Multihull cruiserr

Now, put on your beret. Pour yourself a glass of Musigny ('74) and get ready to enter the world of luxury French cats.

Weighing 21,280 pounds, this cat cannot be considered a lightweight. The D/L is 97.6 and that puts it above a lot of performance monohulls. Consider for a moment that the typical 46-foot monohull displacing 21,000 pounds would include about 38-percent to 40- percent ballast in a lead keel.

Note the tiny rudders. If the boat doesn't heel, it will not pull the rudders out of the water, so the two rudders can be small. If you eyeballed doubling the size of the rudder planform shown, you would have a rudder quite similar in overall area to a monohull rudder.

The keels of most cruising cats continue to puzzle me. Note the drag angle to this low-aspect-ratio keel. This is the angle of the keel tip. We know that "no keel" doesn't work. We also know that centerboards and daggerboards are expensive and vulnerable. Shoal draft is a must for the marketing of these cats, so I suppose the only answer is this type of keel. It is molded as a separate piece and fits into a recess in the hull so that damage to the keel will not affect the integrity of the canoe body.

It's important when looking at the profile of any cat to consider that its overall height is governed by the clearance of the connecting bridgedeck. I sometimes refer to this bridgedeck as the "slam pan" and therein lies the design challenge. If this bridgedeck is too close to the water, waves will slam against it and send shock waves through the boat. As you raise this bridgedeck, however, it increases the height of the cabin structure.

Interestingly, on my own 52-foot custom cat, the bridgedeck clearance is 32 inches and there has been no slamming to report at all. As the boat moves, the two bow waves intersect and combine under the boat. This intersection is followed by a depression. The depression increases the apparent bridgedeck clearance. The combined waves then crest again in a plume approximately at the aft end of the bridgedeck. The faster you go, the farther aft the plume.

The 46 comes with three interior options: private owner, bareboat and crewed boat. These are impressive layouts in their sophistication and spatial manipulation. The shapes drawn are attractively geometric and harmonious. The private-owner layout devotes the entire starboard hull to the owner's suite. The other two layouts are mirror images. Finishing details are extremely Euro-styled and combine a variety of materials for a very contemporary look.

Deck tooling of the 46 is exquisite. The cockpit shapes echo the shapes of the interior. The deck edge is heavily radiused but the lifelines have been artfully curved inboard toward the stern, enclosing the fatter portion of the deck. The boarding steps are beautifully carved into the stern.

If cats are your style, the Bahia 46 would provide a very comfortable cruising platform.