Power Catamarans - rarely mentioned

Irish Rover

Irish Rover

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I've been reading @Scala thread about trawler type motor yachts Semi-D 'Trawler' style boats, 45' or thereabouts... and I'm curious why power cats raely get a mention. I have a Fountaine Pajot [FP] Greenland 34 which I dearly love. For the size it has fantastic space with 2 x double cabins, 2 x heads and 2 x single cabins [one of which I converted to a dressing room and the other is a good storage area]. There is a huge amount of recreational space in the lounge, aft cockpit, flybridge and the forward deck. It is very economical and cruises easily at 7knts on one engine. It is super maneuverable in tight spaces. However my 34 lacks a generator and a deep freeze both of which we would really value plus a/c and maybe a water maker. I know I could retrofit these but at the expense of space and current easy access to almost everything. I want to upgrade to a somewhat bigger power cat [when this bloody pandemic is over and I can have some confidence about my business going forward] so dreaming and planning for now.
FP have some really nice options but they're also super pricey so I've been attracted to Leopard - the Leopard 43 owners version would really suit me Leopard 43 Powercat. They also have a beautiful 53 which would probably be overkill for me Leopard 53 Powercat
So why are power cats rarely mentioned when people are talking about motor yachts - have at it I won't take [much] offense?
 
Scala said:
Scala here. My own view is that they fail the style test, I’ve never seen one that I’d want to look at. ? sorry.
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But if you're sitting on it, you won't have to look at it, and your martini doesn't tip over.
 
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I think that a lot of it is due to simple conservatism (power cats do not 'look' like typical motor yachts - when 'typical' is the likes of Fairline / Princess / Sunseeker et al), and everybody likes familiarity.

But I would agree absolutely that power cats have a lot going for them - I am a keen advocate of them, and have designed / helped to build a few. Including the 15 metre aluminium cat in my avatar, which did 16 knots with 2 x 70 hp O/B motors on her initial sea trials 20 years ago with 10 people on board - and she is still working well today, although she now has a pair of 150 hp O/B motors.

Irish Rover said:
It is very economical and cruises easily at 7knts on one engine.
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I remember you mentioned your miles per gallon in a previous thread and it was amazing - especially so when compared against many planing boats gallons per mile (albeit at planing, rather than displacement speeds).
 
Scala said:
Scala here. My own view is that they fail the style test, I’ve never seen one that I’d want to look at. ? sorry.
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I'm a Paddy - what the hell would I know or care about style.
Seriously I know power cats don't conform to the traditional concept of style in a mid-size motor yacht but, for me, that compromise is well justified by all the pluses especially space. I also think many power cats look a lot less industrial that some popular monohulls such as Swift and even Grand Banks and some Nordhavns. One other feature I'd like but can't have in a power cat would be an extra large aft cabin.
 
Irish Rover said:
I'm a Paddy - what the hell would I know or care about style.
Seriously I know power cats don't conform to the traditional concept of style in a mid-size motor yacht but, for me, that compromise is well justified by all the pluses especially space. I also think many power cats look a lot less industrial that some popular monohulls such as Swift and even Grand Banks and some Nordhavns. One other feature I'd like but can't have in a power cat would be an extra large aft cabin.
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Yes you're right of course. And it would be very odd if we all liked the same things.
 
Irish Rover said:
One other feature I'd like but can't have in a power cat would be an extra large aft cabin.
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Have you considered the Lagoon Power 43?
She has a huge aft cabin with a walk around (or maybe shuffle around - there might not be much headroom?) double bed.
Lagoon Power 43

Lagoon Power 43 Review - TAKING A NEW TACK

Some of them have twin aft cabins in a charter version - here is one for sale with a single large aft cabin.
2002 Lagoon Power 43 / VAT PAID Power Catamaran for sale -
 
no one mentions mooring them? Stern to med mooring means it takes the space of two boats, so gets charged as two boats :-(
Not to mention difficult to find spot when visiting foreign ports...
 
Mooring them? Catamarans are all about performance at anchor, where it is much, much cooler because you're head to wind. Get over marinas, they're expensive, noisy, crowded....
 
vas said:
no one mentions mooring them? Stern to med mooring means it takes the space of two boats, so gets charged as two boats :-(
Not to mention difficult to find spot when visiting foreign ports...
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As I said they charge by the square metre in Turkey which is quite sore. I haven't used too many actual marinas in Greece but generally it's length +50%. Town quays are always negotiable. I'm an early riser and generally prefer less than 5 hour legs so I always arrive by lunchtime.
 
SpiderMoobs said:
Mooring them? Catamarans are all about performance at anchor, where it is much, much cooler because you're head to wind. Get over marinas, they're expensive, noisy, crowded....
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sorry, don't know about your boating, but based on sea and air temp, weather in general and work patterns, I can use my boat 3months a year. The other 9m for sure it's moored somewhere, I'm talking about that somewhere!
when I'm out and about I rarely visit ports (3nights in 50 last summer) but that's not the point.
 
vas said:
sorry, don't know about your boating, but based on sea and air temp, weather in general and work patterns, I can use my boat 3months a year. The other 9m for sure it's moored somewhere, I'm talking about that somewhere!
when I'm out and about I rarely visit ports (3nights in 50 last summer) but that's not the point.
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Blimey, quite a surprise to hear that you have such a short season in your part of the world. I tend to work on April to September inclusive and sometimes do something in October and even the odd thing during the winter. And that is U.K. climate!

On the OP’s original question I think that you can’t argue with with benefits of a Cat. We run one at work and have commissioned a new build Cat because it is a no-brainer due to the benefits over a mono-hull (stability and space). But that is a work boat so looks don’t really matter and mooring costs aren’t an issue as we have a deal on a linear pontoon. But would these matter for our personal boat? Absolutely! Don’t get me wrong, many leisure Cats look okay but they pose a real issue when looking at moorings, particularly when cruising in the U.K.
.
 
Greg2 said:
Blimey, quite a surprise to hear that you have such a short season in your part of the world. I tend to work on April to September inclusive and sometimes do something in October and even the odd thing during the winter. And that is U.K. climate!
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simple, only use the boat when ambient and seawater temp is right. Boat getting back in the water tomorrow, plan is to leave for a week or two with wife on Fri and since weather is not that great and sea is not that warm yet, we're considering skipping the first week. Completely different usage patterns to the UK I'm afraid...
Mid late Sept onwards you cannot swim in the evening as it's getting dark earlier, so getting boring staying on board without enjoying the sea, hence period really ends at end of Sept.

V.
 
vas said:
sorry, don't know about your boating, but based on sea and air temp, weather in general and work patterns, I can use my boat 3months a year. The other 9m for sure it's moored somewhere, I'm talking about that somewhere!
when I'm out and about I rarely visit ports (3nights in 50 last summer) but that's not the point.
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Although I agree with you on principle, there are options and deals out there.
About two thirds of Sant Carles is built with UK pontoon style berths.
The rest is made up of normal Med style berths.
The result is that most people want the pontoon berths leaving the Med style unattractive.
In the early days the Med style berths were virtually empty so the management at SCM decided to offer them to catamaran owners for the same price as a mono hull boat.
This attracted catamarans to Sant Carles and was a big success.
I don't that they have that same deal available now but I believe they still have a discounted price and don't have to pay double the price of a mono hull.

I'm not disagreeing with you but the case for catamarans isn't simple.
And there are other significant other benefits with catamarans. - more economical - far more stable - less draft - far more space on board etc....
So, just limiting the case to the argument of berthing isn't very fair because you would be missing out on all the other benefits that multihulls offer.
 
Bajansailor said:
Have you considered the Lagoon Power 43?
She has a huge aft cabin with a walk around (or maybe shuffle around - there might not be much headroom?) double bed.
Lagoon Power 43

Lagoon Power 43 Review - TAKING A NEW TACK

Some of them have twin aft cabins in a charter version - here is one for sale with a single large aft cabin.
2002 Lagoon Power 43 / VAT PAID Power Catamaran for sale -
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I'll have another look at the Lagoons, thanks. I'm hoping to buy something around 5 yearsold and I'm not sure if the more recent Lagoons have the same type aft cabin.
 
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