Quote:
Originally Posted by johnnyj
Im going to give Max Cruise a call to get more information than their website gives.
I feel like there would be nothing worse than buying a new boat and finding out it doesn’t sail well
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If this is a real concern and you are really into the sailing performance you need to actually sail some cats, Lots of them as many as you can crew, deliver,
charter, cadge rides, anything. Evaluate your needs, ocean cruising, coastal,
racing, week ending,
dock queen. Are you a couple, like crew, need crew, have
kids.
We did this over a 5 year period sailing about 40 different multihulls then chose to commission a boat we had never sailed. 25 years on there is still only a couple boats I would consider come close.
IMO a cat in the mid 40ft range should displace under 8T - Max Cruise 44. Dazcat 1295. Lightwave 46. As Matt put it not fluffy.
On the other hand if you are looking for a floating bar or house there are plenty of choices but most don't "sail" really well, not badly just not great.
Look at the size of the engines. Check the
engine hours on second hand boats always a good indication of sailing performance (use a bit of judgement most
charter boats use their engines for charging). Boats that sail well don't need big engines or have larger
engine options on the
price list. Pick a few boats that you like the look of that are out there sailing and track them on
Marine Traffic. Study their statistics. Look at the
displacement and the hull beam ratio. WL Displacement, actual maximum loaded displacement and payload is hard to get from manufacturers. Most important ignore the propaganda. The Excess range, as far as I can see, is a
marketing exercise, Lagoons with go faster strips and spoilers. I am not saying that is bad or they are bad boats.