Multihull Motorsailerr

So, take off your beret and replace it with a white hanky tied with a granny knot in each corner so it stays on your head. Now get out a leg of lamb. Coat it liberally with balsamic vinegar and then refrigerate it for 24 hours. Remove the leg and warm to room temperature. Mix Worcestershire sauce with plum jam until it is not too sweet. Stick some garlic cloves into the lamb, pour the sauce over it and sprinkle with pepper, fresh basil, rosemary and thyme. Add a little water to the pan to prevent sticking and the sauce from burning. Put into 400-degree oven, reduce to 350 degrees and cook to an internal temperature of 155 degrees. Remove from the oven and let sit for 15 minutes before carving. Do not undercook!

The biggest difference between the two cruising cats is that the Crowther weighs 13,650 pounds loaded. This gives the Crowther a D/L of 68.7 based upon a DWL of 41.5 feet. In short, the Crowther weighs about half of what the Bahia 46 weighs. Keep in mind that all published displacements are suspect. Designers tend to be optimistic when it comes to "as-built" weights.

This difference in displacements is reflected in the accommodations of the Crowther. Note that in this cat there are no accommodations in the hulls aft of the main saloon. The accommodations are designed for two couples, both sharing the head in the starboard hull. Galley and nav station are in the saloon. Unfortunately, the printed comments that came with this design do not match the drawings I have. The comments indicate that there are staterooms aft. I don't see them on the drawings.

Probably the most interesting aspect of this design is the fact that it was designed as a sportfisher. It's a big game-fishing boat based upon a previous Crowther design that operated off Tahiti. The deck drawings show fighting chairs aft above each boarding area. The cabintop is extended aft to cover the cockpit. There is a flying bridge above the cockpit. I wonder what this feels like. From my own big-cat sailing experience, I can tell you that larger cats tend to reduce the feel of sailing due to their already impressive height above the DWL. Certainly the view of the rig will be quite different, especially in a wild jibe.

The rig looks very efficient with a relatively high-aspect-ratio mainsail with lots of roach. Compare this to the relatively squatty main of the Bahia 46. Note also that this mast is drawn with prebend. Fishing under sail means no engine fumes wafting back into the cockpit, no engine vibrations and less fatigue due to the droning noise of the engines. Should the wind quit, you could rely upon the twin 100-horsepower engines coupled to saildrives to give this cat a speed in excess of 15 knots. This just might make the Crowther 45 the ultimate motorsailer.

Construction uses rigid PVC foam cores in a variety of thicknesses. Triaxial, biaxial and unidirectional glass is used for hull and deck in addition to structural bulkheads. Sandwich construction is used throughout the interior to keep the weight down.