres apart, would be more difficult.
We have chosen the SW coast of Tasmania and its isolation - in preference to The Reef and, say, the Whitsundays. We provision accordingly. Its amazing how quickly you become tired of tuna and crayfish.
Jonathan
Yep, I think the mistake that some people make when comparing cats and monohulls is length for length they are very different. Lots of marinas charge at least 1.5 times the monohull rate due to the beam of a cat. Cats new cost a lot more than a monohull of the same length. If you compare on the basis of cost new rather than equal length then you get a lot bigger monohull for the cost of a cat. A 50ft monohull has a huge amount of volume and is very spacious and comfortable at anchor but costs less in a marina berth than a 40ft cat. Like you say horses for courses.
