It's fairly common knowledge that the catamaran hull shape is more stable at speed than the monohull, which makes it the boat of choice for many marine photographers, for example. But how exactly does a twin-hulled powerboat design make a smoother high-speed ride than a monohull? Take a look at the video below as boats.com Senior Editor, Lenny Rudow, explains what's going on below the waterline and how it affects a powercat's ride.

 


 

As stated in the video, just because a boat is a powercat doesn't automatically mean it'll ride smoothly. As with monohulls and boats of all other types, many variables ranging from design to construction play a role in just how well any given boat does or does not ride. But it's almost a dead certainty that in a list of the 10 smoothest-running boats in the 18ft –30ft range (where powercats often shine the brightest) six or seven of them would probably be cats.

For specific powercat examples on boats.com, see: Powercat 525 review: rock solid multihull and Twin-Hulled Powerboats: the Advantages of Power Catamarans, or head over to boats.com USA for even more powercat videos and reviews: World Cat 295DC: powercat with a purpose or Calcutta 263: cat on the attack.

Written by: Lenny Rudow
With over two decades of experience in marine journalism, Lenny Rudow has contributed to publications including YachtWorld, boats.com, Boating Magazine, Marlin Magazine, Boating World, Saltwater Sportsman, Texas Fish & Game, and many others. Lenny is a graduate of the Westlawn School of Yacht Design, and he has won numerous BWI and OWAA writing awards.