Wave Slap on a Catamaran

I recently posted a question on an active yahoo live aboard community group called Captain’s & Admiral’s Café. As a subscriber to this very active group I was receiving lots of posts but none were on the topic of cruising Catamarans. So I asked for some Catamaran related experiences from the members and I received several opinions.

The 1st advice I read was to go to the Toast Floats. I read “That which doesn’t kill us” and loved it. Although it talks about things that break I am jealous and I can’t wait to be that person fixing that which is broken. It appears there is much more to read and learn from this family living aboard their Lagoon 380 catamaran named Don Quixote. The blog contributor describes his cat as a slow starter houseboat. Check it out.

Someone also mentioned TeamHudson and their excellent adventure. So far I have just skimmed this blog, but from what I can tell he is just like me only quite a few steps ahead. He began his blog before buying his cat and is now living on his cat with his family. Again, I am jealous and inspired to keep dreaming and to find a way to make this dream a reality. His blog covers many topics from Environment, fishing, moving aboard, financing and sharks to list a few.

The one comment that stood out as a possible deal breaker was the issue of Wave Slap. It started with some comments about a Catana owner that complained of wave slap on a recent passage. Wave slap is what occurs when heading into steep waves and is more prevalent on cats with low bridge deck clearance. The wave crashes underneath the bridge deck and can make for some uncomfortable passage making. See the photo of the Catana shown to the right. The bridge deck clearance is good in some places but not all, so perhaps the design although maximizing interior space, contributes to wave slap. There is no doubt wave slap is a concern, but so is healing over at a 45% angle in a monohull.

I was concerned and was happy to hear from the owner of a Fountaine Pajot Athena 38. His thoughts were just what I needed to hear and as I expected. His thought was “All designs have their unique design effects” and that wave slap is an issue and just that. With over 2000 miles on his boat he claims only 200 or so were miles that may have included some wave slap. He mentioned one trip that was particularly bad. “Slogging into 8ft swells sucked and was noisy with the slap issue “ but he also said there aren’t many boats that would have been any more fun in those conditions. He also said if needed the boat was doing fine and he could have kept going, but instead changed course to resolve the issue. He still prefers his Cat and said “All and all the positives far out weigh the negatives for my family.”.

Another family chimed in that switched from a Morgan 41 classic to a Manta 42 Mk IV and said there are ups and downs, but they are very happy with the switch.

"We’ve had no problem at all getting used to our new huge salon, cockpit, washer/dryer, water maker, genset… the list goes on and on."

They did bring up some important information surround rig fatigue.

"Since cats don’t heel the standing rigging is tensioned far more often than a mono hull so rigging needs to be replaced way more often. Most experts I know say 5 years max. The good thing is that we have a lot less wire so it only costs about $1500.".

They are happy with their Manta and recommended them as a great company to deal with.