Cruising catamaran

While the Prout cats were among the first of the cruising cats, Fountaine Pajot has led the current trend toward large cruising cats and this design clearly shows how the type has evolved. Note that the Salina 48 shares some design features, especially in the cockpit area, that we also see in the Prout and the Hughes 37. The cat's hull volumes are restricted and rather confining but the deck area aft of the main cabin is tremendous and leaves a lot of room for imaginative design. The designers of this new cat are Berret/Racoupeau.

This design has very little in the way of overhangs so I am calling DWL 46 feet, 6 inches, and if I use the "full load displacement" of 34,658 pounds I get a D/L of 154. The L/B is 1.86, very close to that of the Prout. Draft is only 3 feet, 7 inches and that's great if you want to nestle up to the beach. The rudders are pure spades. One interesting contrast in this design compared to the Prout is the position of the keel. Note how far aft this keel is. Cats don't heel, essentially, so they are not subject to changes in helm like a monohull. This gives the designers greater flexibility in positioning the keel. My eye prefers the more aft keel position.

Again there are two layouts offered. Cats have found a lot of popularity in charter markets so a layout designed for large charter groups is essential to the success of the big cat. The charter layout of the Salina is called Version Quatuor, and this means there are four staterooms each with a large double berth in the ends of each hull. Each stateroom has its own head and shower stall. If you go with the Version Maestro you get three staterooms with double berths, three heads and pipe berths forward in the starboard hull in case you need crew. In this version the owner's stateroom is in the starboard hull and essentially takes up that entire hull except for the small crew's quarters forward. Both layouts show additional single berths in the hulls inboard of the heads. The main cabin between the hulls has a large dinette to port, steering station and galley to starboard. This is a big, wraparound galley with plenty of counter space. The refrigeration setup is called the "Piano," but the drawings and specs are unclear to exactly what that is.

The deck area aft of the main cabin, like the Hughes and the Prout, is broken up into two levels with the steering station raised so that visibility forward is optimized. There is a hard, fixed bimini top that is cut away to provide for the raised pilot station but covers the entire rest of this deck area. There is even a raised Benson deck aft of the cockpit area, between the hulls. This Benson deck covers the dinghy and will be a nice place for lying in the sun. Living in Seattle where it has been in the 50s and rained steadily for the last five days I have no idea what "lying in the sun means" but I hear people do it in the Caribbean.

There are no surprises in the rig. I'll use 80 percent of the listed genoa area and adding that to the mainsail I get a total sail area of 1,342 square feet and an SA/D of 20.2. The mainsheet traveler is on top of the bimini aft and the jib sheets are led to tracks on top of the house. All winches are clustered around the raised steering station.

Cruising on the Salina 48 will be extremely comfortable.