Fusion 40 Catamarans

[tfsilver]

I am interested in the Fusion 40 cats. I would like to hear from anyone who has been on one, sailed one or owned one. They are fairly new to North America so it is hard to find info. These cats are available in kit form so it would be interesting to hear from someone who actually built one.

[waikikin]

I've been on one for a quick look called Shellac, one(maybe) of the first before it was sailing(so I havn't sailed on one), looked pretty neat, the seams for join up look a bit different but really better than a typical hull deck join, the stern step extension looked like it might be a bit splashy/noisy but minor problem, this one was non stock with dagger boards & extra mast height & I've heard she goes good. Theres a couple available for charter in the Whitsunday islands, may be a good try before you buy idea. I havn't seen current pricing but the initial costs looked good & worthwhile to get it glued & glassed as home assembly without overhead lifting gear might be tough doing 40' long plexus joins & lining up the holes, if the're selling kits you could ask 'em for contact of someone doing one for some real assembly feedback. All the best from Jeff

[tfsilver]

Thanks for your info. Yes Shellac was an early Fusion primarily outfitted for racing. I would not purchase a kit, rather I would buy a motoraway whiach has all the hulls assembled with motors etc installed. I understand that they now have interior molds for all the cabinets and furniture so a motoraway has a lot of stuff already done. They have sold many kits and motoraways but I am having a hard time finding owners/builders of these cats.
Tony

[44'cruisingcat]

I was on Shellac too for a few minutes. They certainly are nicely finished kits, and very quick to get on the water - there is still plenty of work left to do though.

My only other experience of the Fusion 40 has been racing against "Blonde Moment" recently in the Hog's Breath Cafe series, in "Tribute" an Oram Mango 38 design. I had expected the Fusion to be very fast, and very difficult for us to beat, but it didn't turn out to be. In one passage race, which took us around 4 hours, we beat "Blonde Moment" by over 2 hours.

In one race "Blonde Moment" was beaten by "Truest Passion" a Seawind 1160.

So they are very nice looking, well finished boats, but perhaps not quite as fast as all the hype would suggest.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

. In one passage race, which took us around 4 hours, we beat "Blonde Moment" by over 2 hours.

In one race "Blonde Moment" was beaten by "Truest Passion" a Seawind 1160.

So they are very nice looking, well finished boats, but perhaps not quite as fast as all the hype would suggest.

I shakes me head in disbelief.

Not saying for a second that the Oram should'nt have given the Fusion a beating, but 2 hours, and beaten by a Seawind 1160.

Not saying it didnt happen, but I don't think it should have happened.

Maybe they just don't know how to sail (fast) yet.

Dave

[waikikin]

I think Dave is right on the money there or the Blonde Moment anchors up for lunch , thats a pretty big margin, 6hrs to 4hrs. From Jeff

[Whimsical]

Maybe the skipper had a blonde moment
Heard the one about the blonde who went to the hairdresser
Mike

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by cat man do

I shakes me head in disbelief.

Not saying for a second that the Oram should'nt have given the Fusion a beating, but 2 hours, and beaten by a Seawind 1160.

Not saying it didnt happen, but I don't think it should have happened.

Maybe they just don't know how to sail (fast) yet.

Dave

There was talk that Blonde Moment had some kind of problem in the race where the Seawind beat them. It was a short round the bouys race, and they did get a poor start.

In the passage race where we beat them by over 2 hours - it was from Airlie Beach round a bouy just north of Henning Island and back. The crews were free to choose their own route.

The race happened to start near the turn of the tide, and on the beat to Henning down Whitsunday Passage, the tide was starting to ebb, against the direction we were going, and the further back you were, the longer you spend fighting an increasing tidal flow. By this stage we were already a LONG way in front of them, (we could hardly even see the Seawind) and once we rounded the bouy we reached across to the south side of South Molle island (awesome reach, holding 14.5 -15.5 kts all the way) and up the Molle channel, to take advantage of the tide flow through there. I don't know which way they went because basically we never saw them again until they were crossing the finish line, just around the time we were taking our laundry out of the dryers at the marina! (We were watching from the verandah of the marina office while we did our laundry)

BTW the Seawind recorded a DNF in that race - they ran out of time.

But even in shorter races we well and truly caned the Fusion. Not bad for a home built cruising boat which would have cost less than 1/4 of the price.

[ireaney]

Just resurrecting this thread to see if anybody is either building one, having one built or has one.
More info and feedback would be good as it appears to be a good performing cat with good space at a sensible price, innovative ideas, flexible and good looking.

[Tropic1]

We did see a booth for the Fusion at the Miami show last year and they told us they were building one for someone on the Chesapeake Bay and it would be displayed at the Annapolis show this year. We were at the show and didn't see it there and didn't even see a booth for them. Will have to see if they make it to Miami next year.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by ireaney

Just resurrecting this thread to see if anybody is either building one, having one built or has one.
More info and feedback would be good as it appears to be a good performing cat with good space at a sensible price, innovative ideas, flexible and good looking.

Are you thinking of building one, or buying one complete?

[ireaney]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Are you thinking of building one, or buying one complete?

I would have one shipped over to the Uk in containers and get a professional local boatbuilder to build the complete boat with me doing the sourcing of equipment and overseeing the progress - I guess sort of like a project manager.
I think this would be best for resale value as I have seen home built cats and the finishing leaves alot to be desired, and there are a lot of home built boats still after 10 years in a semi build stage.
The reason I am looking at the Fusion is that the performance appears to be very good, with good living accomodations, it is well designed and looks good.
The finished boat may cost more than a factory production made cat of similar size ie Lagoon or FP etc but it would be lighter, faster and be what I want etc.

[44'cruisingcat]

The Fusion is probably the most expensive "kit boat" available over here. But it does come with all exterior surfaces finished to a very high standard, and it would be a quick build to get into the water. I think interior finishing would be a lot of work though. I think almost every surface would require either fairing or covering with some sort of liner.

There are other kits available here too - to generalise, the more expensive the kit, the less work will be required.

An option that I think is possibly the best value is this: Oceanic 373 The Innovative Catamaran Kit with the Professional Finish


It includes a fully moulded interior kit, and last time I checked, was considerably cheaper than the Fusion. It is a slightly smaller boat though, and possibly not quite as fast. (Although the Fusion didn't sail as fast as I thought it would.)

Another good option might be this:
Spirited Designs - Home of the Spirited 380 by Craig Schionning

This would be a fair bit faster sailing boat than the Fusion I feel. It's a cheaper kit than the Fusion, but more exxy than the RMK, and more work than either of them.

Of course, in Australia you could have an Oram 44C, built professionally to your specs, for less than any of these. And it would outsail all of them IMHO.

[ireaney]

I have looked at the Spirited 380 which is very nice and certainly agree that the performance would appear to be better than the Fusion, but performance for me is not the number 1 goal, what I am looking for is a comfortable, around 40ft cruising catamaran that has good space, with a better than mass produced cats performance and also the versatility to arrange the internal layout, deck layout and choose my own fittings and colour scheme etc to my own personal preference.

It may be more expensive but as they have been going longer with the kit than the likes of the Spirited 380 and others, they appear to have perfected many of the areas and improved it a lot since it's inception, also I think the Fusion panels will make the boat look more professional for resale value later on, plus it's internal volume looks better, I think.

[catty]

The hype for the fusion performance originates from the Fusion 40 derivant "shellac". Hardly a standard Fusion with owner built boards replacing the standard mini keels and an enlarged rig etc. The owner of Blonde Moments is a fine racing sailor from a one design background (which quickly outs the pretenders). Was the boat in performance trim and sailed hard, or is the cat a dog? Looking at its big fat sterns and aft rocker you've got to wonder about its potential.

Geeze 44c drawing comparisons between speed and $ spent for a cruising boat says what? , we should all be sailing hobie 16's which will be faster than both around a course.

Regards