2021 Fountaine Pajot Elba 45 - Walkthrough Wednesday 

Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to watch.

Thanks for the kind words. I can't take credit for the quality though. I brought in the big guns.

Thanks Tim for taking the time to watch

Glad you like them!

Thanks Chris. It was a lot of fun making this one.

She's a super nice boat, and contracted extremely fast.

Thanks for taking the time to watch

You'd know a thing or two about that as well ;)

Much appreciated!

Thanks Geoff!

Have to have something to do while sailing ;).

I can't take credit for this one. I brought in the big guns to help me out ;)

Glad you enjoyed it!

Thanks for the kind words.

Wow, thank you!

Thanks Andrew.

Glad you like it.

Thanks for taking the time to watch and comment. Are you thinking of buying a catamaran in the mid 40ft range? I'd love to help. Wiley@CatamaranCentral.com

I love STX. Be sure to go meet the beer drinking pigs up in the "rainforest."

Thanks for watching and commenting.

Thanks for watching Dave.

Thanks Larry!

Happy New Years Carlos!

Glad you liked it

The boat is equipped with a washer/dryer in the starboard companion way. The shower stalls are separate stalls on the boat. Great suggestion on showing more of the storage spaces onboard the boat.

Check 10'47''

Thanks Greg. We had a ton of fun making this video.

I'll be sure to drop in a quick pano on the next one.

Gary, thank you so much for the kind words. We love what we do, and have a ton of fun doing it.

@@catamarancentral Hey i have criticized before Top job Companies and private sellers need you They are selling a top quality product They need the best YOU ARE

Thanks for taking the time to watch it and comment!

Did you get sailing on one this fall?

Thats where I always file away my paperwork as well.

I've got you. Looking forward to meeting on Monday.

I'm sure you can. Are you looking specifically for an Elba 45 Owner's Version?

She was sold, and sailing around the Chesapeake Bay

It wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice, but it’s the way FP’s done it for years. I haven’t seen a failure caused by it, but totally understand concern

@@catamarancentral Thanks for the response; would like to meet you someday. I might have posted this before, but when we chartered a Lucia this past February and the Captain had to go into the port engine bay to close the salon TV breaker, I was like, what...? What if you have to reset a breaker in rough seas? I chalked that up to a French thing. Also, the backwards light switches....

Thanks

Not in all price ranges, but I just did my top 3 boats for the month of January

Catamarans gost significantly more than an equivalent length mono due not only to there simply being more material involved, but also requiring a lot of strength on the bridgedeck to accommodate some pretty significant stress loading. They also see much higher rig loading due to not dumping power to heeling over, which means that essentially everything involved is going to be 40-60% larger as compared to an equivalent length monohull. They also have two of several larger ticket components, and tend to just have more "things" in general, such as refrigerators, AC units, toilets, sinks, etc... There is also the fact that cats simply take a lot more labor to build, labor being typically 50-60% of the cost involved (Tony Grainger's site suggests 45-50% being the materials cost, based on many years of designing DIY cat kits). I don't know how many hours FPs take, but Balance has said that there are over 10,000 man hours in each boat, I suspect that was either a slight exaggeration, or a bit on the excessive side for a really high finish level and FP is probably around 8,000 hours for a 45 foot. And build times don't increase linearly with length. With FP being French built, that time is going to add up to a fairly large number due to French labor rates being pretty high. Now, whether or not the prices we see today are "fair", I can't really say, but cat prices do somewhat tend to line up with the "rule" that catamarans are "50-60% more expensive than a monohull of the same length and quality level", which makes sense since they are built with 50-60% more materials than an equivalent length monohull. As for their used prices, cats are pretty hot right now, and due to the storms destroying a huge number of them in recent years, supply is very backlogged (none of the cats I am interested in have build slots open until 2024 at the earliest). So short supply combined with high demand means the used market is a strong sellers market right now. Though you *might* be able to get a deal on a Lagoon 450 by asking about their cracked bulkhead issues...

@@FlesHBoX Thank you for the detailed answer. I get the high new prices of cats for sure. Just that this model lists new for a bit over 600k USD (base to be fair). There must be some depreciation - I would guess significant for anything used. But maybe your last paragraph is the reason for the whole thing.

Great question. The new cost on this boat was roughly $930,000usd. With the euro/dollar exchange rate, price increases at the factory, and a long delivery timeframe this boat would cost close to $1m usd if ordered today.

@@FlesHBoX well if you look at the price of the Moody 45 DS or the Amel 50 monohulls are actually just as expensive as a FP 45 and way more expensive than a Lagoon 42. Maybe the yearly maintenance is still more costly than a monohull but i have no data to back that up.

I think so

Asking price is 900k, according to the description

I used to scoff a little at the “true sailors” out there crapping all over the big three catamaran companies as condomarans only suitable for charter use within sight of land, but I have to admit that the lagoon 450 bulkhead fiasco has really shaken my confidence in these boats. Could you maybe comment on this issue? Is this really only a lagoon issue? Are leopards and FPs built better? Are their bulkheads composite core? Thanks in advance!

That particular issue is isolated to just the Lagoon 450's. That being said, I've seen build issues on everything from the cheapest of production boats to the highest end custom boats.

She sold, but I have another Elba coming to market. Shoot me an email for info. Wiley@CatamaranCentral.com

Excess Catamarans are alive and well. I'm not longer with Denison Yachting, but can assist you with an Excess catamaran if you're interested. I am also working on a very cool product line with another European builder that is a performance cruising boat. Big announcement coming soon.

If they were donating it I'd be sailing her now ;)

@@catamarancentral well let me know if you find somebody who donates to disabled veterans

Life plans can change.

I think so.

LOL. You could have just clicked next video. I was highlighting the boat's features...

Its crazy how much equipment they were able to fit on a 45ft boat.