Friday, March 7, 2008

Cat Stats for the Performance Minded

I have added a Cat Stats table that contains a list of Catamarans and various stats that I have gleamed from the Internet. There is a shortcut url listed in the Links section of this blog. The goal is to use formulas to indicate how the Catamaran will perform in comparison to other cats. I still have work to do on the formulas and I will add more Cats as time goes by. I am leaning towards the Performance side when it comes to a future Catamaran purchase, so this information will be useful to me and hopefully others as well.

The higher SA/D (Sail Area / Displacement) and the lower the D/L (Displacement / Length at Water Level) the better the cat is likely to perform.

Typically you would use BCL (Beam at the hull centerlines). For catamarans, The Ratio of (Bcl) to the waterline length (LWL) should be 40% or greater to avoid wave interference between the hulls and subsequent drag rise at speeds approaching hull speed. Since most Cats do not post the BCL I am using BOA (Beam Overall) for now. I suspect a ratio of 50% or more for the BOA/LWL is recommended.

The formulas I am using came from the book Catamarans: The Complete Guide for Cruising Sailors which by the way I have found to be a very good read. There are more formulas to discuss, but I need to take a break.

The LWL/Bh(Hull Beam at waterline) would also be great to compare, however I will need to dig deeper to find the stats for this calculation. I am also considering adding the PI-C which indicates the speed potential of the boat. For this you use SA, Displacement and LWL in your formula. I am unsure though that the formula is valid on Cats. Keep checking the Cat Stats table for new cats and formulas.

No comments:

AddMe - Search Engine Optimization