Choosing a Monohull, Catamaran or Tall Ship

Hull form is the first real decision in a sailing charter. It changes how much room you have, how the boat moves, where you can anchor, what you pay, and how much of the week feels like sailing rather than floating.

This directory lists 41 vessels and fleets. Of those, 26 are catamarans, 13 are monohulls and 2 are tall ships.

Catamaran versus monohull: living space

A catamaran spreads its accommodation across two hulls and a bridgedeck. You get a saloon at eye level with windows on all sides, a cockpit on the same plane as the saloon, and cabins in the hulls rather than stacked fore and aft. Groups notice this immediately. Four couples on a 45 foot catamaran usually get four cabins in the corners of the boat, each with its own door and often its own head. Four couples on a 45 foot monohull are far more likely to be sharing a head and sleeping in a forepeak V berth that narrows at the feet.

The trade is that a catamaran's cabins are long and narrow, with low headroom over the berth. Tall guests bump their heads.

Motion and seasickness

At anchor a catamaran is close to flat. It does not roll the way a keelboat does when swell wraps into a bay, and that single fact settles a lot of family arguments. Under way in flat water the difference is also clear: a catamaran sails upright, so cooking, reading and moving around the boat are easier.

In a short steep sea a catamaran can slam and pitch in a quick, jerky rhythm. Some people find that worse than a monohull's slower, deeper roll. If anyone in your group is prone to motion sickness, the honest answer is that a catamaran is usually kinder, but neither hull is immune, and medication taken before departure beats medication taken after.

Draft, anchoring and berthing

Catamarans draw very little. A 40 to 45 foot cruising cat often sits in around a metre of water, which lets you tuck into shallow sandy bays, cross bars and anchor closer inshore than a keelboat.

Monohulls draw more, commonly two metres or more, and that keeps them in deeper water and in marked channels. The upside is a keel that grips, a boat that sits in a swell rather than skating across it, and far less windage at anchor. A catamaran's high freeboard and bridgedeck act as a sail when it blows.

Berthing is where catamarans cost you. They are wide. Marinas charge for that width, often by the square metre or with a multihull surcharge, and the number of berths that can take an eight metre beam is limited. Expect fewer options in busy harbours and expect to book ahead.

Upwind performance and the sailing itself

If you came to sail, be clear-eyed. A heavy cruising catamaran with a fixed shallow keel does not point well. It makes leeway, it slows badly in chop, and the difference between a good day and a frustrating day is largely whether the wind is behind you.

A monohull with a proper fin keel will sail closer to the wind and hold a course in a seaway. It heels doing it, which is part of the point for some people and the whole objection for others. The directory includes performance oriented boats, including a Schionning and a carbon HH50, which are a different proposition again: fast multihulls that do sail upwind, at prices and skill requirements to match.

When a monohull is the better boat

Choose a monohull when the sailing is the holiday rather than the transport. Choose it when the group is small, two to four people, where a cat's extra cabins are wasted. Choose it when budget matters, because the monohull half of the market is less contested. Choose it for coastal passages with real exposure, where a heavy keelboat is more forgiving of a tired crew.

Recurring monohull builders in the directory include Bavaria, Beneteau, Dufour, Hanse and Jeanneau. Catamaran names that come up repeatedly are Fountaine Pajot, Leopard, Lagoon and Seawind, plus Bali. Lengths across the whole directory run from about 34 feet to 32 metres.

Tall ships and heritage vessels

Two vessels in the directory are tall ships, and they belong in a category of their own. Named examples include the replica brig Lady Nelson and Rhona H, a gaff-rigged ketch built in 1942.

These are not charter yachts with old rigging. They are usually operated by trusts or not-for-profit associations rather than commercial fleets, often with volunteer crew alongside a paid master. Voyages are commonly sold per person on a scheduled sailing rather than as an exclusive booking, and the expectation is that you help work the ship: hauling on halyards, going aloft if you are willing and able, standing a watch, steering to a compass course.

Accommodation is basic by charter standards. Bunks, shared heads, no air conditioning. What you get instead is a rig and a way of sailing that no modern boat reproduces.

How to read published specs, and what they hide

Operator listings are written to sell. Read them for what they omit.

Length overall versus length class. A boat marketed as a 45 may be a 45 foot model designation measuring 13.2 metres hull length with a bowsprit taking it further. Compare hull length if you care about marina fees.

Nominal capacity versus usable berths. A vessel commonly carries three different numbers: a day passenger limit, a lower offshore limit, and an overnight berth count that is much lower again. "Sleeps 12" often means eight adults in cabins plus saloon conversions nobody wants to use twice.

Cabins versus berths. Six berths in three cabins is a different holiday from six berths in two cabins plus a saloon.

Heads and showers. Count both. Some boats list four heads where only two have showers, and on some the shower is the same space as the toilet.

Shade and ventilation. Australian conditions make this decisive.

Air conditioning, and whether it runs at anchor. This is the question people forget. Many systems need shore power or a running generator. Check whether the generator may legally and practically run overnight, and how loud it is in the aft cabins.

Tender and boarding geometry. Tender size and engine determine whether you can reach a beach two miles away. Boarding ladders, transom steps and davit height decide whether older guests can get on and off at all.

Size the boat to the crew, not the group

The most common mistake is chartering the biggest boat the group can afford. Boat handling load rises steeply with length. A 50 foot catamaran has more windage, more momentum, heavier ground tackle and much less margin in a tight marina than a 40 footer, and the person on the helm needs the experience to match.

If you hold the qualifications and hours for a bareboat but not for a 50 foot cat in 25 knots, take a smaller boat or take a skipper. Under Certificate of Survey conditions a vessel's maximum people, operating area and often minimum crew are set for the boat, and hire and drive operators apply their own competence checks on top. See the bareboat guide for what those checks involve, and safety and commercial vessel rules for how AMSA classes the vessel you are stepping onto.

Work through charter types to settle skippered against self-skippered first, then costs for how hull form moves the total, and families and groups if children or non-swimmers are aboard. The vessel directory lists specifications as published, and the operator directory tells you who runs each boat.

Sources

• Australian Maritime Safety Authority, domestic commercial vessels: https://www.amsa.gov.au/vessels-operators/domestic-commercial-vessels
• Bureau of Meteorology marine and ocean forecasts: https://www.bom.gov.au/marine/
• Operator fleet pages cited on each operator profile, reviewed 11 September 2026.

Specifications and policies change. Confirm details with the operator before booking.