It's boat show season, and the pull of a shiny new catamaran can be strong. Getting sucked into spending your hard-earned money on something new may be tempting - but hold on a moment.
Whenever an older catamaran comes onto our brokerage - a refurbished Lagoon 47, say, or the lovely Nautitech 54.2 below - somebody inevitably pipes up in the comments: "You must be joking, for a 2012 catamaran."
Here's why a fully refitted Nautitech deserves a second look.
I've Been Reading the Comments
I've been reading some of the comments about this 2012 Nautitech 54.2, currently listed at €699,000, and frankly, a few of them make me smile.
Because it was built in 2012, some people seem to think that automatically makes it an "old boat." But does it? Or are we simply becoming too obsessed with the number on the build plate?
Let's look at this a little differently.
What Does €699,000 Actually Buy You Today?
This isn't a neglected 2012 boat that's simply been polished up for sale. It has been completely refitted - new sail drives, rigging, and A/C electronics among the work carried out. That's an important distinction: you have a proven 54-foot (16.3m) performance catamaran underneath you, with modernised equipment and systems, rather than an older boat still carrying its original 2012 specification.
Which raises a fair question. If you had €699,000 to spend on a catamaran today, would buying new necessarily give you more yacht? I'm not convinced it would.
New Doesn't Automatically Mean Better
Modern catamarans have come a long way. They offer fantastic interiors, modern electronics, improved systems, and enormous amounts of living space.
But there's also been a major shift in what many production catamarans are designed to achieve: more volume, more accommodation, bigger saloons, bigger cockpits. All very attractive. But what about the sailing? The weight? The hull design? The feel of the boat under sail?
This is where the Nautitech 54.2 gets interesting. It was conceived as a performance cruising catamaran, not simply a floating apartment - and there's a considerable difference.
The Boat Doesn't Know What Year It Is
A yacht doesn't suddenly become a worse yacht because another model has been launched. A well-designed boat remains a well-designed boat.
If anything, one of the advantages of buying an established design is that the boat has already proved itself. This Nautitech 54.2 has been sailed and cruised for years, and this particular example has had the benefit of a comprehensive refit. So you're not necessarily buying 2012 technology - you're buying a proven platform that's been brought up to date.
Think About What a New Boat Really Costs
This is where some of the criticism of older yachts becomes misleading. People look at the €699,000 asking price and compare it with the advertised starting price of a new catamaran. But that isn't really a fair comparison.
A new yacht's advertised price is often only the beginning. Then you start adding the specification you actually want:
- Electronics
- Upgraded sails
- Navigation equipment
- Air conditioning
- Solar
- Batteries
- Watermaker
- Generator
- Communication equipment
- Safety equipment
- Tender and toys
- Upgraded upholstery
- Cruising equipment
The final invoice can look very different from the headline price - and that's before you consider the time and inconvenience involved in commissioning a new yacht and getting it properly equipped for serious cruising.
So What Is €699,000 Buying?
In this case, you're looking at a 54-foot catamaran with an established pedigree and a comprehensive refit, rather than starting from scratch. That means the €699,000 price needs to be considered against what a comparable new yacht would actually cost once properly equipped. Suddenly the comparison becomes rather more interesting.
Because the question isn't "would you rather have a 2012 boat or a 2026 boat?" The question should be: "would you rather have this particular yacht for €699,000, or spend considerably more to create the equivalent yacht from new?" Those are two very different questions.
And Then There's the Sailing
This is the part that often gets lost when we talk about catamarans. I don't believe every new boat is automatically a better sailing boat than an older one. In many cases, I'd argue the opposite.
Some older performance-orientated catamarans were designed around sailing first and accommodation second. The Nautitech 54.2 is one of those boats - a substantial yacht, but designed with performance in mind. That matters, because once you leave the marina, nobody cares how impressive the brochure looked. You want the boat to sail. You want it to move, to be responsive, to feel good at the helm - and you want to enjoy being aboard it.
A Refitted Older Boat Can Be a Very Clever Buy
There's another advantage that doesn't get discussed enough. When you buy a brand-new yacht, you're buying into the steepest part of its depreciation curve. When you buy a well-maintained, comprehensively refitted older yacht, much of that initial depreciation has already happened.
You're also able to see exactly what you're buying. You can inspect the boat, the machinery, the systems, and the work that's been carried out. You don't have to imagine what the finished yacht will be - it's already there.
Don't Confuse Age With Obsolescence
A yacht isn't a mobile phone. It doesn't become obsolete because a new model appears. There are 20, 30, and even 40-year-old yachts sailing around the world today that remain exceptional boats. Why? Because good design doesn't have an expiry date.
Sometimes an older design has characteristics that have since been lost in the pursuit of ever-increasing accommodation, volume, and production efficiency. That doesn't mean modern yachts are bad - far from it. It simply means newer isn't automatically better.
So, Would I Buy a 2012 Catamaran?
If the boat was tired, poorly maintained, and still running around with 2012 equipment - probably not. But that's not the boat we're talking about.
We're talking about a completely refitted Nautitech 54.2, offered at €699,000. That's a very different proposition. You have to judge the yacht that's actually in front of you - not simply the year written on the paperwork. Look at the construction. Look at the design. Look at the sailing performance. Look at the refit, the equipment, the condition. And then - perhaps most importantly - look at what it would cost you to buy something genuinely comparable new.
The Bottom Line
I'm not suggesting that everybody should automatically buy an older catamaran. If you want the latest model, the latest styling, and a factory-new yacht with a new-boat warranty, then buy new.
But if you want a serious 54-foot performance catamaran, comprehensively refitted, with proven sailing characteristics, and without paying the premium of a brand-new build, then perhaps it's worth looking at the proposition rather differently.
At €699,000, this isn't simply about buying an "old boat." It's about buying a proven yacht that's been brought up to date.
And perhaps that's the question we should really be asking: do you want the newest catamaran, or the best catamaran you can buy for your money? Because those two things aren't necessarily the same. Sometimes the smartest yacht in the marina isn't the newest one - it's the one that gives you the most yacht for your money.
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Graham, Worldwide Catamarans