63 feet power catamaran transatlantic crossing @8.1 knots and 12.5 ltr/h

jimmy_the_builder said:
I get the point about fuel economy - but how affordable is the boat itself?
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About 1.5 Jimmy, so good for the volume and kit....however, what's the point of the big cat without the sailing rig; you can get the 620 for the same kind of price.

We are seriously saving for one of these, may have to settle for the 560 though....
 
It appears that the D4 engines ran for 24 hours per day, for 14 days. Good endurance test.

But they had a mechanic on board just in case.

Garold
 
Nigelpickin said:
About 1.5 Jimmy, so good for the volume and kit....however, what's the point of the big cat without the sailing rig; you can get the 620 for the same kind of price.

We are seriously saving for one of these, may have to settle for the 560 though....
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I agree
Unfortunately, there aren't than many boat builders that build cats to the same standards of interior "fit out" that we have become used to on our motorboats.
However, I agree 100% that if you are going to have a big cat, it might as well have a mast and sails.
They are entirely different concepts to conventional mono hull sailing boats - more stable - less draft etc...
So, this isn't a yachtie/stinkie point - IMO cats are completely different and it seems to me that they are more suited to a sailing rig.
 
Hurricane said:
I agree
Unfortunately, there aren't than many boat builders that build cats to the same standards of interior "fit out" that we have become used to on our motorboats.
However, I agree 100% that if you are going to have a big cat, it might as well have a mast and sails.
They are entirely different concepts to conventional mono hull sailing boats - more stable - less draft etc...
So, this isn't a yachtie/stinkie point - IMO cats are completely different and it seems to me that they are more suited to a sailing rig.
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Seeing a 560 in les sables last year with a stepped mast really brought home how versatile one of these thing could be. We can pick one up in France, get a year under our belts in the med and then get across to BVI. Then with the mast down its up the gulf and on to the loop...

I would have gone to Barcelona to look at the 630 but time did not allow, I think in all honesty it's a lagoon with a Prestige finish, so leather inlays and snap in carpets :) so nowhere near the feel of a top marque motor yacht, but a hell of a big boat for the money. A friend of mine who did go came back in the same mind as our posts, liked the boat but would want to spec a couple of sails!

Do you have any/many big cats in San Carles?
 
We were in the BVI in November to see or son who works as a chef out there. The amount of Cats to mono hull is 3 or 4 to 1 and I only saw one powered Cat in two weeks. The biggest Cat we saw was about 60' and most were groups of American families touring that part of the Caribbean. The obvious appeal is the amount of deck space on the same length boat and as posted above, sails are surely the way to go.

This looks interesting.

http://www.yachtsgreece.com/custom-catamaran-63=pageid=1&ordervar=0
 
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jimmy_the_builder said:
Aha! I'm not the only one with that plan then, excellent. Can't wait. (It's about seven or eight years away for me, I think).
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Are you serious Jimmy?

We are pretty obsessed, we'll have to meet up for a beer and discuss one day. We're semi retiring next year, (God and bank willing), and will be heading south for two years on a farewell European tour...will look out for you then so we can discuss our strategy!
:)
 
Nigelpickin said:
Are you serious Jimmy?

We are pretty obsessed, we'll have to meet up for a beer and discuss one day. We're semi retiring next year, (God and bank willing), and will be heading south for two years on a farewell European tour...will look out for you then so we can discuss our strategy!
:)
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Yes. There's a couple of predicates - I'll send you a pm.
 
You might want to sail on a catamaran and experience the motion. It doesn't suit everyone.

They can be expensive for overnight stays in marinas too.

I think that's why they are so much more popular in the Carrib rather than western Med.

Garold
 
Nigelpickin said:
Do you have any/many big cats in San Carles?
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Yes - there are quite a lot of cats there.
About 5 years ago, with the Spanish recession looming, SC Marina were a bit dynamic.
They decided to cut the price for berthing cats and as a result we became a little haven for them.
Nearly all are on the Med style berths.
Not a huge number of really big ones but there are some.
We have several friends with the smaller ones - in fact I heard the other day that one is in the process of replacing his Fontaine Pajot with a new Lagoon.
Some close friends of ours have a 43 (do they call it a 430?)
There are some bigger ones but I don't think they are Lagoons.
Only the small ones can be lifted in our boatyard but the town marina's boatyard which is less that half a mile away can handle any size cat.
When I was in our boatyard three weeks ago, there were about 7 or 8 cats - dry berthed.
 
We are planning a Motor Cat special for the June issue of MBY which will include a full test of the new Lagoon 630, Fountaine Pajot 37 and C-Fury tender as well as previews of half a dozen interesting new motorcats currently in development and a personal story from a former monohull owner who switched to powercats a few years back and has owned a number of different ones since.

The two power cats which come closest to interior style and quality of the Brit monohulls are the Jaguar 48 and Horizon PC60, although Fountaine Pajot has upped its game considerably in recent years.

Hugo
 
Hugo_Andreae said:
We are planning a Motor Cat special for the June issue of MBY which will include a full test of the new Lagoon 630, Fountaine Pajot 37 and C-Fury tender as well as previews of half a dozen interesting new motorcats currently in development and a personal story from a former monohull owner who switched to powercats a few years back and has owned a number of different ones since.

The two power cats which come closest to interior style and quality of the Brit monohulls are the Jaguar 48 and Horizon PC60, although Fountaine Pajot has upped its game considerably in recent years.

Hugo
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I'll look forward to reading that, Hugo
It is the internal fit out that IMO has always let them down.
 
Hugo_Andreae said:
We are planning a Motor Cat special for the June issue of MBY which will include a full test of the new Lagoon 630, Fountaine Pajot 37 and C-Fury tender as well as previews of half a dozen interesting new motorcats currently in development and a personal story from a former monohull owner who switched to powercats a few years back and has owned a number of different ones since.

The two power cats which come closest to interior style and quality of the Brit monohulls are the Jaguar 48 and Horizon PC60, although Fountaine Pajot has upped its game considerably in recent years.

Hugo
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Look forward to the 630 review...hope you had a chance to test it on the water?
Look around a FPajot last year and was generally pleased with the fit out...
 
For really impatient people like me the attraction with the power version is that you can make a crossing like this as well as get it up to 20+knots and do your normal type power cruising when you want.
 
The efficiency of the cat comes from the long narrow hulls, so smaller engines push them along rather well. My 38ft sailing cat had two tiny engines (20hp IIRC) but crossed the Channel at a steady 7 knts under engine and burned so little fuel it was embarrassing. However the long narrow hull has a downside in that it can't carry much weight. The gear and fit-out on a regular mobo adds weight to a cat, so the two ways to go are at opposite ends of the spectrum, cheap & cheerful or carbon/composite. Beneteau go for the first option, but having used a Lagoon motorcat, it is workmanlike and reasonably robust, if not aesthetically pleasing.
 
Nigelpickin said:
Look forward to the 630 review...hope you had a chance to test it on the water?
Look around a FPajot last year and was generally pleased with the fit out...
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Yes, we had a good long play off Cannes with a stiff breeze blowing. It really is a mega amount of boat.
 
Jack Haines said:
Yes, we had a good long play off Cannes with a stiff breeze blowing. It really is a mega amount of boat.
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Well hurry up and get the magazine out then Jack, will be very interested on your thoughts. :)

BTW, I notice from your recent ST34 update that you are in Portimao, have you ever done an article or run a thread on the resort/marina/cruising area....just interested as we are considering wintering there next year?
 
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