Catamarans

[elsby]

20yr ago my wife and I did a lot of sailing in Cats, living on an 8m Catalac for a year and doing an Atlantic crossing in her.
We then moved on to a 33ft Oceans Winds but the new family dragged us ashore but thoughts of taking off again are now in mind and we are looking for advice on which Cat to get as we are out of touch now.
We are looking for safety and good load carrying above speed
Are aim is for long distance, trans ocean passages.
We are thinking of the range 33-38ft.
I would welcome the views of people with experince of long distance cruising as to what would be good.
What of the Solaris range, Prouts or the Deans? SAFETY above SPEED remember

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[coachone]

I am a committed cat sailor [fancy people carrying all that lead around!]I have recently sold my 35' French Edel Cat and have researched the market thoroughly.Prouts have gone out of business but their best mould tools were bought by Broad Blue Catamarans of Lowestoft.They are currently building their 38' and a 46'.I have sailed the 38 twice , once in a F6, and was impressed with its seakeeping properties and finish.
French cats are generally slightly cheaper on a foot for foot basis but I was not impressed with either their design or finish.The exception is the Allura 37' which is good boat but rather more expensive.
There are very few production cats in your size range.In my view the Solaris is probably a great livaboard but not a great sailing boat.

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[coachone]

I am a committed cat sailor [fancy people carrying all that lead around!]I have recently sold my 35' French Edel Cat and have researched the market thoroughly.Prouts have gone out of business but their best mould tools were bought by Broad Blue Catamarans of Lowestoft.They are currently building their 38' and a 46'.I have sailed the 38 twice , once in a F6, and was impressed with its seakeeping properties and finish.
French cats are generally slightly cheaper on a foot for foot basis but I was not impressed with either their design or finish.The exception is the Allura 37' which is good boat but rather more expensive.
There are very few production cats in your size range.In my view the Solaris is probably a great livaboard but not a great sailing boat.

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[Guest]

have been looking for a cat in the same size range myself for some time - but without success. most production cruising cats seem to be 40ft plus - which is embarrassingly big if there are just 2 of you, asnd not easy to handle either. tried and did not like the prout 38 - seemed to have inherited all the disadvantages of the french style of high topsides, high windage, overlarge interior without their advantage of lower price. looked seriously at the heavenly twins 36 but was uneasy about buying a small volume boat from point of view of re-sale. in the end, i think we will probably stay with an older generation prout, heavy and not fast but a good sea boat.

have you seen anything you fancy yet?

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[Sybarite]

http://www.antoine-islands.com/francais/antoine/bateaux/bs.htm#

Antoine is a well known French singer who has spent the last 25 years cruising many times around the world. He is using a 12m50 aluminium built catamaran. It is built using Strongall a heavy duty aluminium which apparently does not give rise to electrolysis problems. Most of the French exploration type boats are made of strongall including Bernard Moitessier's Joshua.

John

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[jamesjermain]

The problem with cats is that the market has never been big enough for a wide range of different types to develope. The solid cruising style is reasonably well covered by Prouts - Snowgoose, Quest, Escale - and the various 'Twins' designs by Pat Paterson though I have never been impressed by the finish of these. The Solarises were also big, solid and reliable but no great performers. Catalacs were good country cottages which sailed a bit off the wind but relied on engines to get to windward.
The only other big group is the charter cat such as the French Fontaine Pagots, Alliures, Lagoons etc, and the South African Deans. These are basically safe and have reasonable performance but they are designed for space and easy maintenance above cruising comforts.

From what you say, I think a Prout Snowgoose would be as good a bet as any. If you have a large budget, I have been very impressed by the Catana range, which are well built, extraodinarily well equipped and combine safety with space and pace. Disadvantages, apart from cost, include daggerboards, if you are not interested in speed, and rather more cramped accommodation than other French cats, but more than the Prouts. Also, they are very rare on the second hand market and the company currently builds nothing less than 43ft. The old Catana 38 will fetch between £130,000 and £150,000 second hand. There are also a very few Canadian PDQ 36s this side of the Atlantic. This is another design which is stable, spacious and well built for the private rather than charter market and a better performer than the Prouts.

I am looking at the other end of the spectrum - fast cruiser or cruiser/racer cats - of about the same size and finding this style even less well represented.

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[dickh]

Hmm...I understood Joshua was a STEEL boat - going from my recollection of his books - I'll have to re-read them.

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I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[snowleopard]

Re: Catamarans (quicker)

james, agree with you about the lack of cats for those wanting something faster than a mono of the same size.

i took the rather drastic step of building my own but another approach is to buy a one-off secondhand. there are quite a few boats built professionally or by careful amateurs, designed by the likes of derek kelsall, which meet these criteria. a skim through the brokerage lists of multihull world or multihull centre will turn up a fair few.

also for those with deeper pockets there are a few semi-production boat e.g. dazcat 14.

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[Sybarite]

You are absolutely right. I was speaking from memory because the Chantiers Meta built Joshua in steel. Since then they have patented Strongall and most if not all their boats are now built using it. It is heavy grade aluminium which apparently is immensely strong yet still lighter than an equivalent steel boat.

One of the leading French naval architects Michel Joubert built his own boat in Strongall. http://www.reducostall.com/HTML/pages/margrita_jpg.htm

Sorry,

John

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[Close hauled]

I recently went throught the same thougght processes. My wife and I wanted a cat for a long term liveaboard for all the countless reasons that every other cat owner can list!

We always liked the Prout 37 Elite and finally bought one last year. She's yet to be tried out in anger but she felt very comfy and safe when we took her from Essex to Cornwall last Easter. Not a bad turn of speed as well and I thibk that once I get to know her I'll be able to get decent performance on all points of sail.

I recently saw an Ocean Twins under construction at the Multihull Centre in Cornwall. 36 feet long and looks super. Worth a trip tyo talkt ot Pip Pattison I'd think.

Good luck with your search. I found the Multihull World in Emsworth excellent brokers.

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[jamesjermain]

Re: Catamarans (quicker)

Yes, I have been loking in this direction. I was very impressed by the Dazcat 10 but she is a little small and a hell of a price once fully equipped and on the water.

A secondhand Kelsall might well prove the answer

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[extravert]

Re: Catamarans (quicker)

> and a hell of a price once fully equipped and on the water.

what sort of price are you looking at?


<hr width=100% size=1>Adventures of the <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.xrayted.fsnet.co.uk>Teddy Bear Boat</A>

 

[snowleopard]

kelsall cats

what sort of size/price are you looking at? a lot of the early ones were built very heavily and sail like a duck. some are also staggeringly ugly! there are a few tangos around but they don't go very quickly. he also designed some single-rudder jobs which are a bit of a nightmare.

the suncat range are the best bet if you're looking for something with a bit of go but want to stay under 40ft. once you get into the big stuff (45 ft +) most of them look reasonably sleek.

we have a suncat 40 which looks a bit stubby as it has full standing headroom but it does go, we've seen 12 knots reaching in a force 4 and averaged 185 miles a day on the ARC last year.

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[coachone]

there is an extremely useful book titled Sailors Multihull Guide, published by Avalon, ISBN 0-9627562-8-8.Cost about £20.This publication lists, with diagrams and layouts, most of the multihulls currently in production.

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[Guest]

For information the Alliaura Privilege 37 is about to be replace by a 385. The mouldings are effectively the same but the transoms are being lengthened to give a longer waterline and more bouyancy aft, thus increasing overall speed and load carrying ability. They are also planning to put the galley up.

In my view these boats ( privileges) are much better built and finished that any prout and are set up primarily for blue water cruising.


PJB


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[jamesjermain]

Re: Catamarans (quicker)

Then between £130,000 and £150,000 and dreaming. Now considerably less.

<hr width=100% size=1>JJ

 

[janversteeg]

hello

you did an impressive job doing an Atlantic crossing with your 8 m. I own a Catalac 9 m. Can you tell me your experiences with and preparations for the tour. How was the behaviour in heavy weather, and what weather did you actally met ? Do you know of other 8/9 mrs doing or did such things ?

many thanks in advance, Jan

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