Catamaran

A vessel with two parallel hulls joined by a frame. Its wide stance provides stability, while the hulls can allow a shallow draft.

Multihull: A watercraft supported by more than one hull. Catamarans belong to this broader family of vessels.
Hull (watercraft): The watertight body of a vessel that supports it in water. A catamaran’s defining structure consists of two hulls rather than one.
Ferry: A vessel that carries passengers, vehicles, or goods on regular routes across water. Fast catamaran ferries use twin hulls to carry passengers between ports.
Foil (fluid mechanics): A shaped surface that generates lift as it moves through a fluid. Hydrofoils can lift a catamaran’s hulls clear of the water, reducing drag at speed.
Austronesian peoples: A diverse group of peoples linked by languages descended from Proto-Austronesian. Austronesian seafarers developed and spread double-hulled vessels across the Pacific.
Displacement hull: A hull that moves through water by displacing a volume of it equal to the vessel’s weight. Each catamaran hull produces buoyancy by displacing water.
Draft (hull): The vertical distance between a vessel’s waterline and the lowest point of its hull or keel. Shallow draft lets many catamarans enter waters inaccessible to deeper vessels.
Sailing catamaran: A catamaran propelled primarily by sails, often with two narrow hulls and a bridging platform. This specific type uses wind power and the twin-hull layout for speed and stability.
Hydrofoil: A vessel fitted with underwater wings that lift its hull above the water at speed. Hydrofoils achieve low-drag travel by lift rather than relying on twin buoyant hulls.
Outrigger canoe: A canoe stabilized by one or more lateral floats connected to its main hull. It shares a stabilizing crossbeam tradition but keeps one primary hull.

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