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Old 26-07-2017, 14:34   #1
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Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

In 8 years my wife and I plan to cruise full time - at which point the plan is to sell our beloved Pearson 424 and purchase a 300k-400k new-ish cat. Reasons are live-ability, draft, and speed.

While interior build quality doesn't run high on my list of must-haves, it does on hers. The wood furniture and interior on our Pearson isn't fancy, but it all feels pretty stout.

We went to Annapolis last year to see the boats that we'll probably be looking at on the used market in 8 years and felt the interiors of the big production brands (both monohull and cat) we saw were somewhat disappointing in the interior quality. Modern and sleek - and really beautiful - but felt like lots of MDF and laminates... a step above Ikea.

Who makes a cat with a solid-feeling interior? Is there a Tartan of the cat world that I just haven't found?
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Old 26-07-2017, 14:50   #2
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

Stick with a Tartan mono, if you want that Tartan feel at a price you can afford.

$1,000,000 gets you that Tartan feel on a custom low production cat.

Most cruisers want a great sailing cat that looks good and is affordable.

The only nice affordable cats are Fountaine Pajot, Lagoon & Leopard, which are all production boats made by the hundreds.

Only a few Tartans are made per year, so they can spend more time on pretty word-work and rich cruisers pay for that extra time spent.
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Old 26-07-2017, 14:59   #3
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

Thanks. Sounds like she's going to have to get over it then because I'm not spending $1m when we buy our cat...
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Old 26-07-2017, 15:14   #4
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

Production boats are not likely to meet the Admiral's standards, but if you look at custom and limited production boats, you might have a chance. One example is Lightspeed, a Chris White Atlantic 42:

http://www.pyiinc.com/downloads/leco...autopilots.pdf

We found one in your price range but a bit older. Photos are on Chris White's web site:

https://chriswhitedesigns.smugmug.co...TS/Voyager-48/

We found a number of cats from designers like Lerouge and Schionning that seemed to have nice interiors. Lots of patient searching should come up with something she likes.

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Old 26-07-2017, 15:31   #5
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

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Originally Posted by jdazey View Post
Production boats are not likely to meet the Admiral's standards, but if you look at custom and limited production boats, you might have a chance. One example is Lightspeed, a Chris White Atlantic 42:

http://www.pyiinc.com/downloads/leco...autopilots.pdf

We found one in your price range but a bit older. Photos are on Chris White's web site:

https://chriswhitedesigns.smugmug.co...TS/Voyager-48/

We found a number of cats from designers like Lerouge and Schionning that seemed to have nice interiors. Lots of patient searching should come up with something she likes.

Cheers,
Thanks very much. This is closer to what I think she'd like. Not crazy fancy, but really nice. I was just reading about these yesterday... FYI the first link is to a PDF about an autopilot. I'll look more into these Chris White designs.
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Old 26-07-2017, 15:32   #6
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

I agree with jdazey, if you want a well finished cat stay away from most of the basic production cats and look at custom or low volume builds.
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Old 26-07-2017, 15:57   #7
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

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Originally Posted by Peregrine1983 View Post
Thanks very much. This is closer to what I think she'd like. Not crazy fancy, but really nice. I was just reading about these yesterday... FYI the first link is to a PDF about an autopilot. I'll look more into these Chris White designs.
Well that just shows you what I've been up. With my apologies, here is the correct link:

s/v LightSpeed Chris White Atlantic 42 Catamaran

Cheers,
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Old 26-07-2017, 18:27   #8
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

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Originally Posted by Peregrine1983 View Post
Thanks. Sounds like she's going to have to get over it then because I'm not spending $1m when we buy our cat...
I do not know anyone that said, you know this boat interior sucks.
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Old 26-07-2017, 19:40   #9
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

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I do not know anyone that said, you know this boat interior sucks.
.
.


Hah! I hear ya. That boat is gorgeous. I'd give my right you know what for one... at least I've got time to work on the admiral...
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Old 26-07-2017, 19:41   #10
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

Some boats with A+ interior finishes are St. Francis 50, Antares 44 and any of the Privileges. A Privilege 445 will definitely be in that price range in the time you're talking about.
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Old 26-07-2017, 20:07   #11
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

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Some boats with A+ interior finishes are St. Francis 50, Antares 44 and any of the Privileges. A Privilege 445 will definitely be in that price range in the time you're talking about.
Wow. Thanks. The St Francis interior is gorgeous. We will look harder at some of these lower volume builders.
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Old 26-07-2017, 20:49   #12
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

The upside to production cats with high volumes are that they often can reiterate and improve on designs more frequently, get kinks sorted out faster, and when things go wrong, there are more people who have encountered that exact problem so fixing things can often go a bit easier. Not to mention, there will be more of them to buy.

I'm also in agreement that the interior materials (I'm looking straight at you FP and you make my current favorite boat) often don't match the sophisticated boat design or quality of the components. The layouts are nice, but they DO LOOK CHEAP. I'd be curious what it would take to refinish a lot of the surfaces on an old Helia 44 to make it look more polished. Could you just glue on a quality wood veneer? Maybe router some edges while you're at it.

I'm also surprised that many of these manufacturers don't even offer real wood (looks) or wood veneer sandwiched foam (looks/weight) for a markup at build time.
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Old 26-07-2017, 21:18   #13
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

Ok, I've quickly clicked through those low volume and custom builders and the main thing I see is that their layouts don't appear to be nearly as functional an FP or Lagoon, and the interior finish isn't dramatically nicer.
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Old 26-07-2017, 21:59   #14
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

Have you looked at the Xquisite....out of South Africa at 50 foot. Last time I checked around $1.2m
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Old 27-07-2017, 05:27   #15
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Re: Cats brands with high-quality interiors?

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Ok, I've quickly clicked through those low volume and custom builders and the main thing I see is that their layouts don't appear to be nearly as functional an FP or Lagoon, and the interior finish isn't dramatically nicer.
I agree that the layouts don't appear as functional, or even as spacious on the smaller volume boats, however I've never seen one of the small builder boats in person. I was obsessed with the L450, but when we saw it my wife was really bummed by the interior. It was a boat show boat, but nicks and scuffs we're already showing on cabinetry etc. I think the sleek modern look is sometimes used as an excuse in a way for not doing higher level finishes... if that makes sense.

That said, every boat is a compromise and if I'm not willing to shell out 1m for a cat maybe we are just not going to get the interior of our dreams. Not the biggest deal. It's a high class problem...
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