At 26 feet wide, with a light displacement of 12.8 tonnes, the Excess 14 is meaningfully lighter than the 14–15 tonnes typical of other cruising cats this size. That attention to weight, combined with asymmetric hulls and optimized keel foils, gives it the lively, responsive character that period reviews consistently praised.
Design and Construction
VPLP’s Vannes office began by conducting a Finite Element Analysis of the entire boat, an exercise more commonly reserved for race boats. The designers then saved weight in lightly stressed areas by using a lower-density end-grain balsa core in the hull skins. The balsa is divided into small squares separated by resin, so localized damage won’t allow water ingress to spread.
The hull layup becomes monolithic around the engines and keels, while the deck uses a PET foam sandwich. Carbon reinforces highly stressed areas such as the fully infused PET foam sandwich bulkheads, and lighter carbon-fiber cloth adds strength in some structural zones. Some bulkheads are themselves infused with foam coring.
The cabin top is injection-molded without a liner. Weight savings continue below, with less wood in the furniture, drawers, and stowage, along with hemp-fiber nonstructural components such as locker lids injected with partly bio-sourced resin. The performance mainsail and genoa use recycled laminates.
Chines above the waterline increase accommodation volume within the hulls. There’s no forward cockpit well because the weight budget wouldn’t allow one.
The hull form lies at the heart of the design. Each asymmetric hull has more curvature and volume on the outside and less on the inside. This reduces the waves produced between the hulls, cutting both drag and slamming. VPLP also optimized the keel hydrodynamics.
The design team considered lifting daggerboards but rejected them because of their complexity and the living space they would consume. Instead, the boat has more-efficient, deeper and thinner fixed foils drawing 4 feet 10 inches—a few inches more than those on similar-size cats.
Naval architect Vincent Lauriot Prévost’s modeling showed that increasing draught by 10 cm would improve efficiency by 15%. Draught therefore increased to 1.48 m, while chord length was halved. The rudders also sit 20 cm deeper than those on most cruising cats, allowing a less compromised shape.
Rig and Handling
The standard rig has a 64-foot-11-inch mast and carries 1,323 square feet of sail. Its square-top mainsail has no backstay to obstruct the head. The optional Pulse rig uses a 70-foot-8-inch spar and carries 1,453 square feet upwind.
Most sail controls lead to a bank of clutches and two winches at the starboard helm. Color-coded headsail sheets make tacking a one-person job. The twin aft helm stations connect directly to the rudders through Dyneema cables, and their seats hinge upward to provide transom access.
Writing in Yachting World, the reviewer found the helm positive and responsive. The boat tacked easily and responded readily to accurate trim, even in 6–7 knots. Cruising World’s tester likewise found her relatively lively and quick to tack in light air, with sheet winches close enough to the helms for easy line handling.
The twin-aft arrangement also makes short-handed berthing easier than it would be with a central helm or flybridge. Engine controls at either wheel further simplify docking, though the standard mechanical control is fitted only at the starboard helm; electronic controls at both stations are optional.
Sailing Performance
In 5 knots of breeze, sailing upwind under mainsail and working jib, the Excess 14 made 4.1 knots. In 12–14 knots true, upwind speed hovered between 7.4 and 8.0 knots.
Adding a Code 0 on a sprit increases LOA to 52 feet 5 inches. In a 6-knot gust, that sail produced 5.7 knots on a reach. The Pulse boat reached 7.3 knots under Code 0 in 8–12 knots of breeze. Under asymmetric spinnaker at 145°, it made 7–7.5 knots, rising to 8.5 knots after heading up.
Bearing away to just over 50° true produced brisk acceleration, occasionally taking the boat above 8.5 knots. The Code 0 eventually pushed her to 10.3 knots. A delivery crew reported a top speed of 16.5 knots, although the Excess 14 isn’t designed to sustain speeds in the upper teens.
There are limits. Point too high in less than 10 knots and she loses speed quickly. In 17–18 knots and a short, steep chop, wave tops slapped beneath the bridgedeck and killed close-hauled speed.
Cockpit and Deck
The aft cockpit remains largely free of sail-handling equipment, apart from the traveler beam behind the long bench seat. An extending table to port helps circulation, and the cockpit also includes an outdoor fridge and a starboard bench.
The helm seats hinge up for access to the transoms, while the aft platform on each hull provides access to the water or tender. The side decks are wide and have good handrails.
Instead of a forward cockpit well, the front bridgedeck carries sunbeds. An optional sky lounge, reached by steps on either side of the mast, adds another outdoor seating area.
An electric Harken FlatWinder controls the traveler outboard of the transom bench, while an electric starboard winch makes hoisting the mainsail easier. Davits and canvas Biminis over the helm stations are optional. The boom sits low over the hardtop, making the lazy bag easy to close, though its height limits sky-lounge use while underway.
Interior and Layouts
The saloon provides nearly 360 degrees of visibility through its windows, with no full-height cabinets to obstruct the view. Opening the aft door and window brings in abundant light. A navstation and large table provide dining space for eight.
Because the galley has no tall lockers, it offers acres of worktop. There’s generous refrigeration and stowage beneath the floor, along with an abundance of fridge and freezer capacity in the port-side galley.
Layouts range from a charter configuration with four cabins, four heads, and four showers to several owners’ versions. In hulls fitted with two staterooms and two amidships heads, the toilets share one holding tank to reduce plumbing. The staterooms use one larger Webasto air-conditioning unit, saving both weight and wiring.
In the Transformer Version, the far-forward bunks fold down for sleeping or up to create stowage. Owners’ layouts replace a 4 m bathroom with a flexible forepeak containing a walk-in dressing space that converts into two single berths. They also include a midships washroom with twin sinks and a desk area large enough for working from home.
Furniture knobs take the form of neat rope loops. Large forward sail lockers can accommodate optional skipper cabins.
Engines, Tankage, and Equipment
Standard power comes from two 45 hp engines with saildrives; 57 hp engines are optional. On the Miami boat, the standard engines produced a cruising speed of 7.8 knots and 8.4 knots in get-home mode.
The shorter standard rig just fits beneath most Intracoastal Waterway bridges. A locker in the front bridgedeck houses the optional generator.
Fuel capacity is 2x44 gal. Standard water capacity is 66 gal, with a further 66 gal available as an option.
The Verdict
The Excess 14 is a considered, weight-disciplined cruising catamaran. It gives up some bridgedeck clearance and accepts a deeper-than-average draft in return for genuine light-air liveliness and a step change in hull efficiency over its Lagoon-derived predecessors.
The accommodations are roomy and cleverly arranged. Still, the helm’s blind sector through the saloon and the boat’s light-air pointing limit are genuine caveats.
Pros
- Asymmetric hulls and optimized, thin fixed foils reduce drag and improve lift efficiency compared with typical heavier cruising cats
- Light 12.8 t displacement, supported by an FEA-driven structure and contained balsa coring
- Straightforward short-handed handling, with color-coded sheets, reachable winches, and twin helms connected directly to the rudders
- Airy, nearly 360° saloon and flexible owners’ and charter layouts with smart weight-saving details
Cons
- Wave slap beneath the bridgedeck and rapid speed loss when pointed high in a short, steep chop
- A blind sector from the helm through the saloon windows; the low boom also limits sky-lounge use underway
- Light-air upwind performance falls away below roughly 10 knots true if the boat is over-pointed
