Catamaran facts for kids
A catamaran is a special kind of boat or ship that has two parallel bodies, called hulls, instead of just one. These two hulls are spaced far apart, which makes the catamaran super stable and prevents it from tipping over easily. It doesn't need heavy weights (called ballast) to stay upright.
Catamarans usually have less of their body underwater and don't sit as deep in the water compared to boats with a single hull of the same size. Because of their design, catamarans often glide through the water more easily. This means they need less power from sails or engines to move quickly. Their wide shape also helps them move smoothly over waves, making the ride more comfortable and creating smaller waves behind them.
People from the Austronesian islands invented catamarans a long, long time ago. These boats helped them explore and settle many islands across the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean.
Today, catamarans come in all sizes! You can find small ones for sailing or rowing, huge ships for navies, and even giant ferries that carry cars and passengers. The part that connects the two hulls can be a simple frame with a net for people to sit on, or a large deck with cabins and space for cargo.
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Discovering Catamarans: A Journey Through History
The catamarans we see today were inspired by ancient designs from islands in Oceania and Maritime Southeast Asia. For a long time, most catamarans used sails to move.
What Does "Catamaran" Mean?
The word catamaran comes from the Tamil language word kattumaram. This word means 'logs bound together' and originally described a simple raft made of several tree trunks tied together. Over time, the English word 'catamaran' started to mean any boat with two hulls.
How Catamarans Developed in Ancient Times
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For a while, people thought that catamarans developed from boats with outriggers (a smaller float attached to one side). But now, many experts believe it was the other way around: simple rafts led to catamarans, and then catamarans led to outrigger canoes.
Imagine tying two logs together to make a simple raft. Over time, people started tying two canoes together. Sometimes, one canoe was made a bit smaller than the other. This smaller hull eventually became what we call an 'outrigger' – a float attached to the side of a single canoe to make it more stable. This shows how clever ancient boat builders were!
These early catamarans were incredibly effective. They allowed brave Polynesian sailors to travel vast distances across the Pacific Ocean, discovering and settling many islands far from their homes.
Traditional Catamaran Designs
Here are some names of traditional catamarans from different Austronesian islands:
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- Fiji: Drua (or waqa tabu)
- Papua New Guinea: Lakatoi
- Tonga: Hamatafua, kalia, tongiaki
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- Cook Islands: Vaka katea
- Hawaii: Waʻa kaulua
- Marquesas: Vaka touʻua
- New Zealand: Waka hourua
- Samoa: ʻAlia, amatasi, va'a-tele
- Society Islands: Pahi, tipairua
Modern Catamarans: Western Innovations
The first time a two-hulled boat was recorded in Europe was in 1662. A man named William Petty designed it to be faster, sail in shallow water, and need fewer sailors. But people weren't sure about this new design, so it didn't become popular right away.
For nearly 160 years, catamarans weren't widely used in the West. Then, in the early 1800s, an Englishman named Mayflower F. Crisp built a two-hulled merchant ship in Burma (now Myanmar). He called it the Original, and it was known for being fast and good in the sea.
Later, in 1876, an American named Nathanael Herreshoff built his own two-hulled sailboat, the Amaryllis. It performed so well in its first race that it showed how much faster catamarans could be than single-hulled boats. Because they were so fast, catamarans were actually banned from many regular sailing races until the 1970s!
In 1916, a Spanish inventor, Leonardo Torres Quevedo, patented a steel catamaran called Binave. It had two engines and could change its shape while sailing. Later, in 1936, Eric de Bisschop built a Polynesian-style double canoe in Hawaii and sailed it all the way to France, becoming a hero.
In the 1950s, brothers Roland Prout and Frank Prout started building catamarans in England. Their Shearwater catamarans were so good they easily won races against single-hulled boats. Their company, Prout Catamarans, became famous for its designs.
Around the same time, 'beachcats' became very popular. These are smaller, lighter catamarans that are easy to launch from a beach. Hobie Alter, a surfboard maker from California, created the famous Hobie Cat 14 in 1967, and then the even more popular Hobie 16. By 2016, over 100,000 Hobie 16s had been made!
Catamarans even made it to the Olympic Games! The Tornado catamaran was used from 1976 to 2008. More recently, the Nacra 17, a special type of catamaran that can 'fly' above the water on foils, was used in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (which happened in 2021).
Why Catamarans Are Great: Speed and Stability
Catamarans are known for two main things that make them different from single-hulled boats: they move through the water with less effort, and they are very stable.
Moving Through Water Easily
Because catamarans have two narrow hulls, they slice through the water more easily than a wide, single-hulled boat. This means they can go faster with less power from their engines or sails. For sailing catamarans, this low resistance helps their sails work more efficiently, almost like airplane wings!
Super Stable Design
Catamarans are very stable because their two hulls are far apart. This wide stance makes it much harder for them to tip over compared to a single-hulled boat. Even a strong wind or big waves won't make a catamaran lean as much as a monohull.
Cool Catamaran Designs: SWATH and Wave-Piercing
Engineers have also created special types of catamarans, like the small-waterplane-area twin hull (SWATH) and the wave-piercing designs. These are very clever!
A SWATH ship has two torpedo-like hulls that stay completely underwater. These hulls are connected to the main deck by thin supports. Because the main part of the boat is deep underwater, it's not affected much by waves on the surface. This makes SWATH ships incredibly stable, even in rough seas! They are often used for research or as rescue ships.
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Wave-piercing catamarans have special bows (front parts) that are designed to cut through waves instead of riding over them. This allows them to maintain high speeds even in choppy water, making for a smoother and faster ride than traditional catamarans. You can find wave-piercing designs on fancy yachts, fast passenger ferries, and even military ships.
Where Catamarans Are Used Today
Catamarans are chosen when speed and a smooth ride are more important than carrying a huge amount of cargo. This is why they are popular for car ferries and military ships that need to move quickly.
Catamarans in Sports
Many small catamarans are used for fun and sports. They often have a trampoline net between the hulls where people can sit or relax. Some racing catamarans even have special harnesses called 'trapezes' that let sailors lean far out over the water to balance the boat and go even faster!
Catamarans have also become a big deal in famous sailing races like the America's Cup. In the 2010 race, a catamaran and a trimaran (a boat with three hulls) competed, showing how these multi-hulled boats could be incredibly fast. The 2013 America's Cup featured amazing AC72 catamarans that used hydrofoils to lift their hulls out of the water, making them 'fly' and go super fast! It was an exciting race won by Oracle Team USA.
Some of the biggest racing catamarans are over 100 feet long! In a famous round-the-world race called 'The Race' in 2000, giant catamarans competed, showing just how fast these boats could travel across oceans.
Catamarans for Cruising and Travel
For people who love to travel the seas, cruising catamarans offer a lot of space and comfort. They are faster than many single-hulled boats and don't lean over as much, making for a smoother journey. They also don't need much water to float, so they can get closer to beaches and shallow areas. However, they can take up more space in a harbor and might cost more because they often have two engines and two rudders.
Powered catamarans for cruising are like floating homes! They often have large living areas (saloons) that stretch across both hulls, with bedrooms and engines tucked inside. This design helps keep the boat steady, even when the sea is a bit rough.
The Tûranor PlanetSolar, a wave-piercing catamaran launched in 2010, is the world's largest boat powered only by solar energy! It even sailed all the way around the world in 2012.
Catamarans for Passenger Transport
Since the 1970s, catamarans have been used as super-fast passenger ferries. They can carry many people and cars across the water much quicker than traditional ships. Some, like the HSC Stena Voyager, could travel at speeds over 70 miles per hour!
Companies in Australia, like Incat and Austal, are famous for building huge catamaran ferries and naval ships. Incat even built the HSC Francisco, which, as of 2014, was the fastest passenger ship in the world, reaching speeds of 58 knots (about 67 mph)!
Catamarans in the Military
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The very first warship to use a steam engine, called Demologos, was a catamaran! It was built in the United States during the War of 1812 and had a paddle wheel between its two hulls.
In the early 1900s, some catamarans were built as special rescue ships for submarines. They had large cranes and a 'moon pool' (an opening in the deck) between their hulls to help lift submarines from the ocean floor.
Today, navies around the world use catamarans for fast transport of troops and equipment. The US Navy, for example, uses Expeditionary Fast Transport catamarans that can move military cargo quickly and reach shallow ports.
The Indian Navy uses Makar-class catamarans as survey ships, which help map the ocean floor. China's navy uses Houbei class catamarans, designed to be stealthy and hard to detect. Taiwan's navy also has fast and stealthy Tuo Chiang-class wave-piercing catamarans.
Small, Personal Catamarans
You can even find small, personal catamarans! Some companies make twin-hulled kayaks and canoes that are super stable. This means you can paddle, drive with a small motor, or even stand up to fish without worrying about tipping over. Their wide design makes them much more stable than single-hulled kayaks or canoes.
See Also
- Multihull
- List of multihulls
