Multihull - Advantages and Disadvantages of Multihulls

Advantages and Disadvantages of Multihulls

From the designer's viewpoint, the most important advantages of multi-hull ships, as compared to monohulls, are the following: much greater range of geometric variability; wave-making resistance, which is the main component of water resistance to moderate- and fast-speed vessels, can be significantly decreased by a rational arrangement of hulls due the interference between the wave systems generated by each hull; significantly lager area of decks and volume of closed (including watertight) and open space for payload; as a result, a multi-hull vessel can be a preferred choice for shipping high-volume and light-specific-weight payload (passengers, automobiles, etc.) transverse stability is independent of the aspect ratio of any hull, but depends strongly on the transverse distance between the hulls; as a result, the transverse stability is usually not much less than the longitudinal stability. a possibility of increasing greatly the non-sinkability of the vessel volume of the above-water platform. Higher safety and survivability of power plant machinery due to greater variability for the safest accommodation of its main components The main disadvantages of multi-hull ships, as compared to monohulls, are the following: the wider overall beam of a multihull vessel is often is often a problem for conventional docking; the relatively greater total wetted area of all hulls increases the total water resistance of the vessel at low speeds. Assembly of a multi-hull vessel in a shipyard takes a wider area; as a result, the construction cost and maintenance (in dry dock) can be greater.