Best cat under 45'

[Factor]

Chris

Next time you are over there - go to the Outremer Yard and have a look. Also you might like the Freydis, they are a pretty good thing (rochefort france). Darren Newton's boats (Dazcat) are nice, but they are custom and you did seem to indicate you were chasing a production boat. Don't get me wrong, I like them a lot and would own one, I have no issue with a good custom boat, indeed a lotto win would see me in either Chris White Atlantic (custom) or Outremer 5X (production).

If you think a Corsair is too small for 1 months stay then the Dragon fly is going have the same challenge. Again don't get me wrong, beautiful boats beautifully built, but won't have much more room than a Corsair 37. The upside with the Dragon Fly and the Corsair is ease of storage, i.e. really easy to pull out and park on the hard all folded up. And they sail sensationally, but like everything in life, no free rides, small wetted surface means small volume means not as comfortable.

The Outremer 45 will be around 500k euro, depending on your choice of options..

[Jimbo485]

Checked out the Kelsalls?

[cwjohm]

Andrew

I will certainly go to Outremer when they have a 45 for demo. When do you think that will be? 500K Euro is pretty much what I expected.

As usual I have no problem with your choice in boats but it would have to be a very good lotto win. Its not just the $2 mill for the 5x but also the costs of maintaining the boat, which would probably be around $100K pa not including depreciation. Assuming you would retire on this boat this would require around $2 mill invested in perpetuity. I would also expect your wife would not let you spend more than half the win on a boat as after all you have to live so all up you would need to gain around $8 mill after tax.

In my case I want to sell the boat at the end of the day so depreciation is important and a boat that big I would want a full time skipper, and I want more than half of my money funding my lifestyle.

Having said all that I would love a 5X. Have to see how the markets treat me in the next couple of years.

[Rohan]

Originally Posted by Factor

If you think a Corsair is too small for 1 months stay then the Dragon fly is going have the same challenge. Again don't get me wrong, beautiful boats beautifully built, but won't have much more room than a Corsair 37.

The Dragonfly 35 is more or less the same size as the Corsair, but the Dragonfly 1200 is five feet longer and quite a bit more roomy. However, yes, they are not huge. The 1200 is a 40' boat but the center hull is narrow so it has less living space than a typical 40' monohull. However the funny thing is it has tons more storage space than a monohull, because you can store stuff in the outside amas.

[Barra]

Hi Chris

Im assuming you are looking at new boats from your shortlist?

Ive just finished my second season in the med (5 trips over 2 summers so similar to what you are planning) You are on the right track considering sub 45 foot cats IMHO though in the med I have often questioned my choice of a cat vs the much easier (and cheaper) berthing options available for monos there. There are alot of older ports where even a 40 foot cat can struggle to get in in summer peaks. Likewise getting a longer term option for in between trips whether haul out or wet is just that much harder.

Of course that concern tends to get blown away when you round up the fleet travelling from one marina to the next

We have a Phisa 42 which is basically a previous version of the catana 42 and based on that the catana 42 would certainly fit the bill. You will spend alot of time at anchor (even off the ports due to the above issue) so comfort will be just as important as performance especially for the admiral and the catana has a good compromise of both for me.

My 2c would be dont go too far down the performance path though. The older version of the outremer 45 or the dragonfly would have this issue to my mind. Also depending on budget consider used - the boats there whether mono or cat are usually pretty lightly used compared to the US or Oz so its not much of a compromise from new.

Barra