FP Orana 44.

[Gordon]

Hi all,this is my first post of many I hope on this great site.Thanks to all for their informative and interesting posts. My wife and I are about to become part of your multihull world after years of mucking around on other smaller sail dinghys and moving on to crew on Seawind 850 /1160 and now an occasional sail on a Farr40.We currently own a 30ft timber fishing boat style motor cruiser which is now up for sale.We are very interested in the new FP Orana44,for its size and comfort and we hope ease of sailing.Is there anyone else out there that has any interest in this model?

[muskoka]

Welcome Gordon!

My wife & I are currently in negotiations on a 2004 FP Lavezzi 40. We're making the transition from a Beneteau monohull to the multi after about 2 years of test sails & digging around. We've looked at the Broadblue, Lagoon, Seawind and a couple of custom built Schionnings. The Schionnings are beautiful and fast but our concern was resale values outside of Australia.

We've ended up pursuing the FP largely because of the sailing characteristics - its much lighter than the Broadblue/Lagoon and carries more sail. The Achilles Heel of multihulls is weight so that light testboat you sailed at the boatshow won't be nearly as lively once you've loaded her up with water, fuel & your stuff. I also happen to think it's the nicest looking boat after the Schionnings.

If you're buying new, you might want to consider electric winches for shorthanded sailing. Other than that, it should be quite manageable for two.

[Gordon]

Thanks Muskoka, we realise we may need an electric winch at some stage. We were advised by our Australian agents to wait until after delivery here, use the boat for a while and assess what extra we may need since it would be much cheaper post delivery.
Gordon.

[Lucky]

Hi Gordon,

I can only agree with the previous arguments re the FP cats! I have owned an Athena 38, which I was very happy with. I'm taking over a Belize 43 built in 2001 next week and are very exiting about that. The sailing features of the FP's have been a very positive experience for me. I have sailed the Athena in 55 knots of downwind sailing surfing up to 21 knots and felt absolutely safe. In gale force winds I have overtaken 1ton former racing monos on a tack, while in cruising mode!

Also in light winds the FP's perform quite good and with a spinnaker up it is fantastic sailing where you approach windspeed on a reach.

From having done some hair raising boy's cruising in storm conditions and never broken anything so the boats are very strongly built in my experience.

When it comes to electric winches I would strongly recommend that you invest in a Goiot electric windlass. This is equipped with a gypsy that you can use to raise the mainsail. I have sailed a lot with charter guest on board and single handed sailed the boat and this feature I have found very helpful.

The FP sail set up is very simple and that's what I love with a cruising boat! Trim functions are not something you need too much of it creates too many "snakes" around the cockpit and frankly the FP's sails quite OK without the tweeking. While cruising you want to enjoy time on the water with friends and family. I race regularly on racing yachts and get all the need for advanced sailing and tweeking satisfied by that.

If your planning on buying a new FP take a look at the Belize. This is an outgoing model being replaced by the Orana 44 and woul should receive probably a 10% discount on the price.

I hope you will find the cat that fits your needs as I have and have happy sailing. If you want to discuss the FP's in more detail or multisailing in general I'll be more than happy to give from my experiences.

Happy lead free sailing!

[Gordon]

G'day Lucky, nice to meet you.
Thanks for your reply. It is great to get such confirmation on FP boats.
We have in fact made a decision to purchase an Orana 44 - it will be hull number 4 and our anticipated delivery date in Sydney is Aug/Sept 07. We have been on board a Belize (hull #46) just recently. A Swiss couple traveling since 01, and currently in PortHackingRiver south of Sydney Australia. It was a pleasure to talk with them and to hear all about their adventures. They too are thrilled with their FP and had some great tips re cruising and boat set up. Good luck with your new toy. Look us up if you are ever in this part of the world. Let us know how you get on.
Gordon and Louise.

[Ram]

Welcome Gorden
I also have a FP the last "Athena built" and love it, so far a great boat.
I wish you well are you going to sail it home?

I have a qustion for LUCKY
on your Athena you mentioned you were doing 21 knots, that seems a bit scary, how did the rudders hold up at that speed, were they rattelling alot? I have had mine up to 12 + knots & being a new boat it scared me not knowing how things would hold up, seems as if the rudders were under a real load , even at that speed, so I slowed it down a bit.
I have been in 44 knot winds and 18' seas and the boat handeled very well

[cat man do]

Hi Gordon,

Seeing as you are in Sydney, why would'nt you at least have a look at a Schionning, and go for a sail on one.

A very fast, comfortable and sexy looking cat, and AUSTRALIAN.

I reckon we do the world's best cat's in OZ.

Schionning Designs -

Dave.

ps: Just noticed that you are taking delivery of one of those French thing's Oh well, can't be helped

[44'cruisingcat]

Are you getting commissions from Schionnings Dave? There are quite a few Australian designers who do fast comfortable, good looking cats. And a couple of Kiwi ones too. As well as those South Africans you mentioned.

[cat man do]

Not at all mate, wish I was, it's just that Schionning is Sydney based as well, Bob's a bit further up the road, and NZ and SA is a bloody long swim

Dave

[Lucky]

Hi Ram,

No I have never experienced any vibration from the rudders at any speed! However I have i a friends Athena, while sailing above 12 knots. This came from the fixed props! I advised him to replace them with folding props and that got rid of the vibration problems that had troubled his fast speed sailing.

This topic is one of the "burning" issues I do have with cats, they should be factory supplied with folding or feathering props to mitigate vibration problems during high speed sailing! I read about a family with a Bahia 46 that broke a saildrive during high speed sailing down the US east coast! There was no conclusion as to what caused the saildrive to break but fixed props could be a definite culprit. So if you don't have foldings -get them!

Another propblem with fixed props are the fact thet to mitigate vibration sailers let the saildrives i neutral and let the props spin! DO NOT DO THIS - the saildrives will fail with a very expensive replacement as a result. No lubrication or cooling of the gear unit without the motor running is the reason. If you read enough ads for used cats you will see an abnormal amount of cats that has new saildrives and also motor replacements. This is why!

Then to my problem with the Belize, it cannot be supplied with folding props due to the close proximity between the leading edge of the rudder and the saildrive. I can get feathering props but they are great for capruring any ropes that might pass by. They are also very expensive at twice the price of good quality folding props.

If anyone out there with experience from non fixed props for the Belize I would be very happy to hear from you.

Happy lead free sailin

[mikereed100]

I can get feathering props but they are great for capruring any ropes that might pass by. They are also very expensive at twice the price of good quality folding props.

Have you checked these out?
The Kiwi Feather Propeller

[Gordon]

Hi Lucky,
How is your new boat,since talking to you we have a visitor in our waterway,a Belieze 43 built 2001,and owned since new by a couple from Switzerland. We have enjoyed talking to the owner and hearing of their exploits and adventures in all their years on the high seas. The Belieze looks in great shape hard to believe it has been on the water all those years.The owners have only praise for their home on the water. I think they said it was hull #46. I am sure you will have many safe and sure years of cruising on your "new boat".

[Lucky]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for those good words of experience.
I have just spent the week end sailing the elize to our home port. Great to hear that longe range cruisers appreciate the boat. I believe this is a testament to the quality of good production yachts! If a boat can still look good after 6 years continous use it must be built by people who knows their trade.

I'm looking forward to update our boat, I have already purchased a wireless remote for the autopilot, which is great. Next job is to replace the manual windlass to a Goiot electric one. The great thing with the Goiot is that you can use it to hoist the mainsail with the rode capstan. Makes life easier when shorthandling. The odd jobs around will be a joy to carry out over the next months so she's ready for summer.

Happy lead free sailin
Lucky

[The South African]

Another propblem with fixed props are the fact thet to mitigate vibration sailers let the saildrives i neutral and let the props spin! DO NOT DO THIS - the saildrives will fail with a very expensive replacement as a result.

My Leopard 40 has two 30HP Volvo saildrives. I was told by the Volvo agents to never ever lock the props (by putting gear lever in reverse), but to leave the props spinning. Reason being that by locking props in reverse one apparantly runs a huge risk of getting water through a backfeed into the engine with disasterous consiquinces. Anybody heard of that?

[sv_makai]

I have never heard of the water back feed. If you are concerned a one way valve can be installed.

We have the yanmar SD20's on Makai, though not the Volvo, we found finally from a direct Yanmar tech bulletin that were never to lock the sd in reverse (let it free wheel) as it can cause early clutch failure. The freewheeling doesn't hurt as the transmission is vertical and is sits in the trans fluid and because the unit is dragging thru the water is cooled as well.

i would recommend getting verifaction from the Volvo service / tech, SD are not the same as regular shaft transmissions and the standards may be different. One should not rely on what is the norm for other types of equipment.