Bluewater Catamarans: Outremer, Catana, Privilège, HH and Seawind Compared

Bluewater catamarans: cruising catamaran sailing in open water

Most catamarans sold today are designed for charter fleets and coastal cruising. A smaller group of builders design bluewater catamarans for ocean passages first: Outremer, Catana, Privilège, HH and Seawind. This guide covers what actually makes a cat suitable for offshore work, how the five builders approach it differently, the published specs of representative models, and what you give up compared with a charter-type cat.

Last checked: November 2026. Specs are builders’ and test magazines’ published figures and can differ between brochure years, so check the build sheet of the boat you are viewing. Prices quoted are from boat tests in the year stated, not current list prices.

What makes a catamaran fit for ocean passages

A CE category A plate does not tell you much. Many charter cats carry one too. The differences that matter offshore are mostly in six areas.

Payload

Practical Sailor’s Darrell Nicholson, writing about his Outremer 45 after some 30,000 offshore miles in catamarans, called payload the main problem with cruising cats, ahead of capsize. His boat had a design displacement of 14,700 lb and weighed about 18,000 lb once it was loaded with fuel, water, food and cruising gear. He estimates that heavy loading costs a cat 20 to 30 percent of its performance. He traded up from a Kelsall 40 because, by his account, a full cruising load would have put it down to its chines.

Many performance builders now quote two displacement figures, light and maximum. The difference between them is a rough guide to how much you can carry before the boat is overloaded. Compare that margin between boats rather than comparing light weights alone. Do not treat it as an official payload figure, because builders do not all define it the same way.

Bridgedeck clearance

Waves hitting the underside of the bridgedeck (slamming) are tiring for the crew and slow the boat. They are worst on a beat in short, steep seas. No regulation sets a minimum clearance. One rule of thumb, quoted in a 2026 Privilège technical article, asks for about 0.7 inches of clearance per foot of length overall, which works out to roughly 0.80 m on a 45-footer and 0.89 m on a 50-footer. Measure the clearance with the boat loaded for cruising, because every tonne of stores brings the bridgedeck closer to the water. Few builders publish this figure. Seawind does: the 1160 Lite spec sheet gives 0.73 m and Practical Sailor’s spec table 0.71 m, which is about right by that rule for an 11.6 m boat.

Daggerboards or keels

Daggerboards give lift, so the boat points higher and makes less leeway. Raised downwind, they reduce drag and ease the autopilot’s work. Practical Sailor puts the gain at about 5–7 degrees per tack. Designer Richard Woods estimates that fixed keels cost about 5 degrees of extra leeway and 2 degrees of pointing.

There are costs. Boards are heavier and more expensive to build. Their trunks can leak or jam with debris. The leeward board can break if it hits something at speed. Fixed keels need almost no maintenance, protect the rudders and propellers, and let the boat sit upright on a drying beach. When a boat with keels runs aground, though, it stays aground until the tide or a tow frees it, where a board can simply be lifted.

Rudder and saildrive protection

On a board boat, the rudders and saildrives are usually the deepest parts of the boat once the boards are up. Some designs protect them. Nicholson’s Outremer 45 drew 2 ft with the boards up but 3 ft at the armoured skegs ahead of the rudders and saildrives. On keel boats the keel does the job. Practical Sailor notes that the Seawind 1160’s mini keels shield its rudders and propellers. Ask any builder what the rudders are designed to do if they strike something: break away, kick up, or hold.

Build

Look for resin-infused laminates over closed-cell foam rather than older hand-laid balsa, and for carbon or aramid reinforcement where the loads are high: chainplates, mast step, and the bows for collision protection. Light weight matters less than how the weight is distributed. A cat that saves weight in its structure and then gets loaded with heavy joinery ends up neither light nor strong.

Escape hatches and inversion

A cat that capsizes stays upside down. The EU Recreational Craft Directive (2013/53/EU, Annex I, points 3.3 and 3.8) requires habitable multihulls that can capsize to stay afloat when inverted and to have a workable means of escape in that position. In practice that usually means hatches in the hulls. When you view a boat, find them, check they open from inside, and see what is stowed in front of them.

Five builders, five approaches

Outremer: light, fast, daggerboards

Outremer builds in La Grande-Motte, France, and is part of Grand Large Yachting, which also owns Gunboat. Its boats have narrow hulls, deep straight daggerboards and modest interior volume. The Outremer 51 came out in 2013 as a revised version of the 2009 Outremer 49, was restyled in 2018, and passed 100 hulls in 2022. It was designed by Barreau/Neuman, with a rotating mast, carbon bulkheads and lightweight boards on the options list. Its successor, the VPLP-designed Outremer 52, was launched at Cannes in September 2022 and uses weight-saving structural methods borrowed from Gunboat.

SAIL’s 2024 test of the 52 recorded 6.1 knots in 10 knots of true wind, 9.2 knots in 14-knot puffs, and a best day of 254 miles on delivery. The tester also found limited galley counter space, no handholds at the cockpit steps, and finishes closer to a production cat than a luxury cruiser at this price. The boat was $2 million as tested, and Outremer was quoting 2027 for delivery of new orders.

Catana: daggerboards with more comfort

Catana was founded in 1984 by Jean-Pierre Prade and Thierry Goyard in Cogolin and moved to Canet-en-Roussillon in 1997. Olivier Poncin took over the company in 2003 and later launched Bali under the Catana Group. The Catana 47 of 2012 (Christophe Barreau) has infused Airex foam hulls, Twaron aramid in the bows and below the waterline, and carbon at the chainplates, according to Cruising World. SAIL found it fast with good feel on the helm, but with a quick motion in a seaway and engine controls only at the starboard helm. The 53 (2019) has curved daggerboards, and its bridgedeck starts well aft to reduce slamming. The 2022 Ocean Class is carbon-infused and carries 800 L each of water and diesel.

Privilège: heavy, fixed draft, built for living aboard

Privilège was founded in Les Sables d’Olonne in 1985 by Philippe Jeantot, the solo racer who founded the Vendée Globe. HanseYachts took over the moulds and brand rights after investor Aurelius bought Privilège in 2017, and acquired the company outright in 2019. Its boats are heavier and are built for living aboard on long voyages. The trademark is the forward nacelle, a pod on the forward beam that stiffens the boat and holds the owner’s cabin. The Signature 510 (Marc Lombard architecture) has a single fixed draught of 1.57 m; neither Privilège nor Yachting World lists daggerboards. Privilège quotes 17 t light and 25 t fully loaded, with 2 × 80 hp engines to move that weight. Yachting World gave 22.8 t and a 2020 price of €1,035,000 ex VAT.

HH: carbon and curved boards

HH Catamarans is the yacht brand of Hudson Yacht & Marine, which builds in Xiamen, China. The range is designed by Morrelli & Melvin, and the yard brought in New Zealand boatbuilder Paul Hakes, who has pre-preg carbon experience. The first HH50 sailed in May 2020. Its hull and deck are infused carbon and epoxy over Corecell foam, post-cured. SAIL’s 2021 test put a value of about $75,000 on each curved carbon daggerboard, so a grounding at speed is expensive. The tester also found the helms noisy because they sit close to the engines. Base price was $1.7 million in 2021.

Seawind: Australian, simpler, keels

Seawind began in Wollongong, south of Sydney, and was led by Richard Ward. The 1000 of 1994 made it Australia’s largest catamaran builder. In 2010 Seawind bought Corsair Marine and moved production to Vietnam, and a second yard in Izmir, Turkey, started building boats in 2023–24. The Seawind 1160 (2004–2012, about 120 built) has mini keels and 700 L of water. Practical Sailor cites reports of one boat riding out a three-day Tasman Sea storm, and found its performance modest and its engine access tight. The 1370, announced for 2021, also has mini keels, weighs 11 t and carries 600 L each of water and fuel.

Bluewater catamarans compared: representative models

Model	LOA	Beam	Light displ. (max)	Draft	Appendages	Water / fuel
Outremer 51	15.65 m	7.45 m	10.0–11.2 t*	n/a	Daggerboards	n/a
Outremer 52	15.73 m	7.89 m	12.2 t (16.7 t)***	1.07 / 2.30 m	Daggerboards	n/a
Catana 47	14.03 m	7.64 m	9.9–10.9 t	1.09 / 2.49 m	Daggerboards	670 / 600 L
Catana 53	16.15 m	8.66 m	14.7 t	1.42 / 2.95 m	Curved boards	800 / 860 L
Catana Ocean Class	15.75 m	7.83 m	14.5 t (19.5 t)	1.17 / 2.49 m	Daggerboards	800 / 800 L
Privilège Signature 510	15.24 m**	7.98 m	17 t (25 t)	1.57 m	No boards (fixed draft)	600 / 800 L
HH50	15.19 m†	7.44 m	11.8 t (15.5 t)	1.51 / 3.21 m	Curved carbon boards	c. 400 / 600 L
Seawind 1160	11.60 m	6.50 m	7.0 t	1.10 m‡	Mini keels	700 / 360 L‡
Seawind 1370	13.70 m	7.60 m	11.0 t	1.30 m	Mini keels	600 / 600 L
Lagoon 46 (charter-type reference)	13.99 m§	7.96 m	15.8–16.3 t	1.35–1.37 m	Keels	600 / 1,040 L

Our own compilation from the sources below; where they disagree we show the range. * Multihulls World gives 10.0 t on its spec sheet and 11.2 t in its 2022 news report. ** Privilège’s figure; Yachting World quoted 17.09 m overall, probably including the bowsprit, and 22.8 t. *** Outremer’s figures; SAIL gives about 12.8 t light and 15.4 t loaded, Sail-World 12.5 t and 15.7 t. Catana 47: SAIL gives 9.9 t, Multihulls World 10.9 t. † Multihulls World’s figure; SAIL gives 51 ft 9 in (15.77 m). ‡ Practical Sailor’s figures for the diesel 1160; Seawind’s spec sheet for the outboard-powered 1160 Lite gives 0.96 m and 270 L of fuel. § SAIL’s figure; Lagoon quotes 14.50 m overall and 16.3 t light. Two-figure drafts are boards up / boards down. Imperial figures from SAIL and Practical Sailor converted by us.

What you give up compared with a charter-type cat

The Lagoon 46 at the bottom of the table makes the trade-off clear. It is 1.7 m shorter than the Outremer 52 on hull length and roughly 3.5–4 t heavier when light, with slightly less upwind sail (123–127 m² against 136 m²). Its builder spent that weight on volume: wider hulls, a flybridge, four cabins with four heads if you want them, and bigger tanks. SAIL priced the 46 at $745,000 as tested in 2021. The HH50 ($1.7 million in 2021) and the Outremer 52 ($2 million as tested in 2024) cost more than twice as much.

Price and resale. Fewer boats are built, so you have fewer to choose from and fewer buyers when you sell. In November 2026 Rightboat had a single Outremer 51 listed, against 28 Lagoon 46s.
Interior. Narrow hulls give less room in the cabins and the galley. Owners of light boats also have to be strict about what they bring aboard.
Boards and systems. Trunks, control lines and bearings need maintenance, and on SAIL’s figures one HH50 board is worth about $75,000.
Who can work on it. Carbon and epoxy repairs, rotating masts and custom systems need specialists. Lagoon and Leopard dealers are easier to find in remote places.
The upside. Nicholson reports averaging about 170 miles a day on offshore passages, and the new 52 logged a 254-mile day on delivery. That speed lets you choose your weather window and claw off a lee shore, and you motor less in light winds.

Matching the boat to the plan

For a trade-wind circuit with two people aboard, an Outremer 51 or HH50 lets you choose your weather window. Be disciplined about weight, though, or the speed advantage shrinks. A Privilège suits a couple who will live aboard for years, carry a lot and accept that the boat needs some wind to get moving. A Catana falls between the two. Seawind’s keeled boats are the simplest to run of the five, a good fit for the Pacific, Australia and coastal-plus-offshore cruising, but do not expect high average speeds.

Whatever you buy, have it surveyed by someone who knows multihulls. Our catamaran survey guide covers what to ask for, including board trunks, rudder bearings and moisture readings in the bows. You can browse performance and bluewater cats on the catamarket marketplace.

Related guides

Sources

Cover photo: Miguel Alcântara on Unsplash.