A DINGHY GARAGE ON A 37ft FAST CRUISER: MALANGO/MOJITO 1088

I had already talked here about the boats from IBDMarine, the Malango and the Mojito, both sharing the same hull but with a different cabin. These boats are a mix between a Pogo and an RM having a unique feature, unheard on cruisers of this size: they have a dinghy garage.

If you are like me, you never take the dinghy on tow, but it is always a bit of a drag to put the dinghy in and  to tie it properly. Besides, a beautiful boat is not beautiful anymore with a dinghy on the deck and to have it on davits is only suitable for bigger boats and even that solution comes with its own set of problems.

On really small boats, less than 36ft, the problems are even bigger because a dinghy on the deck makes difficult the passage forward and even dangerous in nasty weather...and the bigger boat from IBDMarine is this one, a 36ft. All of them have a dinghy garage.

I love the concept and it is truly amazing how they found space for a dinghy garage on a 29ft boat and still have a nice cruising interior, specially on the Mojito version. I have done two post about the Mojito 888, that is a very interesting boat and one that for such a small niche market has been a comercial success: http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/mojito-888-voile-magazine-boat-of-year.html http://interestingsailboats.blogspot.pt/2014/10/malango-888-new-test-and-new-videos.html

All these boats are designed by the same NA, Pierre Rolland, that has begun his career designing mini racers and racing them on the mini transat. He is a specialist on small offshore solo boats and his experience makes him the right man to design this line of small fast offshore cruising boats.

Like the Pogo 36 this boat is suited for long range cruising on a spartan way and it is more adapted than the Pogo for Coastal cruising due to the boat's garage. A Pogo 36 displaces 3800kg, the Malango 4000, the beam is the same (4.0m), they both come with a similar lifting keel with the ballast on the keel, the Pogo has a draft of 1.18/2.95m, the Malango 1.1/2.8,  the Pogo has a B/D of 28,7% the Malango 37.5% and that is a big difference that the small difference in draft (10cm) will not compensate. This makes the Malango a stiffer boat but most of all a boat with a better final (safety) stability.

The Pogo has a sail area upwind of 84m2, the Malango has 74, downwind the Pogo flies 165 and the Malango 157m2. This means that on most situations the Pogo will be a faster boat but the Malango is a more steady boat (stiffer), will need to reef later and with medium/ strong winds will be certainly faster upwind.

That kind of explains the Malango 37 beating a J105 upwind (on the video). Hard to believe and a very good performance on a boat of this type even if that will only happen in almost flat water. With waves the J105 will easily outsail the Malango upwind and even more a Pogo 36.

Mojito 888

The Malango 1088 is in what regards sailing potential and speed closer to the Pogo 36 than to the RM 1070. The three boats have the same beam and the same type of hull but the RM displaces more 900kg than the Malango and 1100kg more than the Pogo, having a sail area similar to the one on Malango. The RM has a swing keel similar to the ones of the two other boats, with a draft close to the Pogo and a B/D that will be closer to the one of the Pogo than to the one of the Malango.

They don't give the RM1070 ballast and I can only find the ballast on the version twin keel with 1.72m draft (1800kg). That gives a B/D of 36.7% that on the swing keel configuration, with a lower CG (2.92m draft), will probably have a B/D similar or lower than the one of Pogo.
The Malango is, by far, the stiffer boat, the one able to carry more sail before reefing and the one that will sail better upwind where on similar hulls and keels the stiffness (that means power) will make all the diference.

Regarding tankage the Malango has the bigger water tankage with 370 liters!!!! compared with 190 on the RM and 200 on the Pogo. The Pogo has a 18hp engine while the other two have 30hp engines. The RM has the biggest diesel tankage with 80 liters and the other two have 60. Certainly all tese tankages can be increased if the owner wants to.

It may seem to many that the tankage is really small but these are fast sailboats with an auxiliary engine and need much less diesel tankage than an heavier boat simply because they will sail a lot more time. To put this in perspective my sailboat, that is also fast (faster upwind, slower downwind and on a beam reach) has a tankage of 400 liters of water and 150 liters of diesel and while cruising I need to go for water about each 15 days (two aboard) while I normally only need fuel once a month (or less).

RM 1070

 I sail almost everyday and most of the time upwind.The Malango would be absolutely perfect if it had an interior as good as the one on RM but unfortunately it is not the case. I find it even worse than the one on the Pogo and it has all to do with design. That has not to do with functionality but with beauty and comfort. 

It is not a question of weight but one of creativity, imagination and good taste. Light materials like textured paper wall and good chromatic schemes don't make the boat heavier but will make it a lot more comfortable and nicer inside.

Malango 1045

They should do as Pogo and contract a good interior design cabinet to take care of that. Anyway I find for long range cruising the Mojito cabin (the other version on the same hull) much more interesting, specially if it has a raised chart table that allows a view to the outside, much more spacious too in what regards living aboard.

The three cabin set up of the first boat (owners choice) does not make much sense and the storage space is not much even if reasonable, considering the dinghy garage. They talk about other version (without pictures) with two cabins and a technical/storage  space on the place of one of the aft cabins, a bit like on the RM, and with that configuration the boat will offer the needed storage for long range cruising.