Tuesday, April 15, 2014

NAUTITECH 40 OPEN


                                                                                                                                                  The Open designation is just to distinguish this one from the previous model, the very popular Nautitech 40, a great cruising cat, between the fat cruising cats and the true performance cats. Here you can have a look at the previous boat that should be less expensive now, on the used market, probably a good deal:

The new one is a different boat. Nautitech went for what most people want on a cat so, this one, is a less sportive boat, a bit heavier ( 7800 to 7385kg) but most of all fatter, with beamier hulls, more windage not only due to a superior freeboard and cabin height but to more straight surfaces.

 Almost all the nice curves from the previous model were substituted by straight surfaces. Is this a worse boat? Well, it's a different boat, probably a slightly worse sailingboat but a much better coastal cruising boat, a great one to live aboard. 

They say about the boat on Nautitech:
The design aims to redefine the use of space in a cruising catamaran. 

And the boat is all about that; they managed to do a remarkable work, not only Marc Lombard but Patrick Roseo, the interior designer. Probably these two worked together in what regards the boat dimensions to allow it to provide such an incredible interior on a 40ft cat without making it as fat as the various fat cats on the market. 
That is the main interest of this boat and it is not a small point, since most that buy a cat buy it for the space and in this case you have lots of space on a cat that will be way faster than for instance a Lagoon 39 that is much heavier (11 700kg) and a lot fatter.
 If you are eventually interested on the Lagoon 39 have a good look at this one. You may find that you don't lose that much in space, that what is offered is more than enough and you will win a lot in sailing speed and sailing pleasure.

I said that probably this one is slower than the previous model but I would only know for sure with a comparative test between the two boats  because this one compensates its smaller slimness with more power, having  more beam (6.91m to 6.50m) and more sail area (91m2 to 86.9m2). It has also deeper keels (draft: 1.35m to 1.20m) and that probably would provide a slightly better upwind ability.

All in all a great design, more pointed to the main market than the previous 40 but preserving a decent performance with a much better interior not only in volume but in quality of design and space. 

I like particularly the way the interior/exterior transition is treated as well as the wheel position, similar to the one on the Comet 37, giving a good forward view, but this time with a nice seat for a more relaxed sailing.;-)


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