Bali Catamarans Catsmart

The Bali Catsmart is a sailing catamaran of 39'7" (12.08 m) overall on a 21'2" (6.46 m) beam, drawing 3'7" (1.11 m) — shallow enough to follow thin water through the Bahamas and the Keys. Hull length is 37'2" and waterline length 36'8". Empty weight is 19,667 lbs, and displacement at maximum load is 27,650 lbs.

She was designed by Olivier Poncin with naval architecture by Xavier Faÿ and interiors by PIATON BERCO, and she is built at the Catana yard. The defining number is the deck: 710 sq ft (66 m²) of usable surface, because the foredeck is a rigid moulded platform rather than netting. Tankage is 106 gal of fuel and 175 gal of water, with two 55-liter black water tanks. Layouts run two, three or four cabins against two heads, and CE certification is A: 8 / B: 10 / C: 16 / D: 20 persons.

Auxiliary power is a pair of 21 hp diesels, sized for a boat whose 3'7" draft matters more than its horsepower: that draft is what opens the sandbanks and back-channel anchorages deeper boats have to watch from the open roadstead, and the 21'2" beam is what keeps the platform level once you are in there.

Under sail the Catsmart carries 818 sq ft as standard, rising to 1,076 sq ft of maximum upwind sail area. The rig is set up for a shorthanded crew: the boom sits down at coachroof level, which puts the mainsail within reach instead of over your head, and the twin helm stations are aft to port and starboard, so the person steering can see the quarter they are about to put alongside a dock. That aft, low, deck-level helm position also keeps the helmsman close to the water, which is where a catamaran gives you the most feedback. At sea trial, run her onto and off a windward berth in both directions before you sign, and ask for observed fuel burn at your intended cruising rpm in writing so you can work your own numbers off the 106 gal tankage.

The saloon is arranged around a single large table that seats up to eight, with wide bench seating and a fully equipped galley on the same level — nobody cooking is cut off from the conversation. Window lines are kept low and continuous, so the sea stays visible from every seat rather than only from the cockpit.

The tilting-sliding Bali Door is the piece that changes daily life aboard. It lifts the whole aft bulkhead away, so saloon and cockpit become one room in a few seconds and close back up just as fast when the weather turns. Below, the choice is two, three or four cabins against two heads: the two-cabin version gives an owner a genuinely large private end of the boat, while the four-cabin layout is the one charter operators ask for. Forward, the rigid deck is furniture rather than a place to crawl over netting — it holds cushions, it stays dry, and it is walkable in bare feet at anchor.

The Catsmart opens the Bali range below the 40'5" Catspace, and it is the model that makes the brand's rigid-foredeck argument at the smallest scale: 710 sq ft of usable deck on 39'7", where a trampoline boat of the same length gives you netting you cannot furnish. It is squarely an owner-operator boat, sized to be run by a couple, and the four-cabin layout keeps it viable for a charter fleet.

Cross-brand it lands against the Fountaine Pajot FP41 at 39'8" and the Lagoon 38 — the same entry-to-mid forties cruising class. Against both, the Catsmart's case is deck architecture and ease of handling rather than sail-plan ambition: the rigid foredeck, the coachroof-level boom and the aft twin helms all point the same way.

Choose the Bali Catsmart if you are buying a first serious cruising catamaran for two people and you want the deck to be usable rather than merely present. If the idea of a dry, walkable, cushioned foredeck sounds like the place you would actually spend the evening — rather than a trampoline you climb over to reach an anchor — this is the boat built around that. The 3'7" draft is the other reason to buy: it is the difference between anchoring inside a bank and anchoring outside it.

Take the two- or three-cabin layout unless you are genuinely chartering; four cabins against two heads is a charter configuration and you will feel the head count on a long passage. Be clear-eyed on scale: CE certification is A: 8 persons, tankage is 106 gal of fuel and 175 gal of water, and the helms sit aft at deck level. If you want a flybridge and a raised helm at anchor, step up to the 40'5" Catspace; if you want a door from the saloon straight onto the foredeck, that starts at the 4.2.