What catamaran should we buy?

[Chiara’s slave]

@Chiara’s slave might disagree with you here?

Ours is not an ocean cruiser. And Mrs C is no ordinary wife. If we were doing long term cruising, we’d trade for a smaller house, and buy, probably, a Dazcat. Or something very similar, there are other choices. But none of those others are built here in Britain, nor, as far as I know, are the designers and builders as friendly, knowledgeable and capable as Mr Newton. A tri, a Neel, or Rapido, whilst they might seem comparable, are slower, less roomy and at least as expensive. Folding tris are for marina based people, that’s why they fold. The concept works very well in the smaller size boats, which are Dragonfly’s market. They sail like big performance dinghies. You’d step off a F18 cat, or a 49er and feel at home on a Dragonfly. We absolutely love ours, it does everything we need. And that, in truth, would be true for 80% plus of uk sailors, if they actually fancied a serious performance boat. But even the 40, at a million quid, would lack carrying capacity for long term cruising.

 

[westernman]

Ours is not an ocean cruiser. And Mrs C is no ordinary wife. If we were doing long term cruising, we’d trade for a smaller house, and buy, probably, a Dazcat. Or something very similar, there are other choices. But none of those others are built here in Britain, nor, as far as I know, are the designers and builders as friendly, knowledgeable and capable as Mr Newton. A tri, a Neel, or Rapido, whilst they might seem comparable, are slower, less roomy and at least as expensive. Folding tris are for marina based people, that’s why they fold. The concept works very well in the smaller size boats, which are Dragonfly’s market. They sail like big performance dinghies. You’d step off a F18 cat, or a 49er and feel at home on a Dragonfly. We absolutely love ours, it does everything we need. And that, in truth, would be true for 80% plus of uk sailors, if they actually fancied a serious performance boat. But even the 40, at a million quid, would lack carrying capacity for long term cruising.

Na. Dragonfly's are missing the foils you need for serious performance.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Na. Dragonfly's are missing the foils you need for serious performance.

And 99% of sailors don’t have the skills to use them. Including me.

 

[SailTheMoon]

@Chiara’s slave might disagree with you here?

Trimarans definitely offer less interior volume for the money, which isn't exactly a crowd-pleaser for the family. But in terms of pure performance, a tri blows a catamaran out of the water. They’re incredibly fun to helm but lack the 'creature comforts' for everyone else. Plus, they can be a bit twitchy; it’s easier to get a scare on a tri than a slower cat—though some of those new foiling production cats are changing that narrative.

 

[Sea Change]

It's pretty unusual, but cats do occasionally flip:

Catamaran capsized in Polynesia, how three sailors survived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

 

[John_Silver]

It's pretty unusual, but cats do occasionally flip:

Catamaran capsized in Polynesia, how three sailors survived in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

Some discussion of that 'Cruising Cat Capsize-French Polynesia' on a more Anarchic forum. So far: cat reckoned to be a Nautitech, based on the photo; 2003 Wolfson Unit paper on multihull (Cat & Tri) inversions cited.

 

[SVJabulo]

a normal cruising cat is virtually impossible to flip by wind alone. too heavy (our 44' cat is 15mt). wave assisted...possible if you are silly.

the cats that flip are either lightweight semi-race boats OR (like the one mentioned above) suffer some other problem. the nautitech had one of the stupid escape hatches fail...a hull flooded and she rolled over...but (and it's an important BUT...didn't sink

cheers,

 

[SVJabulo]

in answer to the original question : if we were in the market for another cat (we're not : quite happy with Jabulo) Knysna would be our weapon of choice. truly well built and delectable

cheers,