catana catamaran review

Catana Ocean Class 50 Review

We bought a catana oc 50 - the review.

We have just acquired a Catana Ocean Class 50 and we will take possession of the boat in September at the Cannes Yachting festival . We are beyond excited to embark on this journey of discovering the “virtues” of a performance cruising catamaran! We invite you to join us there to do a private walk-through of the boat during the show!

After a hiatus for some time to focus on the hugely successful Bali range, Catana has just released their Catana OC 50 performance cruiser that has the industry abuzz, including ourselves. This is not a super-fast performance boat like a an ORC50 or a TS but it offers a beautiful balance between performance and comfort that will no doubt be popular with the cruising community. The boat is light and strong, thanks to decades of experience in “carbon infusion” at Catana.

The new bulkhead helm station that is raised mid-position is a complete departure from their previous aft-helm positions and in our opinion, is a game changer! The open plan design which affords  spacious interior volume sets Catana apart from most other performance cruisers. This boat represents a perfect balance of performance, comfort and value that is quite unique in this market.

We have purchased hull #1 which is an owners version, fully equipped with generator, air-conditioning, American size fridge / freezer, additional fridges, Solar, Lithium batteries, full suite of sails including Code Zero and Spinnaker. Watch the video here where we discuss the design features and construction of the Catana OC 50.

Characteristics of the Catana Ocean Class 50

Catana started building catamarans in 1984 and is now based in Canet en Roussillon, France. With the help of legendary Australian multihull designer Lock Crowther early on, Catana became the world leaders in fast performance cruising catamarans. Many famous designers like Barreau (Marsaudon) have contributed to their reputation and their focus on producing fast, comfortable ocean crossers over the years. This iconic brand has produced some of the most talked about performance cats during their 30+ year history.

• Carbon Infusion Technology : Catana is a world specialist in fast cruising catamarans, designed for long distance cruising and continues to be unique in that it builds boats using an advanced Carbon-Infusion process. The deck and bulkheads are carbon and the hulls are foam core with vinylester resin infusion and added carbon in high stress areas. The furniture is built in foam-cored sandwich, which further reduces weight.
• Performance: The OC 50 has a large sail plan and so, even being a heavier boat, she will sail to windspeed. This catamaran should sail very well on all points of sail according to the Sail Area/ Displacement ratios of the boat. The boat is very responsive and accelerates quickly in small gusts of wind. Read our article Performance Catamaran Comparisons here>>
• Affordability – The boat is very competitively priced. Comparatively the Catana OC 50 is at a price point that is affordable for cruising couples. 
• Helm Position: The OC 50 has a bulkhead helm station (starboard) that is raised mid-position. This is a departure from Catana’s previous aft-helm positions and is a game-changer in our opinion. Not only is the visibility from the helm to all 4 corners good, but all the lines also run back to the helm. A sliding window opens fully to connect the raised helm station on the starboard side with the interior living space

• Bridgedeck Clearance: The boat has a high freeboard and an almost 3-foot clearance which will make this boat a quiet ride even in big seas. This boat sits high in the water, which will help to power through big waves. Bridgedeck clearance on a catamaran invites a wide difference of opinion among sailors. But what we all agree on is that good clearance is very important for the seaworthiness and comfort of a catamara n.

• Daggerboards: Ease of handling of the daggerboards is a big consideration for us. On the Catana they are push button controlled with a flat winder and can easily be lowered or retracted. A daggerboarded cat will sail consistently higher into the wind than a cat with keels.   It will also sail faster, on average, than a catamaran with fixed keels.

• Interior: The interior sets Catana apart from most performance cruisers. The open plan design maximizes the living space on one level and ensures ample interior spaces and comfort for live aboard couples. The salon is extremely spacious with two seating areas, an L-shaped galley, big forward facing nav station and sliding aft doors. The owners cabin is spacious with semi walk around bed, huge bathroom, lots of storage and washer / dryer. Simply put, this boat has more interior space than any other performance cat in this size range.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Length                         14.99 m/ 49.18ft LOA                             15.75/51.67ft Max Beam                   7,83 m/ 25,69 ft Draft, boards up          1,17 m/ 3,83 ft Draft, boards down     2,49 m/ 8.16 ft Light Displacement     31,164 lbs. Full Load                      41,844 lbs. Power                          2 x 57hp Mast Clearance           23 m / 75.45 ft

Fridges                        267 L / 9.43 cu ft Freezers                      98 L / 3.46 cu ft Mainsail                      90 m² / 969 sq ft Genoa                         64 m² / 689 sq ft Solent                          50 m² / 538 sq ft Gennaker                    130 m² / 1,400 sq ft Code 0                         105 m² / 1,130 sq ft Fresh Water                211 Gal Fuel                               211 Gal 

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Exclusive Agents for Catana Catamarans in USA

Catamaran Guru, through its sister company, Ocean Multihulls, has been appointed the exclusive agent for Catana Catamarans in the USA. Contact us directly for specifications, pricing, and a concierge-level buying experience.

More About Performance catamarans

• The Cruising Catamaran Performance Debate: Learn what the experts have to say and what we think.
• Cruising Catamaran Comparisons:  We compare the Catana OC 50, Outremer 51, Balance 482, HH 50 OC and HH 50 Performance.

Want to learn how to sail a performance cat?

Our sailing school facility in Fort Lauderdale will start training on the Catana OC 50 with certified RYA instructors in March 2023. Contact us for information about our school dates and pricing.

Join Us at The Cannes Yachting Festival!

Are you in the market for a performance catamaran?

Join us as we meet our new performance cruiser, the Catana OC50, in Cannes during the Yachting festival! If you are interested in this model, we will do a private tour with you and discuss specifications and price with you while enjoying a French Champagne!

• Dates: 6 – 11 September 2022
• Location: Port Pierre Canto , Vieux Port de Cannes

Estelle Cockcroft

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Catana 42: Review and test

There is a plethora of new cruising catamarans being built today and the catana 42 is just one challenging the perceived wisdom in this field, most notably boasting twin centreboards..

This is an excerpt from Duncan Kent’s full review which can be found in  Sailing Today 206, on sale Thursday 24th April.

Admittedly, the majority of new-to-market catamarans are intended for charter, but a large number are also being bought by prospective bluewater cruisers who yearn for the space and pace of a multihull.

The new ‘baby’ of the Catana fleet, the 42, could never be termed small. She has a positively voluminous interior that offers an ideal ‘living afloat’ platform for the whole family. She is also quite a bit more refined than many of the more basic cats on the market, primarily built for charter use.

Catanas have two immediately noticeable differences from other production cruising cats – daggerboards and negatively-cambered (tilted in at the top), flared hulls with no keels. But they also look good, thanks to the traditional deckline sheer, streamline coachroof and slightly raked, double-headed rig. All these innovations add up to a vessel that not only looks and feels luxurious, but performs almost as well as a bona fide racing multihull – even upwind!

She is designed primarily as a fractional sloop, but with the popular option of a second forestay. The standard stay terminates on the deck beam and carries a 120 per cent working genoa. The outer stay is for a gennaker and terminates at the end of a short bowsprit. Both sport furlers, with sheets and furling lines led aft to winches by the helms.

Her daggerboards are a rare feature on modern cruising cats. Although they add a little extra faff when tacking, they make a huge difference to her upwind performance, allowing her to point some 38º to 40º off the apparent wind, rather than the more common 50º+. For downwind sailing they offer the option of lifting both halfway to reduce wetted surface drag for extra speed. Also, in very heavy seas lifting them up completely means her flat-bottomed hulls will simply skid sideways when beam-on to large waves, rather than trip over their keels as others might.

I’m slowly becoming drawn towards catamarans for cruising, despite still not quite liking the ‘feel’ of them when going upwind. I’ve now tried most of the French-built production models and I have to say that the Catanas appear to have the best performance under sail – thanks largely to their daggerboards and sculpted hulls.

The 42 feels a little compressed, as if they’ve tried to squeeze too much into a small space, and the cabins tend to be somewhat utilitarian. I’m not saying they aren’t comfy, roomy and bright – it’s just that climbing 3ft up to slide into them feels like clambering into a bunk on a ferry.

Saying that, the Owner’s model has a great heads in the entire port forepeak and a really well-appointed deck saloon, a top priority for living aboard.

Tech specs:

Price: From £375,000 (€1 = £0.84) Sailaway price: From £425,000

LOA: 41ft 3in (12.6m) LWL: 40ft 7in (12.4m) Beam: 22ft 7in (6.9m) Draught: (Boards up): 2ft 7in (0.8m) (Boards down): 8ft 10in (2.7m) Displacement: 19,580lb (8,900kg) Upwind sail area (main/genoa):  1,206sqft (112m²) Fuel: 95gal (432ltr) Water: 148gal (673ltr) Berths: 6 or 8 Engine: 2 x 30hp Volvo D1-30 Power train: Sail drives with fixed 2-blade props (3-blade optional) Designer: Christoph Barreau Builder: Catana Catamarans UK supplier: Robert Underwood Multihulls 01621 784199 www.rumulti.com

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At just over 50 feet long and with a beam of nearly 26 feet, the Catana 50 is a big boat, and one that the BOTY judges found to be the best built and most stylish of this year’s fleet of cruising catamarans, earning it the title of Best Cruising Multihull. That said, they also noted that it was a boat that could test the mettle of a shorthanded crew or a singlehander.

Despite the powerful forces at work on its rig and the complexity of its systems, judge Ralph Naranjo summed up his colleagues’ reasoning when he noted that with his wife, children, and grandchildren aboard as crew, the family could settle in for a long, fast cruise. The Catana is clearly a boat that’s built for going places.

A solent rig gives the crew a choice of a self-tending jib or a screecher, with its sheets led to winches near each wheel. All other control lines lead to a centerline winch located aft in the cockpit; the winch can be operated via a remote button at either of the twin wheels.

Under way with the staysail flying, the boat is easily tacked, and once on course, the Catana tracks straight through wind and waves.

Inside the saloon, bright woodwork is accented by polished stainless-steel cabinetry at the nav station. The galley has good fiddles-a rarity on a multihull-for cooking and living offshore, and below, spacious heads and showers in each of the cabins can easily accommodate even the biggest of crewmembers.

Though the initial price tag was well on the high end of the boats under consideration-$1.4 million-judges noted that the company has a reputation for building boats that hold their value, making the 50 a sound bet for an owner who understands the powerfully bred cat that he or she is buying. To see more catamerans from Catana, click here .

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In 2013, the Catana 59 designed by the in-house design team in association with Marc Lombard caused something of an internal revolution, as the 47 and 42 foot models were the only ones still in the range which had been drawn by Christophe Barreau.  The spinoffs from the 59 had carried on and we now have the 53 which we expect to see in the spring of 2017 along with the recently launched 62.  We had the chance to try out this big cruising catamaran in testing conditions (big wind and big seas) during a dynamic delivery of 140 miles across the Golfe du Lion in the Mediterranean.

The Easy version sailplan already shows great potential. A Performance version with carbon mast and D4 membrane sails is available for sporty crews

The Catana style has been redesigned, evolving towards a “contemporary functional luxury”

The panoramic view from the 62 is exceptional. The moveable bulkhead disappears almost completely behind the galley

The choice of materials is subtly rational, favoring ease of upkeep and resistance to knocks from life on board

Suede deckheads (Alcantra effect), leatherette linings, leather-style upholstery and contemporary design

Port aft guest cabin: the same comfort and same quality as found in the owner’s hull

Absolutely remarkable bathrooms (light, faucets, draining floors, ventilation)

A perfectly accessible engine room, carefully insulated and with the motors set well forward in the boat, for better weight centering

135 miles in 12½ hours at an average of 11 knots. One happy boat tester!

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• Available in issue # 153

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A capable model

Despite being a descendent of the 59, the Catana 62 is a new boat.  She has absorbed all of her predecessor’s experience and has evolved with significant improvements in terms of dynamic characteristics, centering of weight and the construction process itself.

With an extra 90cm of length, the 62 fully expresses the power of this design, with a high freeboard, very good bridgedeck clearance, a light sheer at the deck-edge and a generous sailplan.  The muscled-up appearance indicates this adventurer’s vocation, and the lines which seemed audacious four years ago can now be better appreciated.  The profile shows this boat’s strong personality, characterized by slightly inverted bows and the straightness of the topsides being broken by a rib which runs longitudinally, highlighting the strip where the portlights are found.

An exacting build

The production facility at Canet en Roussillon in the South of France is a vast and modern factory.  The amenable climate in the Perpignan region limits extremes of temperature and provides long periods of natural conditions favorable to composite curing.  The 62 is built in one main mold, comprising the nacel...

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Many would say that Catana hit their high water mark with the 471: we reckon it’s a Classic Catamaran.

Designed by Christophe Barreau, this performance multihull was ahead of her time and still looks the business today. The 471 remains a very popular boat on the second hand market. Barreau is famous for many great fast cat designs from the Windelo 50 to the Outremer 51.

Catana build this model from 1997 to 2007 (although from 2003 this catamaran was marketed as the 47 Ocean Class. They also sold a model called the Catana 472 which was a higher spec’d version).

The  difference between the 2 models is mostly down to marketing and the owners of the business at the time.

The 471 was manufactured before Catana ran into financial problems around 2002. Following that, the Poncin Group took over and the 472 was sold as the 47 Ocean Class. They didn’t build much of the lower spec version in the later years.

Photo credit: Lemonade (formerly Plan B), ICan, el Gato.

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