What a Catamaran Really Costs per Year

A catamaran costs more to keep than a monohull of the same length, and most of the difference comes from one number: beam. This guide to catamaran ownership costs goes through each cost line for a cruising cat of about 40 ft, shows what marinas and boatyards charge multihulls in the price lists they currently publish (dated 2024 to 2026), and builds two example budgets, one in the Mediterranean and one in the Caribbean, from those figures.

Last checked: November 2026. Prices are taken from the marina and yard price lists named in the sources, in their own currency and with VAT treatment as stated. They change every year, and many marinas quote multihulls individually, so ask for a written quote for your boat’s length and beam.

The boat we’re costing

For the examples we use a Lagoon 40: 11.74 m (38 ft 6 in) long, 6.76 m (22 ft 2 in) wide, two Yanmar diesels on saildrives, according to Lagoon’s July 2020 specification sheet. Other 40-footers differ in beam, so check the figure for the model you’re considering; it drives most of the numbers below. For scale: Marina de Cascais sizes its berths for the 10–12 m class at a beam of up to 4.40 m. The Lagoon 40 is more than 2 m wider than that.

Berths: how marinas charge for beam

Marinas handle multihulls in three ways: a fixed surcharge, a separate multihull rate, or a price by area (length × beam) that automatically catches the extra width.

The pattern is consistent: a cat pays roughly 1.5 to 2 times what a monohull of the same length pays. In Kaštela, the 2026 annual wet berth for both the 11 m and 12 m bands is €9,398 including VAT, so a cat of that length pays €18,796. In Cascais, the 360-day rate for the 10.01–12.00 m class is €7,625 before VAT; with the 75% surcharge, that becomes about €13,344 before VAT for a cat.

Availability matters as much as price. Older marinas often have few berths wide enough, and a cat may end up on an end tie priced like a much longer boat. Book early and get the berth confirmed in writing with the beam stated.

Haul-out: fewer lifts, higher rates

A 6.8 m (22 ft) beam rules out a lot of travel lifts. Caribbean Compass’s 2026 haul-out directory gives the limits: lifts taking 18 ft of beam at Carriacou Marine, 19 ft at Sammy’s in Antigua and 22 ft at JMC in St Martin, against 31.5 ft at Grenada Marine (a lift built for cats) and 37 ft at Clarkes Court. Jolly Harbour says it can haul and store cats up to 33 ft wide, and Antigua Slipway, which uses a railway rather than a lift, takes cats up to 38 ft. For the bigger cats in the 45–50 ft range, the choice narrows further.

Yards also charge multihulls more once the boat is out:

• Spice Island Marine, Grenada (2026): haul and launch $8.85/ft up to 54 ft; long-term storage (over 120 days) $0.83/ft/day for multihulls against $0.57 for monohulls; pressure wash $3.00/ft against $2.45. Its lift takes boats up to 25 ft wide.
• Clarkes Court, Grenada (2025 rates, valid to 31 December 2025; no 2026 card was online in November 2026): haul and launch $7.77/ft for both types up to 49 ft; storage up to 54 ft at $0.79 (low season) and $0.89 (high season) for multihulls against $0.58 and $0.63 for monohulls; chocking and strapping $1.89/ft for multihulls against $1.58.
• MDL’s Ocean Village, Southampton (April 2026 tariff, services valid to 31 March 2027): storage ashore for multihulls at 1.5 times the standard rate.

One line goes the other way: Spice Island lists cradles (and the cradle rental for hurricane season) for monohulls only, so a cat there pays for chocking and not for a cradle.

Antifouling and the underwater gear

Two hulls means two bottoms, and the underwater area of a 40-ft cat is well above that of a 40-ft monohull. West Marine’s rule of thumb for bottom area (length × beam × 0.75) is an average for monohulls, and West Marine itself says multihulls can have more surface than it predicts. Measure each hull or ask the yard what they used last time.

The saildrive legs need their own treatment: Lagoon’s 450S manual specifies copper-free antifouling for the saildrive base, because copper paint on an aluminium leg causes corrosion. Add two sets of saildrive anodes, two propellers to clean and, at every haul, a check on both saildrive seals.

Two engines, two saildrives

Everything on the engine service list comes in pairs: oil and filters, fuel filters, impellers, belts, anodes, gear oil. On Yanmar’s SD60, SD110 and SD150 saildrives, the gear oil and anodes are due every 250 hours or once a year; on the smaller SD25, every 100 hours (anodes every six months at the latest). Volvo Penta’s manual for the 130S-B leg says every 200 hours or once a year for the oil. The bigger item is the rubber diaphragm sealing each leg into the hull. Yanmar’s April 2026 saildrive manual says to replace it every seven years, and Volvo Penta’s operator’s manual gives the same interval. It’s a job for the yard with the boat out and the leg removed, so get quotes for both legs and, if you are buying, check when it was last done.

Many owners skip the hours meter and service once a year, at haul-out. Ask a local dealer for a fixed price per engine and double it; that’s your figure.

Insurance: where the boat is in summer decides the price

Premiums are usually quoted as a percentage of the agreed hull value. World Yacht Insurance, a broker that places multihull cover, gives an indicative 1–1.5% a year for catamarans on its (undated) website, checked in November 2026. The Multihull Company, writing in 2018 (updated 2022), put private-use cover at about 1.0% in the Mediterranean and 1.5–1.7% in hurricane zones (Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean).

The terms matter more than the headline rate. Points to check:

• The hurricane box. World Yacht Insurance’s quote form asks whether the boat will be between 12°40’N and 23°30’N and 55°W and 85°W from 1 July to 1 November. Grenada (around 12°N) is just south of that line, which is why so many Caribbean cats spend the summer there.
• Named-windstorm deductible. The same broker quotes 10% for named-windstorm cover, with a signed hurricane plan. On a boat insured for $300,000, that’s $30,000 out of your pocket before the insurer pays.
• Rig age. Pantaenius, in a 2025 article on YACHT.de, says it asks for a current rigger’s check on used boats with a rig more than 15 years old and wants the standing rigging replaced on boats over 25 years old that still have the original rig. Until that’s done, damage to the rig is excluded.
• Older cats. World Yacht Insurance notes that the bridgedeck and saildrives on older boats can push premiums up.

Sails, rig and electronics

A cat’s mainsail is large and heavily loaded, and on many cruising cats it lives on the boom in a lazy bag in full sun. The professionals quoted in the same YACHT article suggest replacing wire standing rigging after 15 years or 20,000 nm, and having the rig checked unstepped at least every five years; that is advice, not a policy condition. On a cat, add the forestay fittings on the forward beam and the bridle or striker, if fitted.

Electronics follow the same logic as on any yacht, with two differences: more wiring runs across the bridgedeck to two engine rooms, and many cats carry larger solar arrays and battery banks because they have the roof area. Budget for batteries to need replacing at some point; they are rarely cheap on a cat with a big house bank.

Depreciation and resale

We haven’t found a reliable public dataset for catamaran depreciation, so we won’t put a percentage on it. What is clear from listings: ex-charter cats are numerous and price-sensitive, while owner’s versions with good maintenance records tend to hold their value better. Our guide to ex-charter vs owner’s version catamarans covers why. Keeping every invoice, especially for saildrive seals, rig and bulkhead inspections, is the cheapest thing you can do for your resale price.

Example budget: 40-ft cat in Croatia

Built from the Marina Kaštela 2026 list (EUR, VAT included) and the insurance ranges above. A Lagoon 40 at 11.74 m pays the same base rate whether Kaštela puts it in the 11 m or the 12 m band.

The berth is the headline. On Kaštela’s base rate, a +50% surcharge instead of +100% would mean €4,699 less a year; anchor out for the summer and a winter-only contract (Kaštela lists €5,639 for a 12 m monohull from October to March, before the catamaran surcharge) changes the sum again.

Example budget: 40-ft cat in Grenada for hurricane season

Many Caribbean owners anchor or take moorings in the winter cruising season and haul out in Grenada for the summer. Using Spice Island Marine’s 2026 rates (USD) for a 40-ft cat stored ashore for six months (183 days):

• Haul and launch: 40 ft × $8.85 = $354
• Pressure wash: 40 ft × $3.00 = $120
• Long-term storage: 40 ft × $0.83 × 183 days ≈ $6,076
• Chocking (same rate for both hull types, charged per month): 40 ft × $1.89 × 6 months ≈ $454

That’s about $7,000 for the summer on the hard, before antifouling, engine service and any work you have done while the boat is out. Spice Island includes strapping during hurricane season at no extra cost. Insurance on top, at the 1.5–1.7% hurricane-zone level from The Multihull Company’s figures, would be $4,500–5,100 on a $300,000 boat; check the deductible and where your policy draws the hurricane line.

If you’d rather keep the boat afloat in a marina during the winter season, The Cove in Grenada’s catamaran monthly rate of $0.83/ft/day works out to about $1,000 a month for 40 ft. At Clarkes Court’s 2025 daily multihull rate of $1.73/ft/day (it publishes no monthly rate), the same boat would cost about $2,100 for 30 days.

Catamaran ownership costs: what you can control

The berth and insurance are the two biggest fixed costs, and both depend on decisions you make: which marina, which months afloat, which side of the hurricane line. Engines and saildrives are predictable if you keep to the intervals and terrible if you don’t. Before you buy, price the berth you’ll actually use; it can change which boat makes sense. The specs database gives you the beam for any model you’re considering, and the catamarans for sale show what similar boats are listed for.

If running costs are what’s pushing you to sell, catamarket’s free listing for private sellers runs for 12 months with up to 15 photos and no commission.

Related guides

• The Best Used Catamarans at Three Budgets: Under €200k, €400k and €700k
• Used Catamaran Prices in 2026: What Ex-Charter Cats Cost in Croatia, Greece and the Caribbean
• Lagoon Catamarans Model by Model: Which Years to Buy and What to Check
• Surveying a Used Catamaran: Bridgedeck, Crossbeams, Saildrives and Both Hulls

Sources

• Lagoon – Lagoon 40 specifications (July 2020; copy hosted by dealer The Multihull Group)
• Marina Kaštela – Price list 2026/2027
• Marina de Cascais – Tariffs (in force from 1 January 2024)
• Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence – Marina tariffs from 1 January 2026 (annex to the deliberation of 15 December 2025)
• Flisvos Marina – Price list 2026
• MDL Marinas – Ocean Village tariff, April 2026
• Clarkes Court Boatyard & Marina – Rates 2025 (valid to 31 December 2025)
• Spice Island Marine – Rates 2026
• The Cove Grenada – Marina rates (undated)
• Caribbean Compass – Hauling out guide 2026
• West Marine – Get the right amount of paint
• Lagoon – Lagoon 450S owner’s manual
• Yanmar – Saildrive SD25, SD60, SD110, SD150 operation manual (3rd edition, April 2026)
• Volvo Penta – Operator’s manual D1-13, D1-20, D1-30, D2-40 with 130S-B saildrive (2005)
• World Yacht Insurance – Catamaran insurance (undated, checked November 2026)
• The Multihull Company – True costs of owning a catamaran (2018, updated 2022)
• YACHT / Pantaenius – Insurance: how old can the rig be? (2025)

Cover photo: Joshua J. Cotten on Unsplash.