Antares 44 or Knysna500SE

[JasonS]

Rika and Kevin, the owners of Knysna, are most helpful and excellent at sharing all the options you have. Make sure you visit with them at the show. The boats are beautiful - I've had a chance to visit several at shows. If we ever upgrade from 40 to 50+, the Knysna is on my top 2 list. Good luck!
Jason

[Lost Horizons]

There was a period when I considered a catamaran as a next boat candidate and came to the conclusion that Antares is a perfect choice. I could not find a single fault with it, everything was just right. Good luck with your choice!

[Hartings]

Originally Posted by jmastal70

Agree that either boat is fine blue water cruiser, however the Antares has a much higher freeboard to contend with. You might wish to also consider the Maverick 440, also from So. Africa ( Capetown). She is a semi custom vessel where you have every choice you can imagine and then the builder will listen to anything else you have in mind: thus more custom than semi-custom, and a competitive price. If you sail it back ( no better way to learn your boat) you will have the added benefit of a stay at the Royal Cape Yacht Club for up to a month to check out everything and fine tune details. I can even recommend an excellent delivery captain for your consideration (30-31 crossings at last count).

Thanks - Maverick is also on our list

[Hartings]

Originally Posted by JasonS

Rika and Kevin, the owners of Knysna, are most helpful and excellent at sharing all the options you have. Make sure you visit with them at the show. The boats are beautiful - I've had a chance to visit several at shows. If we ever upgrade from 40 to 50+, the Knysna is on my top 2 list. Good luck!

Jason

Hi Jason - what other Cat makes your top 2 ?

[Heath68]

Hi Hartings, both of these cats were on our shortlist together with st Francis 50, Xquisite X5 and Privilege Series 5... If you want to you can read about our decision process and others we discounted by visiting www.sawasdeekat.com

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

[boom23]

Originally Posted by Hartings

We are looking to order a new catamaran for delivery end-2020. So far we are very interested in the Antares 44 (built in Argentina) and Knysna 500SE (built in Sth Africa) - the latter is more of a semi-custom product although both come fully loaded for blue water cruising which is what we want. Will be seeing both at the Annapolis Boat Show in October. Any views on these 2 boats or any others we should be considering ? Not a big fan of the larger production manufacturers and definitely looking for a comfortable cruiser rather than performance.

You should visit both factories to see how these boats are built. You really need to see what's behind all the pretty furniture.

Also, there is substantial size difference between 44 and 50 feet. Our ex-Lagoon 450 was perfect size for my wife and I, while I found the Lagoon 50 HUGE. A naval architect that I like, when asked what size boat I should get, told me to get the smallest boat that meets my requirements. I thought that was a great answer.

Good luck on your quest!

[Hartings]

Originally Posted by boom23

You should visit both factories to see how these boats are built. You really need to see what's behind all the pretty furniture.

Also, there is substantial size difference between 44 and 50 feet. Our ex-Lagoon 450 was perfect size for my wife and I, while I found the Lagoon 50 HUGE. A naval architect that I like, when asked what size boat I should get, told me to get the smallest boat that meets my requirements. I thought that was a great answer.

Good luck on your quest!

Thanks - I think as a first step we should actually see the boats, which we intend to do at Annapolis. As far as advice is concerned others say ‘buy the longest waterline you can afford’. Just goes to show there is no end to the conflicting advice....

[Heath68]

Originally Posted by Hartings

Thanks - I think as a first step we should actually see the boats, which we intend to do at Annapolis. As far as advice is concerned others say ‘buy the longest waterline you can afford’. Just goes to show there is no end to the conflicting advice....

Both are actually good advice. The reason for going with the smallest boat you can cope with is the fact that it will be easier to handle, less to keep clean (if it has less heads and cabins less maintenance)... cheaper for spare parts (winches/sails/motors are smaller, shorter lines etc) and cheaper to moor.

The reason for "go for the longest waterline" is that fact that it will generally sail better, be more comfortable (less change of hobby horsing) quicker and give you more space... now the more space thing might not sound a lot but if you're on board 24/7 it can make a difference. We ended up with 50 as we felt it was the sweet spot. It also very much depends on the boat. As someone alluded to earlier the Lagoon 50 feels massive, however you get on an Outremer or even a Chris White 55ft catamaran (see pic) and it can feel smaller than some 44ft cats. Its all down to design and meeting what is important to you.

[owenrms]

Sorry late to the thread. We looked at both these yachts when selecting our cat. On the Antares, built solidly however felt a little "old" inside the yacht - also a little slower than we wanted. The Knysna is gorgeous - spent time in the factory looking at the build quality - the thing that ultimately decided us not to go this route was the low bridge deck clearance. Cats do slam - all of them - however the higher the bridgedeck clearance the better. The Knysna has a low clearance and in speaking to folk who have owned one they note the hard slamming they get in going to windward. We ultimately decided on the Leopard 48.

[boom23]

Bridgedeck slamming (more like constant explosions) and jerky movement were two of the main reasons we went back to a quality monohull.

You really need to experience sailing a catamaran in rough seas before buying one.

Bridgedeck clearance and build quality would be top on my list.

[Hartings]

Originally Posted by owenrms

Sorry late to the thread. We looked at both these yachts when selecting our cat. On the Antares, built solidly however felt a little "old" inside the yacht - also a little slower than we wanted. The Knysna is gorgeous - spent time in the factory looking at the build quality - the thing that ultimately decided us not to go this route was the low bridge deck clearance. Cats do slam - all of them - however the higher the bridgedeck clearance the better. The Knysna has a low clearance and in speaking to folk who have owned one they note the hard slamming they get in going to windward. We ultimately decided on the Leopard 48.

Interesting - personally I would be more worried about the build quality of the Leopard especially as we intend to do long range cruising. Have sailed a few Leopards and really didn’t like how they were fitted out nor how they sailed, great for short term bareboat though. Minimal depreciation is also important to us and will be interested to see how this generation of Leopards fare in that regard. Safe seas

[captainfitzwine]

Beware exceeding 45 feet. 45 is a sweet spot where you’re the largest in small cruising catamarans and the best value ratio of [emoji383]/comfort. I say this from 8 years experience sailing half the world on our Lagoon 450. There are economies of scale with size and the less desirable place to be is the smallest of the big cats.

[justakiss]

Considering the size range you've listed and you're interest in a multihull, consider the Neel trimaran series which include the 45, 47 and 51. The 45 has been around the longest (2013?), while the 51 debuted in 2017 and the 47 this year. We find the trimarans to be a good balance of comfort, performance and safety.



Neel has taken some knocks for poor finishing of their boats, and the 47 that debuted at the LGM boat show apparently was rushed for delivery. The 47 will be at the Annapolis sailboat show this October, so hopefully they will have fixed the issues present at LGM.

[Hartings]

Originally Posted by justakiss

Considering the size range you've listed and you're interest in a multihull, consider the Neel trimaran series which include the 45, 47 and 51. The 45 has been around the longest (2013?), while the 51 debuted in 2017 and the 47 this year. We find the trimarans to be a good balance of comfort, performance and safety.



Neel has taken some knocks for poor finishing of their boats, and the 47 that debuted at the LGM boat show apparently was rushed for delivery. The 47 will be at the Annapolis sailboat show this October, so hopefully they will have fixed the issues present at LGM.

Thanks but I think trimarans are the worst of all worlds - your comment is appreciated though

[DaveandLinda]

We did the same search 3 years ago and found the Maverick Catamaran from South Africa at the Annapolis Boatshow. Took delivery in July 2017 in Cape Town and sailed her back across the Atlantic to spend a year on East Coast. Excellent builder in Cape Town South Africa and lots of superb blue water features. We are now in Pacific NW cruising. I would strongly recommend the Maverick. They will be at Annapolis and have a good website with info too. We have been cruising full time since 2012 with 3 Atlantic crossing so we were clear on what we wanted in a new cat and definitely found it with our Maverick.