How easy to outfit a small cat for living onboard?

[Foozinator]

Looking at a hypothetical $200k budget, and I see some Gemini Legacy and Mahe in that range.

My question is: have people found room in these boats for self-sufficiency things like washer? water maker? gen? a/c?

[jdazey]

That's a fairly luxurious standard of living you're talking about. Everyone's got a different take on what's comfortable. On our 48'er we have a watermaker, but no A/C, no gen, and we're getting rid of the washer/dryer. We're the third owners, but after 20+ years, it's barely used and never by us. It would not surprise me however, if some Gemini and Mahe owners have these conveniences on board.

Cheers,

[boatman61]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-taEaSfPtbY

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by Foozinator

Looking at a hypothetical $200k budget, and I see some Gemini Legacy and Mahe in that range.

My question is: have people found room in these boats for self-sufficiency things like washer? water maker? gen? a/c?

This is the Legacy on demo. No dinghy, MT tanks, no "stuff." I wouldn't add much. With a washer, she won't just hit waves, she'll drag.

[danielamartindm]

It's all about weight on a small cat. You can overload any vessel beyond the parameters of its "mission statement." IMHO, if you want to add the weight of the luxuries, plan on a larger cat, a 40' at the least.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by thinwater

This is the Legacy on demo. No dinghy, MT tanks, no "stuff." I wouldn't add much. With a washer, she won't just hit waves, she'll drag.

In cruising trim she will no longer qualify as a catamaran.


we had a Mahe we cruised on:
Washer: No.We had one on our previous boat and it got very little use. Visiting some laundry from time to time was OK, its just shirts & shorts for us.

water maker? yes, Katadyn PS40E with separate tank, pump, and faucet. Made all our drinking & cooking water plus some surplus that went into the main tank to extend time between taking shore water.

gen? No, 560 w solar and 1kW inverter. Would have been a challenge to fit a genset on the Mahe .

a/c? No.

The Mahe was equipped by me with the intention of being fully self sufficient, with excess solar power and producing enough water for a family of 4.
Making all water (nut just drinking & cooking) required 10+hrs of watermaker time per day as the Ps40e was a bit too small. Making just cooking and drinking water for 4 and then some into the main tank required 3-4 hours per day.
That was OK for our holiday trips where shore water is available from time to time. For fulltime cruising in remote areas we would have clocked too many hours on that little unit, so a PS80E or different make would have been the better choice.
We even had an electric bread maker which we could run on sunny days without affecting battery levels. So a few weeks on the hook were no problem.



Before the Mahe we cruised a Lagoon 410 which came with big genset, A/C, high output watermaker, dive compressor, washer, etc. By far too much weight even for that much bigger boat.
We used A/C once while in a marina in St. Lucia, the washer once in the middle of the atlantic after a kid had a "seasickness accident" across our bed, dive compressor maybe five times.
The genset did just 80h in one year of full time cruising, just as the watermaker. Too many expensive systems that we rarely used.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Originally Posted by thinwater

This is the Legacy on demo. No dinghy, MT tanks, no "stuff." I wouldn't add much. With a washer, she won't just hit waves, she'll drag.

Wow...that does not have much clearance...close to being a monohull.

I am not slamming the boat or cats, but doesn't that look like it would slam?

[44'cruisingcat]

For self sufficiency, you don't need air conditioning.. 50 years ago virtually nobody had air conditioning. We didn't become extinct.


The rest is do-able. Watermakers aren't heavy and don't take up much room. And they can result in the boat being lighter, since you don't need to keep your water tanks full.


We have a small caravan style twin-tub washing machine. Wouldn't weigh 10 kg.


A Honda EU1000 is compact and light. Will run a ~ 50 amp battery charger on days when the solar isn't enough.

[belizesailor]

The used cat market has expanded a lot in recent years. You can now find some good options for $200K or less. Example, friend of mine, also with a $200K budget, recently bought Lagoon 38 in very good condition for $160K. He then spent a big chunk of the remaining $40K on upgrades and outfitting. Now has a very nice comfortable fully outfitted cat for under $200K.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

Wow...that does not have much clearance...close to being a monohull.

I am not slamming the boat or cats, but doesn't that look like it would slam?

With that little bridge deck clearance I am not sure how much space a wave would have to get enough momentum to slam. Also not sure the cat would have enough boat speed to slam.

[Nahbrown]

In the last year the dollar has gained strength and you can get more boat for your more money... especially if you are willing to go to Europe to buy it.

Here is a search for 40-45ft catamarans for less than $200,000

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by Foozinator

Looking at a hypothetical $200k budget, and I see some Gemini Legacy and Mahe in that range.

My question is: have people found room in these boats for self-sufficiency things like washer? water maker? gen? a/c?

Not a fan of the Legacy. There is simply no need for twin engines and it adds a lot of weight and takes up valuable space.

That said the Gemini is a great option. We had a 3400 we lived on for 10yrs and currently have a Catalac 10m (switched to Europe and not many Gemini's available).

We had air/con.

We have a portable 2400w generator we could set on the stern that would power it. We have heard of a couple of Gems that squeezed a permanent installation in one of the back lazerettes.

We didn't have a washing machine but we pulled out the broken water maker the previous owner had installed (we rarely are away from dock for more than 3-4 days and tanks are typically good for a week if we are not careful with usage).

We converted one of the back cabins to a pantry

You could probably fit a washing machine but probably not worth it. They only do tiny loads, use lots of power and fresh water and use valuable space. Really more a dockside use item but most marinas have laundry facilities.

FYI - Loaded out in heavy cruising trim, we had a lot more clearance than shown in that picture.

[Sailmon]

Check out Rainman water maker. High output, portable or installed, multiple power options and very competitively priced. We are fitting out our Freedom 38 for retirement cruising and have added A/C, genset and water maker. While changing from fresh to salt water bottom paint, we raised waterline 4". Before buying Freedom (our second - the first was a 30), we looked at and sea trailed Gemini. We did not think build was heavy enough for our needs. It does pound and shudder going to weather.

[Nahbrown]

Originally Posted by Nahbrown

In the last year the dollar has gained strength and you can get more boat for your more money... especially if you are willing to go to Europe to buy it.

Here is a search for 40-45ft catamarans for less than $200,000

Well crap. Trying again (Sail) Catamaran Boats For Sale

[UpOnStands]

Originally Posted by tomfl

With that little bridge deck clearance I am not sure how much space a wave would have to get enough momentum to slam. Also not sure the cat would have enough boat speed to slam.

so instead of SLAM -------- SLAM --------------SLAM
it'd be SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-SLAP