With just over 21 feet of beam and a lightship displacement of roughly 19,845 pounds, the Excess 11 combines considerable volume with modest displacement. It’s aimed at sailors who want tactile feedback without giving up living space. VPLP handled the naval architecture, Patrick Le Quément contributed the exterior styling, and Nauta Design developed the interiors.
Design and Construction
Unlike its siblings, the Excess 11 has an all-new hull rather than repurposed Lagoon sections. It also has a lower, sleeker profile than the Excess 12 and 15.
Twin chines run aft, adding interior volume while helping to keep spray down. A marked flare above the waterline further increases cabin space without adding drag. Much of the foredeck is trampoline, which keeps weight and slamming loads aft.
The boat is built in three vacuum-infused sections, with balsa coring in the deck and in the hull above the waterline. The builder finished the boat in Bordeaux, France. The builder finished the hard Bimini with an unrounded edge to save weight.
The keels are molded as part of the hull, filled with foam, capped with laminate, and vacuum-infused. Reinforced GRP “shoes” carry vertical loads, allowing the boat to sit on its keels. The keels are also engineered to fail under a large side impact without breaching the hull’s watertight integrity. There are no keel bolts to worry about.
Rig, Steering, and Handling
Every model in the Excess line has twin aft helm stations and no flybridge. On the Excess 11, the helms are at main-deck level, outboard of the superstructure.
The steering uses Dyneema cables rather than hydraulics. A short cable run minimizes play and produces a light, responsive helm, sensitive enough to communicate the boat’s fore-and-aft sail balance.
Twin 29hp Yanmar diesels are mounted well apart and drive saildrives. Electronic throttles allow the skipper to control the engines from either wheel. The rudders are positioned ahead of the propellers, allowing the engines to sit farther aft and free up cabin space. When needed, the boat can even walk directly sideways.
A self-tacking jib is standard, and most owners keep it. The test boat carried a 57-foot Z-Spar rig and laminate Incidence sails. The optional PulseLine package adds three feet of mast and 59 square feet of sail. A two-to-one halyard leads to a powered winch ahead of the starboard helm.
In 15 knots of wind at a 70-degree apparent angle, the boat made 8 knots and held its speed through tacks. Unfurling the Code 0 added another knot, and in stronger gusts under that sail, the test boat reached 10.1 knots.
Accommodations
The Excess 11 comes in three- or four-cabin versions, both with two heads. Most owners choose the three-cabin arrangement.
In that layout, the port hull has double berths forward and aft, with a head and separate shower between them. The starboard hull becomes an owner’s suite extending nearly its full length. A sliding door at the stairs closes it off from the rest of the boat. The suite includes a huge aft berth and a large forward bathroom. Cutaway corners on the master bed make it easier to fit sheets and allow occupants to get out without acrobatics.
The saloon has an L-shaped settee against the forward bulkhead, a navigation station to starboard, and an L-shaped galley. Galley equipment includes a fixed oven, a two-burner hob, and a front-opening refrigerator. Reviewers found that the compact saloon and galley lacked nothing in refrigeration, counter space, or seating.
Each cabin has a large hull window with an opening port, as well as a deckhead hatch. The interior uses relatively few drawer pulls and other pieces of cabinetry hardware. Clear, rather than tinted, saloon glazing lets the person at the wheel see straight through to the far corner.
Practical Concerns and Known Issues
Period testing identified several topside and mechanical details worth knowing.
The optional soft accordion sunroof opens and closes manually. Because crew can’t step on it, the roof can make it difficult to tuck reefing lines into the bag after dropping the mainsail. Testers also thought the hardtop’s nonskid should extend toward the edges, since those edges become slippery when wet. They felt that one long handrail on each side of the cabin trunk would be better than the two small rails fitted.
The anchor deploys from the forward crossbeam. This keeps the chain clear of the hulls at anchor, but it places weight well forward toward the bows, which isn’t ideal.
Engine access also presents some challenges. With the engines mounted saildrive-aft, the alternator, impeller, and water strainer are tucked forward and are difficult to reach head-on.
The Dyneema steering cables run immediately above the engines. Those cables have a maximum operating temperature of 70°C, while some engines run hotter. In an engine fire, one cable could be lost, although the opposite wheel would retain steerage through the tie bar or emergency tiller.
The Verdict
The Excess 11 is a rare sub-40-foot cruising catamaran that trades the usual compromised mold-sharing for a clean-sheet hull. Its clean-sheet VPLP hull brings genuine performance DNA: the boat sails sharply, tacks well, and offers unusually direct steering feel for a multihull. It also fits a genuine owner’s suite into 37 feet.
The weight-forward anchor, slippery hardtop edges, and restricted engine access are reminders that the boat was designed to be light and sporty first.
Pros
- All-new hull with twin chines and flare, adding volume without drag
- Light, responsive Dyneema steering with a short cable run
- Owner’s suite spanning the starboard hull in the three-cabin layout
- Sharp tacking and double-digit speeds under Code 0
Cons
- Hardtop edges become slippery when wet, and the handrails are short
- Forward anchor weight isn’t ideal
- Forward-facing engine service points are difficult to reach
- Steering cables above the engines present a thermal risk in a fire
