Kelsall 44 & Toys For Boys Builders Thailand

[Waihaka]

Greetings All, we lost our beautiful cat in last weekends storms in Sydney, Australia. Gutted! To cope with our loss we have just started looking on the internet for a possible replacement. A Kelsall 44 built in Thailand piqued our interest. Distance between bridge deck and water seems limited - do they suffer slamming? Have read of one such cat circumnavigating but are they really suited to blue water cruising? Any knowledge of such boats or the builder who no longer seems to exist would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by Waihaka

Greetings All, we lost our beautiful cat in last weekends storms in Sydney, Australia. Gutted! To cope with our loss we have just started looking on the internet for a possible replacement. A Kelsall 44 built in Thailand piqued our interest. Distance between bridge deck and water seems limited - do they suffer slamming? Have read of one such cat circumnavigating but are they really suited to blue water cruising? Any knowledge of such boats or the builder who no longer seems to exist would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Sorry to hear of your loss, still every cloud has a silver lining.

Most Kelsall catamarans of this size are chosen by live aboard ocean cruisers. If built to spec are excellent boats, weighing a lot less than a current production cat of the same size have good performance as well.

Not familiar with the builder or the particular design but bridge deck clearance is not an issue on Kelsall's designs.

After more than 50 years Derek is still very much involved so there is not much he doesn't know about multihulls why not contact him.

Catamarans - Kelsall Catamarans - Contact Us

[Waihaka]

Thank you for the reply Tupaia. I will definitely follow up the Kelsall web address Rod

[geoffq1]

I checked out one in Oct 2019 on the Gold Coast and was very happy with the internal design. The galley was really well thought out, as was the head. I was only taken to the vessel because, as the broker pointed out, the sale had failed and it was back on the market at a reduced price.
Why?
I did do some research, the original factory in (I believe) Thailand had closed, not many were produced (this was a good looking 44 footer), I did have initial concerns because it looked a great boat.
Turns out it had failed the survey report because of osmosis.
I am not saying this is an issue however rather than fix the issue the seller decided to reduce the listed price. This immediatly raises a red flag because a price reduction of circa 20k (AUD) may have meant (a) the seller already knew about the issue and did not declare it or (b) the issue was bigger and a discount just to unload it seemed a good idea.
Needless to say I did not take it any further and never gave it another thought. Within a week the broker sent me an email stating there was a further price reduction, now a circa 40K reduction.
Now I felt there must be a bigger issue. Again, I said I was not interested. I still see it advertised (even further reduced) so perhaps the issue is big, it may be over priced, I don't know, what I do know is that it was sure a good design and would have been a good live aboard and I am sure a great ocean crossing vessel.

[Waihaka]

Hi Geoff, thank you so much for the detailed reply. We are wondering if we are talking about the same boat. Wondered if you would mind continuing the discussion over the phone or private messages. Cheers, Rod and Lillian (0408 354 426)