Cat Stats & Hybrid's are Heavier

I have added several new Catamarans and related stats to the CatStats table located at the bottom of the page. I noticed a disappointing fact when reading the specifications on the Lagoon 420. The Lagoon 420 is 2668lb’s heavier when equipped as a Hybrid then with two diesels. I am surprised and disappointed. I figured it would be the opposite. After all, you are getting rid of two diesels. Instead of two diesels and a generator you have just one generator, two electric motors and some batteries. The difference in weight is from 26,835lbs 2 X40 diesels and 29503lbs for 2 X 10 KW electrics motors. Wow. I have heard there are some newer technologies they are researching where the batteries are lighter and more efficient. This is very interesting stuff.

2668lb’s can make a significant difference on a long journey I am sure. Using the #’s for the Hybrid or twin diesels, the performance of the Lagoon is predicted to be low compared to the other cats on the CatStats table.

I have ranked and sorted the cats by ranking the SA/D and D/L #’s, adding their ranks together and then dividing by 2. The lower the average ranking the better however, keep in mind, from what I have read, having a higher SA/D is slightly more important then having a low D/L. I expected the Gunboat to rank higher then it did. Makes me want to go back and double check some #’s to make sure I am being fair.

I also noticed an error in my SA/D formula which has been corrected. Displacements will vary too. I will typically post the dry weight when available, however sometimes there is no indication as to weather this is the dry weight or not, so keep this in mind. Performance of the craft will decrease as weight is added and will do so much faster on some cats then others.

Internet Access Options for Sailors

I wonder if the technology is good enough at the moment to work from the Catamaran. My biggest concern is whether or not the speed is fast enough and offered at a reasonable price. I work from home more then 3 days a week. I could work 5 days if I want. It wouldn’t make a difference. Most of the people I work with are from other states or countries. I would need a fast and reliable internet connection from the boat. If I am parked at home there is no problem. Just run a phone line or cable for internet access and power as well to the dock. But what if I wanted to take off and park it somewhere. Could I still work from the boat?

Mobilsat is advertising the SeaTel product with 768kbps download and 128 upload. I am not sure this is fast enough to get by. This is apparently there least expensive offer. They charge 309.00 per month for the service.

KVH offers a product that deserves some research. $2,395.00 to start, but only 89.99 a month and that includes MSN TV. They do say there may be other fees imposed by the cellular service provider. They also claim high-speed data connections provided by EVDO service with upload/download speeds ranging from 400-700 Kbps and capable of reaching up to 2 Mbps. Need to check your city as this is only reported to be available in 180 cities and counting.
KVH also has a Satellite TV, Internet and VOIP Phone option as well. Data rates as fast as 512 Kbps for ship-to-shore transmissions and as fast as 2 Mbps for shore-to-ship downloads as well as crystal-clear VOIP telephone service. Pricing was not available on their web site. I wonder how reliable the satellite connection is while in motion.

Some of them charge by the bit or minute used. This wouldn’t work for me unless I had no plans to work from the boat. Having to pay as you go is never fun. It feels like when you go over your minutes on your cell phone. You have to pay for every minute. It adds up and some people cut back as a result. I don’t want to feel like I have to cut back. I would be downloading a lot of data for my job.

What about power consumption? The KVH TracPhone FB250 claims the following. Power (max), incl. antenna: 150 W @ 10-32V. The laptop doesn’t take much energy. I am sure there is a Receiver and perhaps a wireless router that you need to consider. Add it all up and you might have to run the generator before long. If I have to run my generator the whole time then I am not sure I will be doing this very often. Some of these systems are going to require 50 to 100lbs of equipment.

I would hope that there are some other options and will continue to keep an eye out. It would be great if you had Internet access, TV and a phone along with all the other amenities. Why would you ever go home? There would be no excuse not to go sailing. I have a feeling you would soon find many other things to do other then watching TV. This is just another selling point or excuse to go big when buying a sailing Catamaran.

The Wait is Killing Me

Home and work life volume is picking up. Hard to find time to play and relax. I can only imagine what life on the ocean would be like. Although I am sure there are stresses, they can’t be as bad as my life at the moment. Not that I can’t handle it, but it isn’t easy to balance it all and remain sane. How will my dream come true under these circumstances though? Is there a way? I am growing impatient.

Our 11 year old daughter is in division 1 competitive soccer, so this takes up a lot of time. It is so rewarding for her though and that makes us happy. When will I find time to sail and take lessons? We have a three and a half year old to raise as well. I have seen some families sail with their kids. If we move to a house on the water will the schools be as good? This is not an opportune time to pursue a dream for me, yet the desire is so strong I can’t deny it. Writing this blog, reading and researching catamarans seems to help me cope.

I think every day about how I can live my dream and still support my family and have money left over when we retire. I won’t be foolish and put all my money in a boat that will not appreciate in value. I think about finding a way to capitalize on the housing market. I think about selling photo’s or videos from sailing adventures. I think about running some charters, mostly day or weekend stuff for now. I keep looking for ways to supplement my income to help justify the expenditure. I have read about the huge tax advantages of putting your boat in a charter; however I don’t know how much I would benefit yet.

Ideally I want to owe little to none on our property, and finance the cat. Our incomes are going up so we should be able to live comfortably with that plan. Finances are improving; however we are still stuck until we get through this terrible housing market. When the conditions are right I plan to buy some land on water, most likely the least expensive lot around. Then the question is, do we buy the Cat and live in it, or do we live on land in a large RV, or buy a trailer home or prefab home. It just needs to be functional for me, for now. Time will tell. It is eating at me though. Very similar to when I purchased my 1^st truck and then our Camper. The wait seems to last forever and the wait for this Cat will be even longer... much longer.

Captains Log - Man Overboard and Nude Models

I was invited to sail on a Catamaran this past Saturday and it was a huge learning experience. The weather was great; wind was from 5 in the morning to 20 in the afternoon. There was hardly a cloud in the sky. The sail began at 10AM and lasted until about 3PM. We met Cliff Shaw (Captain) at the Emery Cove Yacht Harbor and boarded his 35.8 foot Catamaran. His Cat is a custom built catamaran named Rainbow. I suspect she was built in the 90’s. The rear had recently been extended from 33 feet to 35.8. She was equipped with dagger boards, Twin diesels and appeared to have all the necessary equipment for a safe sail on the bay.

The captain asked us to put on our life vests and we complied. As it turned out, this wasn’t a bad idea. We motored away from the marina with almost no wind to speak of. One our way out I was examining and familiarizing myself as much as possible visually with the craft. We cleared the end of the last channel markers and continued a safe distance further before turning off the engines. The captain and his crew examined the wind conditions. There wasn’t much wind at all, but we proceeded to bring up the main. We then unpacked the spinnaker and set initially in reverse. I don’t think this mattered much with such light wind, but we soon corrected the issue and continued on.

I guess you never know what you will run into while sailing. Generally it is the wild life that can be amazing. Well, we hadn’t been sailing long as we slowly passed by a rather large and weathered yacht in the 70 foot or so class that had some wild life on it. I had a good view from the front of the Cat, I was the 1^st to notice that some of the passengers didn’t appear to be wearing any clothing. As we approached it was obvious that a photo shoot was in progress. There were at least three almost nude to fully nude women in various positions on the boat. The trip was starting out on a good note. Unfortunately I was nowhere near a camera or pair of binoculars. It appears that our cat could potential be in the background of a few of the photos, although I doubt viewers will be interested in the picturesque background.

We continued on. The wind began to increase and before long we were moving around 5 mph. As we were nearing the point where we wanted to tack the captain suggested we take down the spinnaker and put up the jib. Rainbow is an older cat as is the rigging. It is in great shape, but requires more manual effort then newer vessels. This is a great way for a new sailor to learn and to learn what I will want or not want on my future catamaran.

One of the crew and myself were front balancing on the on the trampoline in still very mild conditions packing the spinnaker,. We were nearing completion when one of the crew, not me, stepped back perhaps to gain better balance and fell back and to the side as he tripped over the low support wire on the very front of the craft. By the time I noticed what was about to happen there was nothing I could do but watch in shock as he was went over the front of the crossbeam and into the cold San Francisco bay waters. A moment later after the shock wore off and a large splash could be heard yelled “Man Overboard”. At this point my assumption is that he would end up floating to the rear of the boat, so I immediately ran to the back of the cat in hopes of catching an arm as he floated by. This didn’t happen. He had managed to reach up and grab onto the cargo net from below. I ran back to the front joined with Captain Cliff. By this time he was making his way to the front of the cat hanging from the net and dragging through the water. I noticed that his self inflating PFD had inflated and it appeared to be choking him or at least very uncomfortable. Never the less it did it’s job and deployed when it contacted the water.

He was a large man, but both the captain and I grabbed an arm and pulled him up as far as we could onto the front cross beam, but it was clear to me that we wouldn’t be able to pull him in this way without help. The captain handed him a rope initially and was asked to float back under the bridge deck to the rear where we could bring him in. He wasn’t going for that and suggested instead that he move to the outside of the cat instead. He must have been concerned as there wasn’t very much bridge deck clearance on this Cat. A small wave could cause him to hit his head I am sure. By this time the cat wasn’t moving too fast and he was drug around the right front of the cat and then down the right side to the rear where he could access the ladder. I was waiting there for him just in case he needed help. I had no idea how cold the water was or if he had lost any strength in the struggle. Never the less he was fine and didn’t need any help. He put a dry pair of clothes on and we continued our sail only to laugh about the ordeal later. We are pretty sure his blackberry has seen its last day though.

This was a learning lesson for all. I asked the captain, “so does this happen often?”. He said it was a 1^st on his boat. After this experience I will be seriously considering the purchase of a PFD, preferable the self inflating variety due to their small size. The vest I was using was for waterskiing and was bulky and uncomfortable. The Captain advised me to pick one up at a boat show as they are usually marked down in price. Sounds like a plan.

We had to maneuver around a couple races and finally came to a stop behind a large island that was blocking the wind. We decided it was a good time for lunch, and relaxed for about an hour taking in the sights and talking about sailing experiences. Soon we were on our way and sailed back towards home. On the way there, the winds had picked up to around 20. The cat hit its max speed for the day at just over 10MPH after a some tuning adjustments were made to the sails.

Watching him park the boat at the dock was fun. I was a little concerned due to the cross wind and with a cat that is so wide there isn’t room for mistakes. He made it seem so easy. As if he had done it 100’s of times. With a combination of forward thrust on the port side and reverse thrust on the starboard side the cat turned on a dime and came to rest just next to the doc allowing an easy exit to secure the lines on the dock.

So what did I learn?

• I learned the basics of sailing a big cat to the point where if needed I could have sailed her home.
• I confirmed my suspicion that I would need a fast cat.
• I confirmed my suspicion that two hulls are better then one as the ride was comfortable.
• I learned of some things that are a must for me when purchasing a cat. The cat has to have a comfortable roomy and protected cockpit area. In SF Bay the wind can be cold so I will require a cockpit that can be somewhat sheltered for the guests to stay outside without the cold wind in their face.
• The same goes for the salon. It must be comfortable and spacious and tall enough to walk from one end to the other without bending over.
• Passengers need to have room to roam or socialize and be protected from the weather if desired and still see out to enjoy the views.
• I also felt that rainbow required two much manpower. Although single handing her was possible it wouldn’t be two much fun after a while. It is a great way to keep the crew involved and to learn though so I really appreciated the experience.
• I confirmed the need to wear shoes with non marking soles. My wife left some marks while climbing up the incline to move from the back to the front.
• Gloves are a must. I had some that did the trick. I brought them not really know why I would need them. Now I know why. We were constantly handling the ropes on this cat.
• I need a hat with a stronger rim to keep the sun off the face and still maintain it’s shape in the strong winds.
• I require a cat that minimizes the possibility of being hit with the boom when coming about (ouch!).

I envision sailing in the bay to be faster, less work, maybe with some music, food and beverages for the guests and maybe some fishing depending on the crew. I am sure there will be some racing where the crew will need to be more serious, but the bulk of my sailing I image will be for fun. I really appreciated Cliff taking us out and look forward to my next sailing adventure.

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.