Chesapeake

"Chesapeake" is a 1993 Catana 44 built near St. Tropez, France. Marvin and Ruth took delivery at the new Catana factory in Canet-en-Roussillon, France where it was originally a 4 stateroom and 4 head boat for charter converted to an owner's version.

Marvin says - Back in 1998, this was our first big boat -gulp choke - this thing is 24 ft wide! It was our first diesel engine, first SSB radio, first radar and was a big BIG learning curve for our first ocean crossing which we were lucky to have survived. The first six months were the most challenging learning how to anchor and do Med mooring.

We sailed Chesapeake throughout the Mediterranean from France to the Greek Islands to Tunisia then across Atlantic, up and down the East coast of the USA from to Florida to Maine and back. Finally, we went south to Panama, through the canal and onward to San Francisco.

Specifications - Catana 44

Builder: Catana Chantier (France)

Designer: Lock Crowther / Christophe Barreau

LOA: 44 ft. 0 in. / 13.40 m

Beam: 23 ft. 0 in. / 7.00 m

Draft, board up: 2 ft. 7 in. / 0.80 m

Draft, board down: 7 ft. 2 in. / 2.20 m

Displacement: 16,720 lbs / 7,600 kg

Construction

Hulls, platform, deck and bulkheads fully built in sandwich. High density foam core, 4,7 lbs/cu, and balsa core. Unidirectional fiberglass skins. Reinforced hull bottoms to be able to beach. Glass and carbon fiber mast bulkhead. Kevlar structural reinforcements.

Builder's Remarks

The Catana 44 was first introduced in 1992, this Lock Crowther design continues to be a popular model for luxury cruising. The majority of the aft bulkhead to the cockpit slides open to provide excellent ventilation and access to and from the saloon. Dual steering stations are located aft and outboard for excellent visibility and include Whitlock rack & pinion steering system.