Catamaran Buying Guide: Sail, Power, and Life on Two Hulls
Two hulls change everything: the boat stops heeling, the saloon moves up into the light, and the anchorage gets shallower. Buying a catamaran is less about buying a boat shape and more about buying a way of living aboard — which is exactly why the questions below matter before the budget does.
Sail or Power: Which Catamaran?
The word covers two markets. Sailing catamarans — the charter-famous 38–50 footers — dominate the cruising scene: apartment-scale living space, level sailing, and passage-making range. Power catamarans apply the same twin-hull logic to motoring: efficient cruising at displacement-plus speeds, huge deck space per foot, and growing popularity from compact 25-foot day cats to 40-plus-foot cruisers. There are also small beachable sailing cats and sport fishing cats, but the buying decisions concentrate in those two cruising camps.
If you're still weighing two hulls against one at all, the catamaran vs monohull comparison tackles that argument directly; this guide assumes the cat has already won.
Who Two Hulls Suit
Catamarans reward people who live at anchor: the flat, stable platform, the shallow draft that opens skinny anchorages, the cockpit-and-saloon on one level. Families and couples hosting guests get private cabins in separate hulls — a kind of privacy no monohull offers. Seasickness-prone crew often do dramatically better on a cat.
The compromises are practical, not romantic. Marinas charge more for the beam (sometimes a slip and a half), haul-out options thin out because few yards have wide-enough lifts, and a heavily loaded cat sails sluggishly — payload discipline is real. Purists will tell you a cat won't point upwind like a monohull; they're right, and most cruising owners don't care.
Layouts: Owner's Version vs Charter Version
Cruising cats come in two canonical layouts. A charter version packs four cabins and four heads aboard for maximum berths. An owner's version devotes an entire hull to one suite — berth, office, walk-in shower — with guest cabins in the other hull. Owner's versions command a premium used and hold it, because that's what private buyers want. Also inspect bridgedeck clearance: too little gap between the water and the saloon floor means wave slap that will follow you across every passage.
Engines and Sailplans
Cruising sailing cats carry twin diesels, usually with saildrives rather than shafts — superbly maneuverable (you can spin the boat in its own length) but with rubber diaphragm seals and anodes that demand scheduled attention. Rigs are typically fractional sloops with big roached mainsails; check standing rigging age, because insurers often want rigging replaced on a roughly ten-year cycle regardless of appearance.
Power cats split between twin diesels on the cruising boats and twin outboards on smaller and sportier models. Twin engines spaced hulls apart make every catamaran easy to dock — genuinely a beginner-friendly trait hiding inside an expensive boat.
What Buying a Catamaran Costs
There's no soft entry to cruising cats. New 40-something-foot sailing catamarans from the major builders generally start in the high six figures and run past a million with options; new power cats span a similar arc by size. Used is where most private buyers land: ex-charter sailing cats coming out of fleet service commonly trade in the $200,000–$450,000 band depending on age and condition, older 1990s–2000s cruising cats can dip below that, and owner-version late-model boats hold near-new pricing. Small day and beach cats are the exception — used ones start in four figures and make a fine test of whether multihull life suits you at all.
Inspecting a Used Cat
Catamaran-specific problems cluster in a few places; make sure your surveyor knows multihulls.
- Charter history. Not disqualifying — fleet boats get professional maintenance — but expect cosmetic wear, high engine hours, and charter-spec equipment. Price accordingly and check the fleet's service logs.
- Bulkhead tabbing and cross-beam structure. The bridgedeck ties two hulls together; look for cracked tabbing, stress crazing at the beam joints, and any evidence of grounding or docking impacts.
- Delamination. Many cats are foam- or balsa-cored throughout. Percussion-sounding decks and hulls is slow, essential work.
- Saildrives. Diaphragm age, oil condition (milky means water), and corrosion. Two drives means two of every bill.
- Rigging and sails on sailing cats: date the standing rigging, inspect the mainsail's roach battens and cars — big cat mainsails are expensive.
- Water systems. Cats run lots of plumbing between hulls; trace it, test every pump.
Ownership Costs: The Wide-Beam Tax
Budget like a monohull owner, then add the multiplier: two engines to service, two hulls to antifoul, wider slips at a premium, and specialist yards for haul-out. Insurance underwriters will want a recent survey and may care about your offshore experience for larger cats — the boat insurance guide explains how those conversations go. Offsetting all of it: cats sip fuel under power for their size, sails are a renewable propulsion budget, and strong used demand has historically kept resale values firm.
If your comparison set still includes conventional cruisers, the sailboat buying guide and the yacht buying guide cover the single-hull alternatives at either budget pole.
FAQ
Are catamarans safer than monohulls?
Differently safe. Cats are extremely hard to sink (no ballast, positive flotation) but can capsize in extreme conditions and won't self-right. For coastal and trade-wind cruising, modern cruising cats have an excellent record.
Is an ex-charter catamaran a bad buy?
Often it's the best value in the market — professionally maintained, sold at a fleet discount. Go in with eyes open about hours and cosmetics, and survey hard.
Can one couple handle a 40-foot catamaran?
Yes; most cruising cats are set up for short-handed sailing with lines led aft and electric winches. The bigger challenge is usually marina fees, not muscle.
Do power catamarans really save fuel?
At displacement and mid-range speeds, slim twin hulls are meaningfully more efficient than an equivalent monohull. Push one to planing speeds and the advantage shrinks.
Ready to look at real boats? Browse catamarans for sale on Marinuo.