Hello everybody, I built a 16.5 m (54' 2") Malcolm Tennant oceangoing aluminum catamaran, kind of a smaller sister to Malcolm's New Yorker or Wild Wind IV. I have been enjoying, testing and outfitting it for the past two years on Lago Maggiore, in northern Italy. This Spring I will take it (with extreme difficulty) to the seaside. It now weighs just short of 22 metric tons, out of a maximum design weight of 30 tons. Mainly 5 tons of fuel have not yet been added (you could run the length of the lake about 60 times at 10 knots and full fuel). It is powered by two Cummins B270 engines which deliver 270 HP (194 KW) each at max RPM. Top speed is a bit over 17 knots. With both engines running at 1600 RPM I burn 20 liters/hr (5.2 USG/hr) resulting in 1.9 miles/USG and a range of 3280 nautical miles, plenty for a transatlantic crossing. Speed 10 knots. With both engines running at 2600 RPM I burn 68 liters /hr (18 USG/hr) resulting in 0.95 miles/USG and a range of 1635 nautical miles. Speed 17 knots. Interestingly enough, with one engine running at 2000 RPM I burn 21 liters /hr (5.5 USG/hr) resulting in 1.76 miles/USG and a range of 3022 nautical miles. Propeller of the shut down engine freewheeling. Speed 9.7 knots. In other words, at 10 knots the fuel consumption is about the same (well within the measurement errors) whether one uses one or both engines, which opens a lot of possibilities. You can look at the history of the cat on my web site www.caracolyachts.com If you have any questions or comments, you can reach me both off-line and on-line. I love my cat. Regards Paul Hotz MV PH8 On the dry on Lago Maggiore, waiting to transport it to the seaside On Jan 11, 2008, at 4:52 AM, Malcolm Tennant wrote: Dear John, Your impression of the ocean going capability of some catamarans is quite correct. Recently one of our WildWind designs crossed the Atlantic. You can see an account of this voyage on www.chrysalisvoyage.com . You can see the actual design on our web site. There have now been 11 of our designs do long range cruises across the Pacific. I'm glad you like the Manta because it uses the very efficient CS hull form that was developed in this design office. If you are interested in some fuel usage comparisons I can send you some information to your e-mail address. I can also send you an article I wrote for PassageMaker on power catamarans that you may find interesting. I hope you enjoy the Chrysalis web site. Regards, Malcolm Tennant. MALCOLM TENNANT MULTIHULL DESIGN LTD PO Box 60513, Titirangi. Waitakere 0642 NEW ZEALAND Ph: +64 9 817 1988 e-mail: malcolm@tennantdesign.co.nz www.tennantdesign.co.nz www.catdesigners.com