Hull form · What it is for

Sailing CatamaransLiveaboard

Sailing Catamarans · Liveaboard: YachtCodex lists 87 models, 11.4–23.2 m long. The builders with the most are Lagoon (9), Outremer (9), and Balance Catamarans (8). The largest in production is the Balance 750 (23.2 m); the shallowest draft is the Seawind 1600's (0.60 m).

Sailing Catamarans

Two hulls set apart, which buys stability from geometry rather than from lead. A cruising catamaran sails level, draws little, and gives a family more room on a given length than a monohull can; the trade is that it does not right itself if it ever goes over, so its margins are designed rather than recovered. It is the form that has grown fastest in cruising over the last two decades.

Liveaboard

Boats with enough room, water and plumbing to be lived on rather than visited. The criteria are a length overall between 11 and 24 metres, three cabins or more, two heads or more where the builder publishes a number, and 300 litres of fresh water or more where that is published; day boats, sport cruisers, centre consoles and racers are excluded. A figure the builder never published does not disqualify a boat on the secondary conditions -- unknown is read as not contradicting -- but cabins and length must be there.

Models: 87
Builders: 21
Length range: 11.4–23.2 m37–76 ft
In production: 75