You are anchored off Bimini with the sun going down. Two of you are forward, on cushions, on a deck that does not sag or bounce. Nobody is edging along netting with a drink in one hand. That is the whole argument for the Bali Catsmart in one picture: at 39'7" it gives you 710 sq ft of usable deck, and the part of it most builders leave as a trampoline is furniture here.
The Catsmart opens the Bali range. It is the smallest boat the yard builds, and it is the one that makes the brand's case at the smallest size — a rigid moulded foredeck instead of netting, a tilting-sliding aft door that takes the saloon and cockpit down to one room, and a rig arranged so two people can work it.
Who It's For
This is a first serious cruising catamaran for a couple. Everything about the layout points that way. Both helms sit aft, at deck level, port and starboard, so whoever is steering can see the quarter they are about to put alongside a dock. The boom sits down at coachroof height, which puts the mainsail and the lazybag within reach rather than over your head. Neither of those is a headline feature and both of them are the reason you can run this boat shorthanded on a windy Tuesday.
It also works for a small charter fleet. The four-cabin layout exists for exactly that, and guests who are not confident on boats find the deck plan forgiving — there is nothing to crawl over and nothing to fall through.
It is not the boat for someone who wants a raised helm and a place to sit above the coachroof at anchor. That starts one model up.
Design and Layout
The rigid foredeck is the defining decision. Bali moulds a solid platform where most builders string netting, and the consequence is 710 sq ft (66 m²) of usable surface on a 39'7" hull. It holds cushions, it stays dry, and it is walkable barefoot. You lose the classic look and a little weight; you gain a room.
The tilting-sliding Bali Door does the same trick aft. It lifts the whole back wall of the saloon out of the way in a few seconds, and closes just as fast when the weather turns. Opened, the saloon and cockpit are one space. The saloon itself is built around a single large table seating up to eight, with wide bench seating and a fully equipped galley on the same level, so the person cooking is in the conversation rather than below it. The window line is kept low and continuous, which means the sea is visible from every seat, not just from the cockpit.
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 and real locker space. The four-cabin layout is the charter specification, and four cabins sharing two heads is something you will feel on a long passage — take it only if you are actually filling the berths.
On the Water
The numbers that decide how you use her are the draft and the beam. Draft is 3'7" (1.11 m). That is the difference between anchoring inside a bank and anchoring outside it, and in the Bahamas or the Keys it is worth more than any other figure on the specification. Beam is 21'2" (6.46 m), which is what keeps the platform level once the crew moves around at anchor.
Sail area is 818 sq ft as standard, rising to 1,076 sq ft of maximum upwind area. Auxiliary power is a pair of 21 hp diesels, with a larger option offered. Empty weight is 19,667 lbs against 27,650 lbs at maximum load, so there is real carrying capacity here and it is capacity you can fill without noticing.
At sea trial, run her onto and off a windward berth in both directions from the aft helms before you sign anything, and ask for observed fuel burn at your intended cruising rpm in writing so you can work your own passage numbers off the 106 gal tankage.
Living With It
The systems on this boat are deliberately plain, and that is the point. Two diesels, straightforward electrics, accessible service points. There is nothing exotic to source and nothing that needs a specialist.
Two things are worth budgeting attention for rather than money. The first is the aft door mechanism — it is the piece you will use most often, so exercise it fully at survey, in both directions, and check the seals and drains. The second is capacity: 106 gal of fuel and 175 gal of water are modest, and if you are planning long stays away from a dock, a watermaker and how you provision matter more on this boat than on anything larger in the range.
CE certification is A: 8 / B: 10 / C: 16 / D: 20 persons. Read the A figure before you plan a crossing with a full boat.
Where to Start
The Catsmart is the right boat if you want the deck to be usable rather than merely present, and if you want to run it as a couple. Get aboard one and do two things: open and close the aft door yourself, and spend ten minutes sitting on the foredeck. Those two experiences are the entire reason this boat exists, and you will know inside a quarter of an hour whether they are worth what Bali traded away to get them.
If you want a flybridge and a raised helm, look at the 40'5" Catspace. If you want a door from the saloon straight onto the foredeck, that starts at the 4.2.
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