Gyro stabilizers

[Bouba]

I'm not really as finnicity about the build quality as some here but what I don't like is those vast plains of white GRP glaring at you from a big cat

 

[Portofino]

I have watched them -power cats not being able to find a space at a busy ( for a reason like shelter ) anchorage .
Kinda pootle through all heads turning like mere cats looking for that elusive gap that's is not there's .
No room at the inn .
But then if they are more stable even @ anchor why arn,t they occupying the rougher spots ?

Other thing tender storage looks clumsy ,more so than a monohull which has a either or all of a suitable bathing platform /fly or garage combo .

Charter ,makes sence as the punter only feels the mooring hassle of finding a place and paying 2x for it when visiting marinas for a week .
Ownership propersitions that would grate eventually ,

So I guess we are back to sq 1 an easy to fit ,maintain ,stab ,fin or spin for 40-60 ft mono hulls as JFM Infered a nice luxury
discretional spend .

 

[Nick_H]

They are making a new pontoon in the marina ,ready for them .Its in the public / fishing side of the port .

The operator has been looking at this for a while and along with the local Mayors office blessing - for us to fit them in ,we were given another lease extension ,taking it to 2029 .
Idea is to bring in more weekly holliday foot fall and associated boost to local buisness --- well in theory ?

I think the mayor needs to re-sit his GCSE economics if he thinks it makes sense to give the entire marina 5 years free berthing on the back of the tourism footfall from 6 boats, most of whom will get on board and immediately go somewhere else!

I think it's more likely the operator is a friend or relation of the mayor

 

[MapisM]

I have watched them -power cats not being able to find a space at a busy ( for a reason like shelter ) anchorage .

LOL, you've got it the other way round, Porto.
I don't mind struggling to find a space in an anchorage like the one in your pic (Lérins, I suppose?), simply because I don't want to! :ambivalence:
I'd rather stick to my typical kind of anchorage below... An you can see why a wider boat wouldn't be an issue!

 

[Nick_H]

In fact, I would dare predicting that power cats will be the highest growth segment within the mobo industry, in the next decade.

I seriously doubt it. For most people berthing is the biggest cost, and cats are inefficient when it comes to the ratio of internal space to footprint, because so much of the footprint is the gap in the middle.

Visitor berthing is a big issue as well and not just because of the cost, most marinas are not set up for cats, so you need two available berths side by side, and in high season in any popular cruising area it's hard enough to find one berth. This is the issue that would put me off. In the summer we cruise a hundred miles or more from our home berth, and if a storm is forecast I want to be able to get into a local port, and i'd worry that we'd be turned away in a cat.

Then there's the looks. I think cat manufacturers need to stop trying to copy the look of a monohull, and try to find a style that suits a twin hull design. I don't know them at all, but just from their website i'd add Jaguar catamarans as a potential builder of better quality cats, and they have launched a trawler cat that to my eye looks better than the standard models.

Finally the cleaning, I went on a 60 foot cat at a boat show, and there's just so much GRP!

 

[Portofino]

I think the mayor needs to re-sit his GCSE economics if he thinks it makes sense to give the entire marina 5 years free berthing on the back of the tourism footfall from 6 boats, most of whom will get on board and immediately go somewhere else!

Nope we are quite happy with HIS current mathematical ability and would prefer he does not advance it at this mo in time


We've got another scheeme in the pipe line .

Seriously it really about ego,s --you play to a mans ego in negotiations 1st and what you really want should align 2nd ,but they never know that or find out .
Its a case of numbers who,s got the biggest no of marina berths to control in the CdA .
Apparently the area is split at the next level in to little regions ,broadly geographic bays , Cannes ,Golfe Juan , Antibes /Nice
and so on .
If our guys did not get it -Bay of Cannes team -( the operators proposal ) another "rival " would .It's the rivalry between the teams /bays in terms of "nautic tourisme " that's really fuelled this .

Within each team / bay - you have individual marina admins as you know all with slightly different concession s.
Over arching these is Paris -the - bureaucracy is mind blowing ,hence the gestation periods of years to extend a lease .

Incidentally the boat Oppersite but one to me on my quay is the mayor --- nice softly spoken unassuming chap .
All interests are declared @ AGM,s etc .
But then he does live in Mandileu La Napoule ,so it's I bit unfare to prevent him keeping his boat on his patch ?

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

LOL, you've got it the other way round, Porto.
I don't mind struggling to find a space in an anchorage like the one in your pic (Lérins, I suppose?), simply because I don't want to! :ambivalence:
I'd rather stick to my typical kind of anchorage below... An you can see why a wider boat wouldn't be an issue!

And I can confirm that you could genuinely find anchorages like that around the bottom end of Sardinia even in high season. Shame it takes so long to get there and they only eat tuna

 

[stillwaters]

Good point. I didn't even think to consider the Horizon because, aside from the fact that I'm not aware of any around for sale, their smaller model is a 52.
And even without having ever seen one in flesh, with an almost 16x7m size, she's bound to be much larger than we need.
In fact, I must say that leaving aside the build quality (and some silly layout choices), in terms of liveaboard spaces the LP43 has just about everything that 55' to 60' monohulls can offer.
And yeah, I suppose that FP might well be similar to Lagoon in terms of building approach - when I said that the MY44 "looks like a step in the right direction", the stress was on looks...

AFIK, the only brokerage Horizon 52 on the market is in Florida, and even though it was built in Taiwan, it is priced at $1.595 million - that's about 2 million euros by the time you would get to enjoy it in Sardinia - and like most other cats, it is also resin infused construction, albeit with a more tasteful fit-out.
Surely though, whatever one thinks about this form of construction, until yet another more cost-effective method is developed, it's unlikely to be disappearing anytime soon. Doubtless, there is a lot to be said for the good old-fashioned heavy lay-up method - for the customer, that is - but from a manufacturer's point of view, where reduced labour mass production must be irresistible to their shareholders and greater fuel efficiency to their customers, surely more labour intensive manufacturing will eventually become limited to niche market products only, if at all., and not just for boats either.
Worth noting, maybe, as tends to be the case with most manufacturing processes, the quality of this system has improved since its introduction, with builders such as Horizon and the Beneteau group now using vacuum assisted infusion, resulting in far better bonding.
Away from cats for a moment, having looked at a similarly built Prestige 560 recently, it was surprising to see that at almost 59 foot, it weighed only 17,700 kg, almost identical to my Chinese built 43 footer that is probably only about half of its volume overall. However, the total build number of my particular boat over its 10 years existence is still under 30, whereas the number of Prestiges is how many hundreds?
The likelihood is that innovative manufacturing methods are here to stay, and as it is already happening, it will more likely be the quality of the 'cosmetics' and resultant marketing that will influence tomorrows customers.

 

[Magnum]

I had forgotten just how ridiculously overcrowded some anchorages in the Med can become!

 

[Portofino]

AFIK,

Away from cats for a moment, having looked at a similarly built Prestige 560 recently, it was surprising to see that at almost 59 foot, it weighed only 17,700 kg, almost identical to my Chinese built 43 footer that is probably only about half of its volume overall. However, the total build number of my particular boat over its 10 years existence is still under 30, whereas the number of Prestiges is how many hundreds?
The likelihood is that innovative manufacturing methods are here to stay, and as it is already happening, it will more likely be the quality of the 'cosmetics' and resultant marketing that will influence tomorrows customers.

I thought I was in a minority of 1 until I read this ,now there's two of us who ck the Kg and the L
My 42 sans bathing platform remained 48 avec BP - just before Ferretti took over is also 17700kgs with vertually no superstructure to speak of .Less than 20 made in a four y production span .Trad hand solid lay up etc .

Since Ferretti took over 2004 and eventually got going , moving production to another site with modern production techniques ,the current "45 " is 12 ,-13,000 kg,s or there abouts with 480's not 730's and a slightly narrower beam .
Near enough a 1/3 rd lighter .
But as you say shareholder pressure or bottom line figures start to trump the engineering .If your competitor starts to utilise a cheaper quicker less labour intensive production method ,be it boats or cars and you don,t follow --you are knackered or will end up niche for a few who are willing to pay the bigger bucks .

 

[Portofino]

I had forgotten just how ridiculously overcrowded some anchorages in the Med can become!

Yep that's indeed the Lerins ( MapishM) on a Sunday so +++ local s and more importantly as it was windy and swelly aftermath of a Mistral --folks with more so and perhaps those with stabs less so find shelter .
So we all end up in a crowd .
Just a bit harder to park a cat if you turn up late to the party .

20 mins away you can find this an empty and W sheltered bay under the Esteral Mountians .

I don,t mind either way .
The only issue with the Robinson Crusoe bays I get is this Q from the wife .
"why are we the only ones here ? " don,t want to spend the night here " ---- etc etc .

I have not worked out the answer to those Q,s
All suggestions welcome !

 

[stillwaters]

I don,t mind either way .
The only issue with the Robinson Crusoe bays I get is this Q from the wife .
"why are we the only ones here ? " don,t want to spend the night here " ---- etc etc .

I have not worked out the answer to those Q,s
All suggestions welcome !

Mine is just the same - either go with the flow, it's called being married, after all, or change the wife.

 

[MapisM]

The only issue with the Robinson Crusoe bays I get is this Q from the wife .
"why are we the only ones here ? " don,t want to spend the night here " ---- etc etc .

I have not worked out the answer to those Q,s
All suggestions welcome !

If you mean an answer that could possibly change her mind, I'm afraid there's no such thing, if the experience with my wife (and also some friends' wives...) is anything to go by.
Otoh, I guess I can count myself lucky, because if I should ask swmbo to drop the hook in a place as crowded as the one in your previous pic, the reply I'd get from her is along the lines of you must be joking!