The Argument For Or Against Bali Catamarans

When the Bali catamaran range was launched, it created a stir in the industry, not only because the Catana catamaran owner, Olivier Poncin, launched a NEW brand, but also because he turned conventional thinking about catamarans on its head.

It has since won accolades from industry professionals and consumers alike for innovation and performance and the Bali brand is now well established.

The Bali Catamaran Range Back Story

Olivier Poncin is the owner of Catana catamarans, which has been the standard in semi-custom performance catamarans for years. Fitted with daggerboards and constructed with modern building materials such as closed cell foam cores, Kevlar for impact zones and carbon fiber for stiffness and improved sailing ability, Catana catamarans has always been in a class of its own.

While Catana is still very successful in the PERFORMANCE class, Poncin recognized a gap in the market for a faster, lighter and more maneuverable production CRUISING catamaran. He further understood that such a cruising catamaran would have to compete with the likes of Lagoon, Leopard and Fountaine Pajot, all very successful brands for sailing cruisers. The new cat had to also be luxuriously appointed without significantly compromising performance and it had to be priced competitively.

So, he redesigned the entire modern catamaran by implementing innovative design ideas and unconventional and highly controversial concepts. The result was quite a stunning and very successful range of catamarans, called Bali. They have won several international awards and they have very quickly gained market acceptance, both in Europe and in the U.S

Critique Of The Bali Catamaran Range

There have been all kinds of criticisms about the Bali, some valid (which we will discuss later) and others that are just down right ridiculous. The most illogical of them being that these catamarans are not seaworthy and slam excessively because of the solid foredeck. We have already addressed this in our article “Dealers And Their Biases”, specifically about two of their most significant and distinctive design features, the solid foredeck and the “garage door” concept.

But the biased opinions persist with competing dealers who appear to not have any personal or current offshore experience of the sailing ability and seaworthiness of Bali catamarans and base their criticisms purely on their own biases. While much criticism has been lodged about solid foredecks, like that of the the Bali design, we have a different view on the issue. Here is some history and background information.

The Evolution Of The Catamaran Foredeck & Reduction Of Weight To Enhance Performance

Some of the oldest production catamarans were built by the Prout family, since the 1950’s in England. They have built around 500 catamarans and one of their more popular models was the Snowgoose 37, built mainly in the 1980s. Prout is no longer around but the Snowgoose is still a popular cruising boat even today. Looking at the Snowgoose 37, you will notice that they are designed with a solid foredeck. The Prout builders had this to say: “…although this adds a lot of weight, it provides rigidity between the hulls that a single crossbar cannot match”.

Solid foredecks were much more common in the early days of production cats like the Catalac, Prout, Gemini, etc. than they are today. While they were proven to be seaworthy, the incessant slamming in bad sea on the solid foredeck and low bridgedeck, demanded a design change. Solid foredecks were eventually replaced in modern cats by nets / trampolines as design developed because the heavy solid foredecks placed weight in exactly the wrong area and severely impeded performance.

Bali’s Foredeck Design Philosophy

Bali liked the idea of having an open solid platform from stem to stern and followed the structural strength philosophy of the solid foredeck design of old. However, they created the solid foredeck with their own new and unique box sections construction and lightweight infusion technology which allowed them to replace the netting without adding the extra weight.

The foredeck on the Bali is not just a flimsy joint between the hull and deck sections, but is actually part of the bow structure and contributes to the stiffness of the boat, making it much stronger than conventional catamarans with two bows joined by a crossbeam and netting.

The acute angle of the bottom section of the solid foredeck causes the bows to lift, rather than dive, improving performance even further. Since there is no netting the foredeck is relatively dry in most conditions but even if it does take a lot of water over the bows, the water drains efficiently and quickly. It has a very unique and clever draining system. The water drains through a big opening in the well next to the windlass down into the anchor locker. It is fitted with three backward facing scuppers, mounted in the step, which is molded into the center nacelle. This allows for a quick purging of the water with no pushback. The solid foredeck also allows for much more buoyancy forward than a conventional catamaran and in our experience does not slam any more than other catamarans that we have sailed on.

Foredecks On Other Modern Cats

The development of the modern catamaran has been meteoric in recent years and with the evolution of modern lightweight design and infusion technology, netting is no longer a necessity for weight reduction up forward on some designs of cruising catamarans. Therefor trampolines on modern designs have become much smaller and today, catamaran designers are increasingly encroaching on the foredeck to create more interior space and in fact, they are almost completely designing the trampolines out of some of the boats.

Good examples would be the Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40 (see the picture of the Lucia 40 vs the earlier FP design, Athena 38) in which the designers moved the living spaces forward in the Lucia 40 to create a bigger cockpit. In order to do that, they had to reduce the size of the trampolines. This holds true in other cats like Xquisite Yachts, the Leopard catamaran range, the Fountaine Pajot Saba 50 ,and many others. With this in mind, we predict we will see more catamarans with solid foredecks coming onto the luxury yacht market.

Conclusion

The Bali catamaran range is a young brand that stems from an esteemed background. It has a few teething issues but In our opinion there are no problems with the solid foredeck of the Bali that we can see at this stage. We are certainly open to hearing different opinions from informed sources and would be happy to update current information as it becomes available. So far Bali has proven to be strong, fast and seaworthy and it is a fun sailing boat.

Want to Buy a Bali Catamaran?

Dealers for Bali Catamarans in USA

Catamaran Guru has been appointed the exclusive Dealer for Bali Catamarans in the USA & for Charter Management fleets worldwide. Contact us directly for specifications, pricing, and a concierge-level buying experience. If you are interested in buying a yacht, our experts will gladly answer to all of your questions.

Bali Catamarans Systems & Interior Improvements

We owned and lived aboard a Lagoon 450 SporTop but when we were looking at the available choices, the Bali 4.5 was on our short list. We loved that the Bali catamaran range is such a new and innovative catamaran design and we are excited to see where this range will go in the market. Two major points for the Bali catamaran:

Bali separates itself from other cruising cats like Fountaine Pajot, Leopard and Lagoon by using the more expensive closed cell foam for the core in the hull versus balsa wood core with the other three builders.
The other difference is that the Bali has the rudder far back and aft of the propeller which makes it track very well and is in keeping with the emphasis on performance versus the Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot who have moved the propeller aft of the rudder which is not ideal for performance but allows for a nice big engine room – in catamarans everything is a compromise.

However, one of the negatives for us was definitely the stark interior of the Bali catamaran range. While it is very functional and wearable, it just did not have that “luxury” feel that you would expect in a cruising cat like that of a Lagoon or an Xquisite. Many of our clients also remarked on the fact that the fittings and finishes are lightweight and somewhat minimalist. While “lightweight” is Bali’s intent for improved performance, the market requires a more luxurious and cozy interior.

We passed this feedback on the manufacturer and they decided to address that issue with the new “Premier Interiors” that were launched at the Cannes show in September 2017. This is a big improvement as it has had a great reception from the sailing community.

There were a few other small things that needed to be addressed like systems and quality control. From what we have heard from the sailing public, it seems that Bali has done a nice job on improving their quality issues. We will attended the Cannes Boat Show to view the new Bali interiors to keep on the pulse as the product evolves.

New Premier Interiors For Bali Catamaran Range

The New Bali 5.4 Catamaran Model

Quite honestly, the Bali range is a joy to sail. We have tested these cats in all weather conditions and we believe that Poncin stayed true to his performance roots with these catamarans. We love this boat so much, we bought our own Bali 5.4 to liveaboard. Here’s why: