Boat Forum / Cruising / December 2004

While reading rec.boats.cruising, I noticed chutzpuh@hotmail.com felt
compelled to write:

What you are looking for will necessitate some for of compromise in a
catamaran design, particularly bridge-deck cats. You are going to end
up with either a boxy, high-windage cabin, or low bridge-deck
clearance, neither of which would be features I would be seeking in a
cat.

You don't mention a budget, but one cat I can think of that might suit
would be the Atlantic 42 of Chris White:

http://www.chriswhitedesigns.com/atlantic42/index.php

For me, I'd be looking at a trimaran in the 10 - 12m range. Even then,
you are only likely to see max 6'6" headroom in the main saloon, and
even then only in a part of it, but at least you'll be able to dress
standing down below in inclement conditions. :-)

My current boat is a Farrier Command 10, an older design, but it has
over 6'5 of headroom in the saloon. I think the newer F-9; F32 and F36
all have similar headroom, depending on the builder. I do recall that
F-9's had an option to build with a 2" higher coach-roof, but I can't
recall the final dimensions.

You may find more info here:

http://www.f-boat.com/pages/trimarans/index.html

In reality, you could well find yourself building, or buying a boat
that someone has already modified to suit your requirements, or,
spending a million dollars, in which case anything is possible :-)

Regards,
Ian