idiot requires sailing catamaran advice

[tcm]

Re: idiot speaks

um, i'm not at all sure that there can be an equivalence table of the type you describe. The motion is quite difference between the two due to low low cg of sailing boat and being "in" the thing whereas mobo is invariably higher CG and less able to take swooshing waves and more uncomfortable as usually crew are located much higher above that already high cg. On mobo, it seem one needs more reassurance that one is ok even when it feels otherwsie. Possibly like riding an elephant or camel - save your jokes! Sailing boats rarely leap off a waves and do the bangity crashity thing, except in voluminous awb head to wind without long keel.

A rally for mobo's would be a bit crummy in F4+ on the nose, and wd try and route more easily, or delay. It's quite possible to survive at higher winds of course but at lower speeds, tho the same loa mobo will likely have more internal smashable kit too, hence one newbie chap who smashed lots of interior woodwork on his 40foot mobo after bashing into f5 wind over tide to weymouth. No, not me.

I wd say that there is a tighter range of weather for a mobo to be fun - inlcuing at anchor. But on numerous not-very-windy days between spring an autumn in the med, mobos are pretty decent fun, yerknow.

 

[snowleopard]

Re: idiot speaks

going into a f4 you'd be bouncing off the waves and risking spinal compression. i'd be pitching and shipping it green over the deck. different motion but similarly unpleasant.

if you looked out at the weather and said 'i'd be having to slow down for that' you should be thinking 'time for a reef' in a raggie. it should be possible to equate the two. the only time we'd be disagreeing is when there's a lot of wind over a flat sea - we'd have to reef but you could press on.

 

[Birdseye]

Read that lot above and you will frighten yourself to death! Dont worry -there's a lot less difference between a cruising cat and a mono than most would have you believe.

Yes they are more difficult to tack cleanly, but modern ones will tack far better than the older Prouts for example - you just have to be slick baout your sheet handling. And if the worse comes to happen and you slow down and start going backward - reverse the rudders, you will pay off and before you know it you are back up to speed.

Basic mechanics means they require much more energy to invert than a similar sized mono, and very few do turn over. Reefing speed depend on the design, but conservative reefing in my old Prout was first reef at 20 kn apparent, second at 25, third at 30 etc. The boat would take full sail at 30 kn apparent according to calcs, but its sense to be conservative. Reef early and reef to the gusts not the lulls.

The thing to avoid, as with monos, is breaking waves to the side.

Your biggest difficulty wont be at sea - they are easier to handle IMHO because of the flat deck and room available. The problem will be entering and leaving marinas and narrow harbour entrances. You cannot do the mono approach of going very slowly since you will start to blow sideways at a rate you wouldnt believe. You have to handle them like a big tart trap and usually without thrusters.

bet you come back converted!

 

[snowleopard]

Re: idiot speaks

ok, having scared the crap out of you with talk of flying hulls, now on to a useful tip- berthing alongside.

you may think that having driven a twin-screw stinkie a twin screw cat will be the same. it isn't. the difference is that the props are so far apart that you get more turning effect and less forward thrust when you use only one engine. that means of course that you can turn the boat in its own length with no bother.

let's assume your controls are on the port side and you are coming in port-side-to with wind off the pontoon. rather than trying to dash in and get alongside, come in diagonally until the port bow is close enough to lasso a cleat. once hooked on, go astern on starboard and the stern will swing in. if there's a lot of wind, put the rudders hard a-starboard and go ahead on port as well, using the propwash over the rudder to push you in.

when leaving a pontoon with the wind blowing you on, use a roving fender at the bow, go ahead on the outer engine and astern on the inner until the stern is far enough out to reverse away. no need to play with springs and slip ropes.

hope that helps and excuse me if it's teaching grandma to suck eggs.

 

[tcm]

Re: idiot speaks

all understood - most sizeable powerboats would spin in their own length... and anyway, it's always good for a refresher on the egg-sucking techniques. Now, about this horrible oversized saggy jumper i am knitting for your Christmas present- orange or green? ....