What is the oyster marine of the catamarans? It's personal

[double u]

....difficult to find multihull-quality that is on par with keel-&-bottom-losing monohull-quality...

[JustMurph]

Balance surely has to be up there.

[Atraxia]

Privilege would be my choice but if you’re not in a hurry, I read somewhere that Oyster are planning on building their own catamarans. Not sure whether it’s fact or not.

[Sbonder]

I am bias, but love the Xquisite X5.

[liberated]

what size boat are you looking for? The cohort of <50' cats is different than >50'.

[Siberian Sea]

I’ve been working this past winter for a large charter company doing yacht deliveries around the Caribbean and East Coast USA. Most all the vessels have been Cat 40-62 foot range. Without doubt Bali buys its interior cabinets from IKEA. Lagoons are way overrated and overpriced and the FP I like best but in my opinion just not up to real blue water standards. Of the cats I’ve been able to sail I would buy the Lepard. Overall best quality build, best interior layout, and sail real nice. If you can find a direct drive instead of sail drive even better.

[Francois1er]

Originally Posted by billgewater

Could some one describe for the ignorant (that's me, but I suspect others) just what were the outstanding features of the Oysters when compared to similarly priced/performance etc. other boats. e.g. were they full of really innovative design features, were they built to last, were they really ergonomic, were they "palatial" or sparse etc.? Did the Oyster features apply across a range of boats?

the answer to this indeed important question can be quickly but incompletely answered with one word: "Wood". Here a few example:
I absolutely love this look.
The complete answer is more cultural and thus difficult to explain. The oyster interior is for me the epitome of a certain British art de vivre, which I find much more comfortable than the French boats. Even the kitchen is better placed than on comparable french monohulls!
(of course I prefer up galleys on a catamaran, but that is another matter)

As for their nautical qualities I have definitely not enough knowledge to judge, but I love the in-mast furling, and I find that she plows into the wave in a more controlled fashion.

[Francois1er]

Originally Posted by tamicatana

Some friends have a ‘Dolphin’ catamaran which is purdy floofy, probably what op is wanting

https://www.multihulls-world.com/rev...er-s-catamaran

nope, you have to work a bit more on your telepathic skills

[Francois1er]

Originally Posted by liberated

what size boat are you looking for? The cohort of <50' cats is different than >50'.

Definitely <= 50

[Jeannius]

Seeing your photos and going by your <= 50 ft then a Privilege 495 may fit the bill. Strangely, most of the nice 3 cabin owner versions for sale at the moment are galley down but the majority made were galley up.

[fbjk2000]

Originally Posted by Francois1er

Hello everybody
What is the catamaran builder whose quality, seaworthiness, philosophy is nearest to the boats of OYster Marine (especially the turn of the century ones)
The question may sound ludicrous, but I love the Oysters, and I would seriously consider buying one if it had two hulls.
My wife will only accompany me on the sea on a catamaran, and I must say, I like them much more too.
But roughly 25 years ago, I was in long term unemployment, running out of money, ideas and hope. I was living in Düsseldorf, and we got free tickets to the Boots fair.
I wanted to visit some Beneteau, Jeannot, and other French yards, but I was not exactly looking very rich, and I got snobbed in the most insolent way. (I am from Périgord, France, and I never forget a slight)

Strangely enough, the sales people of Oyster did not snob me and took time on their lunch pause to show me their boats, although I did not know a thing about blue sailing (or sailing for that matter).
I immediately fell in love with this type sailboat, (and I am immensely grateful to Oyster and their salespeople)



Now, I had a lot of chance professionally, and I am starting to look for a bigger catamaran (I own a sirocco 26 from Prout)

Which catamaran builder who be nearest to Oyster in terms of philosophy, interior etc.?


Bon vent à tout le monde!


François

The closest thing is a Knysna from South Africa. Semi-custom, extreme quality with brilliant after-sales. Every other brand has a less complete inventory.

[DoctorCaptain]

I stand to be corrected but Balance look to make lovely boats. Are they the next tier up again?

[guitarrich]

I’ve never seen a better cat than the Bluewater 50 from Discovery.

I’ve both worked ad a professional captain, and also rented countless cats when we had a young child and my wife worked for Moorings/Sunsail, (so we took at least 2 free charters each year.

Don’t be put off by the unexpectedly low price. That’s their problem!!

[Rimica]

A few comments out of experience. I own an Outremer 51.

We started shopping for a boat in 2014. We came across Outremer at the Annapolis boat show. We were welcomed on board the demo (Archer was on display that year). We talked to the factory representatives.

A few items we liked:
1) we were interested in the 5X a 59 feet model. After giving them our sailing plan they talked us down to a 51. Not everyone will try to talk you into a smaller boat. This speak volume to the integrity of the sale process by making sure the boat fit the sailing plan of the purchaser.

2) all the equipment and options were installed by the factory not by the agent/broker. For Nautitech for example the standard boat is delivered to the agent and the agent is responsible to install the options. At least that was the experience of a buyer of such boat new from LaRochelle. If repairs are required there is only one person to talk to with Outremer.

3) The service from the factory was excellent and the after sale service was very good.

4) Outremer stays involved and comments on the owners forum as they use the discussions to inform and improve their product. Often when an owner share an issue, Outremer will jump in and give a comment or solution. My understanding is that other manufacturers stay away from commenting on owners forums.

We took delivery in 2017 and now in 2021, 18,000 nm later, I have no regrets. The boat performs well with 200nm day being the norm when the wind is present. My definition of performance is speed and seaworthiness which implies less internal space and greater attention to weight distribution. For example, we do not have a generator on board but we have significant solar.

This boat fits us and we are happy. We knew what our plans were for the boat and Outremer delivered a boat that fits our plan very well.

Hope this help to make choices.

[ktbaker]

Gunboat floats my boat
I also like Antares and +1 for discovery