An Appealing Contemporary French Cat
You really don’t appreciate how much room there is in the new Fountaine Pajot 37 power cat until you climb aboard. There’s space everywhere – in the clean, wide cockpit, the spacious flying bridge, the super-sized salon, the three cabins below and even more on the bow. Sitting in the salon during the boat’s U.S. debut at the Fort Lauderdale boat show, I looked around and counted nine other people there, with room to spare. Not bad for a 37-footer.
But extra space is only one of the advantages of this latest entry from a highly respected French builder. Performance is another. With a 16’ 7” beam stretched across twin hulls, the boat is stable at anchor or underway; the two hulls also tend to smooth out rough seas that could cause many monohulls to stay tied up at the dock. This cat also sips fuel. Fountaine Pajot says fuel consumption is 40 percent less than that of a monohull with the same displacement. And the optional twin 220-hp Volvo diesels power the boat to a top speed of just under 20 knots.
You climb on the boat via the wide, teak swim platform, which simply begs to be used for all kinds of water sports, and access the cockpit one step up on either side of the transom. From the cockpit, wide sliding glass doors lead into the salon; the cockpit and salon are all on the same level for easy living.
The salon is bright and airy, with lots of light coming from windows all around. The galley is on the port side with lots of counterspace; it faces a U-shaped lounge and teak table to starboard. The lower helm station is forward on the starboard side, and visibility is just about a perfect 360 degrees.
Below, the master is behind a sliding door on the port hull, with a queen-sized bed and head with shower. Two guest cabins are across the boat on the starboard side, sharing another head with shower. All the cabins have plenty of light through big windows stretching along the hull sides.
Up top, the flying bridge is protected by a hardtop. There’s seating aft and along the port side, with room for six or eight, with another cocktail or lunch table opposite the upper helm to starboard. There’s plenty of room for sunbathing up here, and even more on the wide, open foredeck, where you can relax in optional lounges.
LOA: 36’ 1”
Beam: 16’ 7”
Draft: 2’ 6”
Disp.: 17,800 lbs.
Fuel: 317 U.S. gals.
Water: 93 U.S. gals.
Power (standard): 2x 150-hp Volvo diesels
Power (optional): 2x 220-hp Volvo diesels
Base Price: Under 300,000 Euros, or about $329,000
Contact: motoryachts-foutaine-pajot.com
Atlantic Cruising Yachts: atlantic-cruising.com
T (443) 203-5596
