Features you wanted on you liveaboard cat?

[Teleman]

Apart from being safe, light and sailing well:

Headroom.
Private head/shower.
One good airy double berth with easy access.
A couple of spare beds.
Good efficient galley.
Simple rig, good sails, all lines to cockpit.
Adequate weather protection for cockpit.
Workshop/storage space.
Rainwater collection system.
Davits for dinghy.
Composting toilet.

If you have the money and feel the need, you can burden your boat and your maintenance budget with icemakers, washing machines, aircons, etc.
You could even make it look really silly by adding expensive and fragile underwater lights.

[Valiente]

Tenderlift

[Catapault]

Originally Posted by rleiferman

My wife and I had a discussion tonight about features that we wanted on a liveaboard cat. (We are still 5+ years away from untying the lines) We have done 4 weeks aboard different boats while we have taken ASA classes and different trips.

What are some of the features you looked for when purchasing your catamaran? (Monos are not out of the running yet but we boat like the space on a cat over a mono)

Here is our quick list we came up with tonight. Most of these are really not about sailing the boat but living on it since that is how you spend most of your time on a sailboat. We did not get into rigging, sails, mini keel vs daggerboard, etc.

Watermaker (Almost a must have for any boat doing a crossing)

Icemaker (Can be a small counter top unit but my wife loves ice in her drinks)

Fridge/Freezer space

Galley Up (my wife does not like to be down in the hulls while under way unless she has to. I like the galley up design because cooking is socal for me.)

Bed/Berth that is easy to get in and out of. (Both my wife and I have knees issues so an part island berths are easier. I am still debating in my mind about the bridge deck beds like in a Lagoon 420, Gunboat 55s, and Balance 451, etc vs standard aft berth. We sailed 7 days on a Balance 451 which we really liked because no engine noise/heat/smells but can be hard to climb up into and out of while underway. Again more time is spent on the hook then underway with engine running so aft island berth may be best option.)

Head with room to clean self with separate shower. (I hate having to practice yoga just to wipe my ass in a small wet head)

Solar, Wind Gen and large battery bank (We want to live off the grid and don't want to run the generator or engine just to charge the batteries. We would also like to be able to run a cabin air con for those nights you just need a break from the heat and/or bugs without the need of running the genset. (This can be done with the right setup))

Electric winches (Having torn my bicep tendon off the bone while tacking a 44 ft cat up the Sir Francis Drake Channel with standard winches has shown me I like some assistance.)

Big enough helm seat for two with good weather protection

Good shade area

Underwater lights (option that can be added after purchase)

Lower sugar scoops with good steps

Good swim ladder with great hand holds

Shallow draft to get into different spots

Again this does not get into sailing performance or purchase price as much but that is also part of the discussion. Personally, I like a "faster" boat because my other hobbies involve cars so when I give that up I would enjoy a little speed fix on the boat side. We do have a budget so a Gunboat is out unless we win the Lotto in the next 5 years.

Your list pretty much describes our list, and our boat !. (L450F decked out for Cruising)

Also add.
- Washing Machine
- BBQ Area on the back
- Decent Dinghy Davit system that holds a fair side Dinghy (this your 'CAR') !

I also had requirement for an 'office', which I got in the pt-fwd V-berth conversion.

You can see what we did to our boat on the Lagoon forum 'Refit for a Cruising Boat' thread.

Note: We were originally against Fly-bridge and wanted helm-integrated etc etc. Now we LOVE the fly bridge, and would buy one again.

It isn't the fastest thing on the water, but with good / right sails, does 1/2 wind speed, and 8 1/2 Knots under motor at 2,600 RPM

We just finished our 2.1kw solar install, and will soon install the matching Lithium to be able to run all the appliances. This boat has a wide range of cooking appliances on it !. (Ice Maker, Kenwood Chef, Air Fryer, Large Microwave / Convection oven, Kettle, Health Grill etc).

Full-Time live-aboards, this boat is home. - PM me if want to chat further !.

Regards

Mark.
Lagoon 450 F - Currently in Marmaris, Turkey.

[Factor]

First it must sail well, not necessarily fast just well, as in sail in 10-12 knots of breeze

[44'cruisingcat]

Yep, sailing ability was a priority for me, I really dislike motoring!

So much so that I elected to build rather than buy.

By building I also got to include,
headroom (I'm 2 metres tall),
extreme shoal draught,
a forward facing lounge area separate from the dining table,
a full shower which you don't have to walk through to get to the toilet,
dive in berths, so we don't have to climb over each other,
beach ability,
the ability to carry a proper dinghy, (3.5 m, 15HP).....

All that comes to mind just now.

Oh, and sailing ability, we often get close to TWS.

[ranchero76]

Ok, let's see
We are talking about LIVEABOARD. So it's a HOUSE in first place, everything else - additional.
How comfortable your house will be - depends on how much comfort you need, how much money you have and how much work you're willing to do in terms of repair and maintenance. If you have so much money that you don't have to worry about DIY repairs and maintenance, then most likely you wouldn't be reading this forum in first place.
Me - I'm fixing my cars by myself all of my life. Fixing/building my houses by myself all of my life. Fixing most other things which I ever had, learning along the way. I don't see any reason why it would be different on the boat. So I'm not afraid of extra maintenance and repairs which come with extra equipment.

So let's build my "dream liveaboard".

First, it should have flybridge and be 55-58ft, to be able to carry all listed below features.
Shallow draft.
All/most cored inner structures to save weight, again, to be able to carry more equipment.
Ideally - aluminium.
At least one head and shower on bridgedeck, with hole to the ocean, which never will require maintenance. May be, owners cabin on bridge deck too, I've seen few boats with it, I like the idea).
One helm on the flybridge, one inside.
Beaching ability, with 8 removable wheels, which can be installed in minutes on mini-keels, so boat can be pulled on the beach above tide level for repairs and maintenance.
Dedicated shop room, with most tools which I'm used to have/use.
One hull's stern made as jetski garage (just like many power boats have dinghy garage at the stern).
Engineered lightning protection (ability quickly disconnect most of equipment from power/mast/each other)
Many chambers, virtually unsinkable, like St.Francis 50

Now equipment.

1. Big solar array
2. More solar array
3. Much more solar array plus wind generator(s)

Every piece of power equipment uses energy. If you have a lot of equipment, you either will be running generator 24/7, or you will need huge solar/battery array.
After first 3 things we'll have let say 5kW of solar and we'll need some serious battery power to store that energy. Like:

4. 85kWh battery out of wrecked Tesla S (or anything else, as long as it's cheap)

Now we can start building.

5. Dehumidifier, throughout the boat, running 24/7. Keeping 60% humidity, keeping my clothes, equipment, tools and systems dry.

Other things listed in no particular order, just random mix.

6. Good powerful water maker
7. AC
8. Dive compressor (and all diving equipment, of course!)
9. Big fridge/freezer
10. Dehydrator for food
11. Jetski
12. Dinghy lift/swimming platform
13. Generator
14. Washing machine
15. Electric motor in one hull, diesel+electric parallel in other hull
16. ROV
17. Diveboard ("jumpboard"), other water toys
18. Bath tub/jacuzzi either in one of the heads or in front of the bridgedeck.

19. Lots of spares, materials, tools (did I mention tools earlier? Well, you can't have "too many" tools!)

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by ranchero76

18. Bath tub/jacuzzi either in one of the heads or in front of the bridgedeck.

That’s called the ‘ocean’, together with some Shrek-generated bubbles. :-)

[ranchero76]

Originally Posted by fxykty

That’s called the ‘ocean’, together with some Shrek-generated bubbles. :-)

What amazes me - how often people fail to use that "big jacuzzi" in real life! "Too cold, too dirty, too dark, too dangerous, during passage", etc.etc.)

Besides, you have to take fresh water shower after that "big jacuzzi" anyway

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by ranchero76

Ok, let's see
We are talking about LIVEABOARD. So it's a HOUSE in first place, everything else - additional.

I already had a house, it was a sailing boat I was after...

[ranchero76]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

I already had a house, it was a sailing boat I was after...

I'd call "a house" (or "home") any place where I'd plan to live more or less permanently. Even if it floats and has a sail. But that's me...

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

...
-I had one bow as a work shop/storage in lieu of a berth. It was nice to have. a mounted vice and 16 drawers/compartments.

Yes, a workshop, "garage", and a "toxic locker" (a small separate locker for all the solvents, paints, adhesives, resins...).

Ive got one cabin that is the garage/workshop, I had it all nicely organized...and then my wife piled a bunch more cruising stuff in there when guests came aboard! So, you really need two garages/big lockers...one for boat maintenance stuff and one for cruising junk.

[Zzmeyer]

Sailing mexico I think a watermaker the most important equipment on the boat. Even most marinas have undrinkable water. Refrigeration is by far the biggest consumer of energy so I don’t need two fridges, a freezer and an ice maker. I have one fridge and a large freezer with ten ice cube trays and plenty of room left to freeze the fish.

[Morph]

Yep, all that 'stuff' like ice machines et al all need to be maintained. Maybe for you the expense is not a problem, but the time waiting around in port for someone to come and fix it might be.
Go simple with stuff you can repair yourself
Oh and galley down is a great option--far less movement and food and mess is out of the living area.
And, daggerboards are a must if you want a boat that can actually sail to windward--they make the boat a joy to sail and are a safety issue offshore.

[tatomaceda]

If you have not seen 44cruisincat's boat yet. Check out the pictures. Worth the look.

[Catmandu]

The "Boss" required a Built-in ice Machine to be added to the boat. Cost $5,000 once all of the buiding/fairing/painting was completed. I would recommend looking for portable (i.e. RV) type solutions that are "throw-away" where applicable.

In hindsight, I wished I would have purchased a 110V portable RV ice maker for $300.