Catamaran liveaboard

Duncan,

Cat or Mono? Your wife knows the answer and so should you if you want to keep her happy. It's no contest for liveaboard. The cat wins hands down.

If you are interested in the Gemini go and talk to Bill Bullimore at PBML www.multihulls.co.uk. Bill is the agent for Gemini and also Privilege. I don't know what your budget is but if you are looking at the cost of a new Gemini, personally I'd spend the same amount on a 10 year old Privilege 37. Very comfortable, very solid, very safe and reasonably quick. Also it'll still be worth the same when you sell it.
 
Cobblers is probably a bit unkind..... but then again, you are probably right in a Catatonic...... When you are making more leeway than headway.... reef!
Seriously though, I was sitting very comfy in my wheelhouse beating close hauled into a F7 off Deauville earlier this year and overtook an etap struggling like mad to get sail off her and getting very wet.... Crew called me on deck and said.... Its getting a bit windy out there. Do you think we should reef....... Naah! Were only doing 7.5 knots said I. She....Well at least go up on the foredeck and get that bucket inside before we lose it.......
 
Re:

Oh Dear !
I have never got particularly seasick in my life ,on anything...until we borrowed an 11metre French Cat one perfect Carribean weekend(can't even remember what marque it was,had the deck pod 2 yanmars,trampolines,big roach mainsail ,freezer etc,not particularly good looking)......and whilst we sailed it fast in 15knots or less for a couple of days,it felt like driving a truck with a misfiring engine,relentlessly jerky,clanky and cranky,quite fast but stomach churning and very removed from the actual joy and 'connectedness'that is so usual with an equivalent fast cruiser monohull. Sorry ,not for me. All imo off course,and hardly representative.
 
Hmmm.... NW passage gets more feasible each year...... Theres a thought.....
Natives might be a bit friendlier too..... Better get the Eberspacher serviced....
Richard Woods sailing MONOHULLS????? Gawd!
Will expect to see the Pope on a skateboard next.....
 
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ships woofy rashly asked for an update on my cruising in my 32ft catamaran Eclipse

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I am so sorry for upsetting your sensibilities, that was not my intention.

Once again I apologise!
 
Is this new crew?

You back in the solent yet?

I am well aware that the sailing performance of my caravan is not as good as it should be, but calling it a catatonic is going a bit far /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Sorry old chap! Know you well enough to know you have a sense of humour.....
Otherwise I would not take the P..... Mother always told me it was wicked to mock the afflicted.......
Post referred to crew earlier this year who you met. New crew now on board though! Tell you later. Peregrine will be in Fareham on Thursday. Must arrange booze cruise shortly after. You are spending too long on this computer!
Be in touch shortly.
 
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Sorry old chap

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I was OK, its my boat that has descended into a fit of sulking after your comments. Even the weather has joined in /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Duncan
We looked at the Gemiini, but decided she was too:
Lightweight - won't carry any weight (you will have a lot of baggage when living aboard) and we did not feel comfortable she could resist heavy weather (needs to be reefed above 25knots wind or in danger of capsize)
Small - For long term livaboard there is just not enough room
Expensive - Geminis are few and far between second hand as they are American built. Also, beware of any boats that are not CE plated as meeting EU safety standards.
We bought a 5 year old Solaris Sunrise. She's got enough room to live aboard in comfort, we only need to reef to slow her down in heavy weather, she will fit through the French canals and she only costs a fraction of the price of a Gemini. If you are interested, I know of another one for sale!
 
no idea of the specific model but i wd reckon that you can spend far more nights at anchor in a cat than a mono. Thisis hugely valuable, cos lots of places in med simply don't a space for any boat eithe mono or cat in the season anyway! And in the heat, much nicer to be out in a bay rather than stuck in harbour.

As an example, we were lurching and leaping all over the place in a 75 foot mono in 30knot winds (powerboat as it happens) whereas the two cats behind seemed to shut up shop and go for a snooze, dammit.
 
Re: Catamaran prices

it would seem that actually they have a tighter band/range of prices, from "not cheap" at the bottom end to "actually - quite flippin cheap, realtively" the bigger you go.

So although they are more spensive at the botom end (but you get more space) they are LOADS cheaper at the top end, given the space.

on boats for sale elsewhere on this site shows 1 year old Fontaine Pajot 60 footer with lots of genny/air kit asking £600k with nice airco and space to lol about and look out in the rain plus easily enough space to even invite people on board whom you don't much like cos they/you can be in another bit of the boat - a key test i think! compare this with similar fitout dog cheap Benny 57 is over 500k new and a "bargain" but nowhere near the size.

All the cruising logs seem to describe 6000ish miles across the pacific taking 7 months - which at 6 knots eats up 1000hours or 40 days - the remaining 5-6ish months rolling around at anchor - unless on a cat where it stays much more still. Spose in a cat it'll be nearer 10knots making 600 hours at sea or erm under a month.

Yep, they're ugly, but at least if you buy the thing you won't have to look at it from afar like everyone else has to do :-)

Of course, I have no idea if the FP eleuthera (?) is a load of junk at this stage, ahem, so mebbe someone can advise...
 
Actually I was about to say the same thing. The Gemini is in my opinion not the best for offshore cruising or living on. I think an admittedly slower boat like your Solaris or my Snowgoose will in fact carry more load without too much effect on performance and be far more comfortable. I would happily go transatlantic in either but I wouldn't in a Gemini...... That's not to say they are the only boats I would consider though as there are many others (The new Broadblue 38,42, and 46 are superb but it's all a matter of how many pennies you have got)
 
If you worry about your performence then dont. I have sailed Wharrams as far as the canaries, and even them can be made to move in a forward direction. The great rule on my one was never reef till force 6.
 
I am not worried about the performance of my boat, (a number of catalacs have completed the circuit around the atlantic), but am realistic that a catalac's performance to windward is not its best feature. Every boat is a compromise, and treated on the wind as a motorsailer she is fine. The main problem is the bow shape when encountering a confused sea. However, there are very few boats that have the same level of comfort and space for their size.
 
I have a Catfishere 28 yawl . plenty of room . teak insides . Large wheelhouse originally designed for Fisher 42 monohull which together with large cockpit gives plenty of living space . Can stand up in it . 2 Huge cabins with double beds forward . Could theoretically sleep seven but for long term 4 is just about enough

Single Mercedes OEM 636 engine goes on for ever . Volvo hydraulic drive to props on each hull efficiency 95%

Unfortunately like all cats of same age and size has solid bridge deck and slams when going into wind in rough seas . However mine is fitted with flopper stoppers under water on stern of canoe shaped hulls which reduce pitching

Is essentially a motor sailer gets about 2.6 litres diesel fuel consumption per hour . With wind and motor can reach over 7 knots

Big advantage in Med can anchor in shallow water or use shallow marinas draws only one metre

One or two on market just now
 
I don't think that people ever change back as such. There are pros and cons each way of course. Usually once people switch to Cat's they stay that way - however, plenty of people try one but don't buy one...

My experience has been on cats ever since I was about 4 years old. My father bought one by "accident" while setting out to buy a trimaran... We eventually traded up a few times and bought one of Richard Woods boats, a 37 foot Banshee. We had a lot of fun on that and took it down to Spain a few times. Your range and reach is expanded so much when you have a boat which is capable of "nipping down" to the north of spain in under 5 days from the South coast (frequently under 3 days door to door actually).

We were a little irresponsible with it though (sorry Richard!), and occasionally had full sail up in force 8 or so.... As someone earlier pointed out, these things are so solid that it's sometimes very easy to just leave things up because they simply go faster and faster! We were doing in excess of 20 knots in the situation described above.

So I had my first chance to sail on a 65" ex Challenge race boat a few days back. They made us wear oil skins! Yeah I know! I mean I do own a set of my own, but on the cat I think I have worn the trousers only twice EVER in my life and the jacket perhaps a dozen times! Usually I just sail in a jumper and perhaps a waterproof over jacket! OK, so the 65" race boat was a shock because it seemed to need lots of people to handle the sails, it was quite slow (we only did around 7 knots down the solent), there was not a lot of space, and the darn thing tipped over!

In comparison my folks now have a 43 foot privilege cat which can easily be sailed by one person. You can tack it single handed in probably less time than a moderately experienced race crew can tack the monohull... It has 5 double cabins (but only 4 of them have on suite shower and toilet...). And to be fair you do know when the weather is getting rough - for example my folks gave me a ring a few days back as they sailed up from Indonesia to Singapore and said that they had been in a severe thunderstorm, strong winds and even (drum roll) one of the photos had fallen off the shelf around the main table... (Yep, when it gets really rough the washing up bottle jumps off the side into the sink as well!)

Possibly this is the easiest way to describe the difference between cats and monohulls...

(But a monohull can be a lot cheaper!!)

Ed Wildgoose
 
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