Evaluating Modern Catamarans

A multihull voyager examines the of key elements offshore cruising cats.

Catamarans have been around, especially in the Pacific, for several thousand years. Early islanders sailed large twin-hulled canoes many thousands of miles, generally from Southeast Asia eastward to discover new island homes.

Modern multihull production started with the catamarans of Hawaiian Rudy Choy in 1947. The first cruising catamaran to circumnavigate was his World Cat in 1965. During the 1960s, Prout and Catalac of Great Britain were also starting to produce catamarans. Catamaran production took off in the late 1970s and early 1980s with French builders Fountaine Pajot, Catana, Lagoon and several others producing catamarans for the charter industry. Gemini also started building boats in the U.S. Soon afterward, South African builder St. Francis got started with a 43-foot cat in about 1990, and now a dozen others in South Africa produce about 30 percent of the world’s cruising cats.

After considerable research looking at a number of boats and more than four years aboard, full time cruising in Southeast Asia, here are our thoughts on some important features to look for in a bluewater cruising catamaran.

Size vs. cost: As with all boats, as size increases, so does cost. We think a 42- to 48-foot cat makes a great cruising home. Any shorter, and sufficient load-carrying capacity for full-time cruising suffers; longer, and the hull and equipment costs skyrocket.