Fountaine Pajot Louisiane

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catman

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I am contemplating buying a Louisiane which has a 30hp outboard engine. I have been told that this arrangement is not satisfactory due to prop lifting out of water in only fairly moderate seas and it makes the vessel very difficult to manouvre. My previous cat had 2 inboard and was extremely manouverable under engine.
I believe that the sailing performance is good and can achieve speeds in excess of 15 knots. Does anyone have direct experience of owning or sailing a Lousiane or know if there is any boat test reports available.
 
No, but I know a bit about multis with outboards. My first tri had a 20hp o/b alongside the main hull. In any sort of chop it cavitated and I found myself trying to get into the Medina agains a F5 and coming to a dead stop. On another occasion I watched a Walker Wingsail trying to berth in approx F4 - it had 2 outboards under the wings and was totally unable to get alongside a windward pontoon in totally flat water.

You will get better performance with an outboard powered multi but the downside is that you have to be prepared to work to windward under sail where inboards will let you go upwind in a F6+ on the open sea. Your choice.

15+ knots is possible but don't expect to see it often. My cat is a lot lighter and more powerful than a FP but I can count the times I've topped 15 knots in the 16000 miles to date on the fingers of one hand.

I met a delivery crew on an FP in the Azores. "Quick?" says I. "Never better than 7 knots" they said.
 
I agree with Snow Leopard but changing the one 30 hp outboard for 2 Yamaha 9.9's will give similar manoeuvrability as two inboards. Other factors to consider are cheaper fuel for diesel inboards and greater availability of diesel over petrol whilst cruising. Outboards tend to be easy to maintain but will last less time before replacement (10 years?)
 
I have no complaints running a 9.9 long shaft suzuki off the back of my Iroquois.

Its on a hinged tray affair that lifts the whole thing out of the water on a tackle. I can lower it until the whole leg is submerged and have not had any trouble with the motor lifting clear in waves.

I have tied it to the tillers so it turns with the steering and the manouverability is brilliant. Much better than when it had two 9.9s on the aft beam fixed straight ahead with differential throttles.

Smaller cat than yours?
Bridgedeck clearance is only 16 inches??

Paul
 
I recently took an Edel 35 across to Ireland which had two 15hp on the back with a similar cradle arrangement as described by Noddy. Have been in big seas with it and no problems with engine configuration - you must remember to lift the legs though.

BTW this particular boat was also fantastic to sail. 11-12kts upwind with ease, plenty more downwind.
 
I had an outboard on my cat, which was fine to windward in even terrible conditions using the engine. However, it did have an ultra long shaft!.

Biggest problem with an outboard powered cat is the lack of 12v generation. You will be lucky to get 10 amps.

A single outboard cat can be manoeuvred easily provided there is no wind, and you can turn the outboard. significant wind, or an inability to steer the outboard made it very difficult.
 
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A single outboard cat can be manoeuvred easily provided there is no wind, and you can turn the outboard. significant wind, or an inability to steer the outboard made it very difficult.

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The wind does make a big difference. However, the Iroquois has centreboards and dropping one or both of these seems to solve the wind problem. It also assists turning as the engine has something to lever against.
 
You should try it without the centreboards and with much more windage above the waterline. It can get real interesting.

Article in January and February 2007 Practical Boat Owner on this very subject courtesy of David Harding and moi.
 
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