Outremer 45 Review, Price and Ownership Guide

One name, two Outremer 45s

The Outremer catamaran most people picture when they hear 45 is the boat launched in 2014: narrow hulls, plumb bows, daggerboards and a low cabin that looks fast at the dock. But the name is older. An earlier Outremer 45 designed by Gérard Danson was built from 2000, and its prototype won its class in the 2000 English Transat. ListingsPort puts that generation at about 40 hulls up to 2014. Those boats still appear on the market at around 300,000 to 345,000 euros.

The current boat is an entirely new design by the Barreau-Neuman office, with Patrick Le Quément as design consultant and Darnet Design for the interior. Outremer, based in La Grande-Motte on France's Mediterranean coast since 1984, is part of Grand Large Yachting, which also builds Gunboat in the same town. The 45 has become the yard's signature boat, helped by the YouTube channel Sailing La Vagabonde, whose crew have sailed theirs around the world.

Despite the name, the modern 45 is really a 48 foot catamaran. Extended hulls were optional until 2017 and then became standard, bringing overall length to 14.54 meters.

Built to last 50 years: solid glass below the waterline

Outremer's build philosophy is about resilience as much as weight. Hulls and deck are vinylester over Divinycell foam, but below the waterline the layup is solid glass so a grounding is less likely to breach the core. Carbon goes into high-load areas, the hull-deck joint is glassed all around rather than simply glued, and the bows contain several crash boxes. The daggerboards are designed to break before their trunks are damaged, acting as fuses.

Outremer's sales director told SAIL the aim was a boat that lasts 50 years, and cited a 45 that sat on a reef off Tahiti for four days and came off with little more than scratches. The yard has kept refining the structure: in 2018 it shaved nearly 500 kg using the same core materials as its Gunboat cousins, and in 2020 it added a CZone digital switching system. Davits, bimini and gennaker fittings became standard in 2019.

Wheel, tillers and a helm built for one person

When SAIL tested an early boat, a single wheel to port was standard, with optional twin outboard tillers and composite bucket seats like those on a MOD70 trimaran; Outremer said almost every buyer chose them. Today the builder describes a central helm station where all controls fall to hand: an electric winch in front of the helmsman for hoisting the main, the mainsheet and solent sheets, engine controls and the windlass, with a tiller and ergonomic seat for hands-on steering.

Visibility is the point. From the helm and the saloon you can see all four corners of the boat, which makes single-handed docking and night watches far easier. A very low boom keeps the center of effort down and lets shorter crew reach the sail from a single step at the mast. The self-tacking solent makes upwind work simple, and Outremer says the 45 is its most forgiving catamaran.

Nine to eleven knots on a short Florida passage

SAIL's test sail from Miami to Fort Lauderdale in high-teens northeasterlies is a good summary of the boat. On a close reach in about 15 knots, the 45 ran at 9 to 10 knots, and in 4 to 5 foot seas its motion was easy and predictable rather than jerky. With the wind falling light, the asymmetric kept speed in the 10 to 11 knot range on a broad reach. The Jefa steering felt light and responsive, and the autopilot had little work to do.

Under power, the early boat's twin 30 hp Volvos gave 3.5 knots at 1,000 rpm and 7.5 knots at 2,700 rpm, which reflects how easily driven the narrow hulls are. The current builder specification lists twin 38 hp engines, and recent European listings show Volvo D1-30 and Nanni 38 hp installations. Outremer also offers SailCharge, a regenerative hybrid drive that lets you leave harbor silently and recover energy under sail.

Upwind sail area is 110 square meters, a 69 square meter main and 41 square meter solent, with an optional 115 square meter gennaker and 167 square meter spinnaker. For buyers who want more light-air power and an overlapping genoa, Outremer builds the lighter 4X on the same platform.

A saloon designed around the view, not the bed count

Outremer deliberately keeps the cabin trunk small. That leaves wide side decks with handrails and toe rails, a short coachroof that keeps the windlass and chain farther aft to reduce pitching, and a saloon with a 360 degree view. The L-shaped galley is to starboard, positioned so its inboard counter can be reached from the cockpit through the large sliding door, with the nav station forward and a dinette opposite.

Two arrangements are offered: three cabins with the entire starboard hull as the owner's suite, or four cabins with an extra cabin in the starboard bow. It is comfortable rather than palatial, and the builder is candid that a family of four or five fits well on an ocean passage, while six or seven must travel light.

Outremer 45 or 4X

The 4X, introduced in 2016, uses the same basic platform but shaves weight, adds a larger sail plan and extended transoms, and swaps the self-tacker for a genoa. SAIL reported about 1,300 lb less weight than the 45 at the time. Outremer's own advice is that the 45 is the simpler, more forgiving boat for trade wind sailing and single-handing, while the 4X suits owners who want more light-air performance and more trimming.

For most cruising couples the 45 is the better buy. It is easier to sail short-handed, there are more of them, and resale is deeper.

Why Outremer 45s hold their value

Outremers depreciate slowly because demand from ocean-crossing couples exceeds supply and the yard builds a limited number each year. An early boat cost $757,000 sailaway in 2015; nearly new 2024 boats are advertised at about 935,000 to 940,000 euros. Expect well-maintained 2015 to 2020 boats to trade between roughly $620,000 and $900,000 depending on equipment and miles.

Budget around $38,000 to $75,000 a year to run one in the US, excluding depreciation. Daggerboard bearings and trunks, the carbon rig and the electrical system deserve attention, and many 45s have done multiple Atlantic circuits, so survey the miles as well as the years. Outremer's own brokerage and its Outremer Ready support program are useful resources for buyers.