Fountaine Pajot 44 (FP44) Catamaran Review and Buyer's Guide

Why the Fountaine Pajot 44 replaced two best sellers at once

Most builders replace one model with one model. With the Fountaine Pajot 44, La Rochelle did something bolder: it retired the Astrea 42 and the Elba 45, each of which had passed 300 hulls according to the yard, and asked a single new hull to cover both slots. The project was announced from the Düsseldorf show in early 2025 under the working title New 44, and the finished boat made its debut at the Cannes Yachting Festival in September 2025 alongside the smaller FP41. Fountaine Pajot then renamed its whole sailing range with an FP prefix, which is why you now see the boat listed as the FP44.

The gamble has paid off. When Multihulls World sailed the FP48 in 2026, it reported nearly 115 FP44s ordered in less than two years, in a market it called more hesitant than before. For a buyer, that volume means a deep dealer network, many identical boats to compare and, eventually, a liquid resale market.

If you are shopping for a fountaine pajot 44 catamaran, the key point is that this is not the Elba with a facelift. Hull, deck, galley and propulsion are all new, and the boat is heavier and roomier than either model it replaced.

Four thousand pounds of extra comfort, and what it costs under sail

Multihulls World put the numbers bluntly. The FP44 displaces 33,510 lb (15.2 tonnes) light, against its own figure of 29,650 lb for the Elba 45, even though the new boat is about 7.5 inches shorter and 4 inches narrower. Upwind sail area grew by only about 11 sq ft, to roughly 1,313 sq ft. The magazine read that, fairly, as a brief that put life aboard ahead of sailing performance.

Berret-Racoupeau clawed some of it back with the hull shape. A pronounced chine above the waterline keeps the hulls slim where they meet the water while making room for wide berths higher up, the deck sheer is subtly inverted, and the keels draw 5 ft 2 in, noticeably deeper than the 4 ft drafts of earlier Fountaine Pajot cats of this size. That deeper keel helps pointing, but Bahamas cruisers should note the extra foot before falling for the boat.

A carbon bowsprit is integrated into the forward beam for a gennaker or Code 0, and Yachting World noted that about a quarter of owners upgrade from Dacron to Hydranet cloth. On a boat this heavy, light-air sails are what keep you sailing below 10 knots of breeze.

What Yachting World logged in 15 to 25 knots

Rupert Holmes of Yachting World sailed the FP44 and FP41 back to back in a blustery 15 to 25 knots with one reef in the main. Upwind at true wind angles of 55 to 60 degrees, the 44 averaged about half a knot more than the 41, which held a shade over 7 knots, so call it 7.5 knots. Both boats lost speed quickly when pinched, which is normal for keel cats with this much windage.

Off the wind the FP44 came alive. It averaged almost 9.5 knots with 20 knots of true wind just aft of the beam and peaked at 10.2 knots in a 27-knot puff. Bearing away to 130 degrees true cost only about half a knot. Holmes judged the difference between the 41 and 44 at six or seven miles a day on passage, while pointing out that stability rises steeply with length, so the bigger boat should offer roughly a third more resistance to capsize.

The criticisms were specific. The hydraulic steering is light but has little feel, which made it harder to hold a course in a building quartering sea, and there is a blind spot behind the headsail on starboard tack. Only the first reef is single-line, so reefs two and three mean a trip to the mast, and the high-aspect genoa twists off when eased because there is no obvious outboard sheet lead.

Diesel or ODSea+, the decision that shapes the boat

Standard power is a pair of 30 hp diesels on saildrives, with 57 hp engines optional. The alternative is ODSea+, the hybrid package developed with Alternative Energies, a La Rochelle company now owned by the group. On the FP44 it pairs two 25 kW electric pods with a 24 kW generator, two 21 kWh battery banks (27 kWh optional), a 6 kW inverter and hydrogeneration, fed by up to 2,300 W of solar on the coachroof, bimini and optional bow panels.

Yachting World's test boat had the hybrid, and Holmes was impressed. The pods are air-cooled at high voltage, so there is little to maintain. The generator is sized to push the boat at 8 knots in flat water while still putting about 8 kW into the batteries, and under sail at 8 knots each pod regenerated about 1.5 kW. The group told the magazine it had sold around 100 hybrid boats in two and a half years, about 15 percent of sales.

Our view: the hybrid suits owners who spend weeks at anchor and want silent air conditioning and refrigeration off the bank. Anyone heading somewhere remote should take the 57 hp diesels, because diesel parts are found in every port while ODSea+ expertise sits mainly in the Fountaine Pajot dealer network.

Lounge deck, raised helm and the forward cockpit

The FP44 keeps the Fountaine Pajot habit of a helm halfway between the cockpit and the coachroof, with a triple seat behind the wheel and a separate sail-handling station just forward on the same level. Two people can work there without tangling elbows, and a lone watchkeeper can trim while the autopilot steers. Above it, the lounge deck covers nearly 11 square meters, about 115 sq ft, which Fountaine Pajot calls the largest in its class, and it gives easier access to the boom than the Elba's arrangement did.

Forward, the trampolines shrank to make room for a lounge of about 100 sq ft with a low table, and solid panels can replace the nets entirely. Aft, the cockpit table seats eight to ten, a daybed faces the wake and the sliding door to the saloon is wider than before.

Maestro, Full Maestro or Quatuor below decks

Inside, the big change is the galley. The L-shaped counters of the Elba gave way to a central island with passages on both sides, so the cook is never trapped. A forward window opens fully for ventilation and to pass plates to the foredeck lounge, and an overhead panel shows sail trim from the saloon. Holmes missed a dedicated indoor nav or watchkeeping station.

Three versions are offered. The Maestro gives the owner the port hull with a double berth, a private bathroom and a multifunction space that can be a dressing room, a baby cabin or a workshop. The Full Maestro opens that hull into a single suite. The Quatuor has four double cabins. Aft berths are set at a slight diagonal for easier access, the chines widen the forward cabins, and both starboard cabins have en suite heads with separate shower stalls. There is room for a full-size 7 kg washer-dryer reached from the starboard corridor.

Fit and finish drew mixed reviews. The worktops are a recycled material made from old refrigerator liners that can be sanded back to new, but Holmes found veneered cappings and sharp corners that may not survive years of knocks.

Fountaine Pajot 44 price and the first boats for sale

The base price quoted to Yachting World was 499,000 euros ex VAT, with its optioned hybrid test boat at about 850,000 euros. In US dollars, plan on roughly $650,000 for a basic diesel boat commissioned here and $900,000 to $1 million once you add the 57 hp engines or ODSea+, lithium, solar, electronics, a watermaker and air conditioning. Dealers had FP44s on display at the Miami show in February 2026.

Searches for a fountaine pajot 44 for sale mostly turn up new and demonstrator boats, plus older Helia 44s and Elba 45s. Genuine pre-owned FP44s are rare in 2026 and ask close to new money while the waiting list for fresh hulls props up values.

Annual costs for a 44-foot cat run about $45,000 to $85,000 in the US before depreciation, covering insurance, a catamaran slip, haul-out, engine or pod service and canvas. On hybrids, also budget for software updates and battery health checks through the dealer.

Not to be confused with the Helia 44, Orana 44 or MY 44

The 44 badge has been on several Fountaine Pajot boats, and listings often blur them. The Orana 44 ran from 2008 to 2012 and introduced the walkable hardtop over the cockpit. The Helia 44 replaced it from 2012 and sold 259 hulls with a 3 ft 10 in draft and a light displacement around 23,800 lb, so it is roughly 10,000 lb lighter than the FP44. Then came the 44-foot Elba 45 in 2019. On the power side, the MY 44 of 2017 to 2020 was an IPS-driven motor yacht, later renamed MY6.

The quick way to tell them apart in photos: the FP44 has plumb bows, a continuous strip of saloon glass, a stepped lounge deck and, often, solid panels where the trampolines used to be.