Agreed and thanks...
Look forward to more opinions on this particular
boat. Most particularly as a
live-aboard and durability of putting it through it's paces... With the layout on the 4.5 being similar to the other mid-40 cats (as opposed to 4.0 and 4.3), I will be very interested in how these boats perform as more and more hit the market. The 4.0 and 4.3 with the forward
galley and swing up door don't appear to fit my needs/wants so I'm concentrating on the 4.5 for this particular discussion.
With all disclosure, I am relatively new to sailing(as I'm sure many surmised). I have inbound waterway sailing certs, 35+ years of
motor experience in 65'+ houseboats on Lake Powell, and then have owned ski boats/jet boats forever.
Be that as it may, everyone has to start somewhere. I am reading everything I can to educate myself on what I think to be my
retirement plan in a couple of years.
Live-aboard for few years getting the feel and training/experience for sailing/repairing a
boat of this size and then if still in relatively good
health, seeing where the winds take me...If that is just coastal, fine. But I highly suspect that my personality will say, let's start crossing some oceans :-) And yes, I realize this is the dream of many tire kickers that I've ran into at boat shows in
Annapolis among others. I tend to think I will pull it off... :-D I intend to
charter and test as many as I can. I will do my best to factory tours, especially if
buying new. Once narrowing down the specs I'm looking for and checking off as many of the needs/wants that I can, from what I'm reading, once you step aboard the "one", you'll know it....
But back to the Bali 4.5....
The solid fore
deck seems to be the biggest "I wouldn't" that I hear in
forums but it also occurs to me that
Catana wouldn't put out "junk" or something unsafe and risk their reputation and livelihood? Unless, of course, they are saying, "This boat is strictly for charter/coastal/Island hopping and we don't recommend ocean crossings". From a common sense perspective, it seems to reason that all the newer production mid-40ft Cats would be relatively safe for ocean crossings if outfitted correctly and proper precautions taken as you would in ANY boat preparing for such journeys. In this day and age and with the popularity of cats only growing, I can't imagine builders such
Leopard,
Lagoon, Catana/Bali, FP not doing a cajillion ;-) computer simulations and tests. As I learn more about displacement, over-loading, sail plans, etc I crave to learn more from people that have 'been there, done that'. Being a
new boat, I'm asking for opinions...
Having said that, even reading there is some "flaw" such as in the
Leopard 44/48 front lounge area being "wind break" or speculation that they will sink the boat if heavy seas dump in, I still seem to see a lot of them doing circumnavigations and without incident (exception being the one in
delivery in South Seas but debates rage on to what caused it). Every time I hear that front lounge is a death trap and they wouldn't (from non-owners), I can typically find someone who says they actually own that particular boat and they've taken multiple waves into that area in heavy seas with zero problems.
Maybe I just need to wait it out and see what others are saying that actually bought these cats? Anybody have any ideas on what
hull # they are on in production?
Thanks in advance and excuse the caffeine addled ramblings of someone that has a dream and is working to achieve.
Sincerely,
WWV