Best family Catamaran or Trimaran to transport abroad?

[wrightsail]

Dear All,

I am a British Expat living in Asia. Looking at either a Catamaran or Trimaran for family coastal cruising, however there is very little available locally. I am now seriously considering buying a good make from the UK and shipping to Asia. At present have considered something for a family of four with a reasonable level of accommodation, stable and seaworthy at the same time being not so large that the transportation costs would be more than the actual worth of the boat (I have been told that to ship a Multihull costs more than a Monohull due to the larger beam, although I do not have any actual figures yet). So far my possible list includes:

Smaller size: Hirondelle MK111, Telstar 26 MK11 or 8M
Larger size: Iroquois, Heavenly twin MK 11/111, Catalac 8M!

Any comments and advice very much appreciated.
Thank you

Michael

 

[William_H]

If you are in Asia then I would suggest you look at Australian secondhand market as shipping is certainly frequent and I expect cheaper than from UK plus my experience is that prices are far cheaper. You might consider one of the trailer tri series which though possibly too small for your requirements would certainly be cheap to transport on it's own trailer.
regards olewill

 

[simonfraser]

larger size: catalac best usable internal volume
hirondelle is fine, i would not want a tri too many bits

but, why not get a local yard to build you a ply/epoxy boat, richard woods does great designs, you can see the drawings on the web, lots of open decked stuff, great for a nice climate !

 

[snowleopard]

The boats you list as 'smaller' would only be adequate for weekending for a family of 4. The 'larger' ones would be OK for short-term cruising but you would need to move up to say a snowgoose for extended cruising. I would get quotes for shipping before thinking any further, the cost of shipping something like an Iroquoi could be as much as the boat itself!

I think you would find the cat markets in Australia, NZ and South Africa better places to look. There are hardly any multis being made in the UK any more.

 

[alant]

If your looking at a tri, check out Corsair F24, F27 etc. This is a US boat, with outriggers that swing in. Excellent speed on water, easy to tow on road. Living accom is a bit sparce like all tri's, but a great boat. In warm waters, you'll be spending time on deck anyway.

 

[Talbot]

For a family of four I would not recommend the Catalac 8m. The 9m is a much better prospect (I should know I have had one for 18 years). As a liveaboard and coastal cruiser they are hard to beat especially at the price! but dont expect them to perform to windward as well as some of the other options (especially the tri's) - That doesnt mean that they are impractical as a sailing boat, merely that the emphasis is more on the living accomodation. - show me another 9m boat where the two childeren have their own seperate cabins, they can go to bed and allow the saloon still to be used. Where if necessary there is easy space for another three, and austere for a further two people. Where you can sit happily at the helm talking to the family in the saloon(at the same eye level) but have plenty of space in the cockpit for the whole family (and a number of friends). I will only be changing mine for a bigger boat next year cause the 50 gallons of water are not enough IMHO for long distance work. If you want more data on the 9m then PM me.

Personally I would not be looking in Europe for the boat of your dreams. I have seen a number of cats for sale in asia from people who have had to give up their dreams, and the prices of these are well below European prices.

 

[davidbains]

If you're in SE Asia, then subscribe to Multihull World form Australia
and buy there. Or even from an Aussie who has already sailed to SE Asia!

 

[kandoma]

I can not help you with the catamaran, but I have some information for the transport, as I have transported my boat twice over large distances: Caribbean to Great Britain and Japan to Singapore.

Transport is "cheap", if done correctly. Most shipping companies charge you the equivalent of the containers you are using on the ship. That is the wrong type of shipping agent and you may end up with $ US 20'000 + . You have to find the shipping agent in your country, transporting not containers, but "uneven" things like trucks. The price will be quoted in US$ per m3. I paid $36/m3 from Kobe to Singapore. I had an offer of $46 from Kobe to Hamburg. The stevedors (sp?) will be each $1000 on both sides, as the shipcrew is not loading/offloading.

The first time I transported, I paid the equivalent of 6 containers from St. Lucia to Barry on Geestbay, but saved on the stevedors, as the shipcrew was willing to lift the boat out of the water during lunchbreak. The shipcrew was very helpful and dropped the boat into the harbour of Barry (two custom and excise men with sniffer dog sitting in the cockpit). The shipcrew even stepped my mast in Barry with the big anchorwindlass. They did not let it do myself in Kobe nor in Singapore. I was not allowed to deliver the boat to the ship and get lifted out of the water by the shipcrane in Kobe. Custom was insisting to transport the boat by truck from Osaka to Kobe and then it was loaded by the stevedors.
But I managed to drop the boat directly from the ship into the harbour in Singapore. But thats another story...

Peter