Hull Design and Construction
The 62 is built at Catana's production facility in Canet en Roussillon in the South of France, a vast and modern factory where the Perpignan region's amenable climate limits extremes of temperature and provides long periods of natural conditions favorable to composite curing. The hull emerges from a single main mold encompassing the nacelle — a process that eliminates the lamination interruptions common to older multi-piece catamaran construction and contributes to structural integrity across the bridgedeck.
The profile is immediately recognizable: slightly inverted bows and a longitudinal rib that runs along the topsides, breaking what would otherwise be an unrelieved flat surface and framing the portlight strip. Freeboard is high, bridgedeck clearance is very good, and the sheer at the deck edge is kept deliberately light — all of which adds up to a boat that looks purposeful rather than merely large. The muscled-up appearance indicates this adventurer's vocation, and what read as an audacious silhouette when the Catana 59 first appeared has settled into an aesthetic that wears comfortably.
Rig and Sailing Performance
Catana offers the 62 in two distinctly different sailplan configurations. The standard Easy version already delivers great potential on its own terms, while a Performance package layers on a carbon mast and D4 membrane sails for crews who want the boat to push toward its theoretical ceiling. The generous sailplan is paired with a hull form designed around weight centering, the engines being set well forward in the hulls specifically to improve weight centering and dynamic characteristics.
The real-world test result from the Golfe du Lion crossing underlines the point. Big wind and big seas during a dynamic delivery produced not anxiety but a comfortable sustained pace, which is the meaningful metric for crews planning offshore passages.
Interior and Accommodations
Catana positioned the 62's interior aesthetic around what it calls contemporary functional luxury — a phrase that turns out to mean something specific rather than something vague. Material choices favour ease of maintenance and resistance to the physical abuse of offshore life: suede deckheads with an Alcantara effect, leatherette linings, and leather-style upholstery give the saloon a finished, hotel-adjacent quality without demanding the fragile care that genuine hide requires.
The saloon panorama is exceptional, made possible by a moveable bulkhead that disappears almost completely behind the galley, opening the interior into a single continuous social space when conditions allow. The guest accommodation in the port aft cabin is built to the same specification as the owner's hull — the same comfort and same quality as found in the owner's hull — and the bathrooms are notable enough to draw specific editorial praise for their lighting, faucets, draining floors, and ventilation. The engine room is fully accessible, carefully insulated, and thoughtfully arranged, with the drive units placed well forward to keep weight out of the sterns.
Engineering and Weight Centering
The 62 absorbed all of the Catana 59's accumulated experience and evolved with significant improvements in dynamic characteristics, centering of weight, and the construction process itself. This is not incremental development — the 62 is described explicitly as a new boat rather than a stretched evolution, and the weight-centering emphasis runs through every major engineering decision: engine placement, mold architecture, and materials selection all serve the same goal of keeping mass low and central.
The choice of materials is subtly rational, which is a useful framing. The interiors look expensive because they are finished carefully, not because they are made from materials that add kilos or demand specialist maintenance. This philosophy of rational material selection distinguishes the 62 from charter-market catamarans of similar size that prioritize visual impact over long-term liveability.
The Verdict
The Catana 62 is a serious blue-water performance catamaran that earns its reputation in actual offshore conditions rather than marina berths. The Lombard-influenced hull, the high-clearance bridgedeck, and the disciplined weight-centering philosophy combine to produce a boat capable of genuinely fast ocean passages — the Golfe du Lion delivery numbers are not a marketing claim but a witnessed result from testing conditions that would have exposed any weakness. The interior resolves the usual tension between performance and comfort by applying materials rationality rather than simply spending more on softer furnishings. Buyers choosing between the Easy and Performance rig configurations are essentially choosing how aggressively they want to exploit a hull that can handle either answer.
Pros
- Demonstrated offshore pace sustained in rough conditions
- Very good bridgedeck clearance for a catamaran of this displacement
- Performance sailplan option with carbon mast and D4 membrane sails
- Interior materials chosen for durability and low maintenance, not just appearance
- Guest accommodations match owner's hull in quality
- Engine room fully accessible and insulated, motors positioned forward for weight centering
- Built in a dedicated modern French composite facility with climate-favorable curing conditions
Cons
- High freeboard makes the profile distinctive but increases windage in anchorages
- The full Performance configuration adds cost and maintenance complexity over the Easy version
- Size demands an experienced crew for short-handed offshore passages
