Fast facts:
A power catamaran resists rolling because its two hulls, set wide apart, have to lift one hull's buoyancy against the other's to heel — a far stiffer proposition than a monohull's pendulum motion around a single ballasted keel. The practical result is a level ride at anchor and underway, with far less of the side-to-side motion that causes seasickness on a comparable monohull.
At anchor, the difference is most obvious to guests rather than owners: a power catamaran vs monohull side-by-side in the same bay shows the catamaran barely moving in beam-on swell while the monohull rolls through several degrees on each wave. Underway, the OceanWalker S60's wide stance keeps the saloon sole level through most sea states up to moderate chop, letting crew move around, cook and serve drinks without bracing against a hull that is constantly working to right itself. That stability is not just comfort — it reduces fatigue on long passages and makes a catamaran a materially easier boat to handle for a couple or a family without professional crew, which is often the deciding factor in a power catamaran vs monohull purchase for owner-operators rather than owners who always carry a captain.
In the power catamaran vs monohull question, beam is what a catamaran sells that a monohull cannot match at the same length — the OceanWalker S60's 8.38 m beam on a 60 ft hull is roughly 45% of its overall length, a ratio a monohull of the same length cannot approach without becoming unseaworthy. That width becomes a bridgedeck saloon, a flybridge functioning as a genuine second deck, and cabins built into hulls wide enough for a proper double bed.
That extra volume shows up most in the places a monohull owner notices immediately after stepping aboard: a bridgedeck saloon that sits between the hulls rather than perched above a narrow bilge, walk-around berths in every cabin instead of a wedge-shaped forepeak, and a flybridge large enough to genuinely entertain rather than just steer from. In a power catamaran vs monohull walkthrough, buyers consistently comment on how a 60 ft catamaran like the OceanWalker S60 feels closer to a 70-75 ft monohull inside, simply because the hull form converts beam directly into liveable square metres instead of losing it to a deep, narrow bilge and ballast keel. The trade-off is dockside footprint: that same beam that creates the space is exactly what widens the boat in a marina, which is worth weighing against the interior gain (see Running Costs below).
Draft is one of the most overlooked differences in the power catamaran vs monohull decision, yet it changes where an owner can actually take the boat. A typical power catamaran in the 55-65 ft range draws somewhere in the 3-4.5 ft (roughly 1-1.4 m) range, since the hulls carry no ballast keel and displacement is spread across two slender underwater sections rather than concentrated in one deep hull. A comparable monohull motor yacht of the same length commonly draws 5-7 ft (1.5-2.1 m) or more, particularly if it carries stabiliser fins or a deep-V running hull for offshore performance.
That difference of a metre or more opens genuinely different cruising grounds. A power catamaran vs monohull comparison in somewhere like the Bahamas, the Croatian islands or the shallow lagoons of the eastern Mediterranean isn't close: the catamaran can anchor in skinny water metres from a beach, tuck into inlets a chart would rule out for a deep-draft monohull, and sit closer to shore in swell-protected shallows most of the fleet can't reach. Owners who plan to gunkhole, beach-anchor with a tender ramp down, or cruise skinny-water routes routinely name draft as the reason they chose a catamaran over an equivalent-length monohull, even when the monohull otherwise matched their brief on speed or price.
The OceanWalker S60 fits this pattern: her twin-hull configuration and lack of ballast keep her well within the shallow end of the catamaran draft range, which combined with her stability at anchor makes her a genuine gunkholing platform rather than just a marina-to-marina cruiser.
A well-built planing monohull can often out-run a power catamaran of the same length and horsepower, since a single hull with less wetted surface at speed can be more efficient at higher velocities. Catamarans generally win on efficiency at cruising speed and on range, thanks to two slender hulls presenting less wetted surface per tonne of displacement than one wide monohull.
Independent private viewings back up the general rule: one head-to-head fuel test between a power catamaran and a comparable monohull motor yacht recorded roughly 36% better fuel efficiency for the catamaran at a 3,000 rpm cruising setting, with both boats covering similar speed through the mid-range (Makai Yachts, 2024). That gap is a direct result of hull form rather than engine choice — two slim hulls need less horsepower to push the same displacement through the water at displacement and semi-displacement speeds than one wide monohull does, which is why the power catamaran vs monohull efficiency gap tends to widen the slower and longer the passage runs. Over an 8-10 hour cruising day, that difference is often the gap between one refuelling stop and none — a genuinely practical factor in a power catamaran vs monohull decision for anyone doing regular passages rather than day trips.
Fuel is usually the easy win in a power catamaran vs monohull running-cost comparison — lower wetted-surface resistance means fewer litres burned per mile at cruising speed, and a wider range before needing to refuel. But it isn't the only running cost that changes with hull type, and an honest comparison has to include the one place catamarans lose ground: marina berthing.
Most Mediterranean and many Caribbean marinas price berths by length, then add a beam surcharge once a boat crosses roughly 5 m (16'5") wide — a threshold almost every power catamaran over 45 ft exceeds and almost no monohull motor yacht does. Cruisers and marina operators commonly report catamaran surcharges of 50-100% over the standard length-based rate, and in France some ports charge a wide-beam catamaran the equivalent of two standard berths side by side. In a power catamaran vs monohull cost comparison over a full season in the Mediterranean, that surcharge can offset a meaningful share of the fuel savings a catamaran otherwise banks, particularly for an owner who berths in premium marinas like Antibes, Palma or Porto Cervo rather than swinging at anchor. It's an honest trade-off worth budgeting for rather than a reason to avoid a catamaran outright — many owners simply favour anchoring over marina berths specifically because a catamaran's shallow draft and stability at anchor make that comfortable, which sidesteps the surcharge altogether.
Owners chartering their catamaran commercially should also factor in that many charter bases price catamaran berths into their base fees precisely because of this surcharge, so the running-cost gap in a private power catamaran vs monohull comparison and a chartered one can look meaningfully different.
There is no fixed rule that catamarans cost more or less than monohulls of the same length — both range from entry-level to ultra-luxury. What buyers should compare is like-for-like: cabin count, beam, propulsion and builder reputation, the same way the comparisons on this site set the OceanWalker S60 against named monohull and catamaran competitors rather than relying on a category-wide generalisation.
Purchase price is where a power catamaran vs monohull comparison gets muddiest, because two hulls with double the engines and roughly double the underwater surface to build sound like they should cost more than one hull of the same length — and at the very top of the market they sometimes do. In the mid-market, though, a well-specified catamaran like the OceanWalker S60 at €3.2M with all options included competes directly against 60-65 ft monohull motor yachts from established European builders, and often undercuts a comparably-equipped monohull once cabin count and beam are matched rather than length alone. The number that actually matters to most buyers isn't sticker price, it's price per usable square metre of interior space — and on that measure catamarans usually win the power catamaran vs monohull comparison outright, because their extra beam converts so directly into liveable volume.
Resale trends add another layer to the power catamaran vs monohull decision, and the current market signal is fairly clear: demand has been shifting toward catamarans for several years, and brokers report monohulls increasingly selling to buyers whose budget simply doesn't stretch to an equivalent catamaran rather than buyers who prefer a single hull on its own merits. Recent used-market reporting from Mediterranean and Caribbean brokers describes a long-term shift in demand toward catamarans, even as overall used-boat inventory has grown and pushed prices down across the board through 2025-2026 (Caraibe Yachts, 2026).
That doesn't mean every catamaran holds value equally — configuration matters as much as hull type. Ex-charter four-cabin catamarans with heavy engine hours have softened noticeably as private buyers increasingly prefer three-cabin owner-version layouts, while well-maintained owner-spec boats from established builders continue to command a premium. The practical takeaway for anyone weighing a power catamaran vs monohull purchase as a medium-term hold: buy the configuration private owners actually want — owner-version cabin layout, moderate engine hours, documented maintenance — and the wider category tailwind toward catamarans works in the buyer's favour at resale, regardless of which specific model is chosen.
Speed of sale follows the same pattern: well-presented catamarans in popular size brackets are reported to move faster than comparable monohulls in the current oversupplied listings market, another point in the catamaran's favour for owners who value liquidity when it's time to sell.
Generally yes — two hulls set wide apart resist rolling far more than a single hull balanced on ballast, giving a level ride at anchor and underway that most monohull owners notice immediately when they step aboard a catamaran.
Yes, considerably, for the same length — beam produces interior volume in a way a monohull's depth cannot match, which is why a 60 ft power catamaran often lives like a much larger monohull.
A planing monohull can sometimes out-run a power catamaran of the same length and horsepower, though catamarans usually lead on cruising efficiency and range.
Neither hull type is inherently cheaper — price depends far more on the builder, length and specification than on hull type alone.
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