Catamaran

Origin

The pirate and adventurous English William Dampier, whereas he traversed the world in the Années 1690, was the first to describe a catamaran whereas he sailed in the Bay of Bengal, in the area of the Tamil Nadu. He describes them, in 1697, in the following way: “ On the Coast of Coromandel, one calls them Catamarans. They are one or two logs, sometimes of a so small light wood, which he transports only one man whose legs and base are always in water. ”

However, if the word catamaran comes from kattuamaran resulting from the language Tamoul E, ( katta : bond and maram : wood), the boat is, it, common in many parts of the world, in particular in the Pacifique where it is that of predilection of the Polynesians who use a particular form of embarquation with two hulls that one calls " Prao " who has in more the characteristic to be able to advance in the two directions thanks to a rotation of 180° of the Bôme.

In the Years 1870, American Nathanael Herreshoff is probably the first Westerner to manufacture catamarans which them speed and their stability make very popular soon.

The modern boat

The catamaran, such as it today is heard, is a boat having two hulls. It is thus classified in the categories of the boats Multicoque S which also includes/understands the Trimaran, from which the name derives.

The common form is probably an invention of the Polynesian populations. Initially it was about a simple float dugout. But with time, the interest to connect two hulls became obvious: more stability and little of draft.

There exist several types of catamarans divided into two families: the motorized sailing ships and, which know, themselves, of many variations. One thus finds there very small boats, called catamarans of sport, allowing the training, the pleasure, or optimized for the competition, of the comfortable boats for the cruising or the transport of passengers, of fishing the vessels, and finally large and very luxurious Yacht S.

The motorized catamaran is a comfortable ship by beautiful and little agitated sea, but becomes rather difficult by strong sea. The problem, was partly solved by the construction of the type SWATH which makes it possible to give an unquestionable comfort, even by strong sea, in against part, the draft increases.

In the largest boats, one generally installs, between the hulls, with front, a Trampoline.

Favor Inconvénients of the catamaran of pleasure.

Advantages:

comfort related to navigation " flat ": as well to move on board, as to operate the ropes and listenings or quite simply to cook.
space related to the volume of the cabins, the square, the cockpit and the front beach with its trampoline for the team-members but also for their personal businesses.
capacity to ventilate the whole of the boat with very large openings on outside.
safety related to the tiredness limited of the crew, which rises from the 3 preceding arguments, in order to remain on board without falling to water.
insubmersibility , pledge of safety, in the event of way of water, the lightning or small fire.
speed , for the pleasure, to secure themselves against a bad announced weather or to release themselves from a water level agitated.
the weak draft which gives access facilitated to the wild beaches and open dampings the short-nap cloth of stones in the Mediterranean or to decrease calculations of tide in the event of coastal traffic in the Atlantic.
the weight , less important (thanks to the absence of ballast), that allows a speed increased in the petis airs (less than 20 nodes).
the appendix can remain inflated and seized under the Bossoir S fixed on the table postpones while remaining immediately available.
Absence of boom to bearing under spi symmetrical.

Disadvantages:

the purchase price , the two elements most expensive namely: the hull and the engine are doubled.
maintenance and the operation costs are more important.
the course , gone up with the wind compromised with 60° of the wind upright.
comfort in the bad weather , " 2 coques" welded, pass one after the other on the same wave.
safety in a strong sea , even if upperworks acts as " disjoncteur" while breaking at the time of a strong mechanical push, it happens that catamarans capsize, " bottom over tête" (to sancir) or of course a strong blow of lodging. In the majority of the cases, desalting is due to the hollows formed by the sea and not to the force of the wind applied to the veils.
the Camouflage : very imposing the multihull all its exposed structure with the wind has, which can obstruct in the event of harbor operation.
the size : very cumbersome width, this type of boat is difficult to put at quay in the ports, indeed, those did not see coming the recent success as of these units out-standards for which one holds two simple places. What does not arrange the problem of the " stationnements" who miss in the Atlantic but more especially the Mediterranean.
the structure which works very stiff, in particular gréement the door frame which owes " encaisser" gusts without being able " soulager" of a small list.

Examples

Alibi
MCM52
Dart
Hobie Cat
Gave luster to
Alado 18
KL
KL Warp
KL Booster
Earthrace
ST 70
Orange 2
Windkart
Tyka
Mattia
New Cat 12
New Cat 10.5
New Cat F1 (14pieds)
New Cat 16
New Cat Swing
sea-quad.com

See too

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