Hello everyone! When we last left off we were searching for a Catamaran that would accommodate all of our cruising needs. At the time we decided to sell Ocean Phoenix we had viewed a few different vessels in the North East US and had made arrangements to travel to South Carolina to view another.

So how does a person make such a big decision? Well its not easy that’s for sure. So lets cover a few vessels we seen and what our opinion was of each vessel.

First up was a PDQ32. She was like new inside and out. The pride in ownership was incredible and being familiar with the PDQ line of boats she is very well built. The price was well within our range and she was close to Rhode Island. Unfortunately she was too small overall. She also had a very deep cockpit and it was hard to view your surroundings unless you were at the helm sitting in the chair. That being said though you were very well protected in the cockpit.

Next was a Wildcat 350. Alright, this was much better. Nice lines, nice cockpit, nice interior, this was looking promising. It didn’t have the galley up we wanted but still the layout was good. With her 20′ beam and the molded 2′ long swim platforms on each transom this was looking good. We spoke with the broker for awhile and mentioned that we wanted a boat we could cruise on. To our surprise he said not to go below 40′ for a live aboard, and preferably 43′ is ideal. He suggested this boat as a stepping stone to a larger vessel and it would get us into the Catamaran style of sailing but we would have to upgrade before retiring. Not exactly ideal and at a high price tag it did not seem like a good investment. The nail in the coffin for this vessel was each person who came up from each hull hit there head on the way up to the salon. “SMACK”!!!!!WTF!!! That was a very poor design flaw to say the least.

Moving on to the next vessel. She was a Catana 411. Build for blue water and performance and she showed well. This boat had a TON of storage space. She was roomy, bright and open. She was a galley up version with a huge salon area. Large windows with a panoramic view. 2 heads 4 berths and a great cockpit area. However all this came at a price and she was definitely at the top of our budget. The boat had 2 helm stations that seemed exposed to the wind, weather and spray and our concern was how to remedy that and still be comfortable on longer passages. She was well equipped and needed basically nothing. She needed some gel-coat work and had a few core repairs needed before going back into the water but overall she was a great boat.

Last but not least was a Fountaine Pajot Tobago 35. This boat was located in South Carolina. She seemed to have everything we wanted but to get her home was 800 NM sail back home. We were up for the challenge but not sure if we had the time off of work to bring her home. We contacted the owners and set a date to see her. ( We never made it)

Just before the new year we reached out to the Catana broker (East Coast Yacht Sales) for a second showing. This vessel really impressed us during the first showing. This time we focused on the helm positions and really digging into the inside of the vessel. The storage space and access to all the systems is amazing. We strolled out to the fore deck for one last look at the deck space and then met our broker back in the cockpit. We decided that this was the boat and made an offer.

And just like that we are now the proud owners of a Catana 411 Catamaran!(Just waiting for the closing date)