A NEW TRIMARAN: NEEL 43

Seven years ago Neel 45 has appeared on the market, a true revolutionary sailboat, a trimaran that contrary to other offers on the market (Corsair and Dragonfly) offered a much bigger interior at a much smaller price, but without the advantage of reducing the beam, folding the amas.

Brand's publicity put a big emphasis on the Neel 45 performance presenting very flattering polar wind speeds but I was a bit disappointed when in Croatia sailed around one of the first Neels with a Salona 41. The Salona was a 2.70m keel version and even without top sails was a fast boat, especially in the very light winds where the meeting took place, but even so, I expected more from the Neel.

Some years later, in an ARC, a lighter Neel 45, a version that they called Race, made a fantastic passage, not race because stupidly the organizers insist on not having a racing category for multihulls, even if some of them are obviously racing. The Neel 45 left the first cat, an Outremer 51, 6 hours behind, making an average speed of 10kts with top speeds of around 20kts.

So, yes, even a normal Neel 45 can be fast on the trade winds and take advantage, in what regards safety, to the more favorable stability curve of a trimaran over the one of a catamaran, being the main difference a less sharp curve in what regards the transition from max rightening moment to abrupt loss of righting moment that (with strong wind) can result in a capsize, or saying in another way, trimarans give more time for recovering the multihull on limit gusty wind situations and give also a better warning when those conditions are reached.

Unfortunately, some Neel 45 suffered poor quality issues that you can find reported on several internet forums (2016). More problems were reported recently on a 51 ft boat, but there are also many clients satisfied with their boats.

The truth is that this boat is a lot lighter than a Lagoon and for building lighter and as strong more expensive building techniques and materials are needed. But the Neel is not more expensive than a Lagoon. Miracles are not to be expected and the boat finish is not comparable with the one of a Lagoon or a Fountain-Pajot, much less similar to the one of an Outremer.

The Neel 43 standard is sold for about 330 000 euros while a standard Lagoon 42 costs 348 000 euros. Of course, these prices are misleading and a normally equipped Neel 43 would cost 450 000 euros plus VAT.

But even with this concept, with the main cabin extending over the three hulls, a trimaran cannot offer the interior space of a catamaran due to the smaller beam of the amas, and on the Nell, this is aggravated by a layout that is not as good as it could be.

On the 43 the layout is better than on the 45, but, both being designed by the shipyard suffer from an amateurish approach that results in a kind of messy space management that is visible in the low quality of the solutions that lack fluidity and design quality. If the interiors were designed by one of the several good interior yacht design cabinets I am sure the difference in design quality would be quite substantial.

The 43 suffers also from what I think is a misunderstanding regarding the target market of this boat: the ones that are looking for space will not buy it, but it would interest the ones that are looking for a performance yacht offering a comfortable interior and on this price range what they are looking for is a yacht with a nice saloon and two good cabins with private toilets.

This boat offers a good cabin, two small ones plus two individual sleeping places on the amas with only a very small toilet, not even with a separated shower. 

I don't see to whom this layout will interest. They should have been focused on offering two cabins, two toilets, and a nice saloon. Probably the answer for more space and a better layout lies in the use of the space of the main hull that is underused. 

Due to the more sportive sailors that will be interested in this yacht, it is also a pity that they have not developed a big central swinging foil to improve upwind sailing. Even so, the boat has 20cm more draft than a Lagoon 42 due to the deeper central small keel. The LOA is only 10cm bigger but displaces 3000kg less and it has more than 10 sqm of sail, so no doubt it will be much faster in all circumstances.

A cruiser that could have been very interesting if the layout and interior design was better but even so a yacht that can be a nice option for a couple that wants a relatively fast multihull and that eventually receives, for a short time visits from the family, especially kids, and don't mind to have a small toilet without a separate shower, a thing that is common today on 43ft monohulls, even on performance ones. 

43/44ft performance monohulls cost slightly less and offer two good cabins and two toilets as well as a better performance upwind and in light winds but not a so good and easy performance downwind with high medium and stronger winds. That makes the Neel 43 a very good boat for the trade winds, not so good for Mediterranean or Baltic sailing.