Do We Love the Catamaran, Still?

Short answer: Yes.  #CatamaranLife for the win.  Thanks for reading.  See you next blog. 

Long answer: Yes. We are absolutely thrilled with our decision to sell our monohull, work a bit, and buy this catamaran. Let’s break it all down into categories to explain our love for this boat a bit more. 

Catamaran Pros

Comfort. We’ve always spent more time at anchor than actively sailing.  So comfort at anchor (aka actually living our lives on a boat) was our priority. And a catamaran nails this.  

Space is the major factor here. We essentially have a front porch, a back porch, and a living room. We can have guests in all of these spaces – or just hang out by ourselves. We added an easily removable sunshade over our trampolines and a couple of beanbags, and that has become our outside lounge pit. A 12v cooler was just installed in the cockpit, and now we have a perfect spot for guests to come over for drinks and game night.

While we technically have 4 cabins, we really use two for “stuff”. Obviously one is for us. And the fourth is for guests.

Forward starboard is where the Dometic deep freeze was installed (we’ve gotten pretty crazy with refrigeration on this boat – and when we next sail off into the sunset we will be SO freaking stocked.) We refer to this cabin as the garage. It has become our general day-to-day overflow storage.

The forward port cabin has all of my art supplies and sewing stuff/machines (yes, I actually have two sewing machines on board these days…). I can technically stow almost everything into two large totes that slide into the forepeak. But I do not have OCD and that only happens when we need that cabin for an extra guest…

The fourth cabin is our true guest cabin. It is currently full of tools. With Mark working full time on the marine services business, (STT Marine Services) he is constantly in and out of this cabin finding what he needs for any given job. But much like my sewing/art room, it’s easily stowable when we have guests.

As predicted, no matter how much bigger of a boat we buy, we are going to fill it up. 😆

Sailing. This girl is great in light winds on almost any angle. High winds are good also, but we had her gliding along at 8 knots in 8 knots of wind and it was a smooth, glorious ride. Considering I spent 6 years on the monohull being seasick when underway, this is a huge relief to me.

Downwind is where she really shines, in regards to my comfort. The monohull bobbed from port to starboard when headed downwind, regardless of our sail configuration. A sail from Antigua to St. Croix in the monohull was a speedy trip – but it was also one of my most uncomfortable sails in the over 10,000 nautical miles we put on that boat. But point this cat downwind and she flies – while remaining stable and balanced.

New canvas, bottom paint, pin stripes, solar, vinyl name decals… So much going on in this Before and After!

Catamaran Cons

Sailing. Yes, a Pro and a Con.

I have to say that our Beneteau 393 with the deep draft keel was a fast boat. We didn’t realize it at the time. But yeah, she was sweet. She pointed about 30° off the wind. The catamaran is lucky to hit 45°. So going east, into the tradewinds, is either chock full of endless tacks or just a miserable motor-powered bash directly into the winds.

*The monohull was also uncomfortable when bashing. All boats are uncomfortable when bashing. But at least she could sail closer, with fewer tacks.

She was a Charter

This isn’t really a Con, per-se. We purposely bought her right out of charter. But she’d been sitting for a long time. While we were all sitting on couches during the early days of Covid, she was also just lounging. Boats do not like to lounge. They are meant to move. To explore. For adventures. Just like me.

Because of this, anything that could dry rot did. Think o-rings. Toilet pump seals. You get the idea.

As a previous charter, she also has cosmetic damage that we haven’t yet addressed.  The faux teak floors are looking sun bleached and chipped.  They will be covered with a waterproof, removable flooring later this season.  Flooring just hasn’t been our focus up to this point. 

The Corian counter tops have seen better days and the faux wood walls had some sort of super-aggressive cleaner used on them by the charter company – so they have a weird haze.  But again, this is all cosmetic and we will tackle those projects down the road.  Or not.  

Two. Of. Everything.

Just last week we had to replace not one, but TWO start batteries. (There’s one for each engine.) The port side has been giving us fits since we bought her.  And then finally, they both just crapped out.  Not surprising really. Actually, I was more surprised that she came with a good house bank…  When we sold the used house bank last year and installed the lithium, we did not replace the start batteries.  So it really was just a matter of time. But still, 2 AGM batteries at $305 each was a hefty bill to pay.  And don’t even get me started on the higher marina rates, boat insurance, bottom painting/cleaning…

Smaller Projects

While I’ve already written (or Mark has made videos) about our bigger projects, there are some smaller projects that resulted in major impacts.

The galley is the first that comes to mind. Because, well, that’s where I live.

Luna Sea came with a Force 10 stove/oven. These are the industry standard, and used to be top of the line. But as with many things, the quality has dropped over the years. The oven couldn’t hold a steady temp. The burners wouldn’t stay lit. We cleaned the parts and made all of the tweaks I learned from the monohull (boat ovens are notoriously finicky, regardless of brand) But nothing worked. So we gave the Force 10 away for parts and installed a gas cooktop and electric multi-use mini oven. And a DRAWER. It’s the only drawer on the entire boat. What?!? It’s ah-mazing. For the nitty gritty details, watch this video.

We’ve also made cockpit cushions, replaced the sail bag, had someone replace the jib sacrificial, added more storage and so many more things.  Boats are an ongoing project, that’s for sure. 

Which Projects Had the Most Impact?

Favorite large project – Power/water Adding Battleborn batteries, 1440 watts of solar and a high out put watermaker mean we rarely even have to think about power or water consumption. It may not sound like a big deal to the Landlubbers, but if you’re on a boat, you know. Life changing.

Favorite smaller project – Galley. But that sunshade/beanbag combo on the trampolines is a close 2nd.  And extra refrigeration – that’s amazing.  And I’m really looking forward to the salon table mod…  All of them are great!

What Projects are Next?

We continue to make changes that make our girl more comfortable and more organized. The Leopard 38 catamaran comes with some very large storage areas (mostly under beds, so a challenge to access) and good sized lazarettes.  But those spaces are begging for some sort of shelving or containers.

The table in the salon is comically large. This is the case in most catamarans.  While several of the newer designs swivel or pivot out of the way, our 2010 design does not.  But Mark is on the case and already devising ways to alter the table.  Much like we did in the monohull, this table will be cut in half.  We have a couple of storage ottomans from Amazon that are currently waiting for us to pick them up at the mail box.  It’s just a matter of time before the salon becomes our indoor lounge area. 

The radar is about 75% installed.  We are both excited to have that added.  Tracking boats and weather while on passage was sorely missed on our trips down to Grenada and back this season.  

As I mentioned above, the floor covering will be ordered, cut to fit and installed. But really, I think we are past the major upgrades.  Everything from here on out is optional, upgrade-wise.

Would We Do It Again?

Absolutely yes.  While buying a catamaran out of charter meant we needed a lot of gear – it more importantly meant we got to pick exactly the gear we wanted.  So we went with the high output SeaWater Pro, and we LOVE it.  After putting lithium in the monohull AND the RV, that was a no-brainer.  And jumping straight to high quality LG solar panels vs the path we took on the monohull (that eventually led us to quality LG panels… 😬)saved us a fortune (and installation time) on sub-par panels.  

Had we not already learned from the first boat, I could see buying a charter boat a challenge. But because we knew what technology we wanted in this “new” boat – we are able to install exactly what we want the first go round.  We are saving money, time and frustration. Saving money on the purchase means we stayed under budget, and thus debt-free.  And you know how we like to be debt-free!  The boat is quickly becoming our comfortable little floating home.

What’s Next?

With Covid restrictions still lingering, and loads of boat work here in St Thomas, we are hanging tight. Mark is working full time – often installing these same systems on other cruiser’s boats. We’ve done the dirty work of finding the solid systems, and that means STT Marine Services is able to pass that knowledge on to their customers. And work for Mark means filling our Cruising Kitty for the next big adventure.

In the meantime, I’m painting again.  In fact, I’m practically putting in full-time hours as well.  I’ve gotten into a local gallery and a local boutique.  I’ve even added paintings to the website – check it out here to see what I’m up to and snag a piece for yourself while I’m still in a spot that has a US Post Office.  

We continue to explore the USVI – and this summer we sail the catamaran to Puerto Rico for a few months.  So stay tuned – there are more adventures ahead!

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