Cruising Catamaran

I try to put my own petty prejudices aside and bring you boats that show balanced design elements. For instance, I'm not wild about this big Privilege cat. But I do think it's a good design and it is probably the ultimate weapon for the cat school of cruisers. My complaints center around my own cruising style. But I suppose I might be able to fake it for an afternoon.

This big cat was designed by Marc Lombard with interior by Rol et Vialle. In plan view (looking down) this cat shows that almost all of its gross planform is occupied by deck. This includes the extended nose forward. The divot between the hulls aft of the cockpit is only big enough to nestle the inflatable dinghy. This usually makes for a heavy cat but, according to brochure numbers, this cat's D/L is only 115 and that's reasonably light. I'd like to see the flotation trim for myself.

I am pleased to see that the designer has chosen to go with real daggerboards for this design. Most cruising cats have silly molded, low-aspect-ratio keels. They may help on the beach but they don't help on the wind. The PrivilegeÕs daggerboards will help make this boat fast upwind. There is a small keel fairing to protect the rudder and prop when doing a beach landing.

This deck is a masterpiece of GRP sculpture and design, and this is a wonderful cockpit with the wheels off to the edges and separated from the socializing area. The profile is a little on the abrupt side in the drawing, but you have to see a cat in the water before passing judgment on profile. This apparent house height will diminish once it's superimposed on 24 feet of beam.

Look at the interior plan and note the huge footprint (I almost said floorplan) of this layout. The forward wedgelike nose allows the accommodations to creep forward. There are four staterooms and each has an adjoining head. The saloon is beautifully designed with big wrap-around dinette.

The rig is big with an SA/D of 27.54. The mainsail is huge; I would hope that the system they use to lead the main halyard to the electric windlass works well. You would not want to haul up this main manually. Jibs and genoa lead to tracks on the top of house. This keeps the sheeting angels close and removes clutter from the side decks.

There is a huge amount of bulk boat here. The key to cat performance is light weight to offset the gains in wetted surface. The narrow hulls are not conducive to weight-carrying. I would also like to see the gap between the hulls as big and distinct as possible. When you fill out the overall footprint of a cat, you run the risk of producing bargelike proportions and eliminating the speed advantages of the catamaran form. Careful design and monitoring of construction weights by Privilege will mean avoiding those pitfalls. If I were a cruising catamaran fan, I'd like this cat.