Chartering a catamaran

Advantages of catamarans

• The smaller draft of a catamaran allows you to anchor in shallow bays or very close to the beach, which leads to more privacy and more options to drop anchor.
  Yet, do realize that the draft is still 100 - 160 cm. A Lagoon 620 has a draft of 155 cm without the full tanks and without all the gear and guests on board.
  In Turkey you can find wooden quays that have catamarans dock at the shallow side, where there is usually room, while the monohulls dock at the deeper size stern-to.
  Monohulls typically have a draft of 200 - 205 cm.
  You should always have at least 150 cm of water between the hull/keel and the seabed/rocks ! The swell of the sea, ferry wash, direction change of winds can easily drop you a full metre !
  
  
• Minimum heeling and more stability can help to avoid seasickness, see my page on how to prevent seasickness: 5° heel versus 20° on a monohull.
  
  
• A catamaran has about the volume of a 8' longer monohull i.e. a 42' catamaran has about the space of a 50' monohull. So, more room on deck and inside with wrap around windows. The right party boat but especially the elderly will benefit of the stable and spacious deck with no steps between inside and outside.
  
  
• Somewhat faster as long as you are not overloaded, not sailing close hauled, and when sailing with enough wind.
  
  
• More privacy, since the sleeping accommodations, heads and showers are totally separate, located in each hull and in opposite corners.
  
  
• Handy storage of the dinghy pulled into the davits aft between the hulls.

Disadvantages of catamarans

• It is often difficult to find room to moor a multihull in crowded Mediterranean Greek and Turkish ports, especially in July and August. Yet, this can be avoided by arriving early in the afternoon.
• Many agree that anchoring is somewhat more difficult with the anchor chain entering the yacht between the two hulls and that the anchor is often stowed in either hull.
• There are fewer types of charter catamarans to choose from, since the majority of charter yachts in Greece, Italy, Croatia and Turkey is monohull.
• Because of its width a catamaran experiences more windage in gusts, which makes it more difficult to raise or set anchor or to dock in windy or gusty conditions. Moreover, it lacks a keel to prevent leeway.
• The danger of capsizing leads to more reefing and less performance, since a catamaran will not recover from a knockdown or capsize. Although this doesn't mean a multihull is less safe than a monohull because hull breaches are often not fatal in catamarans.
• A catamaran is much slower in fickle wind conditions than a monohull.
• Sailing upwind is a problem, because multihulls don't point that high.
• Catamarans are difficult to tack, especially in a choppy sea.
• Contrary to monohulls which have a ballasted keel, catamarans rely only on form stability, which may lead to motion discomfort and more seasickness in light wind conditions.

Charter guide :  Assisted bareboats  Bareboat requirements  Choosing a charter yacht  Catamarans & monohulls  Prevent seasickness  Greek sailing areas  When to sail in Greece  Yacht charter provisioning  Itineraries Ionian  Itineraries Argo-Saronic  Itineraries Cyclades  Itineraries Dodecanese  One-way itineraries  Flights & ferries  Last minutes & budget  Sailing between Greece & Turkey  Greek chart terms  Greek fishing techniques  Climate graphs Athens  Climate graphs Bodrum  Distances sailing Greece  Itineraries Ionian + Aegean Greece : Ionian Islands Dodecanese Islands Cyclades Islands Northern Sporades Peloponnese – Athens Top 10 islands Yacht charter companies   Tower of winds Acropolis Olympia Turkey : Izmir – Bodrum Bodrum – Marmaris Marmaris – Fethiye Fethiye – Antalya

2 April 2019
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