|
Below, you'll find extensive information on leading
sailing school articles and products to help you on your way
to success.
Sailing Multihulls Part 2
By Linda Cullum, Thu Dec 8th
Disadvantages-- In serious wind and seas, a monohull sailor can,if absolutely exhausted and no longer able to steer, strike allsail, lock all hatches, and go below to wait it out and hope forthe best. A well-found boat will most likely allow this. Theboat will roll around like a cork, and even if it rolls 360degrees it should be ok, as long as the mast doesn't break offand put a hole in the boat. A Multihull in huge seas, however,must always have a helmsman, or some other way to keep the boatpointed into the waves. Without this, the boat will end up inthe wave troughs, with the waves beam on; this is an invitationto capsize. Knowing this, the ocean going sailor should beprepared with a parachute sea anchor and with attachment pointsfor it on the boat that are absolutely bombproof. Properlydeployed, a parachute anchor will allow a multihull to ride outa hurricane in near comfort, as it keeps the bows pointed intothe wind and waves and with several hundred feet of line led outto the sea anchor, there is no jerking or lunging on the line.Once the sea anchor is properly set, the crew can go below andsafely wait out the storm. This assumes that there are nodangers, such as a landmass or reef systems, lying in waitdownwind. Plenty of sea room is needed for these manuevers. Marinas-- Finding space in a marina for a multihull is notnearly as easy as it is for a monohull. They require either anend space or a double berth, which will likely cost more than asingle. Weight constraints -- Since a multihull sits on the waterinstead of in it, unlike a keel boat, the payload, or weightcarrying capacity of the boat, can not safely be exceeded. Acatamaran, with essentially two full boats in the water, cancarry more weight than a trimaran of the same length, whichconsists of one full hull and two floats. A 35 foot monohull cancarry much more weight in stores and equipment than a 35 foottrimaran, and this is a consideration when provisioning a boatfor cruising. The cruiser in a small multihull may find himselfreprovisioning along the way more often than the cruiser in asmall monohull.
Trailerability--
Large multihulls cannot be shipped over theroad, due to their wide beam. Only some of the smaller, foldingdesigns will allow trailering. Haulouts also can be more complicated for multihulls. There areyards that have travelifts wide enough for them, or cranes tolift them, or railways to pull them out of the water on tracks,but these yards are fewer and farther between than those thatcan't handle the extra wide beam. Conclusions -- It seems that outside of a couple of minorinconveniences, a multihull is the only boat that makes anysense. If this is the case, why doesn't everyone have one? Thereare a couple of reasons. One is the unfortunate reputation theyearned early on in their evolution. The other is the expenseinvolved in achieving ownership of a quality cat or tri. Theseboats are expensive to build, whether as one offs or asproduction models. With a trimaran, 3 hulls (amas) and crossarms(akas) to connect them all together are needed. For productionthis requires expensive tooling up for a company to invest ineven before they ever get a boat on line. There are also a lotmore materials needed to build two or three hulls than areneeded for the one finished hull of a keel boat. Other than a production model the buyer has the option of havingone custom built by a reputable yard or of building it himself.Neither of these options is cheap, fast, or easy. There are used multihulls on the market, and there are a lot ofgood ones out there. There are also a lot of not so good ones.It's critical to hire an experienced multihull surveyor to beassured that the boat was built and maintained properly and issound.
About the author:Linda Cullum is from Cape Cod, MA, with a second home inVermont. She is the author of Learn to Sail! with Multimedia! anInteractive training CDROM which teaches all aspects ofSailing including Knots, Piloting, Rules of the Road, Weatherwith digital video from Sail Magazine, narration, animation andquizzes. Visit her site at http://learntosail.net Wishing youthe best in your endeavors!
|
