Thanks SO MUCH James & Eva for your kind hospitality and the opportunity to show your lovely boat! We look forward to getting together again soon. XO Sheryl & Paul
@@DistantShoresTV Hi guys I am from Montreal living in Beijing. I am very very interested Paul to hear your analysis of the boat. I watched the whole video and just kept waiting. What did you like and what maybe does not suit you as well. I do really like James Neel 51 and I read all I can on his thoughts as he is so knowledgeable. Thank you both for the Video. Excellent job.
I think the galley is a bit too large, which is not a criticism one often hears about sailing vessels. Neel reduced the galley slightly in the Neel 52 making more room in the saloon.
Looking at their videos, they did cross the Atlantic at some point. I haven't watched them yet, though. Edit: you might want to watch this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Vvw1y7elfbo.html
My friend's Dad built a Tri hull the "Tevake" they sailed it up from NZ all over the Pacific twice ....he grew up on that boat... some amazing stories.... once his Dad fell overboard in heavy seas... the my friend was just a boy... shimmy up the airfoil of a mast for a better view and finally found his dad after a half hour oh shit....At kagoshima the local radio did a story on them... people gave them loads of "mikan " a kind of local tangerine....hmmm must have been Novemberish... but yeah stunning tri hull there you guys ... I burn with envy..... ; )
Lol at the cameraman! You have some issues, I love it... @1:30 This is the Crews ass facing starboard @1:45 This is the Crews ass facing Forward @2:35 This is the Crews ass walking to Port...
Neel's are brilliantly designed by let down by the finish. I've sailed in one and looked around several at shows and of all the multihulls I saw, Neels had the worse finish.
I like this boat A LOT, but it seems cheap, crude or inadequate in some fashion to have a braided nylon(?) line running from the wheel to the quadrant. I am, not an expert but it seems like it would be sloppy, imprecise and otherwise inadequate for precision steering. Wouldn't steel cable be better?
I do love and desire the sailing performance, speed and stability of a tri-hull. But my most serious complaint is that they do not provide the wonderous ambiance of a true sailing vessel. Compare any multihull interior with the nautical elegance of a Hylas 49 or 54/56. The Hylas' (NOT THE NEW ONES) look like yachts, but the multihulls look like they were furnished by Motel Six, low end contractors or at best IKEA. They are not elegant, romantic, nautical or even reasonably yachtish. Yuck! Am I the only one? Starship on the outside, Captain Jack Sparrow on the inside?
“Trimarans point better to windward than catamarans”. No, they dont! It’s a very normal misunderstanding, but still, there’s absolutely nothing to support this. It’s all about what priorities have been governing the design of each boat. The Neels have a wee bit more performance oriented choices, especially in the rig, than the normal cruising cats today, which are mostly pure motor sailors, very little or no focus on performance. Also, most owners tend to mindlessly load them to the rim, which will kill whatever was of performance. Windward pointing ability is decided by total efficiency of the boat and rig. Multis get much more power from their rig due to the higher stability compared with monos. On the other hand, cruising multis have two hulls in the water and a lot more windage all over. The windage and water drag are pointing killers. Since multis have extremely narrow hulls, compared to length, they can much easier get to higher speed. They generate a much lower wave and don’t need to “plane” to pass the “hull speed”. This means that multis normally will increase their VMG, (advancement straight to windward) by pointing a bit lower. Especially with medium to strong wind, well sailed multis, even cruising cats, will normally dramatically outperform similar size and type monos to windward. That’s because the rig power and hull speed benefits become more dominant than the extra drag. Pure racing multis, also cats, will outperform pure racing monohulls upwind also in quite light wind, but not in drifting conditions. An extreme racing cat can even point higher than a similar mono a the same speed, if tactically needed, but it’s faster to drop say 10 degrees to double or triple the speed. Extreme racers are always max efficient. No waste of energy. I’ve sailed lots of pure racing multihulls of all types the last 30 years, both cats and tris (and monos). Extreme racing tris are a bit easier to handle than similar cats, as the tri has a more gradual reaction at power up, while the cat will suddenly lift the windward hull and be more erratic. Also it’s easier to keep a tight rig on a tri, since it has a hull in the middle to take the massive loads. Which is also explaining why it’s easier to make a tri wider, giving it more righting moment, more power. Those three are the main reasons why we see a preference for tris among big multis. In cruising, where the windward hull should never leave the water and rig power is decided from safety and handling parameters, none of those reasons are even slightly relevant.
Wow iv seen and heard so many disappointing things about Neel Triamarans now iv seen even more. Wow just a single engine? I understand because it heels over on 2 hulls but...? And what's with the keel? What bad positioning to have the aft swing around the way it does.
I am excited for SV LaVagabonde's 60' Rapido Trimiran. Thank you, James and Eva, for the tour, sail, and technical review. This is a very interesting episode. Thanks!
There have been quality issues highlighted with these boats, maybe sorted now but Ruby Rose tested I think the 47 and weren’t that impressed. Which is a shame as I really like the layout.
I could be wrong, but I believe at the time the Ruby Rose video hit, there were people that explained that the 51 didn't have the same issues as the 47 (for some reason).
@@jenniferlawrence1372 it's still the same workmanship no matter what model.. why don't people know that. Neel should have never let that boat go to a show in that condition. Very poor craftsmanship. Nice boat but poorly built.
@@jenniferlawrence1372 That may well be true as the 51 has been around while the 47 was a new model potentially with the teething troubles that often accompany such.
@@carryonsailing Great to hear, the design is excellent. I am very envious of your technical room and engine room, the space on my monohull is like a cupboard in comparison :)
Anyone know what the hull build quality is like on the Neels? I hear mixed things about them, but for layout, comfort, speed and access to manage your systems. Not sure any of the production catamarans can beat it. Of course my opinion is all based upon watching youtube reviews.
Wouldn't a catamaran go just as fast if it had the same weight and width? The trimaran only has two of its hulls in the water at the time anyway when going fast...
It can be done, but why? You must weight the pros of going electric against the cons, depending on the use of the boat that you plan to have. If you use the engine only to go into and outside the dock electric is fine, if you plan to use it while there is little wind or going upwind even a huge liion battery will give you very short range. The more a sailing vessel uses the wind as engine the more it is green and environment friendly, and going full electric makes very little difference in it, but not all the people can rely on wind only, if you live aboard all year and don't have to make the best from the short time your normal life let you go sailing it is probably a good choice, sailing Uma is a perfect example of it, but if you have to be in port next Sunday cause next Monday you have to be back at work and there is no wind or you even with an electric engine you have to use the diesel generator to feed it. For the other uses of electricity outside propulsion there are water generators that are much cheaper then a full electric conversion, you can install a lot of solar panels and even use wind generators, and you will be fine, unless you plan to use air conditioning, again it is the sailor's style of sailing that matters, even without electric propulsion a sailing vessel can be very environment friendly, but with a different living style even a electricity propelled vessel can be not so much environment friendly, as it will resort on the diesel generator to cool the air in the tropics and to cruise when there is no/ little wind.
On that huge size, the third pontoon makes it more structurally rigid, won't wreck like zingaro. Instead of thrusters, somebody should start thinking about rotating electric pods, one aft and one at the bow in the middle pontoon, also working as electric regen when sailing under wind... nice harbor steering. Great video guys, thanks!!!!
Nice boat, but I think technical development is more visible in the catamaran market due to the huge demand. For a couple of your status, I'd consider a Garcia explorer cat in aluminium. Built like a tank and can handle anything.
And can also sink like a tank with any water ingress! Yup, that's true. While composite cat's can stay afloat upside down, alu/steel cat's sink! Am sure DS knows better... ;)
@@stormtrooper9404 Sorry, the Garcia cat has watertight bulkheads and saloon door so it's rather safe. Whereas if you collide with a container in a plastic cat at 20 knots...
This was/is some boat! I would almost call it perfect. The only thing I see as a negative (unless someone gives me $5 million) is its price tag. Just looked it up and it's only around 1 mill. 8 - 0
The description of the video says "Test sailing a Neel 51 Catamaran" .....and then showing a trimaran in the video. Catamaran are - as far as I know - 2 hull vessels. But further down in the description they suddenly call it a trimaran (a 3 hull vessel - as it really is). Is that what one can call being a bit confused...???
Shouldn't we ask whether people really have to endure this without resistance? The mildest but suitable means of defense could be used. These animals would quickly learn that attacking yachts is much more painful than joy.
It's important to note that trimerans are between cats and monos but can vary wildly between. The one in this video is way closer a cat due to the size of the outter hulls compared to the center hull. Weight really isn't as much of a issue on like it is on a cat depending on how yours is set up, the tris that are closer to a monohull of course act more like a monohull for weight.
Are they still looking for Mr Piver . Trimaran sailing is like riding a horse the load up and then unload. Going fast is great until the great stop into a hole in the ocean. Good luck with the stop the boat stops and you keep going right into a hard surface..Many Thousand sea miles and it is never what you planned for.
