What's so great about a"Magic Carpet (Mega) Catamaran"?
The short answer to this question is "Not a whole lot". On the other hand, there are plenty of things that "are not so great" about currently available boats - in general. In this designer's opinion, many, if not most, boats suffer from many, if not most, of the following shortcomings:
> Are too susceptible to sinking and/or capsizing and / or breaking up.
> Are too short.
> Are too fat.
> Require too much power.
> Are too uncomfortable at sea.
> Are too uncomfortable at anchor.
> Pander far too much to the "Pleasure boating" and "Yachting" establishment.
> Are influenced far to much by current "Yachting" media ( glossy brochures for the INDUSTRY)
> Are influenced far too little by the early "Yachting " media (informative, thoughtful periodicals)
> Roll too much.
> Pitch too much.
> Too little influenced by the "Shaker design philosophy".
> Too heavily influenced by the "Disney Land design philosophy".
> Pound too much.
> Cater too little to: "There is nothing half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats".
> Cater too much to: "Look at me! Look at me! --- I'm the greatest!"
> Are too wet.
> Have too deep a draft.
> Are too complicated.
> Are too high tech.
> Are too slow - particularly offshore.
> Are too ostentatious or "heavily made up". (Whatever happened to "understated elegance"?)
> Are too loud - in every sense of the word.
> Don't provide enough shade.
> Don't provide enough natural ventilation.
> Don't provide enough comfortable "on deck" seating and lounging facilities.
> Are too claustrophobic.
> Are too dependant on shore facilities.
> Make lousy fishing platforms.
> Make lousy "hanging out on deck" platforms.
> Are way, way, too costly to build, purchase operate and maintain.
Even the boats previously praised, by this designer, obviously fit into this last category. They also fit into several other category's - in particular being "too fat". In this regard, let me start off by expressing my astonishment - that the multihull concept has taken so many centuries to become accepted and widely utilized by world wide marine interest - both commercial and recreational.
On the other hand, thanks to a great deal of work by modern day multihull pioneers, in a few short decades, recreational multihulls in general (and catamarans in particular) have been elevated from being the "untouchables" of the "Yachting Establishment" to being the "darlings" of the charter fleet - and of many other segments of the recreational marine industry. It is perhaps understandable then, that (considering there very short modern history) most catamarans today still reflect the heritage of centuries of "monohull thinking" - as illustrated by their (in this designers opinion) rather fat hulls,
Presumably, for the simple reason that trees tend to be tall and skinny, the original multihulls were, naturally, also very long and skinny. As it happens, this long and skinny approach worked out very well - as attested to, by the early history of multihulls. Why most modern proponents of catamarans seem to have such a difficult time breaking away completely from their monohull roots, and embracing really long skinny hulls, is a mystery. Actually I have some pretty good ideas about the possible reasons - which are laid out on various pages of this web site cluster -------.
This, however, is clearly the case - with most modern catamarans employing around a 12 : 1 length hull beam ratio - as compared to 18 : 1 for Grand Illusion and 30 : 1 for Grand Illusion XL. Very few 72 ft tall trees are 6 ft in diameter and consequently very few (in fact none at all ) 72 ft early pacific multihulls possessed any where near a 6 ft. hull beam.
It is fortunate that they didn't, because propelling such a craft, with the means of propulsion available in those times, (paddles and very low tech sails) would have been a very difficult task.
Today, with modern high tech propulsive systems (whether sail or power) it is possible to drive catamarans, with 12 : 1 length / hull beam ratios, at fairly decent speeds.
However, there is another draw back to utilizing relatively short fat hulls, which cannot be easily overcome by employing modern technology. In order to provide a sharp entry at the waterline (a requirement for relatively high speeds) virtually all modern catamaran hulls are curved for their entire length (both in profile and in plan, While this approach may lead to "Wow!s" at the boat show, at sea, the results can be somewhat more negative.
What one has created, with this solution to the root problem of too small a length / hull beam ratio, is a close facsimile to a rocking chair or a hobby horse. Naturally, such a design is likely to be susceptible to pitching - or, as it is often, not surprisingly, referred to, "hobby horsing." On a sailing catamaran, such tendencies are mitigated, to some extent, by the sails. On a power catamaran, however, no such mitigating factor is available
Another problem, which such catamarans are faced with, is the tendency of such vessels to "squat" when under power alone. The reason, for this problem being peculiar to the power mode, is that the propulsive thrust is being applied below the waterline. Under sail, on the other hand, the thrust is being applied way above deck level - thereby counteracting the squatting tendency.
Many power catamaran designers address this problem by changing the hull form somewhat - to provide dynamic lift at the stern. Unfortunately, this also moves the hull design from the very efficient "full displacement" realm to the somewhat less efficient "semi displacement" realm. Others say "to hell with it" and simply go for full-on planing hulls - with lots of horsepower,
This approach, with it's very high power requirements, might be considered, somewhat rational in smaller catamarans. In any vessel, which could conceivably be labeled a "mega catamaran", however, this approach can only be described as totally absurd.
In answer to the title question then. "Magic Carpet Catamarans" (besides making some progress towards addressing the criticisms listed at the top of this page) have really long, really skinny hulls and they can be built, operated and maintained - at a relatively low cost. This can hardly be categorized as a "Great" achievement, however - seeing as the Pacific islanders were crossing oceans, in catamarans fitting this description, many centuries ago.
What's so great about a "Magic Carpet (Mega) Catamaran"?
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