2 hulls are better than 1
When deciding what type of boat to buy, you will likely want to understand the differences between the most popular boat hulls.
Compare World Cat to the hull of a leading monohull competitor below
230SD
325CC
When deciding what type of boat to buy, you will likely want to understand the differences between the most popular boat hulls.
This brief article highlights some of the critical differences between Catamaran and Monohull boats.
Ride Comfort
Undoubtedly one of the most important features of any watercraft is how well it’s engineered for a comfortable ride for all passengers. Many boats are primarily designed around comfort for the captain. This usually means anyone at the front or sides of the boat takes most of the jostling. The catamaran style hull delivers three distinctive characteristics key to ride comfort, smoothness, load distribution, and stability.
Catamaran
The wider footprint of the catamaran vessel helps negate the effects of unpredictable rolling while at sea. The efficient hull design reduces resistance and allows for faster headway, especially in rough conditions.
Monohull
The narrow design of the monohull vessel relies heavily on the calmness of the water to ensure a smooth ride. More bouncing, slapping, and choppiness is encountered due to more surface area that remains in contact with the water.
Deck Space
Catamaran
A catamaran beam is carried fully forward. This and two hulls compared to one gives the catamaran deck a rectangular design, and allows for more usable deck space than a monohull boat.
Monohull
Boats have a pinched bow, which comes to a point, creating a triangular shape as opposed to a catamaran's rectangular shape. This feature makes the monohull less space-efficient.
Load Distribution
Catamaran
A catamaran beam is carried fully forward. This and two hulls compared to one gives the catamaran deck a rectangular design, and allows for more usable deck space than a monohull boat.
Monohull
Boats have a pinched bow, which comes to a point, creating a triangular shape as opposed to a catamaran's rectangular shape. This feature makes the monohull less space-efficient.
Stability
Catamaran
Catamarans' parallel hulls create reliable form stability, which prevents heeling and capsizing, and greatly reduces the vessel roll at rest and at trolling speeds. This drastically eliminates seasickness for passengers.
Monohull
It requires four-times less force to initiate the capsize of a monohull vessel than an equally sized catamaran. Monohulls single-beam style also makes it seven-times more prone to heeling than a similarly sized catamaran.
Fuel Efficiency
Catamaran
A catamaran hull experiences little to no drag or resistance to get on plane, resulting in greater fuel economy. Catamarans have a steady rise in speed and fuel burn with little to no spikes in fuel consumption.
Monohull
Bow(keel) drag created by a monohull vessel is higher than that of a catamaran, which means greater displacement. The monohull encounters higher resistance taking longer to plane and spikes in speed and fuel consumption at mid-range.
