From Farrier Marine:
It has been a while since I have been able to recommend a big cat builder, the last series build being in Australia around 2002-2005, with a superb product. But, as was the case with the F-33, this had to be ended as the Aussie dollar went too high, which made it just too expensive to build boats in Australia.
However, American Michael Mallory in the Philippines decided to build his own F-44SC catamaran a couple of years ago, and liked it so much he decided to form Multihulls Direct to build them commercially. He has engaged Andrew Johnson (an Australian engineer formerly of Melvest Marine) to supervise all construction, which means a very high standard, as I know Andrew well and have seen his work. The F-44SC is based on the Farrier F-41, but with more room and cruising capability, while Multihulls Direct are building an even more advanced version, specially developed for their series production, with a number of recent improvements. They will be building for the world wide market, and the quality of their first build looks to be outstanding.
The factory is located in Subic Bay (Philippines), where they will also have the room to custom build my trimaran designs such as the F-32, F-32SR and F-85SR (one already started). All operations are being supervised by Andrew, who is very experienced in all aspects of my designs, having already built a number of F-82s, F-22s, and F-32s.
Like the F-41, the F-44SC is a cruising cat that will not disappoint trimaran owners. F-boaters are used to effortless tacking and good all round performance, and moving up to a big cruising cat can be a disappointment, as their performance can be sluggish for a trimaran sailor. But when I opted to design a large cat I decided that it would have to have good ‘trimaran like’ performance, as I could never personally promote or sell just another cruising cat with mediocre performance. So I gave it deep efficient foils, a rotating mast, and hull specifications that allowed it to be built very light, and I was personally delighted with the end result. Read more.