Are Catamarans more stable than Mono hulls?
Mono hulls are more stable than catamarans in a swell traveling more beam-on (side on for the landlubbers!) than head-on which is precisely the conditions found in winter here when the south-east swell meets a boat traveling north-east. Catamarans are designed by accountants – it’s economics; more deck width means more potential passengers per deck length. Nothing to do with comfort or ride it’s the simple economics of transporting large numbers of people efficiently. A catamaran (otherwise known as an “ankle breaker”) leaps from side to side as one pontoon goes into a trough whilst the other goes up the wave. A mono hull sits either between the waves or upon them, more a dolphining movement as opposed to leaping back-forth like a see-saw. Catamarans do travel faster, but they have to be faster to give passengers any reasonable amount of time at a reef that is so far away from Port Douglas such as Agincourt Reef.
